Dead Hot, the 2024 British thriller is a blend of comedy, drama, and suspense, with some very heartfelt moments mixed in. The narrative goes through a rigor of twists and turns and emotions, depicting the entitlement and deceptions of people with privilege and the prejudices of heteronormative families against queer relationships.
Spoilers Ahead
What’s The Story About?
Elliot is a young gay man living in Liverpool. He’s the grandson of a wealthy woman, Francine, who thinks very highly of him but wants him to date women. Five years before the events of the series, Elliot found his boyfriend, Peter’s severed finger in their apartment. His boyfriend has been presumed dead, but Elliot still hasn’t gotten over the grief of losing his lover. He now lives with his best friend Jess, also Peter’s twin sister, who still believes in the possibility that her brother might be alive. When uncanny events start happening around Elliot and Jess, they begin to wonder what exactly happened to Peter, uncovering a web of deception.
When Do Things Start Going Awry For Elliot And Jess?
At the beginning of Dead Hot, Elliot is seen holding hands with Will, a boy whom he met the previous evening and had an instant connection with. Will tells Elliot that they’ll meet again as they part ways. Elliot heads home and tells Jess everything about Will—how they think the same way and even have the same favorite color. He even exclaims that he might be in love again after a long time. However, Will never replied to his text, leaving Elliot disappointed. Sometime later, Elliot spots a sphinx cat at the pet store where he works. To his surprise, the cat bears an uncanny resemblance to Peter’s cat, which tragically died when Elliot accidentally ran his bike over it on the day his boyfriend disappeared. Despite feeling unsettled by the sight, Elliot hurriedly returns home to find a picture of them with the cat to check. It turns out to be the same cat. Determined to find out who dropped the cat off at the store, Elliot and Jess head to the store to check the surveillance footage, but when they spot the person who dropped the cat off, he appears to be wearing a paper mask of Elliot’s face.
After being anxious about the incidents that took place earlier, Elliot furiously texts Will about not texting back; however, this time he replies and invites Elliot to his place to apologize to him for ghosting. Elliot finally arrives at Will’s apartment but finds the door open. He enters the apartment looking for Will, but instead finds a severed finger in a manner reminiscent of the incident from five years ago. When the police arrive, the head detective reveals that the severed finger was a fake, suggesting that he has been pranked by Will. The detective also suspects Elliot of Peter’s disappearance since Elliot had no alibi back then. Meanwhile, Jess downloads a DNA matching app, since she still somewhere believes that Peter might be alive. Surprisingly, a match appears on the app as a Tier 1, or close relative. Jesse texts the person on the profile, suspecting it to be Peter, to which the other person replies cryptically. She subsequently arranges a meeting with the person at a pub. She arrives at the pub, but ultimately nobody shows up, prompting her to contact the software company that runs the app.
Who Is The Person Behind The Profile On The App?
After her unsuccessful inquiry at the reception of the software company, Jess runs into Eugene, a software developer at the company, and arranges a date with him to gather more information about the user. During their date, they end up getting drunk, and Jess confesses her motives, revealing her brother’s disappearance. However, Eugene, being kind-hearted, decides to assist her in finding the profile and tracking the address associated with the credit card. Jess and Eugene immediately rush to the location, which turns out to be a cabin in a secluded area.
At the cabin, Jess is answered by a young woman named Christina. When asked about the profile on the app, she explains that her credit card was recently stolen and that she has nothing to do with the app. Despite this, Christina, who recently lost her father, invites Jess inside, and the two bond over their shared grief. Later, while spending time with Elliot, who is going through their yearbook, Jess notices Christina’s picture as well. This prompts her to return to confront Christina. Christina then reveals that she was indeed the one who opened the profile and that she is Jesse and Peter’s third sister, born to their mother and a reverend. To provide evidence, she shows Jess a picture of their pregnant mother carrying Peter and Jesse.
Why Is Christina In Hiding?
Christina reveals to Jesse that she has been in hiding because there are people after her. She discloses that her father’s death was actually a murder, orchestrated by her psychopathic brother, Danny, who holds a high-ranking position as a policeman. After Christina became pregnant with her son, Nico, her strict father shamed her for her behavior. To avoid the shame, Christina fabricated a story, claiming she had become pregnant through immaculate conception, similar to Mother Mary. Quite obviously, her father didn’t believe her. As Nico grew older, her father grew close to his grandson, even coming to believe that Nico was an incarnation of Jesus himself. Initially, Danny had no issue with her son. However, tensions escalated when the reverend declared Nico the heir in his will, leading Danny to become vengeful towards both Christina and Nico.
How Does Elliot Find Will?
In his quest to find Will, Elliot comes across Timothy, a lawyer who he suspects might be connected to the disappearances. Upon breaking into Timothy’s house, Elliot discovers pictures of Peter and even finds Will’s nail polish in Timothy’s kitchen, further raising his suspicions. However, before Elliot can leave, he is confronted by Timothy, leading to a violent altercation in the dark that ends when Timothy recognizes Elliot. Eventually, Timothy confesses to Elliot that he met Will months ago on a dating app. Will had been using a fake profile, posing as Elliot. The pictures of Peter had also been left by Will from the time he was over. Timothy’s revelation suggests that Will had been investigating Elliot long before their chance encounter at the club.
Meanwhile, Elliot’s grandmother arranges a date for him with Piana, a girl of her liking who works as a model. During their date, Elliot notices Piana carrying the same type of bag that was left at Timothy’s house by Will. Piana reveals she acquired it from Cross’d, the boxing gym she frequents. Intrigued, Elliot and Jess decide to investigate the gym and finally encounter Will, who is apparently a trainer there, going by the name Pauly P. Their confrontation quickly escalates when Elliot impulsively punches Will, leading to another violent altercation. When Elliot corners Will in the locker room, Will surprises him with a kiss and warns him not to trust Jess before fleeing the gym. Eventually, Elliot and Jess are kicked out of the gym. When Elliot tries stalking Will’s Instagram, he finds numerous accounts with different aliases that seem like his alter egos.
How Does Will Die?
Following Elliot and Jess’s bitter quarrel, Elliot breaks down at his flat. While reaching for his jacket, he finds a pub bill in his pocket. The bill was planted on Elliot by Will, who wanted to meet him and had specified the date and time on note. Likewise, Elliot follows the instructions and meets him at the pub. Finally, Will confesses everything to Elliot. His real name is Andrew, and he’s a method actor. He was doing a rendition of 12 Angry Men for his dissertation, which is why he had made different Instagram accounts to add depth to his project. He encountered Elliot when he was anonymously hired by a profile named ‘Brutalizer’ on ‘Job Haven’ to go out with Elliot. Specifically, his task was to seduce Andrew and share a kiss with him. Being a committed method actor, Andrew took this assignment seriously, crafting a new persona for himself. However, as he dove deeper into researching Elliot, his fascination with him grew. This curiosity extended to researching Peter as well, as Peter served as the emotional anchor that would facilitate Andrew’s connection with Elliot. After their encounter, Andrew found himself genuinely drawn to Elliot, but he was forbidden from meeting Elliot again as per the strict instructions, warning that Brutalizer would come for him if he attempted to contact Elliot once more.
After seeing Elliot at the gym, Andrew realized he wanted to actually be with him. This realization led him to slip a note into Elliot’s jacket, disregarding Brutalizer’s threats. After they put aside their misconceptions, they leave the pub and walk down the street, engaging in banter. However, as he turns to Elliot to warn him again about Jess, he is shot in the head, killing him on the spot.
Who Is Brutalizer?
Following Andrew’s murder, Elliot is held in lockup as a suspect since he doesn’t have an alibi but is let out by Danny, who claims that he knows that he is not a murderer. Elliot and his friends gather back at his apartment, looking for clues to track down Brutalizer. They finally find the profile on ‘Job Haven’ and come across the query about poisoning people, which is what happened at his aunt Bonni’s bachelorette party. He begins to suspect Bonni’s fiance, McCoughley, who is shrouded in mystery as even his aunt has not met him but is marrying him. During the wedding, when Elliot confronts McCoughley during the wedding lunch, Bonni reveals that she is Brutalizer instead.
Bonni had been dating McCoughley for quite some time and occasionally sent him money. However, when Francine discovered this, she had Bonni’s account blocked. Seeing Elliot enjoy privileges that she couldn’t, Bonni grew jealous of her nephew, who was portraying himself as Francine’s ideal grandson despite only pretending to be straight. This jealousy led her to pay Andrew to take Elliot out so she could photograph them together. However, the plan backfired, as Francine was indifferent to her grandson’s sexual orientation. It’s worth noting that Bonni was not involved in Andrew’s murder, as her involvement in this matter only lasted to the point when she took the picture of Elliot and Andrew.
Who Is Responsible For Peter’s Disappearance?
Elliot flees the wedding after his aunt’s confession, with Francine following him. In his room, his grandmother discloses that Nico is actually Peter and Christina’s son. On the day Peter disappeared, he approached Francine for money, but she refused. Ultimately, Peter was killed at the hands of Christina. Realizing that Jess is currently with Christina, Elliot attempts to reach her and calls Danny for help. He listens to the voicemail Jess had sent him, but by the time her voice note reveals that Danny is Christina’s brother, he has already disclosed their location in Ireland to him. In a state of panic, Elliot hangs up the call with Danny, who then calls him back, threatening to frame Elliot for the murder of Andrew. He even sends one of his men to Bonni’s wedding to kill Francine if Elliot tries to pursue or contact Jess. As soon as Danny hangs up, Elliot sees his name on the news as a man wanted for murder. He therefore embarks for Jess’s location.
Meanwhile, Jess, who is in Ireland with Christina, discovers an intimate picture of Peter and Christina, implying they were a couple and that Nico is their child. Upon this revelation, Christina knocks Jess unconscious. When Jess regains consciousness, Christina confesses the truth: Peter and Christina had met during university and bonded over their shared trauma, leading to an intimate relationship. Christina became pregnant with Nico, but upon sensing Peter’s hesitation, she followed him and discovered he was already in a relationship with someone else, making her his mistress. Confronting Peter, he confessed his love for Elliot instead, enraging Christina. In a fit of rage, she attacked Peter, severing his finger, but stopped short of killing him as he managed to flee.
When Danny arrives at the location, he reveals that it was Christina who actually killed their father. Initially, he had agreed to play along with the whole immaculate conception facade that Christina had concocted, but when the reverend willed his estate to Nico, Danny disclosed the truth to him. Infuriated, the reverend wrote her daughter and Nico out of the will. However, before he could do so, Christina murdered him. Danny, tired of cleaning up his family’s mess, now intends to kill Christina and Jess and relocate to Miami. Just as he aims his gun at Jess, Rigby, an acquaintance of Jess, arrives with a police force. He reveals himself as an undercover officer for the Liverpool Police Department, arresting Danny for the murder of Andrew and Christina for the murder of her father and injuring Peter. However, neither of them is responsible for Peter’s death.
After returning to Liverpool, Elliot gains access to Andrew’s camera and discovers a PDF of Francine’s account statement. The statement reveals that she had sent a significant amount of money to Peter, implying that she had lied to Elliot the last time they talked about this. Elliot confronts his grandmother, who admits to sending the money to Peter to take care of the child. She reveals that she killed Peter because she believed him to be a bad influence on her grandson and that he had been the source of her troubles. After the murder, she instructed her housekeeper, Honeysuckle, to dispose of the body. Feeling remorseful for the child being left without a father, she made the deposit. Jess records her confession, leading to Francine’s arrest.
During Dead Hot‘s ending, Peter is seen alive with a finger missing as he receives news of the suspect in his murder finally being arrested. It turns out that Honeysuckle, the housekeeper, was going to bury him, but he was alive, which changed her mind. The series ends on a rather hopeful note. It is probable that he chose to stay hidden after recognizing the might of the Megargee crime family. Now that Danny, Christina, and Francine are behind bars, he can finally step out of the shadows and take care of his son, perhaps even reunite with Elliot.
