Story Overview

After Hours follows Paul Hackett, a word processor with a dull and monotonous life, portrayed by Griffin Dunne, whose late-night decision to meet a woman in downtown Manhattan turns into a surreal nightmare. What begins as an innocent midnight date quickly spirals into a series of bizarre, increasingly hostile encounters that trap Paul in the city after hours.

As the night deepens, ordinary social rules collapse. Misunderstandings escalate, paranoia spreads, and Paul becomes the unwilling target of a collective urban hysteria. Each attempt to escape only pulls him further into a labyrinth of absurd coincidences, random violence, and dark humor, transforming the city into an unforgiving maze.

Blending anxiety-driven storytelling with sharp black comedy, After Hours captures the alienation of modern urban life and the fragile line between routine existence and total chaos. The film presents the night as a distorted mirror of society, where chance governs fate and survival depends more on endurance than logic.