Neglected(2026)
Inaugural Entertainment May 8, 2026 | Limited
Detective Shaw discovers a serial killer has buried his son alive and must solve three murders to find him before he dies.
Note: Distributed by Inaugural Entertainment
Releases
Original Release (Independent) | May 8, 2026
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Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Summaries
Plot Summary
- The film begins with Detective Shaw who is on the verge of retiring from the police force, but is estranged from his wife Mandy and teenage son Aaron. As he was too preoccupied with being a police detective to attend his son's school events, including his son's soccer games.One day, after he leaves the police station for the day, a kid wanders in and mentions that he wants to report a murder and is held at gunpoint by the police. He allows himself to be arrested and drops a knife onto the floor before being taken away, Detective Keyes attempts to interrogate the kid, but he refuses to speak to anyone except Shaw. She calls Shaw and asks for his help, Shaw arrives and asks what he wants, but the kid jokingly says that he wants some water and chips. Shaw attempts to ask the kid for his name, but he claims that he already knows, Shaw interrogates him but he only gives vague answers to his questions. Detective Deacon tells Shaw that the knife the Kid brought with him, has 3 different blood samples from 3 different people, meaning the kid is a serial killer and that they are unable to identify him as his fingerprints were burned off with acid. Unbeknownst to anyone, The Kid secretly takes Shaw's pen and when he and Deacon enter the interrogation room, the kid mocks Deacon by calling him "Deputy Cocksucker" causing him to get close to the kid and demands to know who he killed but is stabbed in the neck with Shaw's stolen pen. As a result, the kid is restrained while Deacon is rushed to the hospital while the kid is restrained and placed in a holding cell. While Mayor Steven Richards arrives and is furious that a suspect had managed to gravely injure a police officer in their own police station.Afterwards, Detective Sloan demands to see the kid as his brother Deacon died in the hospital and wants to retaliate, but Shaw manages to talk him out of it. Shaw speaks to the kid about Deacon's death, but suddenly Mandy calls and asks Shaw if he's seen their son Aaron anywhere as he isn't at school. The kid tells Shaw that he knows where Aaron is and tells Shaw to call his son's phone, which plays a voicemail recorded by the kid. Shaw demands to know where his son is and the kid tells him that he buried Aaron alive, and proves this by showing him a livestream of his son in a coffin with a clock that shows Aaron only has 10 hours of oxygen before he suffocates and dies. Shaw demands to know where his son is, but the kid tells him that he'll only tell Shaw after he investigates the 3 murders he committed and tells him to do his job. Shaw quickly heads to the first location after informing Mandy that their son was kidnapped and promises to get him back, he heads to the first location where he arrives at a house of a social worker. Shaw looks around the house and finds a black box with the words "She Should Have Listened to Me" written on it, along with some Polaroid photos of people with their faces scratched out. He opens the box and to his shock finds a pair of severed ears and finds the body of the social worker, a flashback shows the kid chasing her around the house before stabbing her in the back and cutting off her ears while she was still alive.In the present, Shaw finds a false top in the black box and finds a piece of paper with a address on it "1600 Sycamore Drive" and heads there while informing Keyes about his predicament and speaks to the kid on the phone who tells Shaw to finishing investigating all 3 murders if he wants to know where his son is. Shaw arrives at a daycare known as "Brothers and Sisters Association" he looks through the house and finds signs of a struggle, he finds the man alive but accidentally triggers a trap set up by the kid, that knocks over a plank that the man was standing on that causes him to fall and break his neck on a noose. Shaw attempts to save him but fails, another flashback shows the kid getting into a scuffle with the daycare worker who he eventually overpowered and left tied to a noose. Shaw finds another black box with the words "He Always Lied" written on it and to his shock finds the man's severed tongue inside with another false top with a piece of paper that says "This One Hurt My Heart" and realizes that he has to check the man's body where he finds a Polaroid photo taped to his chest. The picture is revealed to be a piece of paper with the address "1763 Stockton Avenue" written on it and heads to the location while letting Keyes know where the location of the 2nd body is. While Captain Haas demands to know what is going on and Shaw reluctantly tells him that his son was kidnapped by the kid, while Mayor Richards demands that Shaw return to the station but Haas allows him to continue his investigation and tells him to immediately return after he's finished.Shaw arrives at the 3rd location and finds a dead woman in her bathtub with her eyes missing, along with several Polaroid photos of a child with their face scratched off taped to the walls of the bathroom. Shaw finds another black box with the words "She Saw and Did Nothing" written on it, he opens it to find the woman's eyeballs. Another flashback shows the woman recognizing the kid, she is viciously beaten by him and is killed after her neck was broken by him. Shaw finds another false top in the black box which contains a photo of 2 young boys and a young lady and realizes that he can use this to identify the kid. He heads to Woodington High School and asks Captain Haas to send backup there, and speaks to the lady in the photo who turns to be a teacher at the high school, Maria Hernandez. She reveals one of the boys in the photo is Jackson Adams who apparently died from suicide and identifies the other boy as AJ Adams and reveals that the 2 boys were actually brothers. Maria also reveals how they had been horribly abused by their foster mother and reported them to social services but they never really did anything. While one of the brothers filed a report with the police but they didn't do anything either, Maria gives Shaw the officer's business card which turns out to be none other than Detective Deacon and realizes that AJ stabbed and killed him on purpose. Shaw heads back to the police department and begs Mayor Richards for more time and reveals that AJ has his son and is given 20 minutes to speak to him.Shaw speaks to AJ, who reveals that the 4 people he killed led his brother to his death, as his foster mother horribly abused him and his brother Jackson, while the Social and Daycare workers ignored their cries for help, while Deacon never followed up on his report about the abuse. Shaw demands to know where Aaron is and AJ agrees to tell him where he is, but only if he can physically guide him to the location in person and Shaw reluctantly agrees. While driving to the location, AJ reveals that the foster workers made the young boys participate in illegal fighting rings and bet on who would win. But as they are driving, a car rams into them, when Shaw regains consciousness he sees Detective Sloan pointing a gun at AJ, as a result Shaw is forced to shoot him. AJ runs off with Shaw following after him and demands to know where his son is, AJ tells him how everyone failed him as they covered up the activities of the illegal fighting rings. AJ further mentions how those in law enforcement were also involved and helped cover things up, he reveals how his brother Jackson's death was covered up as they cremated his body before AJ had a chance to see him and placed his ashes in a shoebox and wasn't even given a proper burial. AJ fumbles with Jackson's makeshift grave and pulls out a hidden revolver and shoots Shaw in the shoulder and causes him to remember how Deacon had tricked him into leaving a report behind and realizes that was the report that AJ had filed with the police and was the case he was supposed to take, which reveals Shaw's connection to AJ.Shaw apologizes for not being there for him, but a SWAT team arrives and seeing this, AJ empties the bullets from his revolver and goads the police into gunning him down by pointing the empty revolver at them. But with the last ounce of his strength AJ manages to tell Shaw where Aaron is, he finds Aaron buried alive in an abandoned house's basement and digs his way to the coffin. Despite time running out, the paramedics manage to resuscitate Aaron, with Shaw happily telling Mandy that he managed to get their son back. 2 months later, Shaw is revealed to still be a detective as AJ's story inspired him to continue his work to help other unfortunate kids like him. Shaw and Keyes confront Mayor Richards after realizing that AJ had left behind clues in the 3 murder scenes that revealed the Mayor was the mastermind behind the illegal fight clubs. Mayor Richards denies these allegations, until Shaw reveals that there is CCTV footage showing him leaving the location of the illegal fight club with some of the children who were badly injured during that time. The Mayor reveals that he only this to train the boys to be men, but Shaw states that he only turned them into killers as they have to live with the fact that they killed innocent kids their own age. Mayor Richards is arrested with his crimes and the crimes of the illegal fight clubs exposed to the entire city.Afterwards, Shaw meets up with Mandy at Aaron's soccer game, having managed to rekindle their relationship. Mandy tells Shaw that she understands why he wasn't around much, due to all the people who needed his help and thanks him for saving their son. Shaw and Mandy cheer Aaron on as he goes on to win his soccer game and the screen fades to black.
Storyline
- On his first official day of retirement, Detective Shaw (Josh Duhamel) is called back to the precinct when a blood-drenched teenager named AJ (Dylan Sprouse) surrenders with a chilling ultimatum: he has buried Shaw's teenage son alive. Plunged into a living nightmare, Shaw is forced to revisit a trail of grisly homicides as the oxygen in his son's remote grave runs out. In a pulse-pounding race against the clock, Shaw must navigate a precinct on the brink of mutiny and a suspect who thrives on psychological warfare, as his investigation unearths a devastating truth: Shaw wasn't chosen at random. — Inaugural Entertainment
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the connection between AJ and Detective Shaw?
Was the film shot at a real police station?
The film appeared at festivals under a different title. What was it?
When was it released?
Fun Facts
Principal photography took place entirely in Clinton, Mississippi, and wrapped in a remarkably tight 12-day shoot in December 2024.
Co-writer Adam G. Levine penned the first draft back in 2021 while studying at Toronto Film School, then spent the next three years developing it with director David Lipper before it went into production.
he film features both Jeremy London (Mallrats) and Jason London (Dazed and Confused) in the cast — a rare big-screen appearance together for the real-life acting brothers.
The film debuted at the 2025 Newport Beach Film Festival under the title The Neglected, but was later shortened to simply Neglected when Inaugural Entertainment acquired North American distribution rights ahead of its May 2026 theatrical rollout.
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