Edward Derby is a brillant quantum physics student obsessed with the theory of multi-demensional planes of existence (3rd, 4th, 5th, and beyond) and the possiblities of crossing between them at will.
One morning, he receives a mysterious package from a Dr. Charles W. Dexter, a former professor and mentor of Edward's, whom vanished two years earlier and presumed dead. Inside the package is a single unmarked cassette tape detailing Dexter's theories of the existance of other demensions and his experiments on breaking through the barrier of the 3rd Axis (the plane on which we dwell on). Dexter believes from his extensive research that the key to unlocking the "doorway" of inter-demensional travel lies dorment in the Pineal Gland located between the right and left hemispheres of the human brain. He determines that if the gland can be stimulated enough, inter-demensional travel will be a reality.
Inspired by the tape, Edward slowly spirals deeper and deeper into his obsessions (mirroring his mentor's downfall) and immerses himself within the drak underworld of self-mutilation culture. His desire to inflicted pain on to himself becomes like a drug-addiction eclipsing the pleasures of the world around him, including sex with his girlfriend, Sarah.
Through much trial and error (experiementing on everything from burning to extreme piercing) Edward stumbles upon the perfect instrument that inflicts pain in steady doses and enables him to control and localize it (a car battery and jumper cables). With that, he succeeds in breaking through the 3rd axis and enters into unimaginable worlds unseen by human eyes.
However, what horrors Edward finds there and what he has to do to reclose teh doorway permenantly will cost him his sanity and, perhaps, even his own life.
Ascension promises to be a suspenseful and terrifying thrill-ride into the realm of the unknown, garunteed to disturb the veiwer long after the film concludes...
