Plot

'The Appointment' holds a deadly lesson in parenthood. Ian deeply disappoints his daughter Joanne by having to absent himself from her Big Day--her first important violin solo. But Joanne is no ordinary young girl and Ian finds himself having to contend with rather more than a childish fit of the sulks as a battle of wills develops. Strange and evil forces permeate the household, building up to be unleashed upon Ian as he takes the journey that becomes the climax of this psychological thriller.—3M Video

A schoolgirl takes a shortcut through the woods and is seized by an unseen malevolent force. She is never seen again and the authorities erect an iron fence around the woods to prevent a recurrence. Three years later, another schoolgirl regularly visits the fence and speaks with something that is invisible. The malevolent force seems to affect her family, first in dreams and later in more concrete ways.—JHC3

A little girl is walking home from school and takes a shortcut through the woods.She seems to hear voices whispering her name. She is curious at first, then scared. She tries to leave quickly but someone or something sucks her into the woods and she's never seen again. Her disappearance is speculated about and many people believe a killer could be loose so a fence is built to cut off the shortcut. 3 years later 14-year-old Joanne has the schoolgirl's spot as a violinist in the band. Her father Ian has taken his car more repairs and rented another car because he has to go out of town the next day to handle an inquest over a mining disaster his firm was implicated in that injured several people. His business partner Joe was supposed to go but his wife is in labor,his other kids have no babysitter,and his family needs him.Ian seems unusually nervous about having to tell Joanne he can't be there tomorrow for her end of term violin recital. He says Joanne tends to look up to him.Ian's coworker with three daughters tells him to be gentle but firm. Ian takes a rental car home and gently breaks the news to Joanne,although he at first tries to lead her to believe he might be able to make it back in time for her recital but eventually says he doesn't think he'll be able to.She is hurt and silently tearful and wants him to reconsider but her mother Dianne says he coddles the girl too much and she consequently seems to feel like an outsider in her own family.Dianne seems to be overly concerned about Joanne's intelligence and are always wanting her own way. While they are in the living room watching TV Joanne talks to Ian about it again,saying she joined the band because her parents wanted her to,and he firmly tells her as smart as she is she could understand that she can't always have her own way.He softens a bit,feeling bad at his own firmness,and says he'll be back soon. After they go to bed that night Ian lingers outside his daughter's bedroom and seems to want to open the door. Inside the bedroom, Joanne seems to sense he's out there and seems to be willing to him to open the door.Ian removes his hand from the door knob and goes to bed. That night, a bunch of Rottweilers run down the street and converge on the house and Ian has a nightmare in which he is driving to his appointment and a pack of dogs force his car over an overpass and off a cliff. He wakes up and wanders the house and is startled by his wife. They return to bed.Ian also dreams that he embraces his wife and she turns into his daughter. Dianne has a nightmare of her own that Ian's car is crashed on the way to his appointment because some dogs and he is hanging over the edge of a cliff trapped in the car. Ian gets his seat-belt loose and falls out of the car to his death! While they sleep the Rottweilers converge on the car lot where Ian's car is being repaired. The next morning Ian shrugs off the odd evening,kisses his sleeping wife goodbye and heads on his way not noticing a gas leak in his garage and a piece of the car broken off. It's the same piece the car repairman at the car lot is working on on his car. Ian heads off for his appointment out of state. Joanne wakes up and is eager to get to school.Dianne will see her later at their violin recital. On the road,Ian crosses paths with a diesel with a picture of dogs on the side. Back home,Joanne greet someone or something on the edge of the fence by the shortcut in the woods on the way to school but she is not afraid of whatever it is and greets it warmly and says she will always return to it. Ian stops off at a restaurant for brunch while on the road. He hears loud repair noises and there is a chainsaw worker nearby.He calls Dianne on a phone booth and she says Joanne seems to be holding up well but she is startled to hear Ian say he dreamed about having a car accident the same way she did! She starts to voice your concern but the connection is suddenly bad on the phone.Ian try to put another coin in but it gets jammed. He says he'll talk to her when he gets where he's going and he drives off. The diesel with dogs on the side passes by the phone booth while he's talking on it. Ian resumes driving. He starts to have car trouble and while he jiggles the keys and the steering wheel the keys and the steering wheel of his car start to move by themselves back home while the mechanic is working on it and the mechanic is run over and killed. A pack of dogs,mostly Rottweilers,do run Ian's car off the road and off the overpass, and his car does hang suspended above a bunch of trees. His left arm is injured and trapped in the seat.Bloody and hurt,he struggles to get loose. Up above on the road a passing motorist stops and screams down and he's going to get help.Ian manages to free his arm and open the seat-belt but it also causes the car to jerk loose and and fall from the cliff,through the trees and downward to the ground, taking the screaming Ian down with it to his death! Back home we finally see who Joanne has been visiting with on the other side of the fence....a pack of dogs,mostly Rottweilers!