Children of the Corn: Genesis (2011) Movie Script
CHILDREN OF THE CORN: GENESIS (2011)
[Crickets and birds chirping]
[Sighs]
[Traditional music playing]
Hello?
I'm home!
Mom!
Dad!
Bethany?
[Record scratches then continues]
[Thud]
Ah!
Mom?
[Crying and gasping]
[Footsteps]
[Record scratches and stops]
[Footsteps]
[Loud thud]
Beth?
Bethany?
It's me, Cole.
[Sniffles]
Ahh!
Did you do this?
Who did?
He who walks behind the rows.
He said to slay
the righteous with the wicked.
Where is he?
Just tell me where he is.
[Gasping and grunting]
Don't move!
- [Cole] Don't make me do it.
- Baby killer.
- Get back!
- [Girl] Baby killer.
- You're a baby killer. Baby killer.
- [Gunshots]
Don't make me do it, not again.
Baby killer!
Baby killer.
- Baby...
- [screams]
Baby killer. Baby killer!
[Soldiers voice] Get a grip on yourself,
soldier.
Baby killer.
Baby killer.
Baby killer.
[Gun cocks]
[Window shatters]
[Crows cawing]
[Male] Guilty.
[Soft instrumental music]
[Bell dinging]
[Indistinct voices]
[Woman] And a child shall lead them.
[Music continues]
[Carousel playing]
[Squeaking]
[Squeaking] [door slams shut]
I'm so hot.
And not in a good way.
It shouldn't be much longer.
It's been over an hour,
and not a single car has passed by.
We're still in California,
there have to be cars.
[Chuckling] Nice bit of deductive
reasoning. Well done.
[Woman] What if we pour the rest of the
water in the radiator?
Which will get us, what, 40 feet maybe?
Then we'd be stranded and without water.
Here.
Stay hydrated.
You're drinking for two now, baby.
Oh, God.
I'm gonna puke.
[Coughing, puking]
And so much for hydration.
Oh, God.
[Man] There's some telephone poles,
maybe a house.
Stay here, I'll run up
and call for a tow.
You kidding? I'm not gonna
stay here and fry like an egg.
You sure you can handle the walk?
I'm pregnant, I'm not dying.
All right, then.
Let's go make some friends.
[Soft instrumental music]
- Thanks, by the way.
- For what?
For not telling me what a limp
dick I am for taking the scenic route.
I'm still allowed to think it,
right?
Oh, yeah, it's cool.
[Crow cawing]
[Woman] I like it. Meth-lab chic.
[Man] Let's be nice. Definitely do not
want to antagonize the natives.
If the worst should happen,
tell Little Bubba that his father
was a great but flawed man.
- Our kid's gonna be named Little Bubba?
- Mm-hmm.
OK.
[Knocking]
[Wings flapping]
[Knock]
[Fumbling with lock]
Howdy.
I'm Tim Gleason
and this is my wife, Allie.
We hate to bother you, sir,
but our car broke down in the heat
- and we were wondering...
- Can't help you.
We don't need any help, just the
use of your phone to call for a tow.
Ain't got no phone.
Thanks anyway. Sorry to bother you.
Excuse me, just one more thing.
Since we're without wheels,
can you tell us how far it is
to your nearest neighbor
or nearest...
...anything?
It be very far.
- You sure you don't have a phone?
- He just said he didn't.
That sure looks a lot like
a phone line to me.
Let's go, Allie.
Don't make a big deal out of this.
It's cool, we'll find another way.
It's all good.
[Allie] It's not all good, it's 120
degrees.
[Tim] We'll find a ride,
OK? Let's go.
- Just let me talk to him.
- No, you heard him. We're going.
Why? 'Cause he might be
a tweaker with a shotgun?
Could you say that any louder?
Sir? Hi.
We both know you have a phone...
- Asshole!
- Take it easy.
- What is his problem?
- Let it go.
If I have a miscarriage,
it's your fault!
- Let's go. We're sorry!
- No, we're not!
All right, you get yourself on in here.
It wouldn't be right to leave a woman
in your condition out here in the heat.
[Soft instrumental music]
Wouldn't be Christian.
So I'm Tim and this is Allie.
Helen.
And this is my husband, Cole.
But everyone around calls him Preacher.
Your accent. Um, Romanian?
Ukraine.
How long have you been in the states?
Six years, almost.
Pretty cool flat-screen you got there.
[Tim] You folks own dish
or cable out here?
We ain't got neither.
Just watch videos, huh?
That's pretty much all you need now that
The Sopranos is dead and buried.
I better make that call.
Uh, where's your phone?
I will show you.
Thanks.
I imagine everything's long distance
from here, so here,
- let me leave a little.
- Hundred.
Dollars?
That's a bit steep for a phone call, no?
Fifty, whatever you have spare.
- Please don't tell my husband.
- OK, sure.
- Do you have any pot?
- What? No.
- Cigarette?
- I don't smoke.
We're going to see Tim's
grandfather. He lives in Victorville.
Well, just north of Victorville.
He's not doing well.
Tim thought it would be a cool idea
if we took the scenic route. [chuckling]
Always a good idea, right?
[Mimicking sound effects from Psycho]
So... you're pregnant?
Yeah... first time.
Well, second time, really,
but the first time didn't take.
Although I hardly thought of it
as a first time.
More like a false start.
But this time it just feels...
It just feels kind of... different.
Yeah, we're out on Salt Valley Road.
It's about 140 miles
east of Victorville.
- [Indistinct chatter on phone]
- No, Salt Valley.
- [woman] I don't see Salt Valley...
- Sorry?
[Woman] It's not for service here.
- [woman] Sure you got that right?
- I'm...
Is there another name?
Old Mine Road.
Nobody calls it Salt Valley anymore.
- Old Mine Road.
- [woman] That's quite a ways from here.
[Crickets chirping]
[Allie] Sure love the quiet.
There's nothing like it in LA.
[Coughing]
[Gasping]
- I... I just thought I saw...
- The heat'll do that to you.
- [man] Hello?
- [Helen whispers] Take me with you.
- Mead's Auto Service?
- Mm-hmm.
- [Tim] Is...
- What can I help you with?
- We're broken down on Old Mine Road.
- Old Mine?
Out past where
the road turns to dirt there?
- Uh, yeah.
- What seems to be the problem?
[Tim] Radiator. Yeah.
- It's shot?
- The hose is busted for sure.
Be a while before we
can get someone over there.
Late evening, early morning.
- How much?
- Nine hundred plus road tax.
- You have AAA?
- No...
[Tim] No, I'll have to get back to you.
We're here 'til six.
You know, it's really hard to get
sweet iced tea in LA.
You have to especially ask for it.
Well?
OK, two options.
[Tim] Option one:
We catch a tow out of Inyokern.
- Three hours each way, 900 dollars.
- [Allie] Nine hundred dollars?
Plus service cost at double-time
since it's a Sunday.
Extortion, yeah, I know.
Not only that, their one car is on a run
and won't be back until this evening,
which means he can't even get here
until 2:00am at the earliest,
and possibly not at all.
All because of one stupid hose.
And the good option?
That was a good option.
Burrelson's Garage, which is less than
an hour away, is closed on Sundays.
As luck would have it.
What about our Mr. Pritchett?
He's coming in the morning. He
could give them a ride to Burrelson's.
All right.
Pritchett?
He comes every Monday morning
around seven.
I'm sure he would be happy
to give you a ride.
A very nice man.
We could pick up a
radiator hose at Burrelson's,
hitch back and save on the tow.
Get away for pocket change.
I'd hate to be a burden.
It's not a burden.
That's what our lord commands.
[Crickets chirping, soft music]
[Chicken clucking]
Well, now, that was perfect.
Actually, I became a vegan
about a year ago,
and I plan on staying that way
through the pregnancy.
[Allie] And probably even
as long as I'm nursing.
[Dog barking]
[Wind whistling]
[Muffled screams]
Did you hear that?
The wind gets very strong here.
Now, the spare room, such as it is,
is right through that door, there.
I'm sure it'll be fine.
More than fine.
Please let me do the dishes,
it's the least...
You let Helen do that.
Please, it's how I relax.
OK, if you insist.
The outhouse is outside
through the front door.
If you need running water,
you can get that at the kitchen sink.
Got it.
We are very private people here.
And we expect that
you will respect that privacy.
- [Tim] Of course.
- Absolutely.
So don't go wandering around outside
except to go to the outhouse.
And do not go anywhere
that you are not invited.
Understood.
[Chair slams]
OK, tell me if I'm off here,
but freaky old hermit buys himself
a Russian wife off of the Internet
and she thinks, "Woo-hoo,
California, here I come,"
but winds up so far off the grid
that she might as well be on Mars.
Then she hits on a stranded motorist
in the kitchen
while his pregnant wife is getting
the evil eye from freaky hermit guy.
Are you kidding?
Are you sure she...
Gave me a reach around
while I was on the phone?
And sitting on the kitchen table,
skirt hiked up, legs open,
blouse open to her nipples? Yeah.
But who am I to judge? Maybe that's
how people cool off around here.
Jesus Christ.
No, I think that's freaky
hermit guy's department.
That is when he's not making porn videos
with his wife doing stranded motorists
- and selling them on the Internet.
- You really think that he's...
Why would he have all that video
equipment with no TV hook-up?
Dude's not making a living
growing tumbleweeds
- [quietly] or selling corn-husk dolls.
- I know. That is so freaky, right?
[Indistinct whining]
Ooh, I'm really getting
creeped out here.
[More whining, rustling]
OK, and that doesn't help either.
This really, really sucks.
I'm not the one
who insisted on coming inside.
- Really, then why am I pregnant?
- [Both chuckling]
- Even the cracks are little crosses.
- Stop it.
- Damn.
- What?
Shouldn't have drank all that iced tea.
[Grunts]
[Door closes]
[Eerie music]
[Crickets chirping]
[Owl hooting]
[Wind chimes chiming]
You gotta be kidding me.
[Sighs] All right...
[urinating]
[Faint yelling]
[Faint yelling]
[Whirring, indistinct yell]
[Owl hooting]
[Instrumental music]
[Quiet rattling]
[High pitch ringing]
[Wind blowing]
[Indistinct voices]
[Dog barking]
[Rattling]
[Child yelling]
[Dog barking]
[Glass cracking]
[Dog barking]
[Gasps]
[Whispering] Are you all right?
Don't be afraid.
I'm not going to hurt you.
[Heavy breathing]
[Allie] What's your name?
Mine's Allie.
[Loud bang]
[Footsteps approaching]
[Footsteps stop]
[Owl hooting]
[Preacher chanting] Grant me one hour
and I will till the soil.
Grant me one day
and I will plant the seeds.
[Wind chimes chiming]
[Preacher chanting] Grant me one year
and I will reap thy harvest.
It's worse. It's way worse
than we thought, OK?
He's got a kid locked up in the
storage shed and he's out in the garage.
- The kid?
- No, Preacher.
He's out in the garage, which he
turned into a church or a sex den,
just chanting weird shit about planting
and harvesting like some freaky...
- [Tim] Slow down.
- No, listen, we gotta get out of here.
Tonight. But we gotta
take that kid with us.
We can't leave him here
with that sick bastard.
I want to kill him,
I just wanna kill him!
- Hang on, slow down. Deep breaths.
- Don't patronize me.
He's some fucking psycho
fucking pervert
like those other
sick fucks you read about.
- 911, OK? We gotta call 911.
- I'll do it.
Just... We need to get
our shit together first.
[Scoffs] You think I'm imagining this?
I'm just saying...
Remember that time you heard the bears
attacking the tent in Kings Canyon?
Yeah, what does that
have to do with this?
Turned out they were squirrels.
- You don't believe me.
- I do, but we need to be specific.
They're gonna ask me questions.
Did you... Did you see the kid?
No, but I heard him.
I definitely heard him.
Yeah, but actually see him?
Did you see who was in the shed?
- It was padlocked, OK?
- OK! OK, so maybe...
- Maybe what?
- Could it have been...? I mean...
- What did you hear?
- Crying.
- Helen.
- No, it wasn't a woman crying in there,
it was a little boy
or little girl, a child.
Imagine if it was our child.
- What if it was our child?
- OK, OK, OK. I'll call for help
- Thank you.
- You say Preacher's in the garage?
He was, I don't know about now.
You stay here, watch the window.
If you see him coming back...
[Allie] What?
Never mind, just stay put.
I'll take care of it.
- No, what if he catches you?
- I can take him if I have to.
- [Allie] You don't know that, he's big.
- I took a judo class in high school.
- [Nervous laughter] Tim...
- [door opens]
Oh, shit.
[Screeching sounds]
Goddamn it.
[Camera clicking]
[Static]
[High pitch screeching]
[Gasping]
Ahh!
You scared the shit out of me.
Did you see him?
Did you see the little kid?
- Yeah, all it is is little close-ups.
- No, he was just in here.
What?
Holy shit, what's with the blood?
There's all sorts of broken glass
and rusty nails out there.
He might still be in here.
Oh, God, he's coming.
You did make the call, right?
Right?
- No, not yet, I...
- Un-fucking-believable.
- Where are you going?
- Just make the call.
Hey, I...
I was wondering if you could wait on
the porch while I go to the outhouse.
It's dark and I'm a bit scared
to be out there by myself.
- Ain't you already been out there?
- No.
I've been kind of holding it.
Last time I was in
an actual outhouse, I was a kid
and we were visiting a state park...
My brother pulled open the door and
shoved me inside and held it closed,
so you can see why I'm still a bit...
...freaked by...
I... I was out once... already.
Why? Did you go to the shed?
I didn't.
- I just... went to the outhouse and...
- Oh...
Ain't no water out there,
except where that hose leaks,
and that's right... by the shed.
Stop.
I didn't mean to, I was...
I... There were these noises,
and I just...
What noises were there?
I... I don't know, I...
I don't know.
I thought I heard something,
but I went to check, and... ow.
What did I tell you...
...about sneakin' around?!
You have no idea.
I know there's a kid
you keep in the shed back there.
And you film him, I know that much.
But you're right, I don't know any more
than that and I don't want to know.
I just want to get through the night
and be on our way when the
delivery guy shows up, that's all.
I don't believe you.
How 'bout this:
We go "don't ask, don't tell."
And, in the morning,
the second we're gone,
you make sure that kid
is out of the shed.
You delete these cards,
throw some bleach on the floor there
- and it's our word against yours.
- Tim.
Our word against yours,
and not a stitch of evidence.
You think I'm in the grip of evil.
I didn't say that.
I'm fighting evil.
And you...
You go back to your room... right now.
Her real name is Oksana.
And she deceived me.
She told me that she could tell
from my letters that I was a good man,
and there were very
few good men in her country.
But she didn't tell me
that she was pregnant.
That all she wanted was the chance
for her son to be born on American soil.
Evil finds evil.
Your wife and her son,
you think they're evil?
Oh, no, she was just a mother
and like every mother,
she wanted what was best for her child.
But I have forgiven her deceit
as God commands.
How can you condemn her child
when he's only five years old?
[Preacher] He's not her child.
- Not anymore.
- I thought you said he...
[Preacher] Oh.
I'm from Gatlin, Nebraska.
The people in Gatlin,
they know more about certain things...
...certain unspeakable things
than you could even imagine.
Things like how easy it is
to corrupt a poor child's soul
or even just to
steal that soul outright.
If I hadn't been in the Army
and stationed overseas
when the massacre happened,
I'd be dead now
like all the rest of my friends
and my family.
Every single adult in Gatlin...
...was slaughtered by children.
- [Indistinct yelling]
Good children. Christian children.
You tell me, Mr. Gleason.
What could make a child
do something like that?
- [woman] 911, what's the emergency?
- Hi, we've been...
Well, it seems that uh...
...you too, have a deceitful wife.
- What happened?
- The phone, it just...
- How?
- [Gasping] I don't know.
- Did you get through?
- I don't know. I don't think so.
It's alright, it's OK, it's OK.
Why the hell didn't you make the call?
You had the time.
I was trying to put the camera
on the stand so he wouldn't know.
- Now it's too late.
- I'm sorry.
- One thing... You had one thing to do.
- I know, I know.
- Let's go. Let's just go.
- It's the middle of the night.
- Where are we gonna go?
- I don't know. I don't care,
- just... Please, let's just go.
- All right, come on.
Ah!
Tim.
Don't try and stop us.
[Loud thud]
Oh, God...
- Who's doing this?
- I told you, but you didn't listen.
Come on.
They never do.
- What the fuck?!
- Something in this house
- doesn't want us to leave.
- Damn it, like what?
- A poltergeist? A ghost?
- I don't know!
[Window breaking]
The same thing happened with the phone,
it just jerked out of my hand.
This house is rigged.
Pastor thinks he's David fucking Blaine.
- That's not it.
- [Tim] Well, what is it then?
- You won't believe me.
- Try me.
Someone in this house is psychokinetic,
like off the charts.
Who? The kid?
Or Preacher or Helen/Oksana or whoever,
someone we don't even know about yet.
Tim!
- Oh, my God!
- I'm OK.
It wants you to return to your room.
You, the deceitful wife and you,
the cheating husband.
Don't worry, it'll release you at dawn.
I hope.
[Leaves rustling]
"I hope?" "I hope?"
What the hell does that even mean?
I'm sorry, we'll get through this.
I promise you, we'll get through...
Allie?
- You lied to me.
- What?
- No, what are you talking about?
- You fucked her, didn't you?
How can you say that? Because of
what that lunatic said? You believe him?
Just tell me yes or no.
- Did you fuck her in the kitchen?
- I told you what happened.
And that's all?
I know that everything's
going insane right now,
but that's no reason for us
to start doubting each other, OK?
My God, all we have is each other
right now. You gotta hang on to that.
- You didn't touch her?
- God, no!
[Panting, moaning]
You fucking pig.
You spineless fucking pig!
How could you do this to me?!
I don't know what you think you know
or saw, but you gotta believe me...
Fuck you!
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
[Scraping]
[High pitch ringing]
[Ominous music plays]
[Pulse beating]
[Faintly] Wait.
Wait.
[Gasps]
[Prolonged choral vocalizing]
[Vocalizing stops]
[Gasping]
[Choral vocalizing]
[Piano music playing]
[Crickets chirping]
[Ominous music plays]
[Wind blowing]
[Car approaching]
The police. You got through!
- Hey! Officer!
- Help us!
- Officer, please look over here!
- Hey!
Hello!
- [Tim] Hey! Over here!
- [Allie] Officer! Hello!
- Look over here!
- What are you doing?
- [Allie] Why can't he hear us?
- [Tim] I don't know...
- [Tim] Here! Hey!
- [Allie] Please!
What the hell's wrong with you?
Look over here, damn it!
- [Allie] Please! Mr. Police Officer!
- [Tim] Hey! Look over here, we're here!
[Tim pounding and yelling] Hey, cop!
[Screaming]
[Wind howling]
[Rhythmic whirring]
[Gasps]
This isn't happening.
It's not happening.
Did you see them slip anything
into our food or the tea?
- A hallucinogenic or something?
- No, not that I could tell.
Think. Anything odd or out-of-place
when we first got here?
Everything was odd and out-of-place.
What if... What if we're dead?
What if we never got out of the car?
Like what? We're still dead on the
roadside? From what?
I don't know. Accident?
Heat stroke? I don't know.
No, I'm not going there. There's gotta
be a better explanation than that.
We pounded on the window. The cop,
he should have heard us, seen us.
- There's no way he could've missed us.
- If he was even really there at all.
You saw what happened. That shit
just does not happen in waking life.
So we're dreaming.
Asleep and dreaming.
No, I didn't say that.
- No, we're not dreaming.
- [Allie] How can you know for sure?
Look, we can sit here and run through
every pop-culture explanation you want,
but that is not gonna help us.
That is not gonna get us out of here.
Helen. We gotta talk to Helen.
We gotta get her side of this.
We gotta get her away from Preacher,
she's a completely...
I'm just trying to get us out of here.
No. I'll talk to her,
you just get her away from her husband.
Preacher, I need to talk to you.
I know you're in there,
I need to talk to you now.
- I need to talk to your husband.
- He doesn't want to speak with you.
I don't give a shit.
You're only going to make it angry.
I already made it angry,
and I'm still here.
- Not for long.
- Is that a threat, or a premonition?
[Tim] Or are you just trying
to fuck with my head again?
Not to mention my wife's.
[Ominous rumbling]
- Come here.
- What do you want?
Don't play innocent with me.
I know you want me to think it's the kid
that's somehow doing all this.
- You know it is. You saw the tape.
- I don't know what I saw.
Evil's just another kind of life,
and like all life,
it doesn't come into
this world fully formed.
It's uh...
It's like a seed, floating in the wind.
That's where the Bible got it wrong.
I'm gonna skip, for the moment,
what you did to my husband or why.
But, believe me, I'll come
back to it and it won't be pretty.
Why do you keep your little boy
locked up in that shed?
Look, I know you're afraid
of your husband,
but whatever it is you think
that he can do to you,
is nothing compared with
25 years to life
in a prison full of homicidal mothers
who would love to carve you up
like a Christmas goose
for what you're doing to your own child.
[Preacher] You saw the signs.
Maybe if you hadn't been looking for
them, you wouldn't have noticed them.
But you saw them.
[Preacher] Just like you,
I had to be sure.
I studied those images for weeks.
I don't know what I saw.
[Buzzing]
It's growing inside of him.
Learning, developing.
Rapidly, like a child.
At first it started out
with just simple things
- like rattling the dishes
- [rattling]
- And fluttering little pieces of paper.
- [Fluttering]
But then it moved on to other things.
[Crickets chirping]
[Door slams]
My husband is not a man of God.
He pretends to be, but he's not.
He brought me over here to be his wife.
And to bear his child.
Wait... That's... That is his child?
Of course.
Why would he lock
his own child in that shed?
He didn't.
I did.
The children in Gatlin,
they called it,
"He who walks behind the rows."
[Violent tearing]
So it kills a cop
and it keeps us here hostage.
- [Tim] For what?
- It wants your wife.
That means you're the expendable one.
Of course, all the men are expendable
once the seeds are sewn.
How do you even know any of this?
I see things.
It puts pictures in my head,
I don't know why.
Like what?
Like your wife's abortion
after her first pregnancy.
- It was a miscarriage.
- That's what she says to you.
[Pulse beating]
I don't believe this. Any of it.
- She was unsure.
- Of what?
Of you.
I was trying to protect him
from my husband.
I locked him in a shed.
I didn't know what else to do.
- Call the cops?
- You saw what he did to that policeman.
Your husband did that?
He will blame our son,
but it's not true.
Our son is innocent,
like all children.
The evil is in him.
You know, I can make the case
that you're behind all of this.
You could.
And that's the misery of it.
I have to go.
What does this thing want
with my wife?
What does it want?
It's a seed.
A seed that lives inside of other seeds.
[Preacher] It wants her baby.
Why?
It lives inside of children,
but children, they grow up.
They become adults.
And adults can become... unwilling.
To what?
To kill.
[Preacher] I provide it
with whatever it needs,
and what it needs the most are children.
Little lambs.
To replace those that
were sacrificed to adulthood.
Just tell me one thing.
How do we get out of this house?
When it's asleep.
Great. How do we know if it's asleep?
You won't.
[Preacher] You'll only know when it's
awake.
[Engine running]
We don't even know what to watch for.
Everything.
- Don't lean against the door.
- Why?
I don't know why, just don't do it!
All right.
When you had the miscarriage,
it was a miscarriage, right?
Not a...
Not what? Not what, Tim?
Nothing.
[Piano music plays]
[Flies buzzing]
[Birds chirping]
[Faint stereo playing]
[Engine running]
It's the delivery guy.
[Beeping]
- [Quietly] Not yet, not yet. Wait.
- [Whispering] What?
[Grunts]
Howdy.
Got everything there.
You're about a month early
on that acorn squash,
so I had to swap that out for zucchini.
[Man] You got your sweet corn,
that's nature's candy.
- [Whispering] What do you think?
- Shh!
I got you two little hams
instead of the one big one,
- but it's about the same weight, so...
- Fine, fine.
And what's this here?
Well, that there is...
...something special
for one lucky little boy.
No, no, I did not
order anything for any boy.
It was me.
[Rustling]
I had something like that
when I was a little boy.
I run that thing into the ground.
Gonna need you to do us a favor.
We got a couple of young people
got stranded out here last night.
[Man] Yeah, I seen the car broke down.
[Preacher] Think you could give them a
lift into Burrelson's Garage?
Sure, yeah.
That's on my way and everything.
Here, let me help you
get this stuff inside, there.
Oh, no, everything's fine,
just leave them right where they are.
Okey-dokey.
Well, y'all... Y'all keep a cool stool.
I see you got a visit
from the police, there.
None of my business. [chuckles]
Hey, tell your guests I gotta be
rolling in about five minutes.
[Man] Appreciate it.
I don't like this.
Hey, y'all, come on over. I don't bite.
Mr. Pritchett,
I'm Tim Gleason, this is my wife, Allie.
[Pritchett] It's real nice to meet
you.
- I appreciate you helping us out.
- [Pritchett] You know what?
I know what it's like
to get stuck out in the boonies.
I've been stuck out here,
like, 33 years. [chuckling]
- Here you go.
- You got room up there for both of us?
No, I just... I barely got room for one,
you're gonna have to
ride in the back, there.
I'll get you to Burrelson's
as quick as I can.
You know, before it gets too heated-up.
I got some blankets and stuff in here
if it'd make you more comfortable.
Let's go.
OK, come on, let's go.
[Engine stalling]
- [Allie] What's wrong?
- He left the lights on.
Come on, come on, come on.
It's a more comfortable ride,
I'll give you that, but...
...I wouldn't recommend
stealing, or borrowing, a police car.
Please. Please.
Please, please, please.
Come on.
Go, go, go, go, go!
Hell, I... I reckon that takes care
of our little police problem.
[Allie] Oh, God.
Yes.
[Accelerating]
I brought you something.
I hope you like it.
Please don't be angry with me.
I will take you away from all of this.
I promise.
Soon, very soon.
Mommy loves you.
Mommy will always love you.
No matter what.
[Allie] What really happened back there?
I mean, taking away
all the he said, she said?
[Tim] It was some kind of a cult.
And that kid, if he's even a kid at all,
is at the center of it.
What if he's just an innocent child?
Then he'll be taken away from those
freaks and given to a good home.
[Clicking]
[Single click]
[Grunts]
[Gurgling]
[Gasps]
One thing seems pretty clear.
Whoever, or whatever did all that,
was playing with our perceptions,
- getting inside our heads.
- Yeah.
[Allie] So, I have to admit
it's got me wondering now
just what was real back there
and what wasn't.
[Allie] Including what really went on
between you and Helen.
Come on, when Preacher said
what he said, he was baiting me.
He knows his wife,
he knows what she's capable of.
He doesn't know me.
[Accelerating]
OK. You're forgiven.
- Forgiven? I didn't do anything!
- Forgiven just in case you did.
I think I can live with that.
[Rattling]
[Allie] Honey, I don't like
the looks of that.
Yeah, that top one
seems loose, doesn't it?
[Allie] Yeah, speed up and go around it.
Wait, no. Just slow down
and let it get ahead of you.
- Make up your mind.
- Slower.
[Allie] Wait, never mind. You know,
it looks like it's gonna hold.
- For Chrissakes, Allie!
- I'm sorry, I don't like it!
Just go around it!
[Rattling]
[Siren blaring]
What are you doing?
You wanted me to go around it,
I'm making sure it gets out of the way.
[Rattling]
Oh, my God, Tim, look out!
- Oh, my God!
- Ahh!
- [Allie] Oh, my God!
- [Tim] Hold on.
- [Tires squealing]
- [Tim] Come on!
[Allie] Be careful! Oh, my God!
- [Tim] Ahhh!
- Watch out!
- What is going on?
- Tim, I love you.
[Both yelling]
[Glass breaking]
[Metal scraping]
[Glass shattering]
[Ticking]
[Piano music playing]
[Wind blowing]
[Softly] Tim.
Tim?
[Whimpering] No...
No...
[sobbing]
Poor thing.
Got yourself in
quite a pickle here, don't you?
I'm gonna get you out of here.
I'll get you fixed up good as new.
I'm sorry about your hubby.
Looks like he's in
the arms of Jesus now.
[Pulse beating]
[Brakes squealing]
[Engine shuts off]
Here we go.
Come on.
There she is.
Little worse for the wear, but...
...she's still pretty as a peach.
I don't know how you do it. Each one
of them's sweeter than the last.
[Woman's voice] Whoever receives
the child...
[woman's voice 2] Do not despise the
little ones, for they are...
[girl's voice] Blessed children do not
follow the rules of their fathers...
And a child shall lead them.
[Beeping]
[Crickets chirping]
[Pulse beating]
[Allie humming]
[Humming continues]
[Thud]
[Rock music plays]
[Song ends]
[Soft instrumental music playing]
[Choral chanting]
[Crickets and birds chirping]
[Sighs]
[Traditional music playing]
Hello?
I'm home!
Mom!
Dad!
Bethany?
[Record scratches then continues]
[Thud]
Ah!
Mom?
[Crying and gasping]
[Footsteps]
[Record scratches and stops]
[Footsteps]
[Loud thud]
Beth?
Bethany?
It's me, Cole.
[Sniffles]
Ahh!
Did you do this?
Who did?
He who walks behind the rows.
He said to slay
the righteous with the wicked.
Where is he?
Just tell me where he is.
[Gasping and grunting]
Don't move!
- [Cole] Don't make me do it.
- Baby killer.
- Get back!
- [Girl] Baby killer.
- You're a baby killer. Baby killer.
- [Gunshots]
Don't make me do it, not again.
Baby killer!
Baby killer.
- Baby...
- [screams]
Baby killer. Baby killer!
[Soldiers voice] Get a grip on yourself,
soldier.
Baby killer.
Baby killer.
Baby killer.
[Gun cocks]
[Window shatters]
[Crows cawing]
[Male] Guilty.
[Soft instrumental music]
[Bell dinging]
[Indistinct voices]
[Woman] And a child shall lead them.
[Music continues]
[Carousel playing]
[Squeaking]
[Squeaking] [door slams shut]
I'm so hot.
And not in a good way.
It shouldn't be much longer.
It's been over an hour,
and not a single car has passed by.
We're still in California,
there have to be cars.
[Chuckling] Nice bit of deductive
reasoning. Well done.
[Woman] What if we pour the rest of the
water in the radiator?
Which will get us, what, 40 feet maybe?
Then we'd be stranded and without water.
Here.
Stay hydrated.
You're drinking for two now, baby.
Oh, God.
I'm gonna puke.
[Coughing, puking]
And so much for hydration.
Oh, God.
[Man] There's some telephone poles,
maybe a house.
Stay here, I'll run up
and call for a tow.
You kidding? I'm not gonna
stay here and fry like an egg.
You sure you can handle the walk?
I'm pregnant, I'm not dying.
All right, then.
Let's go make some friends.
[Soft instrumental music]
- Thanks, by the way.
- For what?
For not telling me what a limp
dick I am for taking the scenic route.
I'm still allowed to think it,
right?
Oh, yeah, it's cool.
[Crow cawing]
[Woman] I like it. Meth-lab chic.
[Man] Let's be nice. Definitely do not
want to antagonize the natives.
If the worst should happen,
tell Little Bubba that his father
was a great but flawed man.
- Our kid's gonna be named Little Bubba?
- Mm-hmm.
OK.
[Knocking]
[Wings flapping]
[Knock]
[Fumbling with lock]
Howdy.
I'm Tim Gleason
and this is my wife, Allie.
We hate to bother you, sir,
but our car broke down in the heat
- and we were wondering...
- Can't help you.
We don't need any help, just the
use of your phone to call for a tow.
Ain't got no phone.
Thanks anyway. Sorry to bother you.
Excuse me, just one more thing.
Since we're without wheels,
can you tell us how far it is
to your nearest neighbor
or nearest...
...anything?
It be very far.
- You sure you don't have a phone?
- He just said he didn't.
That sure looks a lot like
a phone line to me.
Let's go, Allie.
Don't make a big deal out of this.
It's cool, we'll find another way.
It's all good.
[Allie] It's not all good, it's 120
degrees.
[Tim] We'll find a ride,
OK? Let's go.
- Just let me talk to him.
- No, you heard him. We're going.
Why? 'Cause he might be
a tweaker with a shotgun?
Could you say that any louder?
Sir? Hi.
We both know you have a phone...
- Asshole!
- Take it easy.
- What is his problem?
- Let it go.
If I have a miscarriage,
it's your fault!
- Let's go. We're sorry!
- No, we're not!
All right, you get yourself on in here.
It wouldn't be right to leave a woman
in your condition out here in the heat.
[Soft instrumental music]
Wouldn't be Christian.
So I'm Tim and this is Allie.
Helen.
And this is my husband, Cole.
But everyone around calls him Preacher.
Your accent. Um, Romanian?
Ukraine.
How long have you been in the states?
Six years, almost.
Pretty cool flat-screen you got there.
[Tim] You folks own dish
or cable out here?
We ain't got neither.
Just watch videos, huh?
That's pretty much all you need now that
The Sopranos is dead and buried.
I better make that call.
Uh, where's your phone?
I will show you.
Thanks.
I imagine everything's long distance
from here, so here,
- let me leave a little.
- Hundred.
Dollars?
That's a bit steep for a phone call, no?
Fifty, whatever you have spare.
- Please don't tell my husband.
- OK, sure.
- Do you have any pot?
- What? No.
- Cigarette?
- I don't smoke.
We're going to see Tim's
grandfather. He lives in Victorville.
Well, just north of Victorville.
He's not doing well.
Tim thought it would be a cool idea
if we took the scenic route. [chuckling]
Always a good idea, right?
[Mimicking sound effects from Psycho]
So... you're pregnant?
Yeah... first time.
Well, second time, really,
but the first time didn't take.
Although I hardly thought of it
as a first time.
More like a false start.
But this time it just feels...
It just feels kind of... different.
Yeah, we're out on Salt Valley Road.
It's about 140 miles
east of Victorville.
- [Indistinct chatter on phone]
- No, Salt Valley.
- [woman] I don't see Salt Valley...
- Sorry?
[Woman] It's not for service here.
- [woman] Sure you got that right?
- I'm...
Is there another name?
Old Mine Road.
Nobody calls it Salt Valley anymore.
- Old Mine Road.
- [woman] That's quite a ways from here.
[Crickets chirping]
[Allie] Sure love the quiet.
There's nothing like it in LA.
[Coughing]
[Gasping]
- I... I just thought I saw...
- The heat'll do that to you.
- [man] Hello?
- [Helen whispers] Take me with you.
- Mead's Auto Service?
- Mm-hmm.
- [Tim] Is...
- What can I help you with?
- We're broken down on Old Mine Road.
- Old Mine?
Out past where
the road turns to dirt there?
- Uh, yeah.
- What seems to be the problem?
[Tim] Radiator. Yeah.
- It's shot?
- The hose is busted for sure.
Be a while before we
can get someone over there.
Late evening, early morning.
- How much?
- Nine hundred plus road tax.
- You have AAA?
- No...
[Tim] No, I'll have to get back to you.
We're here 'til six.
You know, it's really hard to get
sweet iced tea in LA.
You have to especially ask for it.
Well?
OK, two options.
[Tim] Option one:
We catch a tow out of Inyokern.
- Three hours each way, 900 dollars.
- [Allie] Nine hundred dollars?
Plus service cost at double-time
since it's a Sunday.
Extortion, yeah, I know.
Not only that, their one car is on a run
and won't be back until this evening,
which means he can't even get here
until 2:00am at the earliest,
and possibly not at all.
All because of one stupid hose.
And the good option?
That was a good option.
Burrelson's Garage, which is less than
an hour away, is closed on Sundays.
As luck would have it.
What about our Mr. Pritchett?
He's coming in the morning. He
could give them a ride to Burrelson's.
All right.
Pritchett?
He comes every Monday morning
around seven.
I'm sure he would be happy
to give you a ride.
A very nice man.
We could pick up a
radiator hose at Burrelson's,
hitch back and save on the tow.
Get away for pocket change.
I'd hate to be a burden.
It's not a burden.
That's what our lord commands.
[Crickets chirping, soft music]
[Chicken clucking]
Well, now, that was perfect.
Actually, I became a vegan
about a year ago,
and I plan on staying that way
through the pregnancy.
[Allie] And probably even
as long as I'm nursing.
[Dog barking]
[Wind whistling]
[Muffled screams]
Did you hear that?
The wind gets very strong here.
Now, the spare room, such as it is,
is right through that door, there.
I'm sure it'll be fine.
More than fine.
Please let me do the dishes,
it's the least...
You let Helen do that.
Please, it's how I relax.
OK, if you insist.
The outhouse is outside
through the front door.
If you need running water,
you can get that at the kitchen sink.
Got it.
We are very private people here.
And we expect that
you will respect that privacy.
- [Tim] Of course.
- Absolutely.
So don't go wandering around outside
except to go to the outhouse.
And do not go anywhere
that you are not invited.
Understood.
[Chair slams]
OK, tell me if I'm off here,
but freaky old hermit buys himself
a Russian wife off of the Internet
and she thinks, "Woo-hoo,
California, here I come,"
but winds up so far off the grid
that she might as well be on Mars.
Then she hits on a stranded motorist
in the kitchen
while his pregnant wife is getting
the evil eye from freaky hermit guy.
Are you kidding?
Are you sure she...
Gave me a reach around
while I was on the phone?
And sitting on the kitchen table,
skirt hiked up, legs open,
blouse open to her nipples? Yeah.
But who am I to judge? Maybe that's
how people cool off around here.
Jesus Christ.
No, I think that's freaky
hermit guy's department.
That is when he's not making porn videos
with his wife doing stranded motorists
- and selling them on the Internet.
- You really think that he's...
Why would he have all that video
equipment with no TV hook-up?
Dude's not making a living
growing tumbleweeds
- [quietly] or selling corn-husk dolls.
- I know. That is so freaky, right?
[Indistinct whining]
Ooh, I'm really getting
creeped out here.
[More whining, rustling]
OK, and that doesn't help either.
This really, really sucks.
I'm not the one
who insisted on coming inside.
- Really, then why am I pregnant?
- [Both chuckling]
- Even the cracks are little crosses.
- Stop it.
- Damn.
- What?
Shouldn't have drank all that iced tea.
[Grunts]
[Door closes]
[Eerie music]
[Crickets chirping]
[Owl hooting]
[Wind chimes chiming]
You gotta be kidding me.
[Sighs] All right...
[urinating]
[Faint yelling]
[Faint yelling]
[Whirring, indistinct yell]
[Owl hooting]
[Instrumental music]
[Quiet rattling]
[High pitch ringing]
[Wind blowing]
[Indistinct voices]
[Dog barking]
[Rattling]
[Child yelling]
[Dog barking]
[Glass cracking]
[Dog barking]
[Gasps]
[Whispering] Are you all right?
Don't be afraid.
I'm not going to hurt you.
[Heavy breathing]
[Allie] What's your name?
Mine's Allie.
[Loud bang]
[Footsteps approaching]
[Footsteps stop]
[Owl hooting]
[Preacher chanting] Grant me one hour
and I will till the soil.
Grant me one day
and I will plant the seeds.
[Wind chimes chiming]
[Preacher chanting] Grant me one year
and I will reap thy harvest.
It's worse. It's way worse
than we thought, OK?
He's got a kid locked up in the
storage shed and he's out in the garage.
- The kid?
- No, Preacher.
He's out in the garage, which he
turned into a church or a sex den,
just chanting weird shit about planting
and harvesting like some freaky...
- [Tim] Slow down.
- No, listen, we gotta get out of here.
Tonight. But we gotta
take that kid with us.
We can't leave him here
with that sick bastard.
I want to kill him,
I just wanna kill him!
- Hang on, slow down. Deep breaths.
- Don't patronize me.
He's some fucking psycho
fucking pervert
like those other
sick fucks you read about.
- 911, OK? We gotta call 911.
- I'll do it.
Just... We need to get
our shit together first.
[Scoffs] You think I'm imagining this?
I'm just saying...
Remember that time you heard the bears
attacking the tent in Kings Canyon?
Yeah, what does that
have to do with this?
Turned out they were squirrels.
- You don't believe me.
- I do, but we need to be specific.
They're gonna ask me questions.
Did you... Did you see the kid?
No, but I heard him.
I definitely heard him.
Yeah, but actually see him?
Did you see who was in the shed?
- It was padlocked, OK?
- OK! OK, so maybe...
- Maybe what?
- Could it have been...? I mean...
- What did you hear?
- Crying.
- Helen.
- No, it wasn't a woman crying in there,
it was a little boy
or little girl, a child.
Imagine if it was our child.
- What if it was our child?
- OK, OK, OK. I'll call for help
- Thank you.
- You say Preacher's in the garage?
He was, I don't know about now.
You stay here, watch the window.
If you see him coming back...
[Allie] What?
Never mind, just stay put.
I'll take care of it.
- No, what if he catches you?
- I can take him if I have to.
- [Allie] You don't know that, he's big.
- I took a judo class in high school.
- [Nervous laughter] Tim...
- [door opens]
Oh, shit.
[Screeching sounds]
Goddamn it.
[Camera clicking]
[Static]
[High pitch screeching]
[Gasping]
Ahh!
You scared the shit out of me.
Did you see him?
Did you see the little kid?
- Yeah, all it is is little close-ups.
- No, he was just in here.
What?
Holy shit, what's with the blood?
There's all sorts of broken glass
and rusty nails out there.
He might still be in here.
Oh, God, he's coming.
You did make the call, right?
Right?
- No, not yet, I...
- Un-fucking-believable.
- Where are you going?
- Just make the call.
Hey, I...
I was wondering if you could wait on
the porch while I go to the outhouse.
It's dark and I'm a bit scared
to be out there by myself.
- Ain't you already been out there?
- No.
I've been kind of holding it.
Last time I was in
an actual outhouse, I was a kid
and we were visiting a state park...
My brother pulled open the door and
shoved me inside and held it closed,
so you can see why I'm still a bit...
...freaked by...
I... I was out once... already.
Why? Did you go to the shed?
I didn't.
- I just... went to the outhouse and...
- Oh...
Ain't no water out there,
except where that hose leaks,
and that's right... by the shed.
Stop.
I didn't mean to, I was...
I... There were these noises,
and I just...
What noises were there?
I... I don't know, I...
I don't know.
I thought I heard something,
but I went to check, and... ow.
What did I tell you...
...about sneakin' around?!
You have no idea.
I know there's a kid
you keep in the shed back there.
And you film him, I know that much.
But you're right, I don't know any more
than that and I don't want to know.
I just want to get through the night
and be on our way when the
delivery guy shows up, that's all.
I don't believe you.
How 'bout this:
We go "don't ask, don't tell."
And, in the morning,
the second we're gone,
you make sure that kid
is out of the shed.
You delete these cards,
throw some bleach on the floor there
- and it's our word against yours.
- Tim.
Our word against yours,
and not a stitch of evidence.
You think I'm in the grip of evil.
I didn't say that.
I'm fighting evil.
And you...
You go back to your room... right now.
Her real name is Oksana.
And she deceived me.
She told me that she could tell
from my letters that I was a good man,
and there were very
few good men in her country.
But she didn't tell me
that she was pregnant.
That all she wanted was the chance
for her son to be born on American soil.
Evil finds evil.
Your wife and her son,
you think they're evil?
Oh, no, she was just a mother
and like every mother,
she wanted what was best for her child.
But I have forgiven her deceit
as God commands.
How can you condemn her child
when he's only five years old?
[Preacher] He's not her child.
- Not anymore.
- I thought you said he...
[Preacher] Oh.
I'm from Gatlin, Nebraska.
The people in Gatlin,
they know more about certain things...
...certain unspeakable things
than you could even imagine.
Things like how easy it is
to corrupt a poor child's soul
or even just to
steal that soul outright.
If I hadn't been in the Army
and stationed overseas
when the massacre happened,
I'd be dead now
like all the rest of my friends
and my family.
Every single adult in Gatlin...
...was slaughtered by children.
- [Indistinct yelling]
Good children. Christian children.
You tell me, Mr. Gleason.
What could make a child
do something like that?
- [woman] 911, what's the emergency?
- Hi, we've been...
Well, it seems that uh...
...you too, have a deceitful wife.
- What happened?
- The phone, it just...
- How?
- [Gasping] I don't know.
- Did you get through?
- I don't know. I don't think so.
It's alright, it's OK, it's OK.
Why the hell didn't you make the call?
You had the time.
I was trying to put the camera
on the stand so he wouldn't know.
- Now it's too late.
- I'm sorry.
- One thing... You had one thing to do.
- I know, I know.
- Let's go. Let's just go.
- It's the middle of the night.
- Where are we gonna go?
- I don't know. I don't care,
- just... Please, let's just go.
- All right, come on.
Ah!
Tim.
Don't try and stop us.
[Loud thud]
Oh, God...
- Who's doing this?
- I told you, but you didn't listen.
Come on.
They never do.
- What the fuck?!
- Something in this house
- doesn't want us to leave.
- Damn it, like what?
- A poltergeist? A ghost?
- I don't know!
[Window breaking]
The same thing happened with the phone,
it just jerked out of my hand.
This house is rigged.
Pastor thinks he's David fucking Blaine.
- That's not it.
- [Tim] Well, what is it then?
- You won't believe me.
- Try me.
Someone in this house is psychokinetic,
like off the charts.
Who? The kid?
Or Preacher or Helen/Oksana or whoever,
someone we don't even know about yet.
Tim!
- Oh, my God!
- I'm OK.
It wants you to return to your room.
You, the deceitful wife and you,
the cheating husband.
Don't worry, it'll release you at dawn.
I hope.
[Leaves rustling]
"I hope?" "I hope?"
What the hell does that even mean?
I'm sorry, we'll get through this.
I promise you, we'll get through...
Allie?
- You lied to me.
- What?
- No, what are you talking about?
- You fucked her, didn't you?
How can you say that? Because of
what that lunatic said? You believe him?
Just tell me yes or no.
- Did you fuck her in the kitchen?
- I told you what happened.
And that's all?
I know that everything's
going insane right now,
but that's no reason for us
to start doubting each other, OK?
My God, all we have is each other
right now. You gotta hang on to that.
- You didn't touch her?
- God, no!
[Panting, moaning]
You fucking pig.
You spineless fucking pig!
How could you do this to me?!
I don't know what you think you know
or saw, but you gotta believe me...
Fuck you!
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
[Scraping]
[High pitch ringing]
[Ominous music plays]
[Pulse beating]
[Faintly] Wait.
Wait.
[Gasps]
[Prolonged choral vocalizing]
[Vocalizing stops]
[Gasping]
[Choral vocalizing]
[Piano music playing]
[Crickets chirping]
[Ominous music plays]
[Wind blowing]
[Car approaching]
The police. You got through!
- Hey! Officer!
- Help us!
- Officer, please look over here!
- Hey!
Hello!
- [Tim] Hey! Over here!
- [Allie] Officer! Hello!
- Look over here!
- What are you doing?
- [Allie] Why can't he hear us?
- [Tim] I don't know...
- [Tim] Here! Hey!
- [Allie] Please!
What the hell's wrong with you?
Look over here, damn it!
- [Allie] Please! Mr. Police Officer!
- [Tim] Hey! Look over here, we're here!
[Tim pounding and yelling] Hey, cop!
[Screaming]
[Wind howling]
[Rhythmic whirring]
[Gasps]
This isn't happening.
It's not happening.
Did you see them slip anything
into our food or the tea?
- A hallucinogenic or something?
- No, not that I could tell.
Think. Anything odd or out-of-place
when we first got here?
Everything was odd and out-of-place.
What if... What if we're dead?
What if we never got out of the car?
Like what? We're still dead on the
roadside? From what?
I don't know. Accident?
Heat stroke? I don't know.
No, I'm not going there. There's gotta
be a better explanation than that.
We pounded on the window. The cop,
he should have heard us, seen us.
- There's no way he could've missed us.
- If he was even really there at all.
You saw what happened. That shit
just does not happen in waking life.
So we're dreaming.
Asleep and dreaming.
No, I didn't say that.
- No, we're not dreaming.
- [Allie] How can you know for sure?
Look, we can sit here and run through
every pop-culture explanation you want,
but that is not gonna help us.
That is not gonna get us out of here.
Helen. We gotta talk to Helen.
We gotta get her side of this.
We gotta get her away from Preacher,
she's a completely...
I'm just trying to get us out of here.
No. I'll talk to her,
you just get her away from her husband.
Preacher, I need to talk to you.
I know you're in there,
I need to talk to you now.
- I need to talk to your husband.
- He doesn't want to speak with you.
I don't give a shit.
You're only going to make it angry.
I already made it angry,
and I'm still here.
- Not for long.
- Is that a threat, or a premonition?
[Tim] Or are you just trying
to fuck with my head again?
Not to mention my wife's.
[Ominous rumbling]
- Come here.
- What do you want?
Don't play innocent with me.
I know you want me to think it's the kid
that's somehow doing all this.
- You know it is. You saw the tape.
- I don't know what I saw.
Evil's just another kind of life,
and like all life,
it doesn't come into
this world fully formed.
It's uh...
It's like a seed, floating in the wind.
That's where the Bible got it wrong.
I'm gonna skip, for the moment,
what you did to my husband or why.
But, believe me, I'll come
back to it and it won't be pretty.
Why do you keep your little boy
locked up in that shed?
Look, I know you're afraid
of your husband,
but whatever it is you think
that he can do to you,
is nothing compared with
25 years to life
in a prison full of homicidal mothers
who would love to carve you up
like a Christmas goose
for what you're doing to your own child.
[Preacher] You saw the signs.
Maybe if you hadn't been looking for
them, you wouldn't have noticed them.
But you saw them.
[Preacher] Just like you,
I had to be sure.
I studied those images for weeks.
I don't know what I saw.
[Buzzing]
It's growing inside of him.
Learning, developing.
Rapidly, like a child.
At first it started out
with just simple things
- like rattling the dishes
- [rattling]
- And fluttering little pieces of paper.
- [Fluttering]
But then it moved on to other things.
[Crickets chirping]
[Door slams]
My husband is not a man of God.
He pretends to be, but he's not.
He brought me over here to be his wife.
And to bear his child.
Wait... That's... That is his child?
Of course.
Why would he lock
his own child in that shed?
He didn't.
I did.
The children in Gatlin,
they called it,
"He who walks behind the rows."
[Violent tearing]
So it kills a cop
and it keeps us here hostage.
- [Tim] For what?
- It wants your wife.
That means you're the expendable one.
Of course, all the men are expendable
once the seeds are sewn.
How do you even know any of this?
I see things.
It puts pictures in my head,
I don't know why.
Like what?
Like your wife's abortion
after her first pregnancy.
- It was a miscarriage.
- That's what she says to you.
[Pulse beating]
I don't believe this. Any of it.
- She was unsure.
- Of what?
Of you.
I was trying to protect him
from my husband.
I locked him in a shed.
I didn't know what else to do.
- Call the cops?
- You saw what he did to that policeman.
Your husband did that?
He will blame our son,
but it's not true.
Our son is innocent,
like all children.
The evil is in him.
You know, I can make the case
that you're behind all of this.
You could.
And that's the misery of it.
I have to go.
What does this thing want
with my wife?
What does it want?
It's a seed.
A seed that lives inside of other seeds.
[Preacher] It wants her baby.
Why?
It lives inside of children,
but children, they grow up.
They become adults.
And adults can become... unwilling.
To what?
To kill.
[Preacher] I provide it
with whatever it needs,
and what it needs the most are children.
Little lambs.
To replace those that
were sacrificed to adulthood.
Just tell me one thing.
How do we get out of this house?
When it's asleep.
Great. How do we know if it's asleep?
You won't.
[Preacher] You'll only know when it's
awake.
[Engine running]
We don't even know what to watch for.
Everything.
- Don't lean against the door.
- Why?
I don't know why, just don't do it!
All right.
When you had the miscarriage,
it was a miscarriage, right?
Not a...
Not what? Not what, Tim?
Nothing.
[Piano music plays]
[Flies buzzing]
[Birds chirping]
[Faint stereo playing]
[Engine running]
It's the delivery guy.
[Beeping]
- [Quietly] Not yet, not yet. Wait.
- [Whispering] What?
[Grunts]
Howdy.
Got everything there.
You're about a month early
on that acorn squash,
so I had to swap that out for zucchini.
[Man] You got your sweet corn,
that's nature's candy.
- [Whispering] What do you think?
- Shh!
I got you two little hams
instead of the one big one,
- but it's about the same weight, so...
- Fine, fine.
And what's this here?
Well, that there is...
...something special
for one lucky little boy.
No, no, I did not
order anything for any boy.
It was me.
[Rustling]
I had something like that
when I was a little boy.
I run that thing into the ground.
Gonna need you to do us a favor.
We got a couple of young people
got stranded out here last night.
[Man] Yeah, I seen the car broke down.
[Preacher] Think you could give them a
lift into Burrelson's Garage?
Sure, yeah.
That's on my way and everything.
Here, let me help you
get this stuff inside, there.
Oh, no, everything's fine,
just leave them right where they are.
Okey-dokey.
Well, y'all... Y'all keep a cool stool.
I see you got a visit
from the police, there.
None of my business. [chuckles]
Hey, tell your guests I gotta be
rolling in about five minutes.
[Man] Appreciate it.
I don't like this.
Hey, y'all, come on over. I don't bite.
Mr. Pritchett,
I'm Tim Gleason, this is my wife, Allie.
[Pritchett] It's real nice to meet
you.
- I appreciate you helping us out.
- [Pritchett] You know what?
I know what it's like
to get stuck out in the boonies.
I've been stuck out here,
like, 33 years. [chuckling]
- Here you go.
- You got room up there for both of us?
No, I just... I barely got room for one,
you're gonna have to
ride in the back, there.
I'll get you to Burrelson's
as quick as I can.
You know, before it gets too heated-up.
I got some blankets and stuff in here
if it'd make you more comfortable.
Let's go.
OK, come on, let's go.
[Engine stalling]
- [Allie] What's wrong?
- He left the lights on.
Come on, come on, come on.
It's a more comfortable ride,
I'll give you that, but...
...I wouldn't recommend
stealing, or borrowing, a police car.
Please. Please.
Please, please, please.
Come on.
Go, go, go, go, go!
Hell, I... I reckon that takes care
of our little police problem.
[Allie] Oh, God.
Yes.
[Accelerating]
I brought you something.
I hope you like it.
Please don't be angry with me.
I will take you away from all of this.
I promise.
Soon, very soon.
Mommy loves you.
Mommy will always love you.
No matter what.
[Allie] What really happened back there?
I mean, taking away
all the he said, she said?
[Tim] It was some kind of a cult.
And that kid, if he's even a kid at all,
is at the center of it.
What if he's just an innocent child?
Then he'll be taken away from those
freaks and given to a good home.
[Clicking]
[Single click]
[Grunts]
[Gurgling]
[Gasps]
One thing seems pretty clear.
Whoever, or whatever did all that,
was playing with our perceptions,
- getting inside our heads.
- Yeah.
[Allie] So, I have to admit
it's got me wondering now
just what was real back there
and what wasn't.
[Allie] Including what really went on
between you and Helen.
Come on, when Preacher said
what he said, he was baiting me.
He knows his wife,
he knows what she's capable of.
He doesn't know me.
[Accelerating]
OK. You're forgiven.
- Forgiven? I didn't do anything!
- Forgiven just in case you did.
I think I can live with that.
[Rattling]
[Allie] Honey, I don't like
the looks of that.
Yeah, that top one
seems loose, doesn't it?
[Allie] Yeah, speed up and go around it.
Wait, no. Just slow down
and let it get ahead of you.
- Make up your mind.
- Slower.
[Allie] Wait, never mind. You know,
it looks like it's gonna hold.
- For Chrissakes, Allie!
- I'm sorry, I don't like it!
Just go around it!
[Rattling]
[Siren blaring]
What are you doing?
You wanted me to go around it,
I'm making sure it gets out of the way.
[Rattling]
Oh, my God, Tim, look out!
- Oh, my God!
- Ahh!
- [Allie] Oh, my God!
- [Tim] Hold on.
- [Tires squealing]
- [Tim] Come on!
[Allie] Be careful! Oh, my God!
- [Tim] Ahhh!
- Watch out!
- What is going on?
- Tim, I love you.
[Both yelling]
[Glass breaking]
[Metal scraping]
[Glass shattering]
[Ticking]
[Piano music playing]
[Wind blowing]
[Softly] Tim.
Tim?
[Whimpering] No...
No...
[sobbing]
Poor thing.
Got yourself in
quite a pickle here, don't you?
I'm gonna get you out of here.
I'll get you fixed up good as new.
I'm sorry about your hubby.
Looks like he's in
the arms of Jesus now.
[Pulse beating]
[Brakes squealing]
[Engine shuts off]
Here we go.
Come on.
There she is.
Little worse for the wear, but...
...she's still pretty as a peach.
I don't know how you do it. Each one
of them's sweeter than the last.
[Woman's voice] Whoever receives
the child...
[woman's voice 2] Do not despise the
little ones, for they are...
[girl's voice] Blessed children do not
follow the rules of their fathers...
And a child shall lead them.
[Beeping]
[Crickets chirping]
[Pulse beating]
[Allie humming]
[Humming continues]
[Thud]
[Rock music plays]
[Song ends]
[Soft instrumental music playing]
[Choral chanting]