[mysterious music playing]
H.P. Lovecraft,
the author of today's tale,
feared the universe.
He believed it to be a haunted house of cosmic proportions,
one in which danger lurks behind every door...
[cabinet rattles]
...revealing new realities, dreams, nightmares.
Especially for those of us
who find the key.
Our story tonight is "Dreams in the Witch House,"
and its director is Catherine Hardwick.
[music builds to sweeping string melody]
[upbeat waltz playing]
[man] This is a fable about love and life.
The story of two fellas,
myself
and myself.
But don't you worry, I'll help you figure it out,
and I promise ya a happy ending.
[girl] Walt.
What's wrong?
- [ominous music playing] - Epperley, what's the matter?
[breathless] It's...
It's coming.
What do you mean? Who's coming?
[Epperley] The ghosts.
I don't wanna go with them.
I don't wanna go.
Listen to me, okay, you're not goin' anywhere.
I won't let you.
I'm scared, Walt.
Look at me.
I promised you I'd protect you.
You remember that, don't you?
Epperley, do you remember?
Epperley?
Hey.
Epperley?
Oh, Epperley. I promised!
[wind whistles piercingly]
[music intensifies]
[thunderclap]
[thunder roars]
[Walt breathes heavily]
How?
Where am I?
What's happening?
That's... That's...
Walt?
Am I...
A ghost!
[distorted whirring]
[ethereal wailing]
Do you hear that?
- [wailing continues] - No.
[chair creaks]
- Ah! - [gasps]
Walt, help me!
Help me!
Please, help me!
Please!
[Walt] Epperley!
[distant screaming]
[breathing heavily]
[man] Good evening, people of Boston.
We welcome your interest in other dimensions.
The bridge between worlds.
What is it?
Where is it?
And who has the power to break it down?
She was born with the ability to cross that bridge.
She has seen the other side, and she brings voices back.
Dear friends,
you are looking at her.
Madame Levine!
[applause]
Watch as she reaches out to this couple's poor lost son.
Beloved boy,
thou who perished in fever,
I conjure thee.
[whooshing]
[audience gasps]
[Madame Levine] He's here.
- [clunking] - [audience gasps]
[audience murmurs worriedly]
Remain calm! You will not be harmed!
Sh! Sh! Sh!
[audience member sobs]
[audience gasps and shrieks]
[audience member] Is it...
[speaker] Ectoplasm.
- [Madame Levine grunts] - [man] Madame Levine, are you all right?
[woman] Madame Levine, can you hear us?
[audience member] Is she...
Dear friends,
remember what you have seen here tonight.
The bridge is real.
[audience murmurs and applauds]
[man] Souvenirs and programs are available in the lobby.
[Walt] The bridge can take me to my sister.
We have to get back there.
No.
[friend] Walter. Walter!
Walter! Walter!
[indistinct chatter]
So sorry.
Walter!
[Madame Levine] Goddamn turban is squeezing my brains out.
[speaker] Well, we can't afford a new one. We're not even gonna break even.
Did you see all the empty seats out there?
I can't do any more than I am.
That last part wasn't acting.
Thought I was gon' be sick onstage.
It must be the egg whites. We'll omit 'em next time.
It's not the egg whites!
It's regurgitating tissue soaked in a Plasticine posset.
You should try puttin' this dirty ol' thing
in your mouth sometime.
[tissue splats]
[Madame Levine] Ectoplasm!
[friend] I'm sorry, Walter. I know that you thought this might be the one.
I know the other side is real. I've seen it.
But how am I ever supposed to prove that to the masses?
Listen, um,
a family friend works for Time magazine.
My ma had him round for dinner the other night, and he just...
he asked me if I'd be interested in a job.
It's... It's nothing fancy.
Just... Just filing and typing, but...
I just can't keep juggling odd jobs to scrape a living.
The Spiritualist Society barely pays anymore.
Maybe... Maybe it's time that we consider what else we can do with our lives.
There's nothing else I wanna do.
I thought you believed in the cause.
I do.
I just don't wanna be a pauper forever.
Right, so money trumps honor?
- That's not fair. - Mm.
[mysterious music playing]
- [distant chatter and laughter] - [distant baby crying]
[door creaks]
[sighs]
[door creaks, closes]
[distant dogs bark]
[wind whistles]
[girl] ♪ Speed, bonnie boat Like a bird on the wing ♪
♪ Onward, the sailors... ♪
♪ Cry ♪
[solemn music playing]
[Epperley hums the Skye Boat Song]
[bell tolls]
[woman] Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, our Lord Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now...
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb...
[woman 2] It was built on a ley line.
The house has undeniable powers.
[man] I'll see what we can do.
Maybe we will investigate. I cannot guarantee anything.
[woman 2] At least keep the painting. Display it.
In time it will guide its way back to me.
- It is important. - All right, I will. I pr... I promise.
[woman 2] If anyone would understand my visions, he would.
[nun] Your visions are from the Devil. Don't ever contact me again!
[man] Mr. Gilman.
What was that all about?
A painter.
She rents a room in Keziah Mason's old house.
- The witch? - Yes.
She makes all kinds o' claims about it.
Portals, changing dimensions.
But I fear that woman is not in her right mind.
We need to deal with more reliable people, don't you agree, Mr. Gilman?
Without a doubt, sir,
but I have two very credible mediums.
Both out of state.
It's just two trips, Mr. Labuschagne.
An Edward Brace in New York and an Ellen Blackman in Baltimore.
Sniff.
No.
Apparently over 50 people can attest to Blackman's powers of levitation.
I... told you, Gilman, we can't afford it.
Sir Callahan didn't feel we'd provided the results to merit further funding.
But sir, we're so close to finding a real medium.
It's just tough to vet the hoaxes.
Well, be that as it may,
our investors can't keep paying us to, you know, hit dead ends.
Listen, we may have to face the very real possibility
that the Spiritualist Society will close the Massachusetts office.
In the meantime,
we're putting a hold on all paid fieldwork.
[distant phone rings]
I'm sorry, Gilman.
But, uh, you've still got your second job, haven't you?
[Walter] Here's your bourbon.
- [woman] Thanks. Keep the change. - [Walter] Thank you.
[chatter]
[piano plays happy tune]
[indistinct chatter]
[man, softly] Excuse me.
You got the job.
Ha!
I had no idea how much hullabaloo is going on in Europe.
D'you... D'you know that there's a vegetarian superman
rising to power in Germany?
- It's madness! - [Walter] Congratulations, Frank.
- They said they need someone else. - Not interested.
For God's sake, Walter.
Can't you just get off your high horse?
We can keep reading and researching in our spare time.
- Just with proper roofs over our heads. - Buy a drink or get out.
You know, you...
you care more about your dead sister than the living.
[woman laughs heartily]
[contented chatter]
- [man 1] He has the money. - [man 2] Yiyíistś áá.
He's a fool if he thinks he can affect another dimension.
We visit the forest, but we don't leave ripples.
What do you mean, "another dimension"?
I've seen a forest.
A forest that takes the dead inside.
- Hey. - Mm.
It's real, isn't it?
Not here. Outside.
[hubbub]
My name is Walter Gilman.
I'm a researcher for the Spiritualist Society.
[man 2] Another bilagáana looking to broadcast tribal insights.
[Walter] No, not at all. I'm...
I'm looking for my sister.
Uh, we... we were twins.
I was there when she died, and... I saw her spirit.
She was pulled away from me into some kind of vortex.
I looked inside, and... and there were trees.
They call it the forest of lost souls.
A limbo for those who aren't ready to move on.
You've been there?
I have.
How?
Can you take me?
What can you pay, friend?
[acoustic guitar music playing]
[woman] ♪ Era yo una chiquilla todavía ♪
♪ Cuando tú casualmente me encontraste ♪
♪ Y a merced de tus artes de mundano ♪
♪ De mi honra el perfume te llevaste ♪
♪ Luego hiciste conmigo lo que todos ♪
♪ Los que son como tú con las mujeres... ♪
[in Navajo] You brought him?
[in Navajo] He pays.
♪ ...ahora ♪
♪ En tu cara te diga lo que eres ♪
♪ Mal hombre ♪
♪ Tan ruin es tu alma Que no tiene nombre... ♪
[disconcerting music playing]
♪ Eres un canalla ♪
♪ Eres un malvado... ♪
[man 2] Extracted from a cactus flower.
Óola ditléé.
It translates as "liquid gold."
Is it dangerous?
How badly do you wanna see your sister again?
♪ ...tiempo después en el arroyo... ♪
And remember, don't cause any ripples in the forest.
♪ Una noche con otra tú pasaste ♪
♪ Y al mirarme sentí que te decía ♪
♪ ¿Quién es esa mujer, tú la conoces? ♪
♪ Y a la vez, respondiste una cualquiera ♪
♪ Al oír... ♪
[Walter grunts]
[music distorts and fades]
[unsettling music playing]
[ticking]
[breathes shakily]
[crunching]
[strains]
[groans]
Agh.
[breathes heavily]
[strains]
Agh! Ah!
[ticking]
[chittering]
[Epperley hums the Skye Boat Song]
- [humming continues] - Epperley!
Epperley!
Walt.
[branches creaking]
[strains]
Walt!
[groans]
Ugh!
[man 2] Next time, lie on the pillows, bilagáana.
Frank!
Sh!
What...
Coming. Coming!
Mm!
- I saw her, Frank. - Walter, it's gone two in the morning.
I saw Epperley.
What are you talking about?
I met a gentleman in the pub. He said he could access other worlds.
And it worked, Frank. It fucking worked.
Slow down, slow down, slow down.
He took me to a place.
They sell a substance called Liquid Gold.
No, you mean a drug.
- Have you lost your senses, Walter? - No.
I found a facilitator to get you to the other side!
Wait, wait, you're telling me
that you put an unknown chemical from an unknown gentleman into your body?
- Have you gone mad? - If you used it, you'd understand.
We need to go back. We need to buy more.
No, no, no, we don't. We don't need to do any of that.
Give me...
What we need to do is knock some sense into you.
You aren't hearing me!
I saw my sister.
She was the same age as when she died,
wearing the same clothes.
And she was trapped.
[emotional music playing]
You think I'm making this up?
I think you're desperate, Walter.
I think you'd do anything, anything,
to prove that what you've been fighting for is real.
You never believed at all, did you?
I've never seen anything.
You say you've seen all of this, but...
but I never have.
[woman] ♪ Vengo a cantar mis penas ♪
♪ En mi soledad ♪
♪ Y como lloraba ♪
[Walter] Epperley!
♪ ...como... ♪
Epperley!
♪ ...lloraba ♪
[eerie music playing]
[Walter] What are you doin' here?
[ticking]
[Walter] The witch house.
[Epperley] Walt?!
Epperley!
- [Epperley] It really is you! - [Walter] I knew I'd find you. I knew it!
[Epperley] I never thought I'd see you again!
You look
exactly the same.
And you're a man.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I couldn't save you when I had the chance.
It was my time.
I realize that now.
If I hadn't been so afraid, I wouldn't have ended up here.
Did you make it into the Boston Symphony Orchestra?
I stopped playin' after you died.
I haven't touched the keys in years.
Walt, you were so talented.
I couldn't think of anything else but seeing you again.
That's all I've ever wanted.
To find you.
[branches creaking]
No, not yet.
Come back with me.
- I can't. I've tried to leave. - I'm not leaving you.
[Walter] Ah!
[singer vocalizes and plays guitar]
[gasps]
[ominous music playing]
"Ours is only one of infinite worlds."
"Keziah Mason."
[reads]
"Mason claimed the ability to travel to different dimensions."
"She used an ancient ritual dagger as a key."
"She was tried for witchcraft and hung from a tree on her own property."
"Her body was retrieved by an unknown person or persons
on the third night."
"The corpse was never found."
"The Witch House."
"33 Osgood Street,
just 17 miles from Boston."
[Walter] I have to investigate that house.
[emotional string music swells]
[Walter] You have to believe me.
It's from my sister's nightgown, I swear it.
No. Do you understand how your behavior makes us look?
Sir,
if you just tried Liquid Gold...
No, that is enough.
Things are bad here, Gilman. We're trying to retain our credibility.
And you come here, in the aftermath of drug use,
begging for funds?
[somber music playing]
Your membership in the Spiritualist Society is terminated.
What?
Go on.
Return to us when you're an honorable man again.
[book clatters]
[door creaks]
It's a... little overgrown.
Don't trim nothin'.
[pattering]
[Walter] There's a painter living here, right?
[woman] Just one tenant at the far end.
[scoffs] You won't see her.
Are there rats here?
[woman] Rats, bats, who knows?
Looks damp.
It is.
[woman coughs]
[woman continues coughing]
[door closes]
[pattering]
[voice mutters]
[spluttering]
[electricity sizzles]
Fuck me.
[raspy laughter]
[coughing]
[Walter] "The existence of other dimensions..."
[inhales sharply] "...is indisputable."
"Our visitation of such lies solely in states of altered consciousness."
[throaty voice echoes] Altered consciousness.
"The next breakthrough is the transport of matter."
"There is a key."
[voice] A key...
that will allow us to bring something back from the next world to ours.
[ominous music playing]
[distant ticking]
[softly] Oh.
[percussive ticking intensifies]
The key.
Epperley, is this it?
[pattering]
[tapping]
[gasps softly]
[scuttling]
[whimpers]
[breathes shakily]
[strains]
[grunts]
Ah!
[pattering continues]
[breathes shakily]
[figure breathes raspingly]
[figure wheezes]
[creaking]
[figure growls]
[music intensifies]
[witch inhales, growls]
[Walter breathes shakily]
[rat inhales, sighs]
Smells like poverty, this one.
[witch breathes raspingly]
[witch inhales wheezily]
[witch, throatily] Twins.
Jenkins Brown.
Is this the one we've been waiting for, Keziah?
Has he come to free us both?
[Keziah wheezes]
[Walter] G... G...
[Walter whimpers]
[door creaks]
[Keziah growls]
[growls raspingly]
[snarls]
[birds sing]
[window creaks, bangs]
[bangs]
[creaking and banging continues intermittently]
[wind howls softly]
[violin plays The Skye Boat Song tune]
That's the key.
Twins.
[woman sings in Spanish]
[violin plays The Skye Boat Song tune]
[rat] Is this the one we've been waiting for, Keziah?
[Keziah] The transport of matter from the next world to ours.
Back again.
[rattling]
[suspenseful music playing]
[high-pitched notes whine]
[bird caws]
[indistinct voices murmur]
[gasps]
[Epperley] Walt!
You have to go, now.
Something stalked you here. It followed you through the door.
[voice] Mm-hmm-hmm.
[Epperley] You're disturbing the forest, causing ripples.
- Oh my God. - Run.
[Keziah shrieks]
[continues shrieking]
[cracking]
[Epperley whimpers softly]
[Keziah growls]
[continues growling]
[Epperley] Hide!
[Keziah vocalizes gutturally]
[both breathe heavily]
[Keziah growls]
[snarls, growls]
[growling and footsteps recede]
- She's gone. - You never should've come back.
Listen to me, Epperley, I can take you with me.
What?
When I ripped your gown, that piece of fabric came back with me.
- That's impossible. - We're twins.
The key that allows matter to travel between dimensions.
- I saw it in Keziah Mason's research. - Keziah Mason?
She wants to come back too.
I promised to protect you.
- Please let me take you home. - [Jenkins Brown] Ha! Home.
I would rather see the wonders of the world
than live dully at home.
Drink, dance, enjoy life.
Keziah, they're over here!
[Keziah growls]
[alarming music playing]
[rat] No! You're not getting away!
You're not going anywhere!
[Walter grunts]
[Keziah howls]
Fuck off!
Go!
[Keziah] I will have you.
[Keziah grunts]
[Epperley] Walt! No!
Get off him!
[Keziah] He's mine!
No!
[Keziah yells]
Epperley.
You brought me back.
This is wrong.
[crunching]
[crunching continues]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Epperley] Be careful.
[scuttling]
Greetings, Walter.
Go.
Run!
You can't escape me, boy!
[Walter] Open up, please!
- What do you want? - I live in the room on the other side.
There's something in there trying to hurt us.
It's not human.
I've seen you before.
You've been meddling in Keziah Mason's work.
She lived in this house.
In your room.
I feel the energy her anger left behind.
She was tortured at Salem.
They stuck pins in her to see if she would bleed.
She compels me to paint
my visions.
What does it mean?
My God.
I know you.
[breathing heavily]
It's you.
- What have you done? - She won't hurt us.
This is my sister. Her name is Epperley.
You opened a door.
You opened a door inside the witch house?
Tell me Keziah didn't follow you.
You brought her back with you.
You left a ripple?
I just wanted my sister back.
See?
She's getting stronger.
Your sister is dead!
Don't you understand that?
It's you.
Mutually exclusive.
What?
Your sister and Keziah in one circle.
Yourself in the other.
Two lost souls.
And a living one.
But they are mutually exclusive.
For the dead to become flesh,
the living must die.
Walt, I didn't ask for this.
There has to be another way.
No.
My paintings never lie.
The witch
will have you dead by sunrise.
[mournful string music playing]
[Walter] Epperley?
Epperley!
What can we do?
Come.
Quickly.
[thunderclap]
[thunder crashes]
You.
I told you never to come back here.
Sister, we are in need of sanctuary.
You chose to meddle in forces that have no place in God's house.
Get out, before I throw you out by the hair.
And you...
What demons have you been conjuring, boy?
The dead want you now.
Well, you won't bring them in here.
Sister! We need your help.
We can't fight this darkness alone.
Neither of us want to submit to the Devil.
We need your guidance to keep us firm.
Please.
Aren't all souls worthy of salvation?
I will give you shelter and pray for your souls,
but I must warn you,
even holy ground may not keep them at bay.
I hope you understand what you brought to this world.
Thank you, Sister.
Bless you.
And don't mess up my floor.
Is there a phone I could use?
[purposeful music playing]
[coughs]
[Frank] Walter!
- [knocking on door] - Frank!
Walter!
[Walter coughs]
[weakly] Frank. [grunts]
Walter.
- What's the matter? - [woman] Spirits are after his soul.
He brought them from the Realm of the Dead.
She's back, Frank.
I brought Epperley back.
- You need to see a doctor. - [Walter] No, no.
It's true, I swear.
She disappeared. I think she's trying to protect me.
She knows that for her to live, I have to die.
[woman] Mutually exclusive.
This is madness. I'm taking you to the hospital.
You can't! He won't be safe there.
Silence.
[groaning voice] Wal-ter. [echoes]
- [woman] She's trying to get in. - Who?
- Keziah Mason. - [Keziah] Walter.
[woman] She wants Gilman dead to make her body flesh.
Mutually exclusive.
Come to me.
[Keziah shrieks]
Walter, let me in.
Hold him!
For your sister to live,
you must die.
Hold him!
Walter!
Come to me.
Be gone, Devil!
[groans]
[yells]
Walter!
Get the fuck out of my church!
[shrieks]
[Keziah wails]
[shrieks]
[continues shrieking]
[Walter] Help me!
[Walter groans]
[snarls]
[Frank] Move! [grunts]
[breathes heavily, grunts]
Agh!
No!
[serene yet eerie music playing]
Epperley.
[breathes shakily]
[strains]
[Keziah growls]
[Walter whimpers]
[Keziah growls]
[speaks ancient language]
Help!
[Walter] Someone help me! [echoes]
I can't.
[growls]
Do it, Keziah!
Free us both!
[yells]
[shrieks]
Stop!
No!
[Keziah shrieks]
[cracking]
Oh-oh!
[cracking and rustling]
[unsettling music playing]
Epperley,
I don't wanna lose you again.
I'm not scared anymore.
Let me go.
I love you so much.
[poignant violin melody playing]
[sobs]
I love you, Walt.
[rumbling]
I'm finally free, Walt.
[Walter sobs]
[airy whooshing]
[gasps]
[exhales]
It's over. It's over.
[sighs]
The world will never know what we went through last night.
My painting said he'd be dead before the sun rose.
I'm glad I was wrong.
I spent seven years working at the Spiritualist Society,
and all that time, I...
I never saw a ghost.
But you were right all along.
What is that?
Hand me that lantern.
[gasps]
It's... It's the attic.
Be careful.
[tense music playing]
Still wet.
It's rotten.
- [coughs] - Oh! Oh!
[disembodied screaming]
Ah! Ah! Oh.
That's her.
[exhales hoarsely]
Ah.
[groans softly]
[clears throat]
[squelching]
[crunching]
[squelching]
Their corporal bodies.
It's a human skull.
[crunching]
It's in me!
[Walter] It's in me! Argh!
[Frank] Walter! Walter!
[retches and splutters]
- Walter. - Walter!
No. What is it? What is it?!
[Walter groans]
Walter. Walter!
Walter! What's happening? What do we do?
Is he dead?
[Frank] Ah!
Oh, oh, oh.
I think I hear something.
A heartbeat.
[squelching]
[both gasp]
[squeals, sniffs]
[Frank] Agh!
What I've done cannot be undone!
[cackles]
[continues cackling]
[Frank grunts]
Walter. Walter.
Get a doctor!
We need to get some help.
Call a doctor!
You're gonna be okay.
Gonna be okay.
[Frank groans]
- Stop it! - There's nothing we can do.
- We need to get help. - Look.
My paintings never lie.
[distant bell tolls]
She won.
- But... - Look.
[melancholic music playing]
[Frank sobs softly]
I told you, you couldn't escape me.
[squelching]
[gasps]
[upbeat waltz playing]
[Jenkins Brown] And there it is, a happy ending if there ever was one.
[with Jenkins Brown's voice] Home sweet home.
I'll ride this body as long as it will last.
After all,
he wasn't doing anything with it, was he?
[cackles]
[waltz ends triumphantly]
[violin plays The Skye Boat Song tune]
[discordant strings play]