Matt figured that it couldn't get any worse.
The scalped man approaches Shelby, who screams as a woman approaches her holding the bloody scalp. As Shelby runs off, the woman she ran over--The Butcher--says that she is the queen of the hive and the spear of the battle. She then drives a spike into a man's crotch as he hangs on a cross.
Shelby finally stops to catch her breath and get her bearings. Something moves in the forest and Shelby goes back to see the worshippers gathered around a fire. The Butcher says that the deserter was found in the woods and he stole provisions from their storehouse. The others lower him down, and the Butcher insists that the deserter is an unclean beast. The others put the bloody pig mask on the deserter, and then they suspend him over a fire to die screaming in pain. Shelby steps on a branch and the worshippers, hearing, chase after her. When Shelby reaches the road, Lee pulls up and stops just before hitting her.
Lee takes Shelby to the hospital and later, Shelby tells the police what she saw. They sent an officer to investigate but he found nothing. The police also checked to see if Shelby was taking hallucinogens, and confirmed that she was clear.
The next day, Matt visits Shelby in the hospital and he blames himself for not being there to protect her. He promises that they'll find somewhere else to stay, but Shelby figures that it was a hoax put on to scare them away. She refuses to leave and let them win.
Lee tells the interviewer that she understands why her ex-husband Mason got custody fo their daughter. She hates herself for bringing their daughter Flora to the farmhouse.
Mason arrives with Flora and Lee comes out to greet them. Once Mason leaves, Lee goes to make a meal for Flora. When she comes back, Flora is gone. Lee hears Flora talking in the distance and follows her voice. Flora is looking into an empty closet and says that she's talking to her new friend Priscilla. Lee closes the door and dismisses it as Flora acting up because of the divorce.
Lee and Fklora sit down to eat, and Flora says that Priscilla is going to make a bonnet for her if they make it stop. She's tired of all the blood. Glass shatters in another room, and Lee goes to investigate. A window is broken and there are flowers and a bonnet lying next to it.
In their bedroom, Shelby wonders what Lee is doing. Matt says that she wants Flora nearby, and Shelby insists that Lee knows that the locals came into their house. He agrees that they'll fight until they can sell, and warns that they may not have any choice except to fight. Later, more pig noises echo from outside, and Shelby tells Matt that she's going out to confront them. She storms outside and Matt follows. They don't find anything at first, but then here people running. Shelby goes after them and gets separated from Matt in the darkness. A boar runs past Matt and he continues his search.
Shelby finally comes to a fire and stares in horror. Matt arrives and discovers that someone has set up a pig's innards on a burning stick figure. He smashes it apart and calls the police. The officer says that he's sending men to bring in Ishmel Polk and his sons. Meanwhile, he'll put a squad car in their driveway offering 24-hour protection.
Back at the house, Shelby and Matt go to sleep. The phone rings downstairs and Matt answers it. An old woman says that they're hurting her and asks why they're letting them hurt her. Matt discovers that the phone cord is severed. He hears the woman calling from down the hall and goes to investigate. The old woman, Margaret, is in a bed and the two nurses are there. One nurse says that Margaret refuses to take her medicine, and Margaret says that it makes her ill. None of them respond to Matt, and one nurse takes out a gun and tells Margaret that she's been warned. She shoots the old woman in the head and both nurses laugh. They then spray paint a M on the wall, and Matt runs out screaming.
Lee hears Matt yelling at the police officer on guard, saying that someone is in the house. The officer comes in as Lee and Shelby come downstairs, but there's nothing in the room. He tells Matt that he must have been dreaming, and Matt wonders if he had neurological damage from the attack in LA.
The next day, Mason comes to get Flora. Lee invites him in and they discover that Flora is playing her special version of hide-and-seek. They look for her and hear her talking upstairs. The girl is in a cubbyhole, and Lee opens it up. Flora wonders where Priscilla went, and says that she was offering Priscilla her doll Mandy as a trade so that Priscilla wouldn't kill them. The girl says that they're going to kill them all and save her for last.
Mason takes Flora to the car and insists that he's not bring Flora back. He says that he's calling a judge and drives off. Later, Matt and Shelby hear glass break downstairs. When they go down, they find Lee in the kitchen, drunk. She's broken a bowl, and there are knives driven into the ceiling. Lee says that she didn't do it, and Matt leads her to her bed. As he gets her into bed, she says that she's trying but she's weak, and she can't let Mason know that she's weak. When Matt leaves, the two nurses approach Lee.
Shelby calls Matt to the window and asks if he sees her. They see a little girl in old-fashioned clothing outside, and when they go out to confront her, she disappears. They find a trapdoor where they were standing. Beneath it is a ladder leading down a to a cellar.
Lee wakes up and senses the nurses. Bridget and Miranda Jane. She gets out of bed and hears a noise, and goes to investigate. Lee sees bloody twitching pig nailed to the wall, but when she looks again, they disappear. She catches a glimpse of a man wearing a pighead mask in the nearby mirror, and screams in terror.
Shelby and Matt investigate the cellar and discover that someone has been living here. There's also a video camera and a monitor. When they turn the camera on, they see the bearded man from the video that played in the farmhouse basement. The man, Dr. Elias Cunningham, says that there are forces that won't let him sleep, and show him increasingly horrible things. There are cuts on his neck, and Elias says that the force there intends to kill him so he's living in the cellar. Elias man insists that he's an academic and an author, and it's October 11, 1997. The recording is his last testament, and he teaches at Bradley University. He came there two months ago to do a book on two nurses, sisters Bridget and Miranda, who worked in an assistant living facility in Rochester in 1988. They killed twelve patients and left before they could be charged, and ended up in North Carolina and opened a living assistance facility of their own. They purchases the farmhouse, and the family before that evacuated the farmhouse and left all of their possessions behind and no forwarding address.
Elias suggests that the house's reputation led the Jane sisters there. They sought out families that were tired of supporting their aged loved ones, and used the letters of their names to spell out their favorite word: MURDER. They then killed each person, spelling out their word. The sisters eventually believed that each soul they killed would add a lifetime to their passion. The police were called in to investigate. Bridget and Miranda were gone, leaving the corpses of their victims behind. The only other thing they left behind was the word MURDER with the last R missing. The house was put up for sale and they repainted the walls, but the letters would always reappear.
Matt shuts off the video and remembers what the sisters said when he saw them. They go back to the house and Matt examines the spot on the wall where they spray-painted the M. He peels the wallpaper away and reveals the MURDE. They go back to the cellar and restart the video. Elias says that the sisters were stopped because something got to them before they could take their final victim: something even more evil than them in the house. He says that he's going back into the house to see exactly what it is, even if he's not sure if he'll survive.
Next, the tape shows Elias going through the house. He calls out to the force, demanding that it show itself. Elias finds the mirror and reaches for it... and something appears behind him. The couple hear something thump and go to investigate, and find a meat cleaver driven into the front door.
Matt called the bank rep and arranged a meeting. The rep says that they committed to buy the property, and Shelby points out that the bank changed the street address to hide the information. Matt and Shelby are trapped, and Shelby refuses to sell to the Polks. Lee drives up with Flora and they realize that she abducted her daughter so that they could be together. Shelby leads flora to the next room, and Matt asks if Lee is drunk. Lee insists that she would never endanger her child, and that Mason is going to a judge. Matt warns that it's technically kidnapping. Meanwhile, Mason calls and Shelby answers. She tells him that Flora is there and asks him not to involve the police. Once Shelby hangs up, she tells Lee that she understands.
Flora is doing her homework and hears Priscilla outside, giggling. Priscilla motions to her to come out.
Lee goes to say goodbye to Flora, and discovers that she's gone. They search the forest and Shelby and Matt hear Lee screaming. They run to her and find Flora's sweater hanging from the top of a tall tree.
Written by Gadfly on Sep 22, 2016