- Directed by Joe Lynch
- Written by H.P. Lovecraft, Dennis Paoli
- Stars Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Davison
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 40 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQSDR0VVRzw
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It starts out with a body in the morgue and a woman in a psychiatric cell, who tells us in flashback what brought things to that point. And it quickly turns into a wild ride that brings us up to speed and continues onward to a crazy conclusion. It’s very gory, moves well, and we liked it quite a bit.
Synopsis
Dr. Danielle Upton talks to the morgue attendant at the Miskatonic Medical School; there’s a body there that’s so messed up they aren’t even sure it’s a person. She’s going to the psych ward next to talk to an old friend in a cell, Dr. Elizabeth Derby. Derby wants to make sure they’ve cremated the body, but they haven’t even done the autopsy yet. Derby tells her story…
We see that Dr. Derby is a psychologist, and she’s got annoying patients. There’s a knock at the door; it’s a student who wants to talk about “out-of-body experiences.” He’s Asa, and he says he was outside his body, but no one understands. He’s nervous, terrified, and talks about how “He wants… my body. My father. He’s looking for me.” When Asa answers his cell, he goes into convulsions on the floor. Is he being possessed? “Am I stricken?” He’s much different in personality now and his hand is bent into a claw.
Derby goes home and talks about Asa to her husband. After dinner, she fantasizes about having sex with Asa, but it’s really her husband– maybe.
The next day, she goes to Asa’s house, but she’s not even sure why. She lets herself into his house and find’s Asa’s father, Ephraim, also in the middle of a strange seizure. He knows who she is; he’s read her book. His hand is also bent into a claw. He’s weird and creepy, and she doesn’t like him at all. Then he cuts her with a knife, and we see her blood soak into his weird book.
At work the next day, Derby hypnotizes a patient for treatment. Asa comes to the door, and she just walks out on the guy in mid-treatment. She goes back in and releases the hypnotized patient, who doesn’t remember any of it. Asa is gone when she goes back to him.
Asa calls Derby that night; he needs help. She goes over to his house and finds Ephraim dying; Asa says that’s the best outcome. “Let him die. Please!” He dies. “How long does the brain live after the body dies? It stole my father’s life, and now it wants mine. Cut out his brain!” Asa sounds a little irrational, but then the old man sits up, grabs Asa, and chants some words. Then they both convulse as something moves from the old man into the younger one.
Asa then gets up, takes his clothes off, and has sex with Derby, right there next to the old corpse. It gets weird, and soon the thing is inside her or possibly both of them at once. They growl at each other for a bit, and then it goes back into him. She says her mind was in his body, and he knows all about it.
The old man comes into the room and says he’s really Asa, but then the young Asa stabs him death excessively and cuts the old man’s head off. She runs outside to her car as the house catches fire.
Derby goes to see Dr. Upton and tells her what’s been going on. Upton thinks it’s all psychological projection. She suggests that maybe Asa or his father drugged Derby. She goes home to find the police are waiting for her to ask about Ephraim. Detective Ledger has her phone. Asa told them that the old man went missing a few days ago; he’s been reported missing.
Derby admits to husband Edward that she had sex with Asa, which he doesn’t appreciate. Asa comes to her again, and again, there’s more sex until she falls out the window– and wakes up in her office. So how much of that was just in her mind?
Possessed Asa chains himself up in his basement and then calls Derby. He says the magic words, and they swap minds again. The thing is now in Derby, and the real Derby is stuck inside Asa’s body, locked in a basement somewhere. Asa-Derby, in the basement, calls Dr. Upton for help.
At home, Derby-thing talks to Edward about making up, and he notices immediately that she’s changed. They, too, have sex, and she chokes him in the process and cuts him a bit with a knife.
Upton comes into Asa’s basement and finds “Asa” chained. He says that he’s Beth Derby, but Upton thinks he’s crazy. He calls 911 to save Edward. At no point does he say anything to convince Upton who he really is.
The police show up, and Edward and Derby-thing are fine. They think it’s some kind of weird domestic dispute thing, but they soon come to the conclusion that it’s some kind of prank call.
Asa-Derby finally starts telling Upton things only Derby could know. Suddenly, they switch back again. The Derby-thing has her seizure there, right in front of the police.
Asa-thing tells Upton that he’s chained in the basement as part of a consensual sex-play thing and convinces her there’s nothing to worry about.
Meanwhile, Derby and Edward make up; he really liked what the thing did to him during sex. It was the best sex he’s ever had– he liked getting choked and cut. She, of course, doesn’t remember any of it, because she wasn’t really there. “If he does it one more time, it’s forever,” she warns, but he has no idea what she’s talking about.
Derby considers killing herself to keep her body from being taken, but Asa-thing shows up at her office one more time. She asks him who he really is, and he talks about how he’s been around so long he doesn’t even remember who he was originally. He hands her a knife and says if she really kills him, she can live her normal life.
Derby uses the knife and the light to hypnotize Asa-thing. “Let your mind float free.” as he’s distracted, she stabs him in the forehead. They fight, and she pushes him out the window. She runs downstairs and runs over him with her car several times. Still not dead, she stabs him over and over until the police arrive.
This takes us back to the beginning, as Derby explains herself to Upton in the psych ward. She never finished cutting off Asa-thing’s head, so she thinks he may still be alive somehow.
Meanwhile, down in the morgue, the pathologist starts the autopsy. The Asa-thing wakes up and says the magic words… Upton watches as Derby convulses and writhes as she switches bodies with Asa-thing for the third and final time.
The security guard comes for Upton; the corpse in the morgue is crawling down the hallway, still not really dead. She realizes that this shredded-up man is really Derby. She tries to save the body, but it’s too late. There are no vital signs, but Derby’s still in there moving and aware.
Upton believes it all now, and the two women fight. Derby-thing says the magic words, and switches with Upton. There’s all kinds of back and forth fighting and mind-possession in a final battle, with the security guard caught in the crossfire.
Later, Upton consoles Edward about his completely insane wife. She kisses him on the way out, and we get further confirmation that she’s Upton-thing now. And poor Derby-Upton locked up will never get out.
Commentary
Edward is very different from most horror-movie husbands. He’s extremely patient, smart, and kinda goes along with the weirdness for a very long time. Not only that, but he survives the film, which was unexpected.
The little automotive rear-camera video when Derby backs into Asa repeatedly was a hilarious detail that we loved.
The camerawork is great, with lots of spinning and psychedelic weirdness to get across what’s happening. The acting is fine all around, and overall, it’s a lot of fun.