- Directed by Sean Byrne
- Written by Sean Byrne
- Stars Ethan Embry, Shiri Appleby, Pruitt Taylor Vince
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpRnCZQWqDU
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was surprisingly good, with a family to root for and an impressive performance from Pruitt Taylor Vince as a whacko. Throw in a supernatural element, and we’ve got a winner that both Horror Guys liked a lot.
Spoilery Synopsis
Ray Smilie hears voices in his sleep, so he gets up and plays electric guitar in the middle of the night until his wife comes in and yells at him. “If I play loud, I can’t hear them,” he says. She tells him to pack his things, he’s going back to the hospital. Instead, he kills her. Credits roll.
Jesse tells his daughter Zooey that “most people don’t like metal,” and then proceeds to play it repeatedly, much to his wife Astrid’s chagrin. He’s an artist, and the whole family is moving out of the country into the house that used to belong to Ray Smilie. Yes, people died here, but the place is a bargain.
Meanwhile, Ray Smilie lurks around a nearby motel and checks into the place in the most creepy way possible. He soon starts playing the electric guitar at high volume. The police soon arrive because of the noise. Without the noise, Ray has to endure the voices.
Jesse drops Zooey off at school and then returns home, where he also starts hearing voices. On the bright side, he’s inspired to get to work on his paintings. The entire day passes, but he doesn’t even notice. He paints a black, upside-down cross.
Then Ray comes to their door and talks to Zooey about flying-V guitars. “I need to come home now. This is Mommy and Daddy’s house.” They’re dead. Jesse tells him he needs to leave now. Ray goes back to the motel and watches a TV preacher talking about Satan and evil.
The next morning, Zooey finds a Flying-V and an amplifier on the porch that Ray left for her. Jesse needs money and goes to see Leonard, who runs a gallery. Jesse gets an inspiration for a new painting, and Ray kills some kids in the park; they’re the same scene.
Turns out, he drew Zooey on fire, but he also did it on top of his one and only paying commission, so he’s out the money for that. He doesn’t remember painting any of it. Jesse tries to destroy the painting, but the voices won’t let him.
We soon see that the kids in the park aren’t Ray’s first victims. At some point in the night, Ray comes into the house and sleeps in Zooey’s bed, right next to her. Astrid comes in and runs him off, but Jesses gets kicked in the head and can’t chase him. The police tell them to change the locks and maybe move into a motel for a few days.
Jesse stays up all night to watch, but all he sees is a black goat. Leonard’s people call in the morning, and he wants to come and see Jesse’s work– today. Leonard loves the work and offers him a show. “Your latest work is wonderfully disturbing.” Leonard takes all day, which makes Jesse late to pick up Zooey from school again, and a flat tire only makes it worse. When he finally gets to school, Zooey’s gone; Ray got to her somehow.
Zooey manages to get out of her duct-tape bonds and get out the bathroom window. Somehow, she gets to the police station and is reunited with Jesse and Astrid. The police tell Jesse about Ray’s long history in the mental hospital. The officer reads one of Ray’s files. He once said, “I have to feed him children; as children are his candy.” They want to put the whole family into witness protection.
Ray goes to the store and buys a tank of gas and a lighter. Jesse destroys his evil painting as the family packs to move out. Ray shows up and kills the two cops outside. Ray opens the front door and shoots Jesse. He drags Zooey off with him once again. He takes Zooey upstairs and sets the house on fire behind him.
Jesse and Astrid make it outside, but Zooey and Ray are trapped upstairs. Jesse goes up a ladder, and after a brief struggle, he beats Ray with the Flying-V. The fire gets him, Jesse and Zooey make it out. The whole injured family reconvenes in the front yard as their house burns to the ground.
Jesse walks into the woods in a trance and finds the location where Ray hid all his bodies.
Commentary
Jesse looks like a strung-out crackhead in the very first scene, so his descent into madness doesn’t change much. They should have made him a little more clean-cut for the early scenes. He hears the voices and does the paintings, but he never really goes insane in the same way Ray did.
Pruitt Taylor Vance, as Ray, is really good here; he’s just about made a career out of playing creeps and serial killers. He’s quite batshit here and totally believable in every scene.
This was surprisingly good!