Original subtitles

(DOG BARKING AT DISTANCE)

TERENCE: No. No way man. I ain't going back in there!

CULVER: Come on, Terence. Give it a rest.

TERENCE: I told you before! I need to be moved! I ain't messing!

CULVER: Yeah, well, unfortunately the penthouse suite is booked!

(TERENCE SCREAMING)

- Don't give me any trouble, Terence. - I ain't no trouble, man!

- Don't do it. - I ain't the trouble here!

Terence!

He's gonna hurt me!

TERENCE: Why don't you want to protect me?

Why aren't you listening?

(TERENCE SCREAMING)

TERENCE: Sir! My light's gone out!

I need my light!

(PANTING) I need some light now!

I need some protection!

Sir! Sir!

GUARD: Put a bloody sock in it!

(RATS SQUEAKING)

(WHIMPERING)

(TERENCE SCREAMING)

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

WOMAN: Do you want to be in trouble with the school?

Do you want to be an embarrassment to me?

Jason, I'm not telling you again!

CULVER: Terence.

Terence.

(GASPING)

(PANTING)

Robert Bridge, Kevin Wadham.

Ah, the psychology department's resident skeptic.

Barbara tells me you were a student of hers, once upon a time.

In London, yes.

She was young and anarchic and we conspired together.

Well, she's still young and anarchic. (LAUGHS)

Yes, of course. How can I help?

I'm a wing governor at Northcutt Prison.

Now, are you prepared to keep this under your hat before I go on?

Yes, of course.

We've had three suicides on the lifer wing

in the last three months.

The thing is...

They all had been talking about the same kind of strange

things happening to them.

Flickering lights,

footsteps when there's nobody there...

I told Kevin this was your area. The Psychology of Belief.

- Superstitious thinking... - Yeah, well, convicted criminals

are not the most reliable witnesses, by definition.

But what have they got to gain?

There are some pretty highly strung individuals in there,

and just I'm worried that

this rumor mill of a ghost might get out of hand, if it isn't already.

Look, I'm... I'm writing a book about a medium.

- A woman called Alison Mundy. - BARBARA: Robert...

- Now, I don't know... - No. No, no. I'm ahead of you.

Now if the inmates thought there was someone coming in who was,

I don't know, going to exorcise something,

that might just put the lid on this.

I think that's a very bad idea.

As well as cod-psychology of the worst kind.

So you volunteered me?

Thanks.

Thanks a lot, Robert.

Thanks for trotting me out like some sort of pet.

You're not listening to me. I think for all his surface rationality,

Wadham thinks something odd is happening,

and he's afraid to admit it.

What is going on in your head

that you'd think I'd go to a place like that?

It's not just that it's a prison, it's the high security wing!

People have died.

People have heard things, seen things, and died.

Do you think it's a good idea that I go looking for this stuff?

Well, if you don't, who will?

They'll dredge up some bogus psychic out of Yellow Pages

and what'll that do to the men locked up in there if something real is going on?

I wanna go there with someone genuine.

Plus, I'll be with you.

You won't be on your own for a second.

Follow me.

MALE GUARD 1: We’ll just do a quick search.

Thank you.

MALE GUARD 2: Follow me please.

Could you place your cross in the tray for me, please?

What's the story here, Terence?

You tell me. You're the one with the powers.

They say it's the atmosphere.

They say it gets to you.

They should talk to Curtis,

they should talk to Devlin.

I want to know what you've seen and heard, not anybody else.

Footsteps.

Like someone coming up behind you.

Feeling someone's eyes on the back of your head and there's no one there.

Things going missing.

There's somebody evil in here.

And I don't mean somebody living, either.

- Have you seen this person? - What's the point?

(TEARFULLY) They don't care.

Nobody cares about nothing in here.

Give me your hand.

Give me your hand.

(SOBS)

It's maddening, man.

Last night I heard them again.

With their pinky feet and their pinky tails.

And then he was there in my cell.

- (PRISON GUARD SCOFFS) - You know who.

It's obvious who! He brought him here and he won't go away!

It's 6:00. They're unlocked for association.

(MAN WHISTLING)

PRISONER: I'm quite interested in life after death, I am.

- You're living proof of it, Tango. - (MEN LAUGHING)

GARLAND: She's a very experienced woman. Let her do her job.

(BELL RINGING)

GARLAND: Don't waste your time with him, love.

Terence bashed in a granny's head with a steam iron.

Not exactly the answer to a maiden's prayer.

GARLAND: He doesn't respect women.

There's plenty of us who do.

Open up. Take me back to my cell!

He's trying to mess me up! Take me back to my cell!

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

Open up the cell door now!

Open up. Take me back to my cell!

He's trying to mess me up! Hurry up!

Hurry up! Move, move! Take me back.

I could do with a chin-wag.

You and I have a lot in common.

(FOOTSTEPS CLANGING)

(ELECTRICITY CRACKLING)

(RATS SQUEAKING)

(STAIRS CREAKING)

GARLAND: I could do with a chin-wag.

You and I have a lot in common.

He doesn't respect women.

There's plenty of us who do.

TERENCE: You know who. It's obvious who!

He brought him here and he won't go away!

(ALISON BREATHING HEAVILY)

BARBARA: Garland?

ROBERT: Yeah. Ian Garland.

He was in Belmarsh when I interviewed him.

You interviewed him?

For my book.

Spine's not even broken. Thanks a lot.

I was getting around to it.

Seven years ago, he was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of three women.

I was an expert witness for the prosecution.

That must've been pleasant for you.

He's a very disturbed and manipulative individual, Robert.

He probably got a buzz out of winding up the other prisoners.

But Alison saw a very definite figure.

Even I noticed a negative energy in there.

Maybe to Alison it became something tangible.

Do you know how crappy that sounds?

It's psychology, Robert. It's hysteria.

It happens in girls' schools, convents,

wherever people are confined their stresses will find an outlet,

physical or otherwise.

This woman has seeped into every crevice of your sense of reason.

Genuine skepticism involves openness,

not blanket dismissal.

(BARBARA SIGHS)

Jude!

How's the family?

Um, I've just come to see Barbara actually.

We're going for lunch.

Have fun.

I'm sorry that I wasn't clearer on the phone.

But I'm now convinced that Garland is somehow the focus of the hauntings

and I need to have a one-to-one with him.

You want it to stop, don't you?

I suppose if he's prepared to talk to someone,

that's productive.

Here's a change from the usual prison visitors.

The milk of human kindness types who always want to marry me or mother me.

Or both.

Hello.

- I'm Alison. - I know.

I'm Ian. What do you like to be called,

- Al or Allie? - Alison.

Who's he?

- Your toy boy? - Dr. Robert Bridge,

Cabot University Psychology Department.

Oh, a psychologist. We know all about those.

Daddy smacked my bottom.

I was exposed to Bingo when I was five years old.

Why did you say we have a lot in common?

Because we're cut from the same cloth, you and I, Alison.

You can never be normal,

lead a normal life. Neither can I.

And fate's brought us together.

He's an innocent.

I was an innocent once.

(LAUGHING)

You know, I was a choirboy.

Used to go round with the collection plate in church.

Never even took a penny.

What changed?

(SIGHS) Oh, everything.

Everything.

It was like the voice of God.

It was like being born again.

(BREATHES DEEPLY)

I was visiting my mother's grave with some flowers

one bright summer's day,

and I couldn't disobey it.

That was the first time the Rat Man came to me.

I had to do what he said.

And...

You know what he said.

Kill women.

Uh, you see?

Simpatico. I knew you'd understand me.

After the first one I thought he'd leave me alone, but he didn't.

Describe what it's like when he comes to you. I want to know.

Oh, well, if you want to know.

First, it's the smell,

it's like really bad drain.

Then, the squeaking,

the little squeakers and squealers.

Then, it's all fun and games

till the Rat Man's work is done.

Why doesn't he leave you alone? What good are you to him in here?

Oh, you know what it's like, Alison.

When they have you they won't let you go.

Hmm.

When the spirits have hold of you,

you are at their mercy.

Hmm. To be totally theirs,

their tool,

their puppet, their instrument of destruction.

Ooh.

It's bliss.

It's a high,

like the best drug.

(CHUCKLES)

The best sex.

Okay, that's enough. Time to go.

He likes you, Alison.

GARLAND: He's like me, he's starved of company in this place.

Alison?

Don't worry, you'll be back.

You know you will.

(DOOR SLAMS SHUT)

(KEYS JANGLING)

You wanted to have a meeting?

Yes, this is it. This is the meeting.

Alison, Barbara.

Yes. We've met. I really hope you can help us.

What do you know about the Rat Man?

BARBARA: Oh, dear God.

That whole Rat Man thing was a concoction by Garland

at the time of the trial.

Akin to "the devil" or "Marilyn Manson made me do it,"

in an attempt to get a cushier stay in a psychiatric unit.

The police thought so and the jury thought so.

I'm impressed he's kept up the act.

But the Rat Man wasn't a fabrication. He was a real person.

BARBARA: Chapter Six.

Albert Panhuysen,

nicknamed "The Rat Man,"

a multiple murderer hanged in 1948.

He was a church warden.

He ran a lodging house.

He'd scour the streets for homeless girls

and give them a place to stay,

professing an act of Christian charity.

In fact, he'd imprison, torture and finally murder them.

By profession he was a rat-catcher

and he used the rats in his sadistic tortures.

He considered the rats were, like him,

agents of God in wiping sin from the Earth.

And sin, as we all know, started with Eve.

He used to turn up the wireless to cover the noises,

even though they were gagged.

Ironically, that's how he was caught.

A neighbor complaining about the radio.

But if the Rat Man is controlling Garland,

is he really responsible for his actions?

Don't excuse his acts by believing

it has anything to do with the spirit world, please.

Nobody's excusing anything.

Good, because Ian Garland is just a boring little man,

like most sexual predators.

He doesn't savor fine Chianti and go to the opera.

He has no empathy and no charm,

just an overwhelming ego to satisfy, and he doesn't give a shit.

He scared you, didn't he?

Yes.

He still does.

He scares me, too.

May I?

Thank you, Robert.

GARLAND: You have to look after your mental health in this place.

He's not going to leave you alone, is he?

I'm doing you a favor, Terence.

Let's both be realistic.

There are ways to make the pain go away,

you know that.

GARLAND: I do like a nice plum duff. Do you like a nice plum duff?

(RATS SQUEAKING)

(TRAY CLATTERS)

ALISON: "Albert Panhuysen ate a hearty breakfast of eggs and black pudding

"on the day of his execution.

"He polished his shoes fastidiously before his walk to the gallows.

"Unrepentant to the last,

"as the prison chaplain intoned a prayer,

"he drowned him out with a loud rendition of the Sunday school hymn

"Jesus Loves Me,

"cut off only when the merciless trap was thrown."

(NOOSE CREAKING)

GARLAND: To be totally theirs,

to their puppet, their instrument of destruction.

It's bliss.

Sorry.

It's okay.

(BELL DINGS)

BARBARA: I'm sorry about this but I couldn't tell you earlier.

I promised faithfully I wouldn't say, but...

Say what?

Jude.

She's in a hell of a state.

It looks like Clive has left her for a younger, prettier model.

God, I always knew that bloke was a wanker.

Apparently, he fell uncontrollably in love.

He felt he had to follow his heart.

He's got a newborn kid for Christ's sake.

He's not an 18-year-old.

Has she kicked him out?

No, he left.

He's moved in with her, this...

I don't want to think about it.

How is she?

Pretty rough, really.

She needs a shoulder to cry on, poor thing.

Well, thank God she's got you.

That's not what I meant.

I know it isn't.

(LOCK CLICKING)

(KNOCK ON DOOR)

What's the matter?

What's happened?

You don't have to come. I'll go alone.

Now you're being ridiculous.

What can you possibly hope to achieve?

Robert, I don't know what to say to you.

You're the one who persuaded me to go there in the first place.

Well, now it's different.

I'm worried about what this is gonna do to you. (SIGHS)

GARLAND: I had a nice dream last night.

You were in it, funnily enough.

You weren't in mine.

Really?

I wrote it down.

You can read it if you want.

Do you want to read it?

You can correct the spelling, I've no doubt.

Might be a few words you haven't come across before, mind.

ALISON: No matter what you've done,

and no matter how much I despise you, I'd still like you to be free.

Why? Because you can't be?

Negative self-reinforcement I'd say, wouldn't you, Doctor?

But you are a bit of a martyr, aren't you,

essentially?

(CHUCKLES LIGHTLY)

You know nothing about me.

No, but he does.

Nothing's hidden from him.

He comes from the sewers.

He sees into the dirt of the soul.

Through the bone and the flesh, into what you really are.

And he knows exactly who deserves to live

and who deserves to die.

Do you deserve to live, Alison,

do you think?

(CHUCKLES) Just curious.

You're talking about yourself.

You're the one who doesn't believe that they deserve to live.

(GARLAND CHUCKLES)

GARLAND: What, are you taking lessons from him now?

Stick to the tarot cards if I was you.

You know what I'm talking about.

You know exactly what it's like,

to have someone clinging to you and they won't go away.

They're just there.

You carry them around like a weight

and they're just

part of you.

What happened that day, when you were taking flowers to your mother's grave?

Let's talk about those scars on your wrists.

How far do they go up your forearms?

What put you in that place?

What opened the door that let him in?

What other scars are there elsewhere, I wonder? Mmm.

- Why did he choose you? - Now, I'm just...

trying to imagine.

Legs?

Hips?

Thighs?

Genitalia?

Or did you choose him?

Yes,

you carry those wounds around with you

so nobody knows

what Alison really is.

Someone who hurts

but who doesn't hurt enough.

Someone who's touched death

because deep down

you think that's where you really belong.

Alison?

(LAUGHING) You're precious, you are. Do you know that?

He can smell it off you.

Another victim, another bashed-up wife, written all over you.

I survived.

I got through. Which is more than you've done.

Look at you.

You're in here because you need him.

You cling to him, not the other way round,

that's the truth, isn't it?

Bruises. Black eyes. Tears at bedtime.

(GARLAND SIGHS)

That's why he likes you.

That's why he's coming.

Oh, the Rat Man's taken a shine to you.

You're just his type, do you know that?

- ROBERT: Alison. Stop now. - No.

I'm not like you.

You're weak,

you need him.

I'm strong.

How does that feel, that a woman's stronger than you?

He's coming.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

Do you hear him?

(WHISPERS) Yes, I do. I do. I do.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

(RATS SQUEAKING)

You've come to fight his battle. Isn't that what you always do?

When it all gets too much?

When lovelessness and rejection

make him want to take it out on an innocent woman?

(WHIMPERS)

You don't need him,

he needs you.

You fixed on him because he's weak.

He wants you because evil is power,

and without power he's nothing.

ROBERT: Get the bastard out of here now!

You think I'm afraid?

I'm not afraid of you, you whore!

It's your job to be afraid!

All of you!

What's he looking for inside you, Alison?

What's he going to find

when he's cut you open?

GARLAND: (SOBBING) Don't listen to her. I'm strong.

I...

I've done everything for you.

Everything you've asked.

(SNIFFLING)

I've never let you down.

I won't let you down. Ever.

You know that.

Please.

Please.

Give me another chance.

GARLAND: (SINGING) ♪ Jesus loves me, this I know

♪ For the Bible tells me so

♪ Little ones to him belong

♪ They are weak and he is strong

♪ Yes, Jesus loves me

♪ Yes, Jesus loves me

♪ Yes, Jesus loves me

♪ The Bible tells me so ♪

(OBJECT CLATTERS)

ROBERT: Too many things, Barb. Too much stuff.

BARBARA: (ON PHONE) We all get to points in our life

when we're drawn to things that make us feel secure.

I feel more insecure.

Every day.

(SIGHS)

How much do we ever know about other people?

Even about ourselves?

BARBARA: This is about Jude, isn't it?

Why don't you go round and see her?

(SIGHS)

I can't do that, Barb.

Don't ask me to do that.

(SNIFFS)

(LIQUID DRAINING)

(SWITCH CLICKS)

(RATS SQUEAKING)

(LOUD SQUEAKING)

(RATS SQUEAKING)

(PANTING)

(CELL PHONE RINGING)

Yeah.

ALISON: (VOICE QUIVERING) He's here! He's here!

What? Alison.

ROBERT: Alison.

Alison!

(RATS SQUEAKING)

(LID RATTLING)

(SQUEAKING)

(FANFARE OVER RADIO)

(ELECTRICITY CRACKLING)

(SONG PLAYING OVER RADIO)

(MAN ON RADIO SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

(BULB BURSTING)

(SONG PLAYING ON RADIO)

(HORN HONKING)

MAN: Ahoy, there!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)

What?

(MAN CONTINUES SPEAKING OVER RADIO)

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION OVER RADIO)

(BANGING ON DOOR)

Alison!

Alison!

(PANTING)

Alison!

Alison!

(LINE BEEPING)

ALISON: Robert.

It's okay.

You're safe.

He could have killed me,

but he chose not to.

He came to thank me for setting him free.

There are some things that I've never talked about.

There are some things that's too difficult to talk about.

I know.

Sometimes it's like,

the place that you're from,

is like a net,

that supports you,

but it's full of holes

and at any time they could open up and swallow you.

Do you know what I mean?

If you had the chance to go back,

to a time when something happened, to hurt and pain,

to sort it out, would you? Or would you just leave it?

It's not about changing the past if you're unhappy.

It's about changing the person you are now,

and the person you're going to be.

Easy then.

(DOORBELL RINGS)

I'm busy, Robert.

- Can I come inside? - No.

And why not?

Because I've got enough troubles on my plate

without you gloating about it.

How am I gloating?

I came to see if you're okay. Don't accuse me of doing anything wrong.

No, you never do anything wrong, do you, Robert?

You're always in the right.

Well, do you know how boring that was sometimes?

You don't have to take your pain out on me.

Don't patronize me!

Is your life, um...

Was our life so perfect?

No, Jude. Nothing is perfect.

Look, I didn't come here to resurrect the past,

so why are you?

You always have all the words, don't you, Robert?

I hate arguing with you.

You make me feel so stupid.

Jude, please.

I'm sorry. Please, ask me to come in.

(SOBBING)

(SNIFFLING)