Original subtitles

"I lost no time, of course, in telling my mother all that I knew...

"and we saw ourselves at once in a difficult and dangerous position.

"Something must speedily be resolved upon, and it occurred to us...

"at last to go forth together...

"and seek help in the neighboring hamlet.

"No sooner said than done. Bare-headed as we were...

"we ran out at once in the gathering evening and the frosty fog.

"The hamlet lay not many hundred yards away...

"though out of view, on the other side of the next cove...

"and what greatly encouraged me...

"it was in an opposite direction...

"from that whence the blind man had made his appearance.

"And I shall never forget how much I was cheered...

"to see the yellow shine in doors and windows...

"but that, as it proved...

"was the best of the help we were likely to get in that quarter.

"For you would have thought...

"men would have been ashamed of themselves...

"no soul would consent to return with us to the..."

Audrey? Sorry.

Mr. Talcott's gone.

Okay.

Front desk, in case anyone shows.

I think you'll be waiting a while, hon.

No. Didn't we call? He said he had family.

Yeah.

But they don't want to have anything to do with him.

You can dump it out back.

Okay, take a look.

I interview tomorrow.

What about your job?

I had enough of that place.

- What happened? - Here's your beer.

- Thanks. - Sure.

I lost a patient today. Mr. Talcott.

- I'm sorry. - You should have seen it.

The second he died, it was like...

they couldn't wait to get him out of there.

It's just a business to them.

It is a business, but at least he had you.

No. It's supposed to be a business about caring.

They couldn't care less.

Wait. This is Terrebonne Parish. It's the freaking swamps.

I get the hours I need to start nursing school, and I get paid.

And I get to help somebody, my way.

They got gators in the swamps, and guys missing teeth.

Are we dancing here, or what?

Cary, look.

This work you're doing, are you sure it's not changing you?

I'm 25 years old. What's wrong with a little change?

Oh, my God.

Hello?

Hello?

Now that right there is what love is all about.

Old-fashioned devotion, like what you read about.

You must be Caroline.

I'm sorry, the door was open, so I just walked in.

Oh, no. It's a big house. I didn't hear you.

It's okay.

So much for getting their affairs in order.

I'm sorry. I'm Luke Marshall. Estate lawyer.

We talked on the phone.

Oh, right.

The docs figure a month maybe. He's pretty far gone.

I understand.

His wife's having kind of a rough time with it.

Most people do.

Violet, you have a visitor.

May I present Miss Caroline Ellis?

She works down at the hospice in New Orleans.

Caroline, this is Violet Devereaux.

You have a lovely home.

I'm sorry. It's just hard. The idea of a stranger living here--

I understand, really.

She's Old South, you know. She thinks women still curtsey.

So, he can't talk at all?

No. Stroke pretty much paralyzed him.

- Which side was affected? - Both.

It happened about a month ago, up in the attic.

That's where she found him.

Ben?

You have a visitor. Meet Miss Caroline Ellis.

Hello, Ben. I'm Caroline.

She's not from around here. She not going to understand my house.

She's from New Orleans.

She wasn't raised in New Orleans. You hear how she talks?

- Who knows where she comes from? - Hoboken, New Jersey.

What do you want a Southern accent?

The last one left, Violet.

All right.

But she's not going to understand the house.

The last girl left, huh?

Wait. Let me talk to her, we can straighten things out.

I can't help anybody who doesn't want my help.

She does want help. She's just scared.

Of what? Politeness?

No. He's the love of her life and he's dying.

They've been together forever.

She's losing her soul mate here.

I don't know about you, but that'd put some sandpaper up my ass.

Aren't you a romantic?

Look.

The last girl quit.

You're the fifth interview since. She shoots down everyone.

It's not personal.

But you being here means he's really dying.

He's dying whether I'm here or not.

What'd she mean about the house?

What?

She said I wouldn't understand the house. Why'd she said that?

All I know is her cheques clear.

Look, forget it.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm still looking for my dream job, too.

All right.

So if you talked to her, what would you say?

I'd say she could look all she wants...

but I doubt she'd find any better than you.

So she'd do well to treat you like it.

Okay, here are my rules. No knitting.

No joining a bridge club.

And no playing bingo.

Okay, good. Good rules.

I'm serious, they'll try and suck you into their elderly ways.

It's less than an hour away. I'll be back all the time.

Yeah, well, you better.

Whenever you want to talk to someone who wasn't around for World War II.

Jeez, what is it with you and old people?

Come here.

He'd be proud of you. You know he would.

Hello?

I need to pay for some gas.

Hello?

Is somebody back there?

I'm sorry.

Excuse me. I just need to pay for some gas.

Jesus.

$17 for the gas.

Keep the change.

Mrs. Devereaux?

I'm unpacked.

Hi, Ben. Remember me? I'm Caroline.

I'll be taking care of you for a while.

There's not a lot of light in here for you, is there?

So you're a fan of the blues, huh? Well, so was--

You have to let go.

Ben, you're hurting me.

Ouch.

There you are.

Time for his remedies.

Scoot over, child.

9:00 in the morning and 7:00 at night.

He takes his pills in powder form. I'll show you how.

Be sure he drinks it all down.

- What's he taking? - Oh, Coumadin and such.

He gets the tremors sometimes. Don't let that frighten you.

And a kiss to make it taste better.

You're scrawnier than I'd hoped. Prettier, though.

I bet you're all marked up, aren't you?

- Marked up? - Written on.

I know you young people are always...

jabbing yourselves with ink and needles.

You're written on, aren't you?

Not where you can see.

Well.

He's to be bathed daily, his linens changed.

Don't bother with the housework. I'm the only one that knows how.

How long have you two lived here?

Let's see.

We came over from Savannah in '62.

We bought this house from a brother and a sister.

They'd inherited it a long time ago, from their parents.

Lived here since they were children.

There they are. Martin and Grace.

Charming people.

But they fell on hard times, had to sell.

You keep their picture?

Yes. I like to pay my respects to the memories of this house.

All right. Come along now.

This is the dining room.

We only use about half of the rooms.

The others are for Ben's antique business.

What he couldn't sell, we stored here.

Except for the attic.

That has crystal and china.

And I keep a very close account on that, just so as you know.

There are more than 30 rooms in all.

In the old days, they made a separate key for each room.

For the owner, they made a skeleton key.

This will open every door.

This one is yours.

I have mine.

Now, the pantry's right out here.

You know, we may have to ask you to go into town now and then.

Was there a mirror here once?

I noticed in the bathrooms also there are no mirrors.

Child, when you get as worn-out and wrinkled as we are...

you don't need any reminding.

If you want a small one for your own purposes...

that's fine with me.

- What'd you do with them? - Put them away.

The boy tells me you don't smoke.

I do smoke. I smoke a lot and I enjoy it very much.

I trust that won't be an issue.

It won't be.

Good. Then for the most part just realize that...

I'll live here as if you're not in residence.

After all, we're not kin. Are your parents still alive?

My mom left when I was little. My dad raised me and he died last year.

Oh, my. So you cared for him as well?

I would have.

I just thought I had more time.

Yeah.

You think too much about the time you have left...

you don't spend it living.

Be good to my husband. Be good to his house.

Remedies at 9:00.

One, two, three.

You don't see gardens like this back in New Jersey, I expect.

Actually, it's the Garden State.

I doubt that very much.

Nothing more glorious than a garden.

Gone every winter, back every spring.

You religious at all?

I try to keep an open mind.

That's good. That's very good.

Where are my trilliums?

Oh, fiddlesticks. Do me a blessing, child.

Will you run up to the attic for me?

I have some seed packets in a box right next to the stairs.

What took you?

I'm sorry.

I thought the key opens everything.

The key? What key?

The key you gave me for the house.

There's a door in the attic it doesn't work for.

Oh, no, the attic, it's never opened that.

- I got my Dixie-Johns. - Why not?

- What's in there? - I have no idea.

It's been shut ever since we moved in.

I have to get these in the ground, because there's rain coming.

Mrs. Devereaux...

Ben was in the attic, wasn't he, when he had his stroke?

What was he doing in there?

You'll have to ask him, child.

Be a dear and go see to him, won't you?

I wonder if he wouldn't like some iced tea.

His door was locked.

Ben!

Ben!

Ben!

Stop right there, Ben! Don't move!

Stop!

Ben!

Mrs. Devereaux!

Ben!

Ben, what are you doing? It's me!

Mother of mercy, what's he done?

He got out of the window. I thought you said he was bedridden.

He's having spasms.

- Didn't you give him his remedies? - Yes.

Did you make sure he drank them down?

I thought so.

- Ben, what'd they make you do? - His door was locked.

Just go get the wheelchair. We've got to get him out of this.

What about a doctor?

In the morning, just get that wheelchair now.

Caroline!

Caroline!

What in damnation took you so long?

I came as fast as I could.

We're just going to have to double his remedies. That's all I can think of.

Caroline, help me here. Help me get him.

Come on. That's it.

Where did you think you were going?

You're here two days and he already tried to kill himself.

Must have some kind of bedside manner, huh?

One of my many charms.

So, what exactly happened? I came to update her will...

she's up with the doc, says he fell?

He did fall.

Like what, from his wheelchair?

You cannot be serious. From up there? He fell from up there?

How? He can't even walk.

Please don't tell me you're quitting. I have to start over again.

Will you shut the door? I want to show you something.

You know what my mama used to say?

If a lady invites you into her room, she probably isn't much of a lady.

Homespun Southern wisdom grows on trees around here, doesn't it?

I found this in Ben's room...

last night.

Found what? His laundry?

No, it had a...

- There was... - Had a what?

There was a... It had a...

Forget it.

I thought it...

I don't know what I thought.

I admire you.

You know, what you do.

Hell, I wouldn't be able to take care of my own parents.

You'd regret it.

I quit college to help out with some friends' bands.

Out all night, always on the road.

My father thought I was throwing my life away.

So we didn't talk, didn't visit.

Stubborn and proud, and that's how we left it.

You mean...

Yeah.

He was gone before I even knew he was sick.

I guess he wanted to spare me from all this.

Is that so wrong?

No one should have to die alone.

So tell me what you were going to tell me.

About Ben.

Do you ever feel like...

he's asking you for help?

- Asking me? - With a look or...

a touch.

Mr. Marshall?

Where in damnation is that boy? Caroline...

have you seen Mr...

Well...

I see the children are getting acquainted.

Now, Violet...

you know you're the only woman in my life.

I know no such things, and remove your perspirations.

The doctor has departed, so I'm ready...

to discuss estate matters, if you have finished...

soliciting your new business.

All right.

Whenever you get the time.

Caroline?

I'm making some sweet tea.

Are you interested?

Caroline?

"Sacrifice."

Are you in the house?

Caroline?

You're forgetful, child.

It is time, Lord.

From the dry dust...

out of these chains...

from the devil's house.

It is time, Lord...

to take me...

from the dry dust, break me from these chains.

Bring me from the devil's house.

Take me out of darkness.

Walk me out of blindness.

Lift me out of sadness.

Save me from my damned-ness.

Please, Lord.

It is time, Lord.

Take me from the dry dust. Break me...

out of these chains. Bring me from the devil's house.

Take me out of--

Just a local band.

How about you buy me a drink?

Whatever it is, it's not your average attic.

She says it's been locked up ever since they first moved in.

You found yourself a hoodoo room.

- A what? - Hoodoo. You know what hoodoo is?

It's like voodoo, right?

Wrong. Voodoo's a religion.

Slaves brought it to Haiti from Africa.

You worship God, heaven and hell.

- How's hoodoo different? - It's magic.

American folk magic. God doesn't have much to do with it.

- Magic? - Yeah.

It's part African, part European, part Native American.

And New Orleans is its home. It started here.

My Aunt Nola's into it. She shops at a place in Algiers.

Look, you said the house had a history, right?

- Hoodoo is pretty harmless. - Harmless how?

It's psychological, like a lot of that stuff.

It can't hurt you if you don't believe.

So this place your aunt shops at...

Ever seen it?

It's either this street or the next one...

or the next one.

There.

There? That's a Laundromat.

Look, that's all I know. That's where she goes.

So you coming in or what?

I'm not.

I thought you don't believe in this stuff.

I don't.

But I'm not just going to mess around with it.

So, you want to go in, go ahead.

You're scared.

- Jill the Thrill is scared. - Kiss my ass.

You're never going to live this down. We come all the way out here--

I'm not scared.

Good night, Caroline.

Good night.

I told you about the mirrors.

I don't understand.

This is not your house.

I found them. I needed a mirror for my bathroom--

I told you, and you heard me. No mirrors.

No mirrors!

I've seen the room.

- What room? - The room you say you've never seen.

It's not locked anymore.

No, child, you don't know what you've seen.

You're going to tell me right now.

Or I'm leaving.

You're not from the South.

You won't understand.

That room up there, you just don't go in and...

throw things out of a room like that.

You leave them just where you found them.

The house is theirs just as much as ours.

The house is whose? Whose things are in that room?

All right.

About 90 years ago...

there was a banker here, his name was Thorpe.

He made his fortune cheating the poor.

He was a mean man. He was a cruel man.

It was him, and his family, and couple of servants...

name of Mama Cecile and Papa Justify.

Sit down.

Now...

the way I heard it, old man Thorpe, he didn't know...

that Papa Justify was a "two-headed doctor."

He was a conjure man. So was Cecile.

- They believed in-- - Hoodoo.

Yeah.

That was their room.

They were famous all through the bayous.

They healed the sick and they hurt the mean.

"Hit a straight lick with a crooked stick," as the coloreds say.

But old Thorpe, he just saw them as help.

And he worked them to the bone.

He abused them.

Until one night, as the story goes...

there was a party.

It was the bank's anniversary, all the big mucketymucks were here.

Politicians, sugar barons, riverboat tycoons.

There was a lot of drinking and dancing...

and a couple of trysts, I'm sure.

And then, finally, when it was time to say farewell...

some of the guests wanted to wish goodbye to the children.

But nobody could find them. They hadn't seen them in hours.

So, being all full of brandy, they made it a game.

"Let's Find the Children."

Room after room after room.

Finally, someone heard music...

Martin? Grace?

...and voices and shouting...

up in the attic.

From the devil's house.

It is time, Lord.

The servants were up there with the children.

They were trying to teach them how to conjure hoodoo.

And take his head.

Thorpe went about insane, and so did the rest of the guests.

I mean, how long had this blasphemy been going on?

The children said it was their fault, that they'd wanted to learn.

But they weren't having any of that.

All that power and rage and insanity.

The party was over.

It was a terrible thing.

Terrible.

Rumors got out, but no arrests, no trial.

Money had its way.

What happened to the family?

The bank went under.

Thorpe shot his wife to death, and then turned the gun on himself.

People in the bayou say it was Justify and Cecile's revenge.

The children stayed here till '62.

But they never, ever, told us why that room was locked.

Or why there were no mirrors in the whole house.

Now we know.

You know what?

You see them in the mirrors.

Who?

The servants.

I've gone and read some hoodoo books, and they say...

- putting brick dust down'll keep harm away. - Mrs. Devereaux.

So I made a big circle of it around the whole house.

You can't expect me to believe you see ghosts in your mirrors.

The ghosts are here now.

But whatever they did to him...

I am not going to let them do it to me.

Now you'll leave...

like all the rest of them.

That's some superstitious wife you got there, Ben.

She thinks you have ghosts in the attic.

Spooky, huh?

Ouch.

Hold on. I'll be right back.

She says you see them in the mirrors.

Ghosts in the mirrors.

I'm sorry, Ben.

Ben, stop it.

Relax. I'm so...

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

You see them, too.

I'm going to town.

Shopping.

What for, Caroline?