[car horns honking]
[static crackling]
[birds chirping]
Um…
When I grow up,
I wanna be…
a bird.
[laughs]
Who can fly away from here and…
see everything
from the sky.
What about you?
Um…
[ominous theme music playing]
[banging on door]
[Melody] Let me the fuck out of here!
Hey!
[banging continues]
Hey!
Let me out of here!
Hey!
Let me the fuck out of here!
I don't belong here!
Hey!
Let me the fuck out of here!
Fuck. What the fuck is happening?
-What the fuck am I doing in here? -Look, I am so sorry.
You're part of it, aren't you? Samuel's cult?
-He told you to bring me here? -No.
I brought you here because it's the only way to keep you safe.
-You're a fucking liar. -[Steven] Melody.
I got the tapes you sent me.
And the man I saw at the séance,
I know him.
But not as Samuel.
He introduced himself as Alexander Davenport.
What?
That researcher that I met on the message board,
the historian studying the Baldung line,
that's him.
Same man.
He knew everything about me.
Where I was from.
How I grew up. That I've been looking for my birth mother.
Look, I never gave him access to your information.
It was completely anonymous.
That fucking psycho sent the letter to the convent.
He used her as bait to lure me to the building.
Look, he is delusional.
Okay? He thinks he needs you.
That's why I brought you here.
You are safe here.
I don't want to be locked up in a fucking psych ward.
Look, just give me a few hours, okay? I'm gonna get you out of the city.
I have some friends at Washington University.
They can shelter you until all of this blows over.
He took Jess.
-What do you mean he took her? -He took her.
He thinks he needs me, but he's going to use her too
in some fucked-up ritual in the basement.
He's been grooming her for years.
We have to help her.
Okay. Um…
I'll call Child Protective Services. They'll send someone over.
They're gonna send a fucking social worker.
-What's a social worker going to do? -Look, I'll handle it.
All right? I promise.
I don't believe you.
Look, Melody…
I never meant to put you in any danger.
Let me the fuck out of here.
There's someone you need to see first.
[woman on PA] Dr. Lewis to Mental Health Services.
Anabelle?
Mel!
[sighs happily]
Yay, you're here.
Oh, thank God. [chuckles]
Are you okay?
-What took you so long? -I'm so sorry.
I meant to come back the other night, but I--
[door closes, locks]
[Melody] Oh, what?
Shit.
[grunts] Goddamn it, Steven.
[sighs]
I already tried that.
It doesn't work.
[Melody] What is all this?
[Anabelle] They wouldn't bring me any more paper,
so I just draw on the walls.
I know who this is.
You do?
She did something terrible a long time ago.
What… What… What did she do?
She murdered someone.
They can't let her out then.
Anabelle.
-It's okay, she's dead. -No.
No, she's not. She's in there.
In where?
The other place. The…
The Otherworld.
She… She calls to me, Mel.
She's in there and she wants out.
She wants to come home tonight.
Tonight?
How do you know that?
Because the ferryman's here.
He's…
You can't see him anymore, but…
he's up there.
The comet?
The comet…
The comet opens the door.
Cassandra told me. They're going open the door tonight.
The ritual is happening tonight? I have to get out of--
No, no. No, no, no, no! Mel, stay… Stay with me.
I can't. I have to go back for Jess.
I'm sorry.
I fucked everything up, Anabelle.
But I can still save Jess.
She flew out the window?
That's how I remember it.
Are you sure?
I may have faked a heart attack and had a nurse open the door.
No, no, I mean the stuff about Dr. Turner, my father.
Are you sure he wasn't part of it? He wasn't…
He wasn't working with Samuel? He was trying to help her?
That's what she said.
Okay, if we could just, uh, steer this ship back into open waters…
Um…
What about these? How long have you been painting Melody?
Long time.
Forever.
I hear her calling.
[sighs]
[Mark] Anabelle, um…
Melody, she died in the fire at the Visser.
You know that, right?
No, she didn't die.
She wants to come home.
She needs you to find her.
Where? How?
You guys want sandwiches?
I can get them to bring sandwiches.
Peanut butter, ham, marshmallow.
You name it, they have it.
Um, I think we're gonna pass on the sandwiches this time,
but maybe next time.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Jess.
Jess? Jess Lewis? What about her?
Uh, she left something for you.
[Dan] For me?
I want you to have it.
I looked for Jessica Lewis. I found nothing.
Either she died or…
She's, uh, Sister Mary Cecilia now.
She came to see me just before she left for Haiti
and she said she couldn't take those
and she wanted to make sure they were safe.
[Mark] Mix tapes?
What's on them?
How the fuck should I know?
[mysterious music playing]
[distorted low growl]
[distorted whooshing]
[distorted, slowed-down voices]
Fisher-Price PXL2000.
Shitty quality video camera for kids. I…
[scoffs]
It was only on the market for about a year.
I got one on eBay about ten years ago.
Jess had one.
They shoot on audio cassettes.
[static buzzing]
[Jess] What about you?
I just…
I want to be happy,
I guess.
Shit.
[static buzzing]
Okay.
My name is Melody Pendras.
I live in apartment 2C at the Visser Apartments.
I'm of sound mind.
To any law enforcement officers,
I'm making this tape as I search for fellow resident Jessica Lewis,
age 14, who is being held somewhere here against her will.
She went back to the Visser.
My footage is intended as proof of crimes committed by Samuel Spare.
Who is guilty of child abuse,
reckless endangerment,
the drugging of a minor,
and probably a lot more.
If something happens to me,
Samuel is responsible.
[suspenseful music playing]
[elevator dings]
Jess?
Are you in there?
Jess?
[faint melodic chanting]
[Jess] Melody?
Jess?
Open the door.
[Jess] I can't. I don't have the key to the deadbolt.
Okay.
Stay right there.
[doorknob rattles]
[suspenseful music playing]
Hey.
Are you okay?
I'm fine.
Are you part of this now?
What?
No.
Fuck.
We'll have to go through the window.
I can't.
Why not?
They need me.
I'm the only one that can hold a whole new world inside of me.
Whatever they told you, whatever they promised you,
it's all lies.
You're not safe.
They told me you'd try and stop this.
Jess, we have to go.
I want to help them.
It's my destiny to receive this blessing.
No, it's not. Do you know what they're gonna do to you?
They'll consecrate the space, and then
-they'll recite a prayer, and then-- -They're going to sacrifice you.
They're going to slit your throat.
-It's not a prayer or a blessing. -No.
It's a fucked-up occult ritual.
And it's violent and brutal,
and you're going to die.
They wouldn't do that.
Look, I'm sorry.
I am so sorry.
I know you want to help people,
but that's why they chose you.
Where's your mom?
I don't know, they…
They said she'd be waiting for me.
Okay.
We have to get out of here as fast as we can.
Down the fire escape.
Can you do that with me?
-Yeah. -Okay.
[Melody] Hold on, tight.
[man, faintly] Jess.
[gasps]
[banging on door]
Get to the street as fast as you can and then you run.
-Okay? -What about you?
-[man] Jess, what's going on? -What about you?
I'll be right behind you.
Go to the police station on 8th and stay there.
-Okay? -[doorknob rattling]
[banging on door]
[man] Jess, open this door right now.
[banging continues]
[grunts]
Where the fuck did you come from?
Where is she?
Where the hell is she?
[groans]
What did you do?
What the fuck did you do?
[yelps]
[high-pitched tone]
[projector clicking]
[projector whirring]
You found your way home.
Your vessel is gone.
She's not coming back.
It's all right.
You're the one I really need.
You always were.
I thought that was for Jess.
It was.
[Melody] Don't take it.
Don't let him do that to you.
[grunts] Fuck.
[speaking ancient language]
Let me the fuck out of here!
[resonating]
[all humming]
[speaking ancient language]
[all humming chant]
[continues in ancient language]
Someone!
Help me!
Get the fuck off me!
[yelling] Help!
Oh, fuck!
Get off me!
Get the fuck off me!
[breathing heavily]
[rhythmic huffing]
[speaking ancient language]
[gasps]
[indistinct whispering]
[melodic chanting continues]
[speaking ancient language]
[continues in ancient language]
[gasps]
[rhythmic huffing continues]
[in English] Come forth, Kaelego.
[speaking ancient language]
[whooshing]
[electric crackling]
[huffing intensifies]
[in English] I don't understand.
Melody!
Jess.
Jess, run!
Go!
[electrical crackling]
[loud whooshing]
[Jess whimpering on tape]
[fire whooshing]
[static buzzing]
Holy shit.
Let's break it down. Iris Vos, 1924.
She and her high-society cult of Kaelego-worshippers execute a ritual.
Ugly shit. Human sacrifice.
Something goes wrong, big explosion,
Vos mansion collapses, everyone dies, no bodies are found.
Fast-forward to 1994.
Professor Samuel Spare, or whatever the fuck his name is,
moves into the Visser, fires up the cult again.
He gathers a ragtag congregation,
collects all the necessary occult accoutrement,
and he lures Melody, an unwitting Baldung witch,
into his web.
[sighs] He tries the ritual again. What happens?
It's the same fucking disaster.
Except this time, through the miracle of not-quite-modern technology,
we get a better look.
So how is that possible?
Well, if you believe all the crazy shit that we've been sifting through,
if you put any stock in the Baldung mystics
and the Vos Society and the Visser gang,
you'd say we got a glimpse into
Kaelego's hometown.
The Otherworld.
Some kind of shadow dimension or pocket universe or mirror world.
That spell, that ritual, it, um…
it opens a kind of door.
Or… Or an access point.
A place where two dimensions briefly intersect.
In 1924, Iris reached into that other dimension
and tried to pull out a fistful of Kaelego.
But instead, she got pulled inside.
It's possible.
Melody, she could be stuck there too?
Okay. Yeah, okay.
For the sake of argument, let's say that Melody got pulled inside by accident.
Let's say that these, um, these visions you've been having,
these weird conversations and waking dreams, that…
they're her way of sending an SOS from the other side.
She's trapped.
I need to get her out.
We have no idea how to do that, how to get her out.
Well, Davenport clearly has some kind of plan.
Davenport is a stone-cold motherfucker.
Okay? You're lucky you're not lying in a shallow grave up at the compound, Dan.
You think he gives two shits about Melody Pendras?
No. But my father was trying to help her and he failed.
Maybe everything I lost all comes back to this moment.
Where I have a chance to make things right.
Davenport knows how to get to Melody.
I'm gonna convince him to help me.
The terms of our agreement were…
clear, Dan.
LMG has no further obligations to you.
I'm sorry you came all this way.
There's another tape.
That's not possible. I have them all.
No, you don't.
Something else was left behind the night of the fire.
The end of the story.
The end of Samuel's story.
[beeps]
[Virgil] Leave it.
[car chirps]
[Samuel speaking ancient language on tape]
Is there more?
I have some questions first.
You knew what was on those tapes before I ever touched them.
No.
That's not true.
You revealed their contents to me.
But you knew Melody was shooting footage of your brother at the Visser.
Of his cult.
You believed something was on those tapes, or in them.
Sounds like you might believe that too.
You knew Samuel was hunting for that Vos Society snuff film.
He believed it had some kind of power in it.
Some kind of magic.
He believed it could crack open a door between this world and another one.
He told me all about it.
That night outside the Visser.
I thought he was crazy at the time.
You ever think about what it means?
To capture a moment in time on a piece of film?
To give it an eternity it was never meant to have?
What else might we be scooping up in that moment?
What can't we see?
What the fuck is on those tapes?
They're a window.
A glimpse into another world.
Why did you wait 25 years to see what was in them?
I didn't have the tapes, Dan.
By the time I went looking for them, they were long gone.
It was pure luck that they came up for auction
at a storage facility in New Jersey last year.
[drink pours]
Wait, how… how did they end up at a storage facility?
Your father put them there.
I don't know why he went back for those tapes.
Maybe he thought they were worth something.
Maybe he thought they were dangerous.
In any case, it was a terrible mistake.
They burned down your house in order to destroy them.
Who burned down my house?
There are people who will risk everything
to raise that godforsaken demon into this world.
And there are people who will risk everything
to keep such an event from ever happening.
Your father was on the receiving end of that ideology.
Your family paid the price.
Your escape was entirely accidental.
Have I answered all your questions now?
Can I see the rest of the footage?
Melody Pendras is still alive.
She's stuck in the Otherworld.
I need your help to get her out.
That's not possible.
The fuck it isn't.
No, I mean, it's not a hospitable environment for a human being.
The mechanics of that universe are entirely different.
Time and space do not operate in the same way.
No one can survive in there for any length of time.
I don't know what to tell you.
She's in there, I need to get her out.
I've spent the better part of 20 years
researching the properties of this dimension,
formulating a strategy to access its powers.
Your brother's in there too.
[clicks]
[distorted rumbling]
[clicks]
We can save them both.
My brother was an irrational…
unstable egomaniac.
I see no reason to free him from the tomb
he so willingly trapped himself in.
I'm sorry, was that your ace in the hole?
[suspenseful music playing]
[grunts]
Ah!
[grunting]
[gun cocks]
I'm sorry, Dan.
I really do like you.
[panting]
Three years of stage combat training, finally useful.
Dan, where you going?
Dude, hey, what the…
Where the fuck are you going?
What the fuck?
He's not dead, so we need to get out of here
before he wakes up and sends in his Blackwater hit squad.
-I have to go through with this. -Go through with what?
-I came here to get Melody out. -No.
You came to convince Dr. Evil to get her out.
You played the game, gave it your best, came up short. It happens.
[Dan] Everything we need is here.
[Mark] Dan.
Dan, fucking stop!
I know what I'm doing. Okay?
I know that ground was consecrated or whatever the fuck you wanna call it
because I did that by restoring and digitizing those tapes.
I know that room has synthetic Kharonite panels
that Davenport must be using to replace a dying comet.
We have the book, we have… we have the totem. Right?
We saw ritual footage from both time periods,
we know how the spell's supposed to go.
Again, though, they both ended in total fucking destruction, okay?
If you think I'm gonna let you slit my throat in pursuit of your girlfriend,
we need to have a serious discussion about our friendship.
I'm not trying to raise a demon. I'm just trying to open up a door.
I'm not gonna let you do this, okay?
I'm not gonna let you fucking commit suicide.
Okay, you should just go.
The fuck you talking about?
You should go. I mean, you're right. It's not safe.
I don't want you to get hurt.
Either way, gonna have a great fucking story for your podcast.
Are you fucking serious?
Think I've been doing this all for a story?
I care about you, Dan.
Fuck.
I don't give a fuck about the podcast.
Okay.
I don't want you to die, man.
But if you're really gonna do this…
[sighs]
I'm not gonna leave you here.
And fuck you for thinking that I would.
Okay, let's get to it.
[melodic chanting]
[indistinct voices talking]
[Anabelle] I brought you a care package.
Snacks, pictures…
[Melody] Why'd you give Dr. Turner my number?
[Melody] Because he asked for it.
[overlapping voices]
[Melody] Who's there?
[Anabelle] Hey, I'm joking. It's just a joke.
-Don't be mad. -[MeIody] I fucking hate you.
[Anabelle] I brought you a care package.
Snacks, pictures, and…
[Mark] Holy fuck.
[Melody] Why'd you give Dr. Turner my number?
[Anabelle] Because he asked for it.
You know, this is not a criticism, but…
you did not prepare me for how fucking weird this place is.
[voices continue on TVs]
[Dan] I hope you're in there, Melody.
[Melody on TV] Who's there?
[Mark] Dan.
Hell of a goddamn blow.
Not sure he'll make it.
It was just self-defense. I just wanted to talk to him--
You didn't want to talk. You wanted to hijack this thing.
I… To help someone.
[Bobbi] The girl on the tapes.
Yes. Melody.
-We think she's trapped. -In the Otherworld.
Right.
Why would you risk your life for someone you don't even know?
I do know her.
You know a shadow.
No, no, it's not like that.
We found each other somehow. She's counting on me.
It didn't work for them, it won't work for you.
They thought they had everything they needed. They were wrong.
That book should have been destroyed.
The Vos family stole something that didn't belong to them.
But they failed to acquire this.
A key.
Holy shit.
Holy shit, Dan. She's a Baldung.
Only a Baldung can open the door
with both the spell and the key.
You were the one who was gonna get Davenport inside?
[Bobbi] No, never.
He was a means to an end.
Okay. So, just…
spitballing here. Um…
You're going rogue, raising up the demon?
'Cause I thought we read that the Baldungs were the ones
that gave up their magic to lock Kaelego away?
That's not what she's here for.
You wanna get her out too.
You're her mother.
I thought if I gave her up, she'd be safe.
She wouldn't have to bear the burden of this bloodline.
I had no idea
she'd come looking for me.
And then she was gone.
I have spent 25 years
trying to find a way to get her back.
How did you know she was in there?
I dream about her.
Every night.
But like you said,
I don't have magic anymore.
So, I needed Davenport to make this possible.
Someone to thin the veil enough to crack inside.
That's what playing the footage does.
It unravels the spell that holds the door shut.
Then what are we waiting for?
[tuning forks resonating]
[Bobbi] Every world has its own frequency.
Finding the right one is the only way to open the door.
Davenport said it was impossible for a human to survive in there.
With all due respect to that motherfucker, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
It will be disorienting.
Time doesn't move in the same way.
And he'll want to keep you there. Kaelego.
He's desperate.
Lonely.
He'll want you to stay.
He'll try to trick you into surrendering.
Wait, what does that mean exactly?
Five minutes.
That's how long I can hold it open.
[intense music playing]
[resonates]
This is your way back.
Follow this sound home, understand?
[speaking ancient language]
[rhythmic whooshing]
[continues speaking ancient language]
[loud whooshing]
[electric crackling]
[speaking ancient language]
[reciting chant in ancient language]
[sparking]
[birds chirping]
[rapid ticking]
[ticking slows, stops]
[metronome clicking]
[piano notes playing]
[playing eerie tune]
Hey.
[continues playing]
A-minor.
[girl hums along]
[Dan] Don't.
Why?
[plays note]
[Steven] What are you playing?
I don't know.
I like it.
[chuckles]
Danny, how was your day?
Fine.
We still on for Clash of the Titans tonight?
Okay.
[woman] Dinner's ready.
Come on, Danny. It'll get cold.
[Steven] So how was your walk?
Did it rain?
[sirens blaring]
What about the fire?
What fire?
[faint sirens]
[Dan] The house.
There was a fire.
There was no fire.
You're here.
And you're safe.
Hmm.
We're all safe.
[metronome clicks]
[metronome clicking]
Please. Please find me.
I have to go.
[ominous music playing]
We can start again.
All right? Have the life you were supposed to have.
[distorting] All right? Have the life you were supposed to have.
[suspenseful music playing]
Melody?
[wind whistling]
Melody?
[wind whistling]
["Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division playing faintly]
Melody?
[church bell tolls]
♪ When routine bites hard And ambitions are low ♪
♪ And resentment rides high But emotions won't grow ♪
[Walkman clicks off]
Dan?
Hi.
Come with me.
I can't.
I'm waiting.
She'll be here.
No. No, it's a trick.
I don't think so.
You have to trust me, Melody.
You came here for me?
I thought you were a dream.
Same.
[uplifting organ music playing]
[church bell tolls]
[high-pitched screech]
[rumbling]
[bell continues tolling]
[glass shattering]
Okay, we have to go.
Wait a minute.
No, this isn't right. We're supposed to be in the compound.
[rhythmic whooshing]
[changing channels]
Hello?
[faint melodic chanting]
Hello?
[rhythmic huffing]
[chanting intensifies]
[chanting stops]
[intense rhythmic huffing]
[low growl]
[screaming] No!
[Dan gasps]
[tuning fork resonating]
[inaudible]
[loud whooshing]
[electric crackling]
[panting] Dan? Dan?
Do I know you?
[Mark] Where's Dan?
I don't know.
He was right next to me. He…
He…
Samuel.
Samuel was there.
Dan?
Dan!
[gasps]
[monitor beeping steadily]
Hello?
Hello? Is anybody out there?
Well, hello there.
We were worried you were never gonna wake up.
How long have I been…?
Uh… ten days.
Days.
Have my friends been here? Mark?
No, sorry.
No visitors.
How did I get here?
Well, all I know is that you were luckier than the rest.
God was watching out for you.
The rest?
Did you live there?
Were you close to your neighbors?
Live where?
The Visser.
The Visser?
So tragic. All those people.
I'm sorry.
What year is it?
I'm gonna go get the doc and have him come in, talk to you.
What year?
I'll be right back.
[ominous music playing]
[inaudible]
[music intensifies]
[melodic eerie chanting]
[eerie tune playing on music box]