"So what do you think the dream means?" "That your vagina is completely disease-infested." "Shut up." "For real." "Okay, babies..." ""Babies are symbolic of change and renewal." ""If the baby is a stranger to you," ""it may represent something developing within yourself" ""that is not yet ready to be born."" "And it doesn't say anything about babies in formaldehyde." "Okay, what about dogs?" "Okay, okay, okay." ""In mythology, the dog was often seen as a messenger of the dead."" "Then it just goes on and on about some more psychobabble bullshit." "So, where are the kids?" "Did you have to, like, change diapers and shit like that?" "Nope, the baby was down when I got here, and the four-year-old, he conked out as soon as I read to him." "Do you think they have porn in their DVD collection?" "Like I really want to know what Mr. Newton beats off to." "Well, it's not Mrs. Newton, that's for sure." "Case?" "Hang on." "Look in the mirror." "Some people are doorways." "Matty?" "Matty, are you up?" "Hey, Rom, I think one of the kids is awake." "I'm going to call you back, okay?" "Good luck." "All right." "Keep looking." "Maw?" "Keep looking." "Keep looking." "What are you doing, Matty?" "Keep looking." "Matty!" "Matty, stop that." "We have to go to bed now." "Matty!" "Jumby wants to be born now." "Are you sure you're all right?" "Yeah, no, it's fine, it's not a big deal." "I'd feel better if you'd had your eye checked out." "Okay, I will." "I'll see you guys later, okay?" "Hey, Dad." "Hi, Case." "How was sitting?" "Good." "There's cheesecake from La Scarola, if you want." "Mmm, no, thanks." "I'm just..." "I'm gonna crash." "Good night." "Oh, my God!" "He was shining a mirror in the baby's face." "And then he hit me." "Okay, that's creepy." "The kid's like four." "I mean, he probably didn't even know what he was doing." "It's bad luck, you know." "Newborns aren't supposed to see their own reflection till they're at least a year old." "It means they'll die soon." "According to whom?" "It's just one of those superstitions, you know." "You're retarded." "She's retarded." "It's not like I'm saying I believe it, I'm just saying it's one of those things." "Okay, so as far as we know, the universe is roughly 15 billion years old." "Right?" "So, if the universe had a beginning, what happened before the beginning?" "Einstein would tell us that there was no before, because time itself did not yet exist." "So here's another question for you." "How big is the universe?" "Does the universe just keep going on forever?" "And if it doesn't just keep going on forever, then what's beyond the edge?" "Maybe yes, maybe no." "Here's the catch." "Since our universe began..." "Jumby wants to be born now." "...back where you started." "It'd be like walking into a mirror." "ls everything all right, Casey?" "Yeah, I..." "I just need to get some air." "So he texts me, like, the day after we went out." "And he put, "I miss you."" "But then when I text him back, he never replied." "And that was like two days ago." "Case." "There's something wrong with your eye." "What are you talking about?" "I don't know, dude, I think you should look." "It's called heterochromia." "Meaning one iris is a different color than the other." "Usually, it's congenital." "Sometimes it occurs after a blunt trauma." "On very rare occasions, it might be indicative of a malignant melanoma of the iris." "In order to rule that out, I'll just need to take a few digital pictures." "Okay." "I'll go ahead an insert a speculum in order to keep your eyelids open." "Oh, God." "Just relax and everything will be fine." "Ooh!" "All right, you're doing great." "Okay, go ahead and rest your chin right here." "And keep your head very still while we take a few pictures, all right?" "Okay." "All right." "Good." "Good." "So, does it hurt?" "Mmm-mmm." "I think the light's just a little bright because of the eye-drops that he gave me." "Baby, thank you for coming with me." "I know I'm such a pain in the ass right now." "Mmm-hmm!" "Yeah, you are, yeah." "The good news is that my dad's not gonna be home till tomorrow morning." "Does that mean what I think it means?" "Yes." "Great, 'cause, you know, 'cause those glasses, they're just..." "They're definitely giving me wood." "Yeah, I don't know what it is." "Hey." "You all right?" "Yeah, yeah, let's go." "You know, it really screws with your head, what Mr. Shields was saying." "That the universe doesn't have an end." "I used to have nightmares about it." "That the world would just stop spinning, and we'd just fall off out into space." "I'd get so upset by it, that one day we'd just keep falling forever and ever and ever." "No?" "Yeah." "No, I mean, I still get that way when I think about dying." "You know, me and just all my thoughts ending." "So you don't think there's an afterlife." "No, why?" "Because I don't feel her anywhere." "I mean, I remember the last time I saw her." "We went to the hospital." "And she was just sitting there staring out the window." "It was almost as if she was already gone." "Did she say anything to you?" "Well, she was adopted, and I guess she found out who her birth mother was." "Then she died that night." "You know, they say that it takes a really long time when you hang yourself, that some people have second thoughts." "And then they can't do anything about it." "God, I used to hate her for leaving us." "Hey." "Come here." "What?" "What?" "What?" "Inside!" "Inside the mirror!" "Inside..." "I didn't see anything in the mirror." "What did you see, huh?" "Mrs. Byrne, what's going on?" "It's the baby." "She wasn't breathing." "No, please, don't take her!" "She can't be dead!" "I'm very sorry, ma'am." "I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm sorry!" "Well, we've gotten your lab results back." "And everything looks fine." "But there was one oddity." "Are you a twin by any chance, Miss Beldon?" "No, I'm an only child." "Are you familiar with the term "genetic mosaicism"?" "Occasionally, when you're dealing with twins, the placentas can become fused and a certain amount of blood will be exchanged back and forth." "I suppose the emerging pigmentation in your affected iris could be the result of that foreign genetic strand." "Now I don't think it's anything you need to worry about." "But you may wanna see a genetic counselor, just to be on the safe side." "Excuse me." "Case, what's up?" "I just got back from the eye doctor, and I got my test results back." "And?" "Am I a twin, Dad?" "Yes." "Oh, my God." "You had..." "You would have had a brother." "Sweetheart, he died while you were still in utero." "How?" "Case, it's a long time ago..." "Dad, I need to know." "It was a freak thing." "One of the umbilical cords got twisted around his throat." "My Cord?" "So, my brother died?" "Is that why Mom killed herself?" "Your mother was clinically depressed." "Period." "The hard truth is that some people come into this world less equipped for life than others." "Like my brother?" "He was never your brother, Case." "It was way too early in the pregnancy for that." "Did he have a name?" "Neither of you did yet." "We had nicknames for you, though." "What was his nickname?" "Jumby." "I can't believe I let you talk me into coming down here." "Look, my mom obviously thought this woman was important." "I mean, why would she have kept that article?" "And this creepy photo?" "The kid from your dreams." "Yes." "Okay." "You know, Case, if this was me, I would just take one of my mom's Xanax, and I would just call it a day." "Okay, so just wait in the car." "No, no." "This is way too bizarre for me to miss out on." "Excuse me." "We're here to see Sofi Kozma." "We called earlier." "Yeah, if you could please sign in." "She is on the third floor, room 307." "Let's go." "God, it smells like diarrhea in there." "Look at the munchkin lady." "That guy's wearing a diaper." "God, I never want to get old." "No one does." "Mr. Walker suffered a stroke." "Now he's paralyzed from the waist down." "But he doesn't suffer much any more." "His mind is elsewhere." "It's very homey here." "It's tolerable." "I've certainly endured worse." "What was over there?" "Oh!" "There used to be a mirror there." "I had it removed." "Are you a twin, Casey?" "I was." "I had a brother who died in the womb." "How did you know that?" "I used to have a twin brother as well." "I can sense it sometimes in others." "Certain kind of manner." "I just recently found out about my brother." "And that's sort of what led me here today." "My mother's name was Janet Beldon." "She passed away a few years ago, but I found this in her things." "Did you know my mother?" "No, I'm..." "I'm afraid not." "She never tried to contact you?" "Well, this is her." "Are you sure you've never seen her?" "I'm sorry, dear." "What about the boy in the reflection here." "Did you know him?" "Get out!" "Get out!" "I'm sorry, what did I say..." "Get out!" "What the hell was that?" "One second she's fine, and then she does a bitch flip." "How did she know I was a twin?" "She's crazy." "She probably has Old Timer's!" "No." "No, she knew something." "Come on, get real." "What if she does?" "She doesn't!" "Okay, so, you had some weird dreams." "And then this thing happens with your eye, and then you found out you would have had a brother." "Believe me, that alone is enough to send me into therapy." "But that's all we're talking about here." "Just some weird coincidences." "Yes." "No, what about the Newtons' baby dying?" "What about the Newtons' baby?" "And what Matty said?" "He said "Jumby," Romy." "The nickname that my parents used for my brother." "You're the superstitious one here." "You tell me there's not something really going on." "Because you know there is." "I'm not crazy, Romy." "But ever since Matty freaked out that night, I..." "I've been seeing things." "What kinds of things?" "Do you believe in ghosts?" "You know I do." "Do you think it's possible to be haunted by someone who was never even born?" "You owe me." "These things are not easy to find these days." "Are you sure you want to see what's on this?" "I do." "Did it mean anything to you?" "It was the hospital where my mom died." "Beyond that door, that's where she hung herself." "I feel like she left all that stuff for a reason." "You know, like she was, I don't know, trying to tell me something." "Oh, my God, you think I'm crazy, don't you?" "No." "No, I don't think you're crazy." "A little hormonal maybe, but you're not crazy." "Let's try to have some fun." "Okay." "Okay?" "Yes." "Hey, kids!" "Are we faded yet?" "We're trying, but I'm gonna go to the bar, if you girls want anything." "I will have a vodka and Red Bull." "Me, too." "No." "Aw!" "Why can't I meet a nice guy like that?" "Please, I set you up with Craig Finch and you totally blew him off." "You wouldn't even talk to him." "Well, that's because he's too dramatic." "Oh, my God!" "Somebody, help me!" "No!" "Somebody, help me!" "Casey." "Casey!" "Case!" "Hey, hey, hey!" "What happened?" "Are YOU okay?" "Huh?" "Case." "Hey." "Hey, girlie." "You okay?" "I saw her." "Who?" "My mother." "You were drinking." "You were buzzed." "It was just a hallucination, you know?" "This was different." "She was there." "What if the same thing that happened to my mother is happening to me?" "What if I end up like she did?" "Have you talked to your dad about it?" "He's out of town." "Casey, you are not going to end up like her, okay?" "How do you know?" "You can't have it both ways, Romy." "Either I'm actually crazy, or something's coming after me, and if that's the case, then..." "Then I have to protect myself." "Okay." "Put a pair of scissors underneath your pillow with the two points open." "Why?" "Something my grandmother used to do, she said it keeps evil spirits away." "You're a freak, Romy." "Yes, but isn't that why you love me?" "Yeah, I guess so." "Good night." "Good night, hooker." "Hello?" "I need to speak with you." "Sofi?" "I'm sorry for what happened before, but there are things you need to know." "You must come." "It's after midnight." "This can't wait." "I lied about knowing your mother." "She did come to see me, just before she died." "Oh, my God." "You're the woman she was talking about." "You're her mother." "Yes." "Why did you lie to me earlier?" "I'm sorry, I was just so startled." "Your mother never told me you were a twin." "But when I saw your eyes today, I knew." "The boy in that reflection, that was your great uncle." "My twin brother, Barto." "He died in 1944, when we were together in Auschwitz." "We were taken to see the doctor in charge." "A man who was obsessed with twins." "He was very handsome." "Very polite." "We thought we'd been rescued." "The Nazis believed that twins could unravel the mysteries of genetics." "They conducted experiments on us." "Horrible experiments that blurred the line between science and occult." "One of their obsessions was eye color." "By trial and error, they attempted to fabricate blue eyes from brown." "The injections were painful." "Some caused blindness." "Some caused death." "Two days later, he came back, except..." "It wasn't really Barto." "A doorway had been opened." "Something else was inhabiting his body." "Something else?" "Have you ever heard of a dybbuk?" "Mmm-mmm." "It is the soul of a dead person that has been barred from entering heaven." "So it endlessly wanders the borderlands between the worlds, trying to find a new body." "Some people are doorways." "Yes." "Especially twins." "Because what is a twin but another kind of mirror?" "And mirrors have always been doorways to the other world." "What happened to your brother?" "From the moment he came back, I knew it wasn't Barto." "A dybbuk had crossed over and taken his place." "It had used his body to enter our world." "I killed it" "It's been trying to find its way back ever since." "Casey." "The dybbuk's blood is on our hands now." "This thing, this entity, it tried to take hold of your unborn twin!" "And when it couldn't have him, it turned its gaze to the other child." "Me." "It's been circling you ever since you were born, Casey." "Why now?" "Why didn't this start happening before?" "It takes time for it to make its way from the other side." "It enters our world in stages." "Always it inhabits the helpless creatures first, from insect to animal, slowly making its way up the ladder of life forms." "But a twin is what it most desires." "How do I stop it?" "Your mother asked the same question." "I told her about the Sefer ha-marot, the Book of Mirrors, which includes the rites of exorcisms." "There is a rabbi who may be able to help you." "Joseph Sendak." "Find him." "Please exercise care when handling the manuscript." "Thank you." "I guess most of you know me." "Each day is a struggle, you know?" "I keep trying to do that searching thing." "Make a moral inventory of myself." "Be fearless." "Well, that's all we can ask." "Thank you for sharing, Rick." "All right, it looks like we're about finished for the day." "We'll pick up where we left off next week." "If I'm not mistaken, Henry's up to bat on donut duty." "Go easy on us, will you, Henry?" "Throw in a few low-fat muffins." "Excuse me, are you Rabbi Sendak?" "Yes." "Can you read this?" "Well, the right hand text is Hebrew, so I can." "It's from the Kabbalah." "Jewish mysticism." "How did you come by this?" "Look." "I know that this is gonna sound crazy, believe me." "But I need an exorcism performed." "I'm being haunted by something." "I've..." "A dyb..." "A dyb..." "A dybbuk." "Yes." "A dybbuk." "Yes." "Well, as for dybbuks, there really is no such thing, Miss Beldon." "At least, not outside the realms of folklore." "You have to understand, back in the Middle Ages, things like spirits and demons were really just a catchall for conditions people weren't capable of properly diagnosing." "Mental illness, as we know it, didn't exist back then." "I'm not mentally ill, okay?" "What's happening to me is real." "Even assuming it is, what you're asking is beyond my expertise." "I've never performed an exorcism before," "I wouldn't even know where to begin." "Well, you could read the book." "It would tell you what to do." "And then what?" "For a religious ceremony to be effective, the person asking for help has to actually believe in the spiritual aid they're calling upon." "And I'm guessing you don't believe." "Look." "Maybe I could do a little research." "I could make some calls." "Okay." "What about your book?" "Can you translate it for me?" "Listen." "My life depends on this." "So please." "Please help me." "Take this." "It is the hand of Miriam." "It may offer some protection." "Stay away from mirrors." "If you have any in your home you must destroy them." "Burn the pieces of broken mirror and then bury what remains." "Bells, wind chimes, these are signs that the spirit is near." "You must be vigilant, Casey." "It will seek to isolate you." "To weaken your resolve." "Can it be killed?" "It's already dead." "The best you can hope for is to drive it back again." "There's no use in trying to understand it, Casey." "It's not human any more." "It is an outsider now." "It is no longer of this universe." "Oh, shit." "Oh, my God." "Oh, my God." "Sweetie, are you okay?" "He doesn't want you to help her." "If you try to help her, he'll kill you." "Fuck off, you little shit." "Oh, my God, Casey, I hit that kid from across the street with my car, but then he was okay." "I don't know." "I don't know." "Something is seriously wrong with that kid." "Case, your eyes are getting worse." "I know." "Case?" "Dude, what's going on?" "You haven't been to class, you're not returning my phone calls." "What happened to the mirror?" "I broke it." "Why?" "Because Sofi told me to." "Case, that hag from the old people's home?" "She's my grandmother, Romy." "What?" "She told me the truth about everything." "My God." "It's real." "Everything that has been happening is real." "It's some kind of ghost or demon or something." "And it tried to take over my brother, and that's why my mother went crazy." "She knew that it would eventually come after me." "It wants to be reborn into this world." "Case..." "Listen to me, right now." "You have to stay away from me." "What?" "It is not safe to be around me any more." "No, no, no." "I am your best friend, okay?" "And I am not gonna just abandon you." "Okay?" "It's okay." "Mom?" "I am thankful to you, Eternal King, who has mercifully returned my soul within me." "Your faithfulness is great." "Amen." "Eli?" "Eli?" "Eli?" "Miss Beldon?" "Miss Beldon, Sofi wanted you to have this." "In case anything happened." "Thank you." "Dear Casey, it has fallen upon you to finish what began in Auschwitz." "Be careful." "The dybbuk feeds on fear." "It has a taste for our family's blood now." "And it won't rest until it's had its revenge." "I tried to stop it, and your mother did as well, but she lost the battle." "She gave in to her fear." "Whatever happens, don't let it turn you against yourself." "It will seek to isolate you by attacking your friends, your family." "But it is you that it most desires." "Get out of here!" "Go!" "Maybe it's not even really after you." "It killed my mother." "You don't know that." "Yes, I do." "And now, it's killed Sofi, too." "It's gonna take everybody that I love away from me." "That's what it does." "It's gonna wear me down, and then, when I don't have any strength left to fight it, that's when it's gonna come for me." "I don't know, maybe you should leave town." "No, no, it wouldn't help." "It's gonna follow me wherever I go." "It's gonna kill me, Romy." "Hold on for a second, dude, someone's at my door." "No, no, no." "Don't answer that." "Casey?" "Mark!" "Meet me at Remy's house." "Something's wrong." "What?" "What are you..." "Do it!" "Go!" "The doorway is open." "What?" "Romy!" "What?" "What?" "She's not answering the door." "Go back!" "Around back!" "Come on, come on, come on!" "No!" "I told you not to help her." "Please." "Please." "All right, let's go." "Here, come on." "Romy!" "No!" "Mark, stop!" "Stop!" "It's not in him any more." "Get Matty." "Get Matty, let's go." "Let's go!" "Move!" "Shit!" "It's my fault." "It killed her because of me." "Where did it come from?" "I don't know." "It's not like us." "I don't even think that it comes from the same universe." "But you can sense when it's near?" "Yes." "It's getting stronger, Mark." "And I can feel it everywhere." "And I think that it's strong enough to enter anyone now." "Even the dead." "So no place is safe." "No." "No, see, I don't think that the world was ever safe." "I think that we were always just trying to pretend like it was, but it's not." "I like that." "That's good." "That's what I need to see." "Why did you change your mind?" "You know, I can't say that I truly believe in what's afflicting you, but I think you believe." "And if you're convinced an exorcism is what you need, then who am I to turn you away?" "If you'd seen what I saw last night, you wouldn't have any problem believing." "So, why are we meeting here?" "Because we need backup." "I may be a man of God, but I'm not a miracle worker." "Good to see you, Joe." "This is Casey." "Hey, nice to meet you." "Mark." "Hey, Mark." "And this is Arthur Wyndham." "He is an Episcopal priest and a very, very dear friend of mine." "So you've done exorcisms?" "No, I studied the phenomenon, I did my dissertation on it back in college." "Just wait a second." "I'm not looking for a Christian exorcism here." "Fair enough." "But there are certain elements to these kind of rites that are pretty common to virtually all religions, and it's these elements that I'm familiar with." "You gotta understand, this thing that's after you, if it exists, it predates religion." "It probably predates mankind." "It's not as if there's one kind of demon that is vulnerable to Jewish prayer, or another that's allergic to Christian or Muslim." "It doesn't actually work that way." "So the words in that book, they can't help me." "No, no, no." "On the contrary, I think that it can, but not in a way that you might think." "Now you, you may not believe, but your mother and your grandmother did." "And it's because of their belief that these words give us the best shot at driving this thing out." "I've translated what's in the book, so I'll be leading the invocation and Arthur and a few others will be assisting us." "Yeah." "Yeah, but before we get started, there's a few formalities that we have to get out of the way." "Can I see your IDs, please?" "I gotta verify that you're of legal age to consent to this." "All right." "You kidding?" "No." "No?" "Not kidding." "These are the forms, actually." "I don't know if they're legally binding, but we're in murky waters here, just in case something does go wrong." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Great." "So when do we do this?" "Tomorrow night." "Sabbath." "At your Synagogue?" "Oh, no, no, no." "Given how unorthodox this all is, I think we'll find another venue." "Yeah, yeah. ls there somewhere that is particularly negative to you?" "Somewhere that you may have incurred a lot of pain?" "Hell of a place to get religious, Sendak." "Cheery, isn't it?" "This is Rick Hesse, he's an EMT." "I thought it would be a good idea to have him here, just in case." "Nice to meet you." "As for the other volunteers, they've all been through some kind of hardship and they're willing to help." "Now, typically, a Jewish exorcism rite involves 10 people." "Why 10?" "10 fingers, 10 commandments." "10 is also the number of the Sephiroth, which are the known attributes of God." "The idea is that these 10 form a protective circle around the afflicted person." "Yeah, once we get going, Casey will stand in the middle of the circle," "Sendak will read the original text in Hebrew, and the rest of you will follow me in English, call and response format." "Now the heart of the ceremony is Psalm 91." "Yoshev B'seter, the Psalm of Protection." "At the beginning and the end of the invocation, I'll sound the shofar, which is an animal horn used in religious ceremonies." "In this case, the sound is intended to shock the spirit hiding within the victim." "Once the spirit is more compliant, then we can start drawing it out." "That's when the rest of us are the most vulnerable." "It wants Casey, but it will take any port in the storm." "And remember, no matter what happens, once we've begun, the exorcism must be finished." "Any questions?" "Yeah, why are they bringing in a gurney?" "The gurney is for Casey's protection as well as ours." "Sometimes people thrash out, just a precaution." "That's all." "All right then." "Let's get started." "Are you sure you wanna go through with this?" "I just want this to be over." "My name is Arthur Wyndham, and this is the video record of the attempted exorcism of Casey Beldon." "We have the permission of the ecclesiastical authority who are praying for us." "Everyone participating tonight is here of their own free will, including Casey." "Agreed?" "Yes." "Just for the camera." "Yes, this is what I want." "Now, if..." "And this is a big if." "But assuming a spirit actually manifests itself on your person, it may take the shape of a kind of bulge beneath the flesh." "Now try not to be alarmed by this." "Even though we're dealing with a spiritual phenomenon, the entity still needs to be housed in some degree of physical mass." "So if your body produces a reaction like that, it means what we're doing is working." "I understand." "All right." "Okay, so we're gonna place this block in your mouth, so you don't bite on your tongue." "Let's just get on with this." "Okay." "The circle is now made whole and sacred." ""In the name of Adonai, God of Israel." ""May Michael be by my right, Gabriel at my left," ""Uriel before me, Raphael behind me." ""Beneath my feet the ground of God."" ""I say to you of the Lord who is my refuge and my stronghold," ""my God in whom I trust," ""that he will save you from the fowler's snare" ""and destructive pestilence."" ""He will cover you with his feathers and you will find refuge under his wings." ""His truth will be your shield and armor."" "Keep going." "Don't stop reading." ""You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day."" "The doorway is open." "Get me out of here!" "Come on!" "Get me out of here!" "Get me out!" "Come on!" "Let's go, let's go." "No, no, no, wait." "The page." "What?" "Forget it!" "Let's go!" "We have to finish it." "Come on!" "Oh, God." "Oh, God." "I think he's gone." "No!" "No!" "Baby, we gotta go." "Get up, baby." "Come on." "God." "Baby." "Baby, you're hurting me." "Mark, stop it." "Mark!" ""...ten thousand at your right," ""but it will not come near you." ""No evil will befall you, no plague will come near thy dwelling."" ""For he will command his angels in your behalf," ""to guide you in all your ways" ""that you will lift the stone." ""You will tread upon the lion and the cobra" ""and you will trample the great lion" ""and the serpent." ""'Because he loves me,' says the Lord" ""And I will be with him in trouble" ""and I will deliver him and honor him." ""I satisfy him..."" "Casey." "Yeah." "Did you stop him?" "I think so." "Hey." "Am I gonna keep falling forever?" "Why now?" "Why didn't this start happening before?" "A little hormonal maybe, but you're not crazy." "And it looks like double congratulations are in order." "You're carrying twins." "Jumby wants to be born now."