"Hey, by the way, thanks for keeping me company." "And miss a chance to ride out to the country?" "Sure." "Maybe you and Jim will move out here someday." "No." "Jim is a city boy." "I think Village Square is about as country as he's going to get." " I never thought this house would sell." " DELIA:" "Yeah, you and me both." "It's changed hands four times in 10 years." "Well, you know what they say." ""It is the most haunted house" " "in Driscoll County." - "In Driscoll County."" "I think it's not selling 'cause it's a money pit, not because of the ghosts." "Wow." "This from you?" "Vacant houses usually aren't haunted, you know?" "They need the energy of the living to feed off of." "There are more ghosts in dentists' offices than there are in an abandoned house like this." "Wow." "Well, that must explain my dentist's bad breath." "(EX CLAIMS IN DISGUST)" "Hey, my first guests!" "Come on in." "Hey, Steve, I hope you don't mind." "I brought a friend." " This is Melinda Gordon." " Hi." "I'm sorry." "I just had hand-to-hand combat with a saw," " and the saw won." " Ouch." "Yeah, that word came in handy a lot today." "Along with a few others." "Well, I was just stopping by to see how you were settling in." " Lf you needed anything..." " Yeah." "A how-to book on power tools." " This is my daughter." " Hi." "Marlo, pioneer girl." "Hi." "Do your horses need some feed?" "Wagon wheels need a-fixin'?" "Marlo's just annoyed because the closest mall is 10 miles away." "No, I'm annoyed because my friends are 100 miles away." "Anyway, I just have a couple of papers" "I need you to sign from the title company." "Yeah, sure." "Come on." "You know, I think I'm going to clean up my thumb." "I'd rather not sign in blood." "Well, you're going to whether you want to or not." "Yeah." "Hey, you work in the antique store, too, don't you?" "Yeah." "That's my boss." " Hi." " Hi." "I found some really cool, old board games." "I was going to keep some of them." "There's not a ton of entertainment here at the homestead." "But I was wondering if you could tell me what they're worth." "DELIA:" "Sure, I could take a look at them." "MARLO:" "Perfect." "Have you ever heard of a game called Twister?" "You want to come and check out the games?" " No, I'm good." "I'm just going to explore." " Okay." "MARLO:" "We have this game." "I'm not sure if all the pieces are here, though." "DELIA:" "This is a great game." " But you've never played?" " MARLO:" "Never played it." "(GASPS)" "Is someone here?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "I can help you." "Who are you?" "(MARLO SCREAMING)" "GARAGE GHOST:" "One of them will die." "(MARLO SCREAMING)" "Are you okay?" "CHILD:" "Can you see us?" "STEVE:" "Wonder when this tipped." "The floor's rotted through underneath." "Made a little river all through the ceiling." "DELIA:" "What a mess." "I'm going to see if Marlo's finished cleaning herself up, and I'll bring up some paper towels and..." "I'll bring them back up here." "You know, for a minute there..." "You almost thought there was a ghost?" "No." "I have to remember my rule." "What rule?" "Rational explanation for almost everything." "Right." "MELINDA:" "Do you know why they moved?" "You know, Steve lost his wife a few years back." "He said that Marlo was having a hard time in high school, and I guess it was just too painful to stay in the house." "That is so sad." "It's really hard on a kid when they lose a parent." "Yeah." "It can be hard on the other parent, too." "So, do you know what happened?" "Do you know how she died?" "No, he didn't say." "I don't know if..." "Wait, I know that tone in your voice." "You are asking for a reason." "I saw something." "Someone." "Are you saying that you saw a ghost in Steve's house?" "In the garage actually." " (CHUCKLING) What?" " It's just that..." "I mean, there's always a damn ghost." "Everywhere you go." "What is that?" "Okay, I wish they weren't always there, too, believe me." "But it's not like I go out looking for them." "Don't you?" "What?" "(SIGHS)" "Look, I'm sorry." "It's just that Marlo and Steve have been through so much." "They just need a clean start." "They don't need to hear about ghosts and have their whole lives turned around." "Yeah, but what if the ghost is Marlo's mother?" "Melinda, they especially don't need to hear that." "They need time to heal." " There's obviously a..." " A rational explanation." "Well, it's not always that easy." "I am just asking you to give them some peace." "It's up to the ghost, not me." "Fine." "You're gonna do what you're gonna do." "I just sometimes don't understand her." "I mean, what's it going to take?" "You know, after all she's seen, she can't just say," ""Okay, I get it." "There's ghosts."" "Well, sometimes what people don't believe is just as important to them as what they do believe." "And some people feel better thinking that there's nothing after we die." "You didn't have a hard time believing." "Well, that's because I believed you." " And also..." "I don't know..." " What?" "Come on." "I always wanted to believe." "I mean, I always wanted to believe that there was more." "I mean, after my dad died," "I wanted to think that everything we do here does not come to nothing." "And then" "(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)" "There was Melinda." "So, what do you think?" "Should I just stay out of it and let the family live in peace?" "Hey, who says they're in peace?" "I think you can cross this ghost over quickly and quietly." " In, out, nobody gets hurt." " Ha!" "Famous last words." "Come here." "(WHOOSHING)" "Are you here?" "(GASPS)" " (CHUCKLES) You scared me." " What are you doing in my garage?" "I'm sorry." "It's just that the furniture, it's so interesting." "We could sell some of it for you if you wanted." "I had a little something for Marlo." "I had a little something for Marlo." "It's okay." "I'd like to give it to her myself if I could." "It's adorable." "Thank you so much." "It suits her." "I have to keep her in here 'cause my dad's not crazy about cats." " How's your dad doing?" "He seemed..." " Moody?" "Right." "He's been doing pretty well since my mom died." " What was her name?" " Liz." "Short for Lisbeth." "She hated being called Lisbeth." "(MEOWING)" "It must be hard for you, moving and all, not knowing anyone." "She got me." " What?" " My mom." "She got me." "She was the only one." " I'm sure your father..." " I know." "But not like her." "Now I don't think anybody ever will." "Sometimes I think he blames me for what happened." "What happened?" "Where's Dora?" "I hope she didn't go in my dad's room." "Hang on." "Liz?" "(MARLO SCREAMING)" "What happened?" "The cat." "What did you do to her?" "I didn't do anything to her." "I just found her like that." "Might have been some rat poison or something." "I'm sorry, honey." "(MARLO CRYING)" " Steve, are you okay?" " Yeah." "She sure did like that cat." "(DOORBELL RINGING)" "Yeah." "Hey, Steve, I'm so sorry to bug you, but I just thought I could walk you through these county tax rebate forms." "You know, it's a great programme." "Especially if you plan on putting any money into the place." "What's wrong with the place?" "Well, you know, I mean, whatever you do for improvements, things like that." "I like the place just the way it is." " Okay." "Well, then, I could just..." " Just forget it." "If it makes life easier, he's not interested." "Yeah, well, you're the expert on easy living." "Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow, right?" "What are you saying?" "I'm lazy?" "You didn't think I was lazy when certain things had to be done to a certain person." " I should have stopped you." " That's easy to say now." "But you had too much to gain, didn't you?" "As long as I was doing it, you weren't going to stand in my way." "You know, it looks like I came at a bad time." "So I'm just going to leave these over here." " Bad time for what?" " To sign the tax rebate forms." "(DOOR SHUTTING)" "It's okay." "I can just leave it." "If I sign it, will you get the hell out of here?" "Yeah." "It was like they were two different people." "It was so eerie." " Like they were in a trance?" " Yeah, exactly." "And they kept talking about having done something to somebody." "And Marlo said that her dad had too much to gain to stop her." "It was weird." "Could they have been talking about Marlo's mother?" "Why would you think Steve would have done something to the mother of his child?" "Because of this." ""Liz Sinclair, 36, of Oak Hills," ""died in a fatal fall from a hiking trail" ""in the northwest section of Ryden State Park." ""Her hiking companions, husband Steven Sinclair, 37," ""and daughter Marlo, 15, were unharmed." ""Sinclair was questioned late into the night by the county sheriff" ""and released the next morning." ""Officials would make no further comment."" "Yeah." "Well, obviously they let him go." "Yeah, which only means they had no proof." "I mean, it could explain why Liz is haunting him." "Then again, Marlo did say that Steve blames her." " Maybe she's haunting Marlo." " Wait, wait, wait." "Just hold on." "Did you say anything the last time you were there about ghosts or hauntings?" "No." " Are you sure?" " Yeah, of course I'm sure." "Why?" "I don't know." "Maybe it's, like, power of suggestion, you know?" "They think they're haunted, so then they just start acting like it." "Okay." "I love you like a sister." "Really, I do." "But you are the most stubborn person I've met in my entire life." "I mean, you will twist yourself up into a pretzel trying to rationalise some..." "I'm sorry, I'm just looking for a logical reason for them to..." "You mean the believable reason." "Not the real reason, but the easy reason." "Whatever makes you comfortable." "(STAMMERS)" "PAYNE:" "Let me get this straight." "Daddy and daughter move to the country to get away from it all." "There's a ghost in the garage that predicts that one of them will be dead soon." "The cat turns up somewhat less than alive, and Daddy buries it like it's just another day of yard work." " And this morning..." " And this morning," "Delia goes over to the house and finds herself in the middle of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" "What are you doing?" "I'm trying a radical new technique to my class lectures." " What?" " Preparation." "Okay, so what am I looking at with this ghost?" "You're looking at a little more Jack Nicholson," " a little less Linda Blair." " Meaning?" "Meaning it's not like there's a demon taking over their bodies." "It sounds like there's a spirit influencing them from the outside, controlling their behaviour from time to time." " It's called oppression." " You mean possession." "No, I say what I mean, and I mean what I say, damn it." "I said oppression." "Okay, oppression." "Sorry, never heard of it." "Basically, it's when a spirit controls a body without ever entering inside of it." "It's a bit like hypnotic suggestion." "In essence, it directs how it wants the body to behave." "And what's really creepy is, over time, the person begins to act more and more like that ghost." "It's Possession Lite, if you will." "It's all the bad manners with half the head-spinning." "Okay, so, why not go full-on possession?" "Possession, that's a tool used by demons, spirits that never walked the earth in human form." "Whereas oppression, these are used by earthbound spirits." "Earthbound spirits that are very stubborn and will do whatever it takes to get what they want." "Which is?" "That's for the ghost to know and for you to find out." "Okay, so how do I get the ghost to stop?" "To leave them alone?" "It's hard to say." "I'm not sure." "But I do know this." "You have to be careful because an oppressive spirit, they will really take advantage of any weakness, any vulnerability that their host has." "A mental illness, emotional turmoil..." "Turmoil like, "I killed a loved one"?" "That kind of turmoil?" "Okay, I was thinking more like white slacks in November, but sure, that would work also." "(DOORBELL RINGS)" "Steve?" "(SINISTER LAUGHTER)" "(CAT MEOWING)" "Hey, I'm sorry that I didn't call first." "I just..." "You play from your head and not your heart." "That's why you lose." "I don't always lose." "Sometimes I just let you win." " Why?" " Mess with your head a little bit." "False confidence." "Things like that." "MARLO:" "You think I'm falsely confident?" "Why don't you make yourself useful and go get me a drink?" "Good idea." "(SINIS TER LAUGHTER)" "Liz?" "(WHISPERS) He really isn't coming." "And you know what..." "Stop it!" "You're not Liz Sinclair." "Who are you?" " You see me, don't you?" " Leave them alone." "Matt, we have more company." "Whoa." "It's scary when they look right at you like that." "Marlo, look, I don't know if you can hear me, but you're being used." "I know that you can't see them, but you can feel them." "Steve, please listen to me, okay?" "You don't know what's happening." "Both of you get out of this house right now." "(COUGHING)" "(LAUGHING)" "What did you do?" "That's one for me." "My daughter?" " Where's my daughter?" " JIM:" "She's right here." "She's fine." "She's going with you." "Hey, stay with these two guys." "They'll take care of you." "All right?" "MATT:" "You're playing too rough." "You're gonna break them like you broke the others." " You're just a sore loser." " No, I am not." "It's just that these two are too perfect to lose." "And all that guilt, I can practically taste it." "What the hell are you two doing?" "Sorry, it's a private game." "Is that what this is?" "You just play with them like they're toys?" "None of your business." "Bye-bye." " Melinda." " Is he going to be all right?" "(JIM EXHALES)" "Zendrex." "Prescribed to Steven Sinclair." "Yeah, this is good news actually." "It's an antidepressant." "He'd have to take a lot of these to be fatal." " Is this guy just trying to kill himself?" " His daughter put it in his drink." " What?" " It wasn't really her." "Okay, there's two ghosts in the house, and they're trying to control them." "Wait, there are two ghosts..." "What, they're possessed?" "It's called oppression." "They lived here before." "It's a long story." "You always say houses aren't haunted, people..." " Okay, just..." " All right." "Well, do we call the cops?" "Not yet." "As long as they're out of the house, they're safe." "And they don't even remember what happened." "I just can't let this little girl get taken away from her dad." "All right." "Okay, will you just keep an eye on them for me?" "I'll do what I can." "But I think they're only gonna keep Steven overnight." "I have to figure out who these ghosts are and what they want." " Hey." " Yeah." " You call me if anything changes?" " You know it." "There's a man and a woman." "The woman is slightly older than him." "It's not Marlo's mother?" "No, I don't think they're connected to the family at all." "They might be connected to the house." "But I thought you said places aren't haunted, people are." "All right, shush." "Hey, wait a minute, you got Steve and Marlo out of the house." "That's a positive thing." "Except for the fact that Marlo practically killed her father." "Less positive, I admit." "Look, these oppressive ghosts are stubborn." "They're very powerful." "Powerful enough to survive more than one owner, which is probably why the house is haunted and not the people." "Touché." "All right, so you said that these ghosts are treating it all like it's some kind of a game." "Yeah, like it's a contest." "What is it, the Newly Dead Game?" "(LAUGHING)" "That was good." "I just made that up." "All right, what's the point of their game?" "The last ghost out of the house wins?" "Last man standing." "Steve and Marlo are the game pieces." "Why don't you just figure out what their names are, figure out how to play, and beat them at their own game and get them to cross over?" "Don't make it sound so easy." "Maybe I already have a name." "You said that Steve signed a tax form..." "DELIA:" "He did." "There you are." "...when you went down there." "Can I see it?" " Why?" "Why do you need to?" " Please." "I just need to see it." "Is it something about his handwriting?" "Okay." "Get ready to think of a rational reason." "For what?" "Why Steve Sinclair signed his name as Matthew Sembrook." "You know, I don't get it." "Why would Steve sign somebody else's name?" "Because that's who he thinks he is." "Here, look. "Matthew Sembrook with father Erwin and mother Vivian."" "Mother?" "She looks 10 years older than him." "Matt is Erwin's son from a previous marriage." "He was Vivian's stepson." "It says here that Matthew and Vivian died of natural-gas poisoning." "What happened to Erwin Sembrook?" "Where's he?" "Dead." "Six months before." "Apparently, Erwin died in an accident shortly after marrying Vivian." "So mother and son inherited the house and the fortune." "So, you're saying that these two," "Matthew and Vivian, are haunting the Sinclairs?" "No, not only haunting them, but controlling them, which I'm sure is what they did with everyone else who lived in that house." "Well, their death, what happened?" "Was it an accident?" "A suicide?" "What does the article say?" "Well, it says here that there are unanswered questions." "Well, is there something I can do to help?" "Would you really want to?" "Look, you're right." "I don't know why, but there is just some default switch that goes off inside my head, and it always resets to, "That can't be."" "Well, maybe it can be." "Okay." "Maybe it can." "I just don't want to feel like I'm hurting you every time that I question it." "It has nothing to do with hurting me." "I just hate to see you so closed off." "I mean, there are tons of things in life that we take on faith that we can't see." "Why can't you do that with spirits?" "I can." "I will." "I'm going to try." "But if I can't... (MOBILE PHONE RINGING)" "I'm sorry." "Jim." "Mel, Steve's being released from the hospital tonight." "He's signing himself out." "They're going home." "I know who you are." "Matthew and Vivian Sembrook." "You like to play games?" "So do I." "Let's see how you do with someone you don't control." "Not so easy keeping up the energy when the Sinclairs are gone, is it?" "You'll do." " You both need to cross over." " No, thanks." "We're good here." "Okay." "Then I'll play you for it." " For what?" " A crossover." "Twenty questions." "If I can tell you what happened when you lived here, then you have to cross over." "And if you don't guess?" "I'll never bother you again." "Really?" "That is so stupid." "(CHUCKLES) You don't bother us at all." "You mean nothing to us." "MATT:" "I like it." "Let's do it." "What were you doing when I first saw you in the garage?" "I never saw you in the garage." "Are you sure you want to count that as a question?" "Your late husband died in this house, didn't he?" " Yes." " And you were both here that night?" "Yes." "And you feel guilty about what happened?" "Just like you feel guilty about a few things, don't you?" "About someone in particular maybe?" " I'm asking the questions." " That's right, Andrea, you are." "What?" "I'm sorry." "Did I call you by someone else's name?" "Did you kill your husband?" "You want to know what happened that night?" "Come." "ERWIN:" "Vivian." "Matthew." "Are you up here?" "What are you..." "How can you do this?" "He's my son!" "He's not my son." "He does something you never do, pays attention to me." "Vivian, wait!" "And you!" "What kind of a man are you?" "A man raised by you." "Don't you turn your back on me!" "Look, it was an accident, okay?" "I just saw it." "He missed a step, so you don't have to blame yourself." "You guys can forgive each other." "And your dad, he's going to be in the light, okay?" "He'll forgive you." "He'll forgive you." "Wow." "She did it." "She wins the game." "So now you can cross over, and you can leave the Sinclairs alone." "Wait." "There was one more thing." "Why?" "Why?" "No, stop it!" " You killed him?" " Yeah, sorry." "It's just that..." "Well, we're really not very nice people." "(BOTH LAUGHING)" "(DOOR CREAKING)" "Melinda, what..." "What are you still doing here?" "I'll explain later, okay?" "But we have to get out of here." "Now, you can just come and stay with me, but you have to get out of this house right now." " Okay, let's go." " Okay." "No." " Don't be a sore loser." " And leave us the hell alone." "MELINDA:" "Please!" "Steve, please don't do this." "Who are you?" "Are you Liz Sinclair?" "Are Matt and Vivian stopping you from going in the house?" "I'm too weak." "They're too strong for me." "They're only strong 'cause they've spent years feeding off of other people's fear, playing their little games." "Did Steve cause your death?" "Yes." "But he had to." "Why?" "The alternative would have been even worse." "I think that Steve's guilt is what's allowing Matt and Vivian to have so much power over them." "It's not just Steve's guilt." "What?" "It's Marlo, too." "He will always blame you." "Every time he looks at you, he sees his dead wife." "Do you know what that does to him?" "There's really only one way to end this." "All this pain." "All this anger." "You know what it is." "You know what you have to do." "For your own protection." "You know what you have to do to make sure you both get peace." "(METAL CLANKING)" "VIVIAN:" "You know this is what has to be done." "You've always known it." "Why deny it any longer?" "It's the best thing for both of you, and it only hurts for a second." "You'll barely know." "And then you'll both finally have some peace." "Don't listen to her." "Okay, this is not you." "This is a ghost that's making you feel these things." " What?" " This is what you do, isn't it?" "You just play your story over and over again, except it's a new person each time." "Well, your real story is that you were so guilty about killing your husband that you killed yourselves." "Looks and brains." "I'm impressed." "The newspapers keep saying that it's poisoning from natural gas." "It's a little more complicated than that, isn't it?" "A bit." "Let's chat." "(KNIFE CLATTERING)" "And it wasn't about guilt, either." "The thing is, Matt and I always thought we were a perfect match because neither one of us had a shred of conscience." "It was just delicious." "The problem is that when you realise the man you love is as dangerous as you are..." "Let's just say it's not a trust builder." "Attraction turns to suspicion." "There was a lot of money at stake." "Erwin had left us both very well off." "So I started to wonder." "Was Matthew's devotion real, or did he really want all that money to himself?" "And what would he be willing to do?" "He already knew what I was willing to do." "And I'm sure he was having the same thoughts about me." "So, what if one of the beneficiaries dies?" "Which is why I decided that the best thing for our relationship was for Matt to have" "a tragic, careless accident." "Control freak that I am," "I wanted to make sure that he fell asleep, as it were, before I left the house." "He was always so restless." "Imagine my surprise when I fell asleep before he did." "Very sneaky stuff, natural gas." "Turns out I was much more sensitive to it than he was." "Of course, Matt followed soon after." "Then we woke up, and we were dead." "And we've been here having a blast ever since." "What?" "What is going on?" "I'm going to get you out of this house right now." "We're going to go get your father..." "I vote for my guy." "He's going to go all the way." " You should have behaved." " What are you going to do?" " Don't count my girl out." " Okay, both of you, just stop it." "This is family business." "You should have left us alone." "Too late now." "Steve, please stop, okay?" "I've seen your wife." "I've seen her spirit." "My wife is dead." "You should know." "You killed her." "Me?" "If it wasn't for you, she'd still be alive." " You let go!" " You didn't listen to me!" "Now that's entertainment." "Come on." "Come." " What's happening?" " Just trust me." "I'm taking you to your mother." "Wait, wait, wait." "What are you saying about my mom?" "Tell her I'm sorry that it's been so hard on them." "Your mom is here with us." "I can see her." "And tell her I miss our nightly ritual of brushing each other's hair." "Her beautiful hair that she got from her grandmother." "She misses brushing each other's hair." "Dad." "She says Mom's here." "Her spirit or ghost or something." "And she wants to help." "What are you talking about?" "That shirt he's wearing is my favourite because he wore it when Marlo was born." "She remembers your shirt." "You were wearing it the day that Marlo was born." "She said that?" "She's really here?" "They have to stop punishing themselves." "She wants you to stop punishing each other." "I'm so sorry, Mom." "Dad's right." "If it wasn't for me," " I..." "It's all my fault." " (CRYING) No." "No, it was me." "It was me." "I made the decision." "It was me." "What happened that day?" "We were so tired." "We'd been on that trail all day." " MARLO:" "You guys don't move." " This is moving." "(STEVE LAUGHING)" "Hey, look." " Hey." " S TEVE:" "It happened so fast." "(LIZ SCREAMS)" "Mom!" "No!" "Mom!" "One second, she was next to me, the next, she was hanging off a cliff." "I was trying to pull her up, but I couldn't get any traction." "Mom!" " Mom!" " No!" " Dad!" " Stay there!" "And that's when it all fell apart." "I knew I couldn't stop Marlo." "How can you stop a child from trying to save her mother?" "Mom!" "Marlo was falling." "She was going to die." "I couldn't get Liz back on the ledge." "I thought there was only one way to save her." " Dad!" " No!" "(SCREAMING)" "I let go of Liz, and I grabbed ahold of Marlo." " Mom!" " Liz!" "I'm so sorry." "I should have tried to save you both." "No." "No, he couldn't." "He did what I wanted him to do." "The only thing that he could do." "You did everything that she wanted you to do." "You saved Marlo." "And I know you were trying to save me." "She risked her life for me." "She doesn't blame you." "She was really proud of you." "I'm so sorry, Mom." "I don't know how to do any of this without you." "You will always have me with you in your heart." "But most importantly, you have each other." "They've got to stop punishing themselves." "Please tell them that we'll always be a family." "And they have to take care of each other." "I will." "I have to go now." "She crossed over." "Is she going to be okay?" "She was smiling." "At peace." "She's always going to be in your heart." "How come I don't feel anything bad when I go inside now?" "They can't feed off your guilt any more." "They're weak." "How can I sell this house to somebody, knowing what I know?" "I'll come back." "Cross them over." "Don't worry about it." " You two just get a fresh start." " Okay." " I cannot thank you enough." " Me, too." "Things will get better now." "You'll see." "Would you mind checking Marlo into the hotel?" " I just need to grab a few more things." " Sure." "Come on." "Only one way to be sure things will get better." "Well played." "(TYRES SCREECHING)" "My dad!" "(SIGHS IN RELIEF)" "Fresh start." "Bye." "(MOBILE PHONE RINGING)" " Mel." " Jim, hey." "You better get the fire department to the Sinclair house." "Steve did the only thing he thought he could do." "What will we do?" "What if nobody else comes?" "This is our home." "The place where we met." "We can't leave." "Don't worry." "Somebody always comes." "They'll build." "They'll buy and sell." "All we have to do is wait." "What do we do in the meantime?" "How about a game?" " Twenty questions?" " You're on." " Okay." "I got a good one." "Go ahead." " Animal, vegetable or mineral?"