"(bats screeching)" "(gloomy music)" " MERIDIAN - SEDUZIDA PELO HORROR" "(whip cracking)" "(church music)" "Father." "Father?" "Yes, my son?" "The signora said this should be in God's hands..." "So, I brought it here." "What signora?" "The one at the castle." "The Church doesn't need any more art." "Take it, please..." "it's an offering." "It's worthless." "Let's take a look at it." "The frame is fifteenth century." "(speaks in italian language)" "The painting is likely to be at least that old." "That?" "An antique?" "No." "The one under that." "Holy Christ!" "See it?" "Yes, yes, there is no doubt that the original can be restored." "The renovation of the crypt is complete." "And the Archbishop is coming to reconsecrate it on Monday." "I'd like to show him the painting then, too." "We will put our most talented artist to work on it." "Gina?" "Our friends at the Church are in a great hurry to discover what is hidden here." "I have told them that may see it by Monday." "That's impossible, sir." "I have to finish this..." "A second-rate Vanitas painting." "It can wait." "I'm going to visit a friend this weekend..." "Your skill will of course be generously appreciated." "She's just returned to Italy." "She's my best friend." "I promised her." "Gina, you may do what you wish with your time." "but the restoration will be finished by Monday, yes?" "Now, Father..." "I can't hardly wait to see it finished." "So, I look forward to seeing it on Monday." "Have a good weekend, senorina." "Gina, come on..." "My Stellina." "It's so good to be home again." "Yes, home." "(sighs)" "Everything looks the same." "There have been a few changes." "I really missed this place and you." "God, Martha, I can't believe it's been 10 years." "[Gina] Hello, Catherine!" "Gina, I'm up stairs." "This is my friend." "You'll really, really like her." "A guest already." "You've only just got here." "[Gina] Cath, hey." "Gina" "Whoa!" "You own this place?" "Well, the family does." "It's the castle of the Bomarzinis." "You didn't tell me you're a royalty." "Nobility, and there's no such thing anymore." "Except in spirit." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Gina, this is Martha." "She was my nanny." "Then we're gonna be friends." "Hi." "I'll ask Adriano to rev up the room next to yours, Catherine." "Okay." "Welcome home, Stellina." "Stellina?" "Little star is what she called me when I was growing up." "She knows this place better than anybody." "She was here before I was born." "I can't believe you ever left." "I can't believe we're here together." "Well, I almost didn't make it." "This big job came up, and it has to be done by Monday, so I got to leave tomorrow." "Oh no." "You gotta stay for the weekend." "I wish I could." "As it is, I'm gonna be up all night just to get it finished." "Just like old times, back in the dorm." "(laughs) Hardly, Cath." "This is Italy." "We made it." "I always knew I'd come back here." "Maybe you did, but I was never sure I'd get here." "Oh come on!" "You were the best artist in that whole damn academy." "But you should be painting, not restoring." "Someday." "I'm still learning, you know." "[Catherine] Yeah." "[Gina] What about you?" "How's your work?" "This is a big test I guess, see if I really have some talent" "Give it time." "Yeah." "Well, I've got plenty of that now." "I'm here for good, and you are welcome here anytime you want." "(laughs)" "Wow!" "Check it out." "[Catherine] What's going on?" "It's one of those traveling sideshows." "Looks like it may be fun." "Gina, those shows are usually really creepy." "Come on." "I only have one night to strip." "Those side shows make me uncomfortable." "Comfortable is no life for an artist." "We're going, and we're going to have fun." "Okay?" "Okay." "(spooky music)" "How much further is this place?" "I think it's right up here." "No, that's what you said awhile ago when we turn the last corner." "What kind of weirdo built this place?" "Well, one of the stories is that back in the 1500s, a wizard created the castle out of a mountain, and then he turned his enemies into stone and put them here." "Yeah." "He has some nasty looking enemies." "Yeah." "The statue shows the curse of the person that's in." "Come on." "The wizard was a sculptor like you." "No." "He turned life into stone." "I'm trying to do the opposite" "I don't know." "It's kind of creepy." "Yeah." "I know." "But I've always been drawn here ever since I was a little girl." "Come on." "Finally." "I thought we were lost." "Oh my God." "Wow." "Come on." "Hi." "(laughs)" "(indistinct chatter)" "(whistling)" "(explosion)" "(applause)" "Ladies, gentlemen, distinguish guests." "(speaks in foreign language)" "Welcome to Fauvrey's World of Wonders." "We come from the exotic corners of the earth, from the ancient mists of history, and from the darkest depths of the imagination." "to thrill and delight you." "If philosophers tell us there is no absolute truth that the sole criterion of value is whether a subject is or is not interesting." "Then surely monsters must be the most valued creatures upon this earth." "They make us ask such fascinating questions." "Can I believe what I see?" "How did they come to be, and what might they do to me?" "(speaks in foreign language)" "(applause)" "(speaks in foreign language)" "[Circus Dwarf] Let the show begin." "(gasps)" "(snake hissing)" "(speaks in foreign language)" "Can you believe these creeps?" "(crowd exclaims)" "(applause)" "Ladies and gentlemen, from the audience please, a volunteer." "(speaks in foreign language)" "No." "Silencio." "(gasps)" "(applause)" "Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, we live most of our lives by the laws of time and space, but in moments of vision and of magic, space disappears, time stand still." "We are artist are visionaries, magicians, outlaws of time and space." "We scuff at the rules of polite society.." "We flout the laws of physics, and we laugh at death." "(laughs)" "(explosion)" "(applause)" "Cath, weren't they great?" "Yeah." "They were." "Come on." "Let's go back stage." "I wanna meet that guy." "Oh no, Gina." "Come one, you'll never know." "No one's allowed backstage." "But this is Catherine Bomarzini." "She owns the castle." "Let them come." "We just wanted to thank you for an amazing performance." "Well, thank you." "The only desire of any true artist is the good attitude of a sympathetic audience." "I trust our show went with the approval of the senorina." "Yes, the audience seemed to like it very much." "Ah, you're an American." "My mother is American." "We are but a modest troupe." "However, we have in the past perform for the nobility, and been well received." "Cath, why don't we invite them to dinner tonight?" "Wouldn't it be fun?" "I don't think that Martha and Adriano could handle so many for dinner on such short notice." "Come on, there's plenty of room." "The small dining room seats 30." "I'm afraid I'm not as impulsive as my friend." "The senorina is under no obligation to us." "She was kind enough even to attend." "[Gina] Come on." "Mr. Fauvrey, you and your friends have worked very hard, why not join us for dinner this evening?" "(laughing)" "(indistinct chatter)" "They sure like to have a lot, Adriano." "Here, have an apple." "(indistinct chatter)" "Would there be anything else, my dear?" "No." "We'll clean everything up in the morning." "Adriano, come dear." "(laughing)" "Fellow artists, distinguished guests, tonight was a most successful performance of Fauvrey's World of Wonders." "First, everything worked, and no one in the audience or the cast was injured." "(laughing)" "And second, the gross receipts were gross indeed" "(laughing)" "And now, we enjoy this marvelous dinner to the gracious hospitality of our beautiful hostess." "I propose a toast to the lady of the castle." "Lady of the castle." "(cups clinking)" "You don't get to make all the speeches, sir." "To magic and magicians." "To magic and magicians" "(background chatter)" "The hour is late." "We must leave early." "But it's not even midnight yet." "We do not wish to impose upon the generosity of our hostess." "I propose one last toast." "No thank you." "I've had enough." "But you haven't heard our toast." "To illusion." "(laughing)" "My toast displeases the senorina?" "I've never found much pleasure in illusion." "I'm a magician." "I live by illusion." "I'm an artist." "I live for truth." "Of course." "Then to truth." "I'll drink to that." "(laughing in the background)" "What's wrong?" "Are you okay?" "(laughing)" "(glass shatters)" "(laughing)" "(heavy breathing)" "Perfect body," "smooth, classy." "She's all yours, ready and willing." "Don't cry." "I need you to love me." "(gasps)" "(heavy breathing)" "(heavy breathing)" "(roars)" "[Martha] Good morning." "Good morning." "Your friends were interesting" "Yeah." "I'm sorry things got a little out of control." "As lady of the castle, you may offer its hospitality to whoever you chose." "Martha, I don't know what to do." "I think something terrible may have happened." "What do you mean?" "I'm not sure." "When you know what happened, you will know what to do." "Sorry." "What happened last night?" "I don't know." "I think we were drugged." "It's my fault." "I invited them." "How could you know they do something like that?" "[Gina] We should go to the police." "We can't go to the police." "I'm really sorry." "I gotta get back." "I'll talk to you soon." "(ghostly howls)" "(crying)" "Martha, come with me quick." "Someone has been killed just in the north wing." "But that's been closed for years, ever since you left." "No." "Martha, someone's there now." "Come on." "I tell you, child, this is foolish." "There's no one there." "She was right there." "Who?" "Who is there?" "A girl on a white dress." "That's a foolish old story." "Your father would be very unhappy." "That's why he took you away, because you thought you saw that girl." "But not like this." "It's a superstition, a ghost story." "Every old castle has one." "I don't know what's wrong with me." "I thought you'd left." "I can't." "I had to see you." "I wanted to apologize." "I know what we did was unforgivable, but when I saw you from the stage, I seemed helpless." "I want you to leave." "Please." "Please." "Try to understand." "This feeling is so powerful." "When we made love, what we felt was real." "Leave me alone." "(engine rumbling)" "(whip cracks)" "He's all yours." "Be my guest." "Always the same, so strong, so sad." "You know better than to let him mock me." "We don't' mock you, dear brother, fate does." "The fact that we know better, all of us, only makes it more fun." "This time it will be different." "Oh, what makes you think so." "This lady, she's the one." "I know it." "You know I can't let that happen." "[Oliver] You must." "I love you too much, dear brother, to let her kill you." "You mean, Lawrence, you hate me too much." "That too." "(faint cries)" "What's wrong?" "What do you want?" "(rumbling)" "(gasps)" "(heavy breathing)" "Catherine." "Cathy, Cathy." "She was dead." "We are going back to your room now." "It was him." "It was the creature." "He killed her." "Child, do you understand what you've seen?" "Did you see it too?" "It was real, wasn't it?" "Oh my God. (cries)" "Adriano." "I can't eat." "If you eat, I'll tell you a story." "I'm not a child anymore." "The girl in the white dress was your father's sister." "If you eat, I'll tell you the story." "Audrey was special." "There was nothing in her nature but love." "I was her nanny too." "She was my first ward." "Father never told me he had a sister." "He was younger, and quite in awe of her, as was everyone else, including me." "What happened to her?" "One day, a group of traveling players came to perform at the local carnival." "Your father was too young to go, but I took Audrey." "Who were the performers?" "Oh it was a tawdry show." "The magician in the group had seem quite taken with Audrey." "He came to the castle to see her, but I turned him away." "She was only just 15." "He came back several times, but I never let him in." "Was he respectful or rude?" "Sometimes one, and sometimes the other." "What happened to her?" "Several days later, she was found, as you say you saw her, brutally murdered." "By the creature?" "No one saw any such thing." "Who were the performers?" "Fauvrey's World of Wonders." "Your father told me he'd seen his sister's ghost as you did." "The first time was on the day you were born, and he had the whole of the north wing closed off." "Why me?" "You were the next lady of the castle." "We tried to protect you from the stories and from the past, but then you saw her yourself." "Why he didn't tell me who she was?" "Why didn't you tell me?" "Your father was never really certain of what he'd seen." "For a while, he thought he might be going mad." "Fauvrey's World of Wonder still exists." "That magician still exists." "These traveling companies go on from generation to the next." "They don't know any other life." "They're like gypsies." "So I'm supposed to accept that is just a rational explanation." "You've inherited the castle and its responsibilities." "You must decide for yourself, whether you're going to accept them." "(soft music)" "You would look lovely wearing that." "What do you want?" "You must know that." "There is a bond between us that can never be broken." "I'm not alone." "The servants will hear me." "That's just what she said." "But the walls and the doors are thick." "The servants will just don't know, and they never heard a thing." "I won't let you do to me what you did to her." "Ah, a modern woman." "Well, I'm an old fashioned man." "Stop." "I can't ever stop." "Stop." "Ah!" "Bitch." "(growling)" "(gasps)" "Oh my..." "(rumbling)" "(knocking on door)" "Martha?" "Martha?" "Yes, Catherine?" "(cries)" "There, there, child." "There, there." "It'll be all right." "Cath." "(heavy breathing)" "(roars)" "There, there, child." "It's just a dream." "It's just a dream." "You know, Oliver, your courage, determination, and self-sacrifice" "are so touching or not pathetic." "You must know it won't work." "Only someone who loves you can kill the beast, and you obviously do not love yourself." "You love others too much." "Then you blame yourself for all the ills and evils that others around you create." "Then you kill me." "I know you love me, my brother." "Yes, but I also detest you." "You hate that part of yourself which keeps you from love." "I could kill you, but I would only free you, and so I will let you live because I love you," "dear brother." "You're the beast, Lawrence." "You are the beast." "I need your help." "(crying)" "(rumbling)" "Do you know the legend?" "I know you killed a young innocent girl." "I swear I did not, in any form, harm that child." "Then who did?" "Oh, how can I make you understand?" "You can tell me the truth." "Yes, I killed a woman," "I shot in the heart, whom I loved." "Who was she?" "The lady of the castle." "I'm the lady of the castle." "But she was the first, over 400 years ago." "Is that why you came back here, to kill me, to shoot me with an arrow?" "Just the opposite." "To have you kill me." "Kill you?" "Yes, to kill the beast, to save my human soul from this eternal torment." "That is a curse which your father put upon me, to become that thing" "whenever, whenever..." "Whenever what?" "Tell me." "Go." "Go now." "Leave this castle." "Don't ever come back." "Save yourself." "I am the owner of this place, and I will leave or stay as I choose." "Then you kill me." "No." "Kill this beast," "end this curse." "(grunts)" "I become the creature whenever I love." "(grunting)" "(growling)" "(crying)" "(speaks in foreign language)" "It's all right." "You can speak English." "When was your last confession?" "Two years ago." "It is good that you have returned." "What are your sins?" "I'm afraid that superstition is beginning to run my life." "That is a serious problem." "It violates the first commandment and leads to idolatry." "I see things, and I feel things that I can't explain." "This must be dreams or visions." "Yes, visions." "Do they tempt you?" "It make me afraid of myself." "Do not put yourself in the way of sin." "If temptation cannot be resisted, then it must be avoided." "Go with God in your heart." "Thank you, Father." "Senorina, you are from the castle." "Yes." "The church is grateful for your generous donation." "What do you mean?" "The painting, the expert say it could be very old, very valuable." "I'm sorry." "I don't know what you're talking about." "The boy, he brought the painting to the church." "He said that the lady from the castle told him to bring it." "Oh you must mean Martha." "The English woman?" "Yes." "That is impossible, senorina." "No it isn't." "She's a generous woman." "She has the charge of the castle." "Senorina, the English woman has been dead for six months." "No." "I'm sorry." "I conducted her funeral service myself." "I thought you knew this of course." "(door squeaks)" "Are you leaving?" "What's wrong, Catherine?" "You went to a ghost." "You couldn't have come back to this without help." "Why didn't you tell me?" "For the same reason I couldn't let you see the painting or tell you the legend." "You have to find out for yourself." "Even if it kills me." "Oh Catherine." "We tried." "Your father and I tried to protect you, but it can't be done." "Whatever is going to happen, you must face it." "That's why you came back." "Well, I've changed my mind." "I'm leaving." "You can leave, but first, I want you to tell me something." "You say you believe in the truth, you live by it." "Then tell me the truth." "Why are you leaving?" "I'm frightened." "Of what?" "Of you, of him, of all of this." "My life isn't my own." "You're free, Catherine." "You can do as you chose, but your choice must be based upon what you know is true." "What are you really frightened of?" "I love him." "Who?" "Fauvrey, the creature." "Oh." "Of course you're frightened." "Love can be terrifying." "But sometimes he's so evil, and I hate him." "Do you really believe that this man, and he is a man that you love so much, could do those things?" "No." "Then what does that mean?" "I don't understand." "Think child." "Feel and think." "That it's not him." "Yes." "Now, what are you going to do?" "I can help him." "You know what that means." "I can't kill him." "I love him." "You're his star, Stellina." "He's wished upon you." "That's a great responsibility." "Martha, what should I do?" "Perhaps there's more to learn, child." "When the time comes, you'll know." "Martha." "Will you stay with me?" "Of course." "Haven't I always?" "Always." "Always." "(rumbling)" "It wasn't the creature." "(gasps)" "Lawrence is my brother." "My name is Oliver." "Why did he do that to her?" "He was afraid she would break the curse." "And free you?" "And himself." "He doesn't want us to be free." "Lawrence is consumed by hate for me, for himself." "He was a good man once, strong, clever, kind." "Then we came here." "Lawrence fell in love with a lady that was his daughter, and so did I." "I tried to stay away." "We were in love." "Lawrence couldn't stand the rejection." "He went to rage and try to take her away." "I tried to stop him." "Finding out what I did to her," "her father put a curse upon me." "Could've made a stone once done, any of us." "but he had a more bitter revenge in store." "When I loved," "I would become a creature that no one could love in return." "To break this curse, the creature must be killed by the lady of the castle," "and she must love the man." "There must be some other way." "No." "Only one who loves me." "I do love you." "Then you are the one," "Yes, you are the one, so you must die." "You're not Oliver." "No, but I do have the part rather well, don't I?" "Centuries of practice." "Where is Oliver?" "Waiting for us as sure as fate." "He'll stop you." "He never has." "Why not just kill me here?" "Where's the fun in that?" "See him, we live his fate over and over again." "That's real magic." "He may shoot you this time." "(chuckles) I trust in fate." "Fate can change." "He didn't kill Audrey, you did." "He was afraid to shoot, so he had to watch." "(howls)" "Oliver!" "Brother, time has come again." "(whip cracking)" "He missed his chance." "He's not a killer." "I am." "(screams)" "He did it." "Good shot, brother." "(growling)" "(heavy breathing)" "You are the one." "I won't kill him." "You made him kill me." "Ah." "Oliver, dear, dear brother." "You finally did it." "I'm sorry Lawrence." "You killed the beast." "The curse was on both of us, but Lawrence was a beast." "And now it's over." "And now I'm free, but only 'til you" "No." "It isn't my world any longer." "I have no world without you." "I can't ask you to come with me." "You can't tell me to stay." "I love you, Catherine." "(soft music)" "Improved by (c) dcd / September 2016 Thanks to the author's subtitle."