[ Children squealing ]
Hey, Rachel,you almost ready to go?
As soon as Alan gets here,we're leaving.
Don't hate me.I slept like crap.
I've got a bowling ballstrapped to my belly.
I'm sorry.
It's okay. Don't apologize.
I really wanted to go. I gotan Elvira wig and everything.
I know. Next Halloween, okay?
My boobs won't be this bignext Halloween.
Ellie, how aboutI stay home, too, then?
Alan can go to the party byhimself.
Five minutes through the gate,he'll make 10 new friends,
you know that.
No. You guys go and have fun.
I'm just gonna stick aroundhere, make some popcorn,
find a scary movie to watch,and go to bed.
Are you sure about that,little lady?
- Positive.- Yeah?
Lose the scarf.You look like Liberace.
No, I don't. I look cool.
[ Doorbell rings ]
Hey, hon? Alan's here.
We'll have a beer here first,and then we'll go, okay?
ELLIE: Sounds good!
I thought you were goingtrick-or-treating
as King Arthurand his Band of Merry Men.
Oh, wait, no,that's Robin Hood, right?
Anyway, man...Rachel is bailing.
This last trimester's killingher.
I can't remember, was the lasttrimester like that for Suzie?
Tired all the time, notsleeping?
Hey, Alan, you wanna takethat stupid mask off now?
Okay, man, have a seat.I'll grab us a beer.
[ Doorbell rings twice ]
Here.
Hand these out for me?
No?
[ Candy hitting floor ]Thanks for your help, buddy.
Happy Halloween!
[ Ominous music ]So? What do you think?
Pretty good, huh?
Oh, and you should seeSuzie's "Guinevere".
I fell in love with herall over again.
Hey, check it out.
How cute is that?
Does this kid look like a tiny,little Merlin or what?
Alan, what the hell isgoing on here?
Who's that?
I thought that was you.
[ Screaming ]
Please, please, please, no...
Ah...
Aahhh!
ALAN: Help! Help!
No!
Help! Help! Please!
[ Screaming behind door ]
[ Baby crying ]
RADIO EVANGELIST:Brothers and sisters,
you ought to be doingsome thinking
about where you're goingwhen you leave this world.
Are you prepared?
Because you better be.Because hell is there.
Hell is there, and hell is real.
What you do in this worlddetermines the next.
Take God into your heart right.
Okay!
That's enough of that.
Can we listento anything else, please?
What if he's right?
What if what's right?
You know, we live our lives...
Try to be good,do the right thing,
and, at the end of the day,none of it matters.
Do you want to turn back?
Did I say I wanted...?
Because you're more importantto me than some house, Sarah.
- Free house.- We could sell the free house.
We could buy a condo in thecity.
Or move out to the suburbsif we have to, I mean...
Oh, you're jok...Oh, Sarah, you cannot do that!
You cannot spit outsome weird existential bullshit,
and make me feel stupidfor what I worry about you.
You don't need to worry aboutme.
Really.
Okay?
Your parents were murdered in thehouse we're about to move into.
My parents are photographs,stories told by strangers.
It's just a house.
Nothing more.
What do you think?
Oh, it's... kinda perfect.
Shall we?
What... What happened herebefore...
It doesn't matter.
The only thing that mattersis what we put into this place.
You and me.
And I know I'm being maudlinand sentimental, so...
It is very cute.
You're very cutewhen you're sentimental...
There are decent people...
Jesus... -...who livein this neighborhood!
Children!
You have a whole house!Pick a room!
Are you serious?
- Wow.- Is she serious?
Wow...Welcome to the neighborhood.
If she wants a show,we will give her a show.
[ Laughter ] Mmm-mhhh...
Yes! A-ha!
- Okay. Don't do that!- I'm going into the house!
Put me down!
[ Laughter ]
[ Key turning ]
That was so weird.Don't know what her problem was.
Yeah, well, she looks likeshe has a lot of problems...
None of which are ours.
Wow.
You okay?
Yeah.
Yes.
Let's just go and explorethe rest of the house.
Yeah.
Babe, there's a lot of rooms.Which one do we choose?
I guess whichever one feelsright.
Listen.
Yeah.
I think it's okay.
Mmm...
You promised work you'd swingby.
I'll make up a good excuse. Wehave squatters in our basement.
Mennonites stole our furniture.
No, you can't call in sickon your first day.
Technically tomorrow is myfirst day.
- I wanted to explore the town.- Yeah?
Maybe drop in and say hi to Cam.
Okay, you can take the car.
- How are you gonna get to work?- I'll bike.
You hear that?
I can bike to work.It's amazing.
It was the right decision,coming here.
Yeah, we did good.
Yeah. We did.
[ Mumbles ]
Mrs. Peterson?
Mrs. Peterson, are you okay?
- What?- Hi.
Have you seen her?
Who's that now?
Ariel.
Do you know that she wants to bea vet when she grows up?
She just loved animals,ever since she was a little kid.
She always has.
Yeah.
Have you seen her? My daughter?
Where is she?
God! Don't! Don't touch me!Stay away from me!
Can I just give you this? Wouldyou just take this, please?
Fine. Fine.
It's okay. It's okay, everyone.
Sarah.
Welcome home.
Wow.
So the house was okay?Everything's in order?
Oh, yeah. We need to hit, like,six furniture stores, but...
Well, there's some of your parents'old stuff in the basement.
I'm thinking a lot of wicker and amicrowave the size of a VW bug.
That's probably accurate.
Hey, have you stoppedby the gallery yet?
Robin and Justin, they've donea lot of work on the place.
Well, yeah, you know,looking around here,
just what this town needs,another gallery.
It's better than another B&B.
I don't know..."Stay at the Murder House.
It's 20% off,if you survive the first night."
- You'd probably make a killing.- Oooh!
No.
- That's a little much, huh?- Yeah, it's too soon.
So, um... Cam, I've gotto ask you something,
and I don't thinkyou're gonna like it.
What?
I want to go see Tom Winston.
Why?
You know, I...
kind of always ignored whathappened to my parents and me.
I... pretended it didn't matter,that it happened to someone else.
Pushed it away...Look where that got me.
You fell apart.
Yeah, that's an understatement.
Look, you've given thatpsychopath everything he wants.
Attention, validation...
No, I'm just...I'm tired of running.
If I can... you know...get past it, then I can move on.
You know,that's the theory, anyway.
Sarah Bennett!
Don't worry.I don't want your autograph.
On anything other than yourlease.
Sarah, this is Robin.And this is Justin.
Your new landlords.
Oh, wow...I thought Robin was a...
You thought Robinwas a she and not a he?
Yeah.
So did my Mom the first threeyears we were together.
This is actually my favoritecorner in the whole town.
And here you are,the keys to your future.
I'm sorry, I have to say this.
You just look so much morenormal than I thought you would.
- Robin.- What?
I'm just saying whateveryone else in this town
is just too polite to say outloud.
But I'm not polite,
and moving into the same houseyour parents were murdered in
is cuckoo-crazy.
I am so, so sorry.
You know what, it's fine.
It's nothingcompared to this morning.
There was this womanacross the road...
Ah!
- Verna McBride.- Verna McBride, I hate her.
Some tenants have hadissues with her in the past.
Issues? Great.
She's just a lonely old lady.She's completely harmless.
Ah... anyway,I should get outta here.
And don't forgetabout tomorrow night.
Yeah, June would never let them.
You should come.Shouldn't she, Justin?
Absolutely.
I wouldn't want to put you guysout, or anything, you know?
We'll just have our cheforder a couple more steaks.
All right... Boys.
Good to see you.
Sarah, if you need anything,just call.
Thanks.
Bye.
Enchantй.
Over hereis our ad sales department.
And when I say "department",
what I really mean is a woman whoworks part-time named Eileen.
- Copy that.- You must be thinking,
"Jesus, she wasn't joking. Thispaper really is that small."
Listen, I was a freelancer.Now I'm editor-in-chief.
- I'm not complaining.- Good.
I'll admit...Part of me was worried.
What about?
That you'd lookdown your nose at us.
Alison, you kidding me?
You started your own newspaperfrom the ground up.
This is... uh... it's veryimpressive.
Yeah. Yeah, I did.
That's pretty much it.
Unless there's anythingyou want to ask me.
Yeah, I think I have onequestion.
Is my wifetypically front-page news?
The murders are big around here.I get it.
But it happened almost 30 yearsago.
Mmhh...
A husband and wifewere slaughtered in their house.
The wife is nine months' pregnant,and the baby is cut from the womb.
Now that same baby, all grown-up,is back in her old house.
I don't know what they taught you inJ-School, but that... is a story.
Murders happen every day,but not here, never like those.
So what else happens aroundhere?
Town fairs.Ice-fishing in the winter.
Fender-bender, if we're lucky.
A day or two from now,things will go back to normal.
- They always do.- Right. Normal.
Mrs. McBride?
Hi. I'm Sarah.Your new neighbor?
Can I offer you a lift?
I'm fine. Thank you.
Really, it's no problem. We'reheaded in the same direction.
Just because we're neighbors
doesn't meanwe're gonna be friends.
Have I done something,Mrs. McBride?
Because you're acting kind ofhostile.
The apple doesn't fallvery far from the tree, does it?
What does that mean?
Your mom was a dirty slut,and God struck her down.
And by the looks of it, so areyou.
Alison really wants to meet you.
She's very excited,so I told her we'll do dinner.
Yeah, is this the same Alison
that put my picture all overthe front page of The Bulletin?
- Mm-hnh.- You go.
I'm gonna hangwith the fun party-throwing gays
I met today.
Okay. Is this right?
No.
- Well, you do it, then!- That's not gonna help.
See, and I don't want to bea mansplaining chauvinist pig...
No, go crazy. Mansplain away.
- Yeah.- You leave me no choice.
Okay. See, here's your problem,young lady.
You put the HDMI cord in the wrong place.It goes here.
And when we geta gaming system,
we're gonna need to geta second HDMI cord,
and you're gonna have to changethe input from HDMI1 to HDMI2
every time...
Babe, who cares about her?She's a crazy old bitch.
No, no, no, she hates me. Okay?I can feel it.
Mrs. McBride is a big bullyand a big perv.
Probably hasn't been laidsince VCRs were invented.
And if she doesn't like you,who gives a shit?
Well, I do. Obviously.
It's just...she's yet another person
who knew my parentswho, you know,
felt that she was thespawn of Satan, you know?
Which makes me the spawnof the spawn of Satan!
- Just forget about it.- Yeah.
Okay.
Do you think there's anythingon The Bulletin servers?
Like file pictures...
Or anything from that nightthat I haven't seen...
Might shed some lighton what actually happened?
Let's find out.
Yeah?
Wait, wait... Go back.
You sure you want to see this?
Just play it.
I am the Lord's messenger,and I come to tell the truth.
I warned them.They wouldn't listen to me.
That Judas Iscariot.And his whore! Of Babylon!
Opening her legs to every man,woman and...
Yeah. Come on.
- I didn't say...- Yeah. Let's go for a walk.
You know, actually...I just want to go on my own.
- Sarah, I can...- I'm fine.
Just want to decompress, okay?
[ Street fireworks ]
[ Footsteps ]
You're not funny, you know?You're just sick!
Ah...
Ah!
There was a guy,and he was following me...
He had a hood on,and he was holding...
Dylan? Dylan, wait!
[ Pipes scraping ]
It was just some jerk,trying to scare me.
Exactly. Trying to scare you.Who the hell does that?
What are you gonna do,beat him up?
- Think you're funny, huh?- Yo, man, calm down.
You scare the shit outta my wife, andyou want me to calm down, is that it?
Keep your hands off me.I didn't do nothing to you wife!
Don't bullshit me, you littletwerp!
Dylan. Just leave it.
Come on, all right, it wasn't him.Let's just go home.
Yeah, Dylan.
You guys get the hell off mystreet, or I'm calling the cops.
You understand? Get out!
Come on.
Before Dylan starts to cry.
- Dylan...- No, no, it's good. You go.
He's crazy.
Make sure these punks doas they're told.
We can take him.It's four on one.
Let it go, Malcolm,the guy's psycho.
It's getting late, anyways,and tomorrow's our biology exam.
Come on.
You go home. You study.
Pussies.
Whoo!
Fucking Waterbury!
Shit!
What the hell was that, man?Are you king of the gimps?
Hey, shit-for-brains, that'smine.
Hand it over.
[ Gate buzzing ]
I've seen your picturein the paper.
But seeing you here,in front of me, I...
You need to stop smiling.
Better?
You're probably wonderingwhy I'm here.
I know your reasons arewhat you think your reasons were
for killing my parents.
Okay.
Now I want you to know what mylife's been like without them.
There's been a void, filled withgrief and guilt and sadness.
I grew up without parentsbecause of you.
I don't know who I am,because of you.
Why do you feel the needto tell me about your life?
Excuse me?
Not that I'm not interested.
I've kept tabs on youover the years, best I could.
What do you think you're doing?
I'm trying to understand what youhope to achieve by visiting me.
Catharsis? Is that it?
- Jesus, I shouldn't have come here.- Forget it!
Confront your demons!Dimestore pop psychology.
But I'm afraid,it's not that cut and dry.
You wanna put the pastbehind you, Sarah?
I can help you with that.
It's not an intellectualexercise.
You can't fix yourselfwith your mind.
You have to immerse yourselfin the past, Sarah.
All of it.
Find out what was going on inyour parents' lives 30 years ago.
Find what was buried in thathouse.
No one, after lighting a lamp,puts it in a cellar,
so that those who entermay "see the light".
We're done here.
[ Soundtrack to sex tape ]
Oh, yeah, Brian.Do you like this?
Oh, my God!
- It's Dylan, right?- Jesus...
That's right!
I'm Verna. Verna McBride.I live across the road.
I know. Can I help you?
I saw your wifeleave about an hour ago.
She was very upset.
Did she say where she was going?
I didn't ask her.
But I thought I should letyou know, just in case...
A man ought to keep a tightleash on his wife, Mr. Bennett!
Word to the wise!
[ Laughter ]
No, trust me, I told him.
If he gets that car,he has to get me a pool.
We have an entire lake,50 feet from the backyard.
Yeah, but it's cold, and there's alot of fish in it, and I'm gentle.
[ Doorbell rings ]
I just don't get why youneed a car with 600 horses.
Exactly, Corey.
Guys, I don't need it. I wantit.
- Hey!- She made it.
Sarah!
Hey, hi, welcome home.
It's really good to see you.
I was telling someone just theother day about your wedding.
They want to keep it small,
and I said you should totallytalk to our friend Sarah.
She had the cutest littleceremony...
Actually, I was just wonderingif I could speak to Cam...
Is he here?
Hey. Is everything okay?
Aw, did you get lost on your wayback from the bathroom?
Which one?There are, like, five.
- What's going on?- Do we have a seat for Sarah?
You know, actually,I don't mean to be rude,
but I really need to talk toCam.
- Of course, you...- Sorry.
We'll be... right here.
Well...
She may not mean to be rude,but...
- That was pretty damn rude.- I know.
I think I'm in love.
It's kind of hard to tell.The pic's pretty blurry.
If you had to make a guess.
Peter McBride?Verna McBride's husband?
I don't...I haven't seen him in years.
Not since I was a kid.
He skipped town right aboutthe time your parents died.
Where'd you find that?
I was going through thebasement.
Found a bunch of old videosfrom my mom and dad.
Pretty X-rated stuff.
Oh... wow.
Peter McBride was in one...and a bunch of other people.
You didn't know about this,did you?
No!
What about your Dad?I mean, they were best friends.
You think this is connectedto what happened?
Look, Sarah, I know you wantto find out what happened
to your mom and dad.
And why.
But like I said before...
Some things are better left...undisturbed.
There you are.
Sarah, I've been lookingall over for you.
Where'd you go?
Sarah.
Babe! What is it?What happened?
I used to lie awake at night
imagining my parentswere still alive.
I came upwith all these crazy scenarios.
Like, they were spiesbehind the iron curtain.
They were missionariesout saving the world.
Left me with my grandmotherto keep me safe.
I never imaginedthat my dad was Larry Flynt,
and my mom was Linda Lovelace.
I mean, listen... it's not agood thing, what you found out.
It's shocking and terrible,but...
What?
You wanted to know the truth.Now you do.
Your parents weren't fallenangels,
but they weren't these innocentmartyrs, either, you know.
They were weird,screwed-up, imperfect people.
Like the rest of us.
Home, at last.
- You gonna be okay?- Yeah.
You know since this kid's gonemissing, no one's heard from him.
Alison thinks it's gonna befront-page news.
So I got to go in for thisall-nighter.
I get it.
Bye, babe.
You think I should go talk toher?
No, I think it can wait 'tiltomorrow.
Yeah.
- Love you.- Love you.
[ Doorbell rings ]
Go away!
[ Doorbell rings twice ]
Go away!
[ Doorbell continues to ring ]
If you keep messing with me,I'll call the cops!
Ah! No!
Ah!
No, please, no! Don't!
[ Screaming ]
No, please, please...
[ Screaming ]
No! Ah! Ah!
Mrs. McBride?
You all right?
Are you gonna open the door?
[ Unlocking door ]
Can I come in?
[ Footsteps ]
Mrs. McBride?
Are you okay?
Mrs. McBride?
[ Ominous music ]
Oh, my God...
No! No!
Where would you even getsomething like that?
Well, we are in the country,Mr. Bennett.
I wouldn't be surprisedif we sold them
in every supermarketor the corner store.
- Dylan?- Sarah... Sarah... Hey.
Mrs. McBride...
She was upstairs,he cut off her hands!
You're safe, babe, you're safe.
It was him, okay?He killed her.
You... You said you saw themurderer, did you recognize him?
Yes. He was The Executioner.
Not the same personwho killed my parents,
but someone dressed like him.
Can you give mea description of him?
You know what he looks like.
I need a report from you.
Long black robedown to his feet, a mask...
or a hood, covering his face.
Dylan, it was him. I swear.
Sargent Henry... Sargent Henry.
- Do you have a sec?- What is it, Marjorie?
Verna McBride.
We're all shocked.No one can believe it.
Yeah, it's a real tragedy.It's been a long night, so...
But... But is it true?
Was that the workof The Executioner?
Where the hell did you hearthat?
Word gets around.
- So do I.- Marjorie?
I think you should be a lot moreconcerned with Verna's loss
than with rumorsabout how she may have died.
Of course.
God rest her soul.
We need to dig up everythingwe can find on Verna McBride.
Her childhood, her marriage...
What she's been doingall alone in that house
for the last 30 years, okay?
Leave no stone unturned.
How's Sarah?
"How's Sarah?"
Are you asking out of concern,or for today's headline?
You want me to investigatethe murder, fine.
Sarah is not the story. Period.
This isn't just a murder.
We have a copycat,and whether you like it or not,
Sarah is at the center of thisstory.
And at the same time you getto sell a shit-ton of papers.
Are you scared?
I am scared.
You should be, too.
Thank you for coming.
- I'm so sorry.- Thank you.
Hey.
Son, how are you?
I'm okay, Dad. How are you?
Well...
I promise you.We're gonna catch this guy.
I know. You have to.
We're all shockedby the murder of Verna McBride.
At times like this, it's easyto ask:
How could a loving Godallow this to happen?
But the murder of Verna McBrideand of Rachel and Brian Ingram,
these are not the works of God.
These are the works of men.
We're all born with fallennature,
one that loves sinand hates holiness.
Stretching all the way back tothe original sin of Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden,
our first step away from God.
There is a void, in each of us,that we struggle to fill,
but one that can onlybe filled by God.
By God's love. By God's light.
And our base desiresstand in our way...
and keep us from God's grace.
Keep us lonely,lost in the wilderness.
Buried in secrets.
Warping our good natureinto something unrecognizable.
And there is only one wayback to God,
and that is by letting Himinto your heart...
and following His Word.
"Beware of false prophets, whocome to you in sheep's clothing.
Inwardly they are raveningwolves."
There is only one God.
And only one path to salvation.
Back already. Something happen?
You know what happened.
You behind this?
Is it the workof one of your protйgйs?
- No.- Really?
Because he was dressed exactly thesame way that you were dressed
the night you murderedmy parents.
Don't tell me you didn't planthis.
I don't receive visitors here.Except for you.
And the occasional cop or lawyer.And of course my religious counsel.
What about e-mail?Regular mail?
I don't send mail.
Most of the mail I do get,I don't read.
Never had an e-mail account.
Warden can verify all this,if you don't believe me.
Then, who is behind this?
Who? I have no idea.
But I might be able to help youfigure out why.
First question I'd ask is:
Why did Verna McBridedeserve to die?
- She didn't.- Sarah... Sarah...
If you're gonna catch him,or her...
Who said anything aboutcatching?
Then, you're gonna have to startthinking like him.
McBride died for a reason. Why?
I don't know.
How did she die?
The newspapers said blood loss,but how, exactly?
He cut off her hands.And her feet.
Why would he do that?
'Cause he's crazy.
That's right, Sarah,get it all out of you.
All the judgment and allthe righteousness, shake it out!
Now, put your emotions aside andget into the mind of this killer.
Cutting off limbs. Why?
Is it a punishment?
Like in Saudi Arabia,when you steal, they...
They just cut off hands,nothing else.
Still... What did she take?
Sarah?
Videotapes. Her husband...he was in some of them.
So, you found them.
You knew what they were doing?
But Verna McBride's sinwasn't greed or envy.
The punishmentdoes not match the crime.
What are you talking about?
I'm talking about the punishmentfor the sin of anger,
to be dismembered, alive.
This all goes back to the Bible.
The Bible... Dante...
Pope Gregory the Great,St. Thomas Aquinas.
Verna McBride paid the priceof her sin with her life,
so if I were you,I'd start looking there.
This person's followingin your footsteps.
Finishing what you started.
Why would you wantto help stop it?