Exeter (Backmask)

DIRECTOR: Marcus Nispel

Starring Stephen Lang Gage Golightly Kelly Blatz Brittany Curran Brett Dier Nick Nicotera Michael Ormsby Nick Nordella

2015

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The story opens with the shotgun suicide of a young strung-out woman as heavy metal music plays backwards revealing messages of death. FATHER CONWAY (50s) leads an album burning in protest of such music. But a nighttime fire destroys his REHAB FACILITY, and the building is condemned. Ten years later, the remodeled facility, now called Sacred Heart, is again closing its doors. PATRICK (19) assists Father Conway in packing supplies in preparation for moving out of the building. The junk man, GREER (40s), gives Patrick a piece of his mind on today’s lazy youth. Later, Patrick’s chubby friend KNOWLES (19) finds out that that Patrick has keys to the vacant Rehab Facility and calls his friends together for a debaucherous party that night. RORY, Patrick’s ornery twelve year old brother, tags along. That night as the drunken party rages, alpha male BRAD (20) and his hot girlfriend AMBER, join Patrick in exploring the house. DREW (21), stoner, is the newest member to this gang of friends. Although Patrick is uptight and concerned about the party and damage to the building, he meets a hot girl they call REIGN, and he and Reign hit it off. Knowles stumbles upon a hidden bag of drugs within the rehab’s walls, a patient’s stash from long ago. With powder and pills, the party goes into turbo-drive. As the gang explores the house, Knowles scares the others with the rumor that Father Conway used bizarre torture and extreme methods. His patients went completely psycho, attacking each other, and the place caught fire. They discuss his crusade against heavy metal and backmasking, a band recording messages backwards into their songs, and how baskmasking was blamed for violent teen behavior. To prove the theory, they play the song “Bend the Cross”, the same song we heard in the opening scene before the girl shot herself. Using Knowles’ iPad, they play the song backwards and hear a low demonic voice talking about death. As the conversation turns paranormal, Amber suggests they play “light as a feather, stiff as a board”, swearing it worked for her once at a slumber party. Rory volunteers to be lifted, and the backmasked song continues to play as the others concentrate. During the ritual, they raise Rory a few inches off the ground, until he begins convulsing wildly and gasping for breath. He recovers, but storms off in embarrassment, realizing he wet his pants. The gang passes the time playing strip roulette, each one losing various articles of clothing until they’re all in their underwear, while Patrick and Reign search the upstairs for Rory. Shockingly, they find him in a bathroom holding a straight razor, tearing off huge chunks of his hair and scalp. His mouth frothing and whispering gibberish, he attacks them. They overtake him and tie him to a bed in a nearby room. His eyes are milky white, and he’s speaking in tongues. Reluctantly, Patrick calls Father Conway for help and leaves a voice message. Patrick and Reign go downstairs to inform the others that Rory is possessed. They don’t believe them, saying it’s just a mixture of drugs and booze. Suddenly, Greer bursts through the front door with a shotgun to break up the party. Before he can call the cops, Greer wanders upstairs to see what commotion is coming from Rory’s room. Shocked to find a child tied to a bed, Greer quickly unties Rory. Downstairs, the gang is back in their clothes trying to figure out what to do, when Greer staggers down the stairs. His neck is twisted around. He falls, and his shotgun fires, spraying his brains across the ceiling fan. It splatters the screaming group. Brad and Amber rush outside and into Brad’s truck to escape. As they peel out, they crash into Father Conway, sending him hurtling through the windshield. Brad pulls the truck into the enclosed garage as the others rush out to see what happened. Reign checks Father Conway’s pulse and announces he is dead. The gang argues over what to do and decide it’s best not to tell anyone. They plan to hide and dispose of Greer and Father Conway and collect various tools and garbage bags in the house. After securing Rory to the bed again, Patrick and Reign explore the attic. Finding patient files stored there since before the fire, they read about a child named Devon Ryor and find photos of Devon having chucks of hair and scalp missing – just like Rory had done. Suddenly, the barred doors and windows snap into place, locking the entire building tight. They are trapped. Hearing a loud crash from Rory’s room, they rush upstairs to find the bed destroyed and no sign of Rory. Hearing a noise from the Group Therapy Room, the gang investigates. There, Rory climbs along the ceiling. Sealing him in the room, the others use Knowles’s iPad to seek information on possessions and exorcisms. They believe Rory is possessed by a demon as a result of their reckless ritual. They decide to attempt an exorcism using instructions on the iPad. Realizing they need holy water, they go downstairs to the garage to see if Father Conway had any with him. They discover Father Conway’s body is gone. Realizing he’s probably heading for the police, they take the holy water and return to Rory. The exorcism produces violent results and Rory is un-phased. Amber suggests they contact the spirit through constructing a Ouija board and ask what it wants. They carve letters into the floor and Amber and Reign speak to the board. It spells out the name Devon along with the words “find me” and “box.” More paranormal activity shakes the house, and Amber slips and cuts her hand on a bottle. Rory goes limp and falls like a rag doll, his eyes normal again. He wakens and doesn’t remember anything that happened. Then, Amber attacks. She is now possessed. As she attacks Drew, Brad squeezes a bottle of snail killer into her eyes, burning and blinding her. Amber disappears into the darkness, but Drew is fatally wounded. Patrick and Reign arm themselves with an axe and a pick axe while Brad angrily storms off. Patrick and Reign go to check the top floor for a way out, leaving Rory with Knowles for safety. Reign and Patrick find a room and hide from Amber inside a large portable closet. Behind the portable closet, they find a hidden room: Devon’s old room. Inside the room, they find an old photo of young Father Conway with the girl who killed herself in the opening scene. They were a couple. Reign reads a hand written letter that reveals Conway was Devon’s father who rejected him and treated him viciously. Meanwhile, downstairs Rory wanders off to pee, and Knowles researches the meaning of the crescent shaped image that Amber smeared in blood. Reign and Patrick enter a grimy bathroom with a tub filled with murky brown water. There is an open vent, large enough to fit inside that leads out of the building. As they explore the vent, Amber attacks. After a vicious fight for their lives, Patrick defeats Amber by crushing her head with a fire extinguisher. Brad is in the basement trying to find the breakers to open the locks and mistakenly cuts the electricity instead. The lights go out. In the darkness, he is startled by Father Conway, falls on his pick axe and dies. Upstairs, Knowles iPad reals the nature of the crescent shaped symbol. It grants the ability to manipulate others mentally and physically. They realize they are not dealing with a demon or a ghost. But now Knowles becomes possessed. He attacks Reign and Patrick and another fight for their lives ensues. This time, Reign deals the defeating blow, clubbing Knowles with a garbage can and smashing his face against the piano. Reign and Patrick find Rory bound and gagged in a box in the basement. This is the same box Devon was held captive in. Father Conway put him there. Held captive in that box, Devon transformed into the vicarious entity; someone who makes others act out their will while watching like an innocent bystander. While flipping the breakers to find a way out, they open basement window, large enough for Rory to get out. Patrick tells him to go for the police. Patrick and Reign stumble into the electroshock therapy room where Conway attacks. Reign whacks him in the head with a gas can, splattering him with gasoline. Conway has the upper hand, and drives the pick axe into Reign’s back. Patrick holds her, while Conway shouts Bible verses in the background. Then, Conway attacks Patrick. With a flip of his zippo, Patrick ignites the spilled gasoline, burning Conway alive. Patrick picks up Reign’s beaded bracelet he had commented on early in the party. He turns the beads around one by one to reveal Reign’s real name: Devon. Suddenly, Reign/Devon attacks. Patrick battles for his life in a gruesome sequence of violence and gore. The battle ends when Reign’s arms are shredded in a lawn mower, and he shoves her into the box locking it tight. Fire from Conway’s body has ignited the downstairs, and the place fills with smoke as Rory helps Patrick escape through the window. Later, as firefighters explore the scene, they cut open the box and find it empty, as “Bend the Cross” plays backwards.

Status: Completed

Genre: Horror