Monday, February 5, 2018

Now Showing: Tumulus

Tumulus
Genre: Supernatural/Thriller
Director: David Slade
Writer: Clive Steinbeck
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Willow Shields, Jacob Tremblay, Paula Patton, Jeremy Davies, Richard Dreyfuss, Marc Blucas

Plot: Adam Friend (Keanu Reeves), a recently divorced novelist, moves into an old house in the country with his teenage daughter, Scarlet (Willow Shields), and young son, Colton (Jacob Tremblay). Adam and Scarlet don't have a great relationship. She accuses him of never loving her mother and ruining his marriage to her mother. On the family's first night in the house, Scarlet hears strange noises outside her bedroom window. When she looks outside, all she sees are shadows quickly moving away. While exploring the surrounding fields and forest the next day, the kids come across a large mound. Scarlet is instantly attracted to it, but Colton is reluctant to go near it. Adam learns that his house is well-known for the disappearance of a woman who lived there. Upon returning home, he finds Scarlet's pet cat mutilated near the house.

Scarlet returns to the mound after school and hears strange noises. That night Adam finds a trail of muddy footprints leading from the front door to the bathroom. Scarlet is inside with the door locked, sitting in the tub as the shower washes her extremely muddied body. The muddy water turns red with blood as it reaches the drain. Later that night, Adam finds Scarlet sleepwalking. When he takes her back to bed, he finds a strange doll made from straw, inside which is a dark ball containing a live spider. The next morning Scarlet comes down for breakfast wearing a short dress and make-up. When Adam asks her about the doll, she claims not to have seen it.

Scarlet is bullied by a preppy girl at school. Meanwhile, Adam comes across a pile of muddy clothes in her bedroom. While investigating outside the house, he finds the head of Scarlet's doll at the mound, and the bloody remains of a blackbird. Adam is called to come to pick up Scarlet, who says she does not feel well. Colton's teacher, Emma (Paula Patton), gives Adam her phone number, offering her friendship. He is later startled to find a nest of spiders in the kitchen drawer where he'd placed the straw doll. That night Adam sees Scarlet emerging from the woods, even though he had previously ordered her to be home by dark. He notices some scarring visible on her neck, but Scarlet storms off.

Adam contacts Emma one night, and they meet at a local bar. While Adam is away, Scarlet hears noises outside the house and exits. As Adam is returning home in his car, he sees a shadowy figure running through the woods in front of the house, which looks like Scarlet. He exits his car and follows sounds of animal growls, but rushes back growing fearful. A stone hits his window and he speeds back to the house. Asking Scarlet if she'd been outside, she says no. He orders her not to go near the mound any more.

Colton is directed by Scarlet to climb the ladder to the attic. Colton falls when frightened by animal noises there. He requires stitches, and Adam berates Scarlet for not caring for her younger brother. That night, Adam searches the internet, finding an article about burial mounds. He telephones an expert on the subject, Professor Browning (Jeremy Davies), but is ignored. He then researches the previous owner of the house, Sarah Johnson, who disappeared one day without a trace, after having locked her teenage daughter Emily in her bedroom from the outside. Emily was eventually found alive and went to live with her grandfather, Roland Johnson (Richard Dreyfuss).

Adam goes out to find Roland Johnson. Scarlet then returns to the mound. Adam arrives at Roland Johnson's empty house, lets himself in and looks around. In the girl's room he finds a strange nest made from twigs and straw, and a depiction of the burial mound drawn onto a wall. Roland arrives and confronts Adam with explanations of what had occurred with Emily, that he burned down his house with her inside, insisting that it wasn't his granddaughter anymore.

Adam arrives home, finding a frightened Colton, and rushes to Scarlet to ask what happened. She says she does not know. The next day he finds a nest in Scarlet's closet similar to the one at Roland's house. Adam calls a contractor to destroy the mound that day. Professor Browning, having called back to ask about the mound, suddenly arrives and pleads with Adam to wait. He tells Adam of an ancient civilization who worshiped the burial mounds, believing them to be the homes of ancient Gods, or "mound-walkers". He mentions a ritual exchange of gifts — including small straw dolls, as Adam had found — and the mound-walkers' search for a young girl with whom to mate and give birth to a new generation of deities to reclaim the earth. Horrified by this, Adam instructs the bulldozer to start. A dead body is found when ht bulldozer hits the mound. Scarlet, meanwhile, in the schoolyard, is scraping the ground with her fingers. Adam is taken to the police station for questioning about the body while Emma looks after the kids.

That night, as Officer Croty (Marc Blucas) drives Adam home, they are attacked, and Croty is dragged from the patrol car by a creature. Adam continues home, discovering it in disarray and finding Emma with her throat slit. She dies while motioning toward Scarlet standing in the doorway. Adam gathers the children to leave, but Scarlet refuses. Mound-walkers begin attacking the house, and Adam kills three. After the attack, Scarlet is missing. Her screams can be heard coming from the mound. Adam leaves Colton in his room and tells him to wait for the police. Adam goes to the mound to rescue Scarlet and finds a tunnel leading into it. He pours out a can of gasoline, sets explosives left by the demolition crew by the tunnel entrance, sparks a flare for light and crawls inside. Scarlet is found unconscious and covered in mud. As he carries her out, angered creatures howl and give chase. Meanwhile, Colton has exited the house, looking into the dark toward sounds coming from the mound.

Adam escapes the mound with Scarlet, but another mound-walker is already there outside. Scarlet collapses and begs her father not to leave her. Adam looks down at her and sees her beginning to transform into one of the creatures. He drops a flare onto the fuel he poured out and the mound goes up in a huge explosion. As Colton watches, a growling creature emerges behind him.


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