Now Showing: The Liberation of Evil

 

The Liberation of Evil

Genre: Horror

Director: David Bruckner

Writer: Billy Cruder

Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Crystal Reed, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Sarah Paulson, Blake Jenner, Logan Miller, Kyle Gallner, Clark Gregg, Jane Fonda, Samara Lee, Emory Cohen, Dylan McDermott

The film begins with Daveigh Carroll (Amanda Seyfried) who, as she prepares a coffee, listens to the news on TV and is attracted by the news of the discovery of the body of a child in a small town, Farmington. Daveigh was a young journalist hired for a few months at the "Spokane Gazette". After arriving at her place of work, Daveigh met two colleagues in the corridor, greeting them, and the two responded fervently. Daveigh's good looks made his male colleagues quite inclined to make reverence and favors to the young journalist already famous for her skill and will in the field of crime reporting. All this, however, had aroused dislike of the director, Clive McCormack (Dylan McDermott), who intended to favor his lover, less clever and shrewd than Daveigh, for that sector. Daveigh arrives at her office and starts writing about a news story until she is called by Clive in his office. The girl snorted and left the office and a few seconds later she was at the door of that hateful McCormack. The conversation is cold and the manager orders the girl to head to Farmington for the murder she had heard on TV during breakfast. McCormack says he brings photojournalist Ellen Clark (Crystal Reed) with her. Daveigh was happy with the choice because the two had made a good relationship and were friends. The two girls left for Farmington in their car and in a few hours they were there. Farmington was a village of just 150 inhabitants, all predominantly farmers. A bar, a restaurant, a guest house, a church, a square, the sheriff's office, a grocery store. And cultivated fields. Mostly cultivated fields. Ultimately, however, the fame of Farmington, from a very quiet town on the border with Idaho, had taken the name of being the guardian of many mysteries.

When Daveigh and Ellen arrived in the town, this had already been stormed by local journalists. The area where the body was found, close to a grove, had been turned off by the police. The photojournalist however managed to take a photo of the corpse covered with the white cloth of the Scientific Police technicians. The journalist, on the other hand, managed to invite herself to the house of a lady, Cassandra Barkley (Jane Fonda) for an interview. Cassandra answered the questions of the journalist and left with the story of how Farmington was founded and how in the past it was much more inhabited. Then he told the story of the Floyd family, formerly the owner of the mansion near which the body had been found. The Floyds had built this immense mansion in the 20's surrounded by woods all around until their children died in the war and later the parents died of a broken heart. The mansion remained unused for many years until in the 1980s the followers of a satanic sect called "Angeli di Lucifero" began to gather and various children disappeared in the same period. Cassandra slowly changed its look and tone of voice and went on to say that a evening some citizens went there for revenge and killed most of the followers until they were doing a seance, only three managed to escape. Cassandra approached the window and looking outside said that the night after the assault on the villa, the three members survivors of the sect returned to the building to recover the things abandoned during the escape and then were found in conditions similar to those in which they found the body of the child in the morning. The woman said that from that day there have been several sightings near the mansion of a blond girl, dressed in white or black with a blood-stained mouth, and before finishing her monologue the lady said that an evil spirit probably had released during the spiritist sect. Before saying goodbye Cassandra told the girl not to come back anymore because it is dangerous ... On the return trip the two girls exchanged the information they discovered. Ellen said that it seems that the child found died by bleeding and bites were found . Daveigh said what Cassandra told him, saying that she probably had exaggerated the story a little and was skeptical about the supernatural. Once at home, Daveigh, he went to the computer to write the article and then sat on the sofa looking absently at the TV and stopped zapping on an episode of "Ghost Hunters". He pointed out that the conductors, to locate any spirits, they used thermal cameras and EVP recorders.Moreover, he discovered that by looking at the negatives of the photos, one could see figures that did not appear in normal photos. She picked up her cell phone and dialed Ellen's number and asked her to check the negatives of the photos she had taken today. Ellen initially Ellen's voice seems to be quiet but suddenly screams and says that in the trees, almost at the edge of the grove we see a human figure that looks like a child. Daveigh, stammering, said to send her these photos by e-mail. Daveigh, confused and worried, phoned his friend Nathan Wilson, his former college friend, and asked him to find all the information regarding the Floyd mansion. Later the girl lay in bed and for a moment she seemed to see the face of a little girl outside the window. The two girls on the return journey exchanged the information they discovered. Ellen said that it seems that the child found died for bleeding and bites have been found. Daveigh said what Cassandra told him, saying that she probably had exaggerated the story a little and was skeptical about the supernatural. Once at home, Daveigh, she went to the computer to write the article and then sat on the sofa looking absently at the TV and stopped zapping on an episode of "Ghost Hunters". they used thermal cameras and EVP recorders. Furthermore, he discovered that by looking at the negatives of the photos, you could see figures that did not appear in normal photos. She picked up her cell phone and dialed Ellen's number and asked her to check the negatives of the photos she had taken today. Ellen initially Ellen's voice seems to be quiet but suddenly screams and says that in the trees, almost at the edge of the grove we see a human figure that looks like a child. Daveigh, stammering, said to send her these photos by e-mail. Daveigh, confused and worried, phoned her friend Nathan Wilson (Kyle Gallner), her former classmate and asked him to find all the information regarding the Floyd mansion. Later the girl lay in bed and for a moment she seemed to see a little girl's face outside the window.

The next day Daveigh went to the office to finish writing his article and received a call from Nathan. Nathan told the girl some things she already knew as long as he told him that the "Lucifer Angels" sect made human and animal sacrifices but that the various bodies were never found, only their photos. Nathan concluded his speech by giving her the name of a blog that dealt with the subject. The blog, called "Satan's Farmington Massacre", was run by a young journalist from "Colfax Journal ", one such Kristen Rollins. It contained much of the information already known to Daveigh until it was greeted by a modified photo of the villa surrounded by flames, to then descend and see the most disparate messages. The mother of one of the missing children after death of satanists had uploaded photos of the pages of his son's diary. In them, the victim said he saw crucified on the contrary, walls bathed in blood, the logo of the "Angels of Lucifer" (a Christ with wings of an angel and a demon holding a pentacle) incised in the wall alone. Moreover, he claimed to have made friends with a blond girl, in white or black clothes, which always appeared only in the evening, always giving him an appointment in the usual place. This little girl uttered strange prophecies, and invited him several times to "go and visit her in the place where her body and her soul dwells".

Other mothers had reported the same events for their missing children. The journalist did not believe what was in front of her eyes. After a quiet afternoon in the evening she decided to relax and watch the new episode of "Big Bang Theory" until a the television began to behave as if there was no signal and after a few seconds the power went out. Taking light with the cell phone, she went down to the cellar, where the electrical panel was located.She moved a few levers, and the light returned, went back into the living room, and the television showed no sign of returning to broadcast any program. At one it dealt with a noise coming from the kitchen and found a plate and a glass on the ground and then a trail of blood to come from her room. The girl then heard footsteps and a small voice and Daveigh hid behind a piece of furniture and saw a little girl watching her, blonde hair, white dress, bare feet, a trickle of blood on the sides of her mouth. little girl floated with lightning speed towards the reporter with her mouth open showing sharp teeth and everything turns black. At that point we see Daveigh lying on the ground opening his eyes and trying to get up staggering, the blood on the floor has disappeared but on his arm there was a slight incision "I see you even if you don't see me". Daveigh puts on a bandage and at that moment the doorbell rings, Ellen is waiting for her to go to Colfax to talk to Kristen Rollins. Daveigh dressed quickly and reached Ellen and they left. Daveigh almost immediately shows the engraving on his arm and Ellen suddenly stops spitting the Sturbacks' coffee he was drinking. Daveigh tells the story of what happened but Ellen didn't seem to believe much in the disturbing story. The trip was quiet enough and they reached Kristen Rollins (Sarah Paulson) in her office that welcomed the two girls with a warm smile. Daveigh immediately asked the woman if she knew anything about various visions and Kristen asked which of the two had witnessed these phenomena. Daveigh, hesitant, pointed and told the story that happened the night. Kristen says that she too has been visiting the child since she investigated on Farmington. Daveigh asked if she knew who she was and the woman said no but she said there should be in Farmington a memorial of missing children with photos and the date of the day of the disappearance. Daveigh cheered and ran away saying that they had to run to Farmington immediately and Kristen ran after her. Ellen got up from her chair and silently followed the two women who seemed as excited as two little girls. They reached Farmington to go to the memorial, there was also a statue in the square to remember the missing children. On the bulletin board there were photos, the victims were all blond, with black eyes and very light skin. In the end Kristen found the name of who they were looking for, Chloe Morrell. Now it is evening and at this point Kristen takes the last bus for Colfax and the two girls leave with their car, receiving the stern look of Mrs. Barkley who is looking at her across the street. Shortly after their car starts to have problems and fortunately stops not far from a workshop. The owner who is closing the workshop is convinced by the two to take a look at the car. He discovers that the problem is with the fuel pump and advises the girls to stop on the bed and breakfast not far away. At that moment they receive a message from Kristen who says she had searched for Chloe Morrell but found nothing unusual. Then Ellen reveals that she doesn't like Kristen. Arriving in their room they realize they are hungry and decide to order a pizza. Daveigh searched for a pizzeria in the telephone directory nearby. He found it in Tekoa, a town located a few kilometers from Farmington. Daveigh took to the streets to wait for the pizza and met another B & B customer, Thomas Barrett (EMORY COHEN) and they talked a little, he said he was there because he had to go to find the aunt in Glenhouse.Ellen arrives in the street and invites the boy to eat pizza with them but the boy declines with gentleness. Later we see Thomas inside the wood that was approaching the Floyd mansion with the torch and a small knife. She arrived at the mansion and suddenly stopped because she could hear the voice of a child singing. The child stood on the stairway that connected the ground to the entrance. The child said she was glad to have received her visit, before he changed his expression and hurled himself at the boy, biting his throat and then pulling out his heart and ate it. Then, Chloe continued to eat other pieces of Thomas Barrett, who had by now made the soul to God for a few seconds, the express astonished being still printed in his face. In the mornings the girls were awakened by the police siren and agent Shay (Clark Gregg) bombarded her with questions about Thomas Barrett, so they discovered he was dead. The two girls managed to be accompanied by Shay because the agent needed someone to recognize the body, despite being horribly mutilated. Meanwhile, they also received McCormack's angry phone call because they hadn't given him any news. Ellen, as long as Daveigh recognized the corpse, began to wander around and found a diary with the words "The angels of Lucifer 1994-1995".Shay said that no one had set foot in the mansion in the last few years. The machine was ready and the two girls returned to Spokane where they immediately quarreled with McCormack. Daveigh locked himself in his office and began to read the diary, how they came killed the children and how their master God was called Mortimer Miller. At the end of the diary it was written that the children were on a basement and that one day Chloe Barrett had been found while he was killing all the others by biting them. fatigued. Later she was able to contact two experts on the paranormal, Aaron Staunton (Blake Jenner) and Daniel Reed (Logan Miller) who told him that he was probably a demon and not a ghost who seeks revenge. Suddenly the line fell, the doors closed and the wound on his arm started to hurt badly and Chloe showed up in front of her bloodstained and said laughing softly that they would all die and that Daveigh would be ta last, before hitting the girl making her faint. The scene shifts to Daniel and Aaron who are talking about the story, who would join journalists to go to the mansion to make the evil spirit disappear forever. Suddenly the light went out and they began to hear a singsong and lights suddenly lit up, standing in front of Chloe. Daniel tried to grab a knife but was immobilized by the child, wounding him and making him faint.

It was Saturday night and the group had gathered and left for Farmington: Daveigh, Ellen, Kristen, Aaron, Daniel and even Nathan who says he wanted to go to a friend in Tekoa and needed a ride. They left Aaron in Tekoa and arrived in Farmington at dusk, leaving the cars in a clearing sheltered from prying eyes. Aaron began to look with binoculars in the direction of the forest, he sees only a hare jumping quietly until one hand catches him and head off, it was Chloe. At this point he looks in the direction of the group and the lenses of the binoculars break. Aaron seemed to come out of that state of terror, and returned by car, taking two thermal cameras and two EVP recorders. The equipment was recovered, they continued on foot along the distance that separated them from the small wood of Villa Floyd. Daveigh, before entering, gave a last look at dusk, hoping it was not the last of his life. The group arrives at the mansion, passing by the grove and with many hesitations they enter. the atrium was immense: more than one fireplace was positioned on either side of the central staircase leading to the upper floors. Sofas, tables, even a piano, lay destroyed on the ground. At the bottom of the stairs, they entered the central room. Black drapes with pentacles lined the dining room. Inverted crosses drawn by hand with blood stained the white walls of the room. But the most chilling detail was at the end of the room: A wall entirely dirty with blood, at whose feet there were a table covered with a blood-soaked cloth. They went to the second slowly, the room of sacrifices was not too different from that of the sessions. Satanist slogans covered the walls, with yet another black cloth with the pentacle in the center of it. Daveigh points out to the group that Chloe had not shown up and this was strange. The group returned to the spiral staircase, going up the flight of stairs to the wooden staircase that connected to the attic. They climbed up, and, in plain sight, there was the ouija board that was used by satanists.Ellen goes in front of the tablet and touches it before Kristen yells at him not to. After a few seconds, drum-like noises are heard. The Ouija tablet plate began to move and moved to compose a greeting "Hi Ellen Clark" and then wrote down all the names of the expedition. The group was falling into a panic, while Ellen he continued to utter the disturbing messages composed by the Ouija board that ended with an "all die". The group rushed down the spiral staircase, with Kristen screaming like crazy and Aaron cursing while Daniel was confused by the fact that her detector didn't see any presence. Kristen screamed again, pointing to the top of the stairs. A barefoot little girl, dressed in sweatshirt and black skirt, a smile concealed by the blood that surrounded her mouth, blonde hair, about eleven years old, stood in feet at the point indicated by the journalist.

The girl advanced, even taking the hands to be faster, trying to catch one of the five boys. The five scattered: Daniel and Daveigh went to the left, Aaron and Ellen to the right. Kristen stood petrified as she stared at her. .Surprising the child, Kristen kicked the child in the face, who was stunned on the spot; then, he began to run along the ladder. Colfax's journalist ran along the corridors of Villa Floyd. She had failed to sow Chloe, and she felt, in addition to death, the child's animal screams until she entered a room and managed to slip into an old wardrobe. A few seconds of silence. From a crack she watched Chloe frantically move to her search. After looking into the room, Chloe emerges from it, the sound of the child's footsteps fading, until disappearing Suddenly, Chloe's shadow slipped quickly out of her room, making Kristen breathe a sigh of relief. Suddenly the wardrobe opened and the journalist was torn to pieces. Ellen and Aaron kept running for the mansion without finding a way out until they heard a voice from a little girl who said "She is not human, The devil seems immortal but she is not, she wants to drive you to madness, to resignation. Do not give it to her. There is always a way out. ". The voice was of a child but it didn't look like Chloe and the two boys were confused, they told the voice to be seen but they didn't hear anything anymore. Shortly after they heard the voice of Chloe singing a nursery rhyme and the two escaped but managed to reach Aaron. Ellen, having reached the top of the stairs, climbed up to the attic and closed the trap door, was trapped and while she started crying until she was in front of her, surrounded by a bluish aura, a girl with dark brown hair. Two blue eyes, a light gray dress, light complexion (Samara Lee) that tells Ellen not to be afraid and to open the trapdoor because she would have protected her. She says that she too had been a victim of the Satanists and that one evening they evoked her by mistake and from that time she began to watch over the children. She says that the Satanists one day discovered, reading an ancient black book, that through a ritual, called Demoniaca Conversio, you could "convert" the souls of people, making them become damned, they did some tests with the Abigail sisters (Ruth, Mary and Lucy), but they didn't succeed completely. They had only become more subject to demonic possession. Lucy had time to meet Chloe before being sacrificed. The two became friends. A friendship so strong, also dictated by desperation, that when Abigail was offered to the Devil, she asked her torturers to be able to choose their next victim, and to have them repeat the Demonic Conversio on her. Chloe, indeed. They performed the ritual on her. And they succeeded. The above would have ended up in hell even before it could be judged by the Almighty. The little girl explains how Chloe has now reached the end of her regeneration process, in fact she eats her victims to regenerate herself and chooses them with physical characteristics similar to hers to better recover her living aspect. Masha says he chose Daveigh as the last victim and then he will be human again. Masha also reveals that she can only be killed by stabbing in the heart and then says in a low voice that in addition to them someone else will be killed but does not know who. Masha and Ellen ran towards the lobby and find themselves Kristen's body hanging upside down above the staircase leading to the corridor of the spiral staircase. The innards were absent. A gash in his chest made the vision more gruesome, along with the totally bloodied face and the expression of terror imprinted on the journalist's face. The same thing was found by Daveigh and Daniel, with Aaron's body. Meanwhile, Chloe kept laughing and revealed that he had also brought Nathan to the mansion, leaving Daveigh dismayed. A few seconds later, Daveigh and Daniel arrived on the other side, screaming for Kristen's quartered body. All the doors that connected the atrium to the other rooms were closed leaving the trapped survivors. Meanwhile Ellen realizes that Masha had vanished. The possessed woman then looked at everyone present and suddenly ran to the photojournalist but at that moment all the doors opened. . It was Nathan, almost dazed and he wasn't understanding what was happening.At that moment Daniel tries to pounce on Chloe and orders everyone to escape but after killing Chloe the boy reaches the three survivors without problems attacking Nathan. Daveigh stood in front of him. A superhuman force pushed the journalist into the trees, causing her to fly a few yards, slamming his back on a tree. Ellen started to kick Chloe, but it caught her ankle and threw it behind her, rolling it several meters. Chloe approaches Nathan, gives him a caress and kills him by killing him. Daveigh stood up again. She was still sore and slightly dizzy from the blow. She began to wander among the trees, looking for a point of reference. Suddenly, the the eye fell on an object that reflected the moonlight. He bent down and picked it up. It was a little knife. On the sides, the name of the owner, Thomas Barrett. He sheathed the blade and continued his march in the dark and just as he walked he heard the child's song and in a moment he found himself on the ground and the small knife fell to the ground. While Chloe was biting her Ellen surprises her from behind keeping her still and Daveigh manages to thrust the knife into Chloe's heart. The blood gushed from Chloe's chest. A blackish liquid also came out of his mouth and fell to the ground dying. At that moment Masha also came out of the trees apologizing to Ellen for having disappeared. The film ends with Chloe who slowly resumes her natural features with her spirit rising to the sky and a lightning strike that hits the Floyd Mansion causing a fire.