1995
Genre: Drama/Adventure
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Writer: Joshua Collins
Cast: Grant Felly, Nell Fisher, Eli D. Goss, Ja'Siah Young, Asher Morrissette
The year is 1995, the final day of elementary school for Elijah (Grant Feely) and his friends: Trix (Eli D. Goss), Tony (Ja'Siah Young) and Phil (Asher Morrissette). Trix convinces them to ditch school. The boys stop at a gas station with the attendant keeping trying to keep an eye on them all at once. Phil plays on an arcade machine, Tony heads for the slushie machine, Eli browses a magazine shelf and notices someone put a playboy on the rack and he flips through the pages. The clerk is so distracted by the boys all at once, he doesn't notice Trix managed to sneak behind the counter unseen to swipe a pack of cigarettes. Trix calls for the boys to run, and he waves the cigarettes at the clerk to tease him. The clerk tries to capture Trix, but the boys are too fast. Trix keeps a couple smokes for himself but dumps the remaining box.
The boys wind up at a hotel, they race up the walkway knocking on all the doors in a game of 'knock-knock-ditch' they breach the fenced in pool and jump in(Today by Smashing Pumpkins plays, opening credits) The boys goof off in the pool until a hotel worker realizes they aren't guests and scares the boys away.
They end up in Elijah's tree house. Elijah mentions how his dad moved out, didnt see the split coming "they just never fought. I thought they were happy" Trix says his folks fight all the time and he and his brother place bets on the winners, he offers his smokes to the others, who turn down the offer citing the health risks. Trix shrugs it off "we all gotta die sometime," he says. Ash (Nell Fisher), the group's only girl, joins the group. Eli and Ash were a couple for 2 weeks in 3rd grade until they decided to stay friends. "My mom locked me out of the house," Ash says, "She's with a client" Ash makes the finger quote gesture.
As the sun starts to set, Tony mentions "The Hawthorne House," A house somewhere in the woods a few towns over. The site of an alleged Satanic cult that made sacrifices there back in the 70s and is said to be haunted. The kids are initially skeptical, but Trix says they should go find it. Eli and Ash are hesitant, and Trix says it'll be their final time to do something great for their childhoods. Phil speaks up, mentioning his military family has to move at the end of the summer. Trix says, "All the more reason to go."
The kids make the decision to go, and plan to meet up in the morning and not to mention it to the parents, "Not like they'll notice anyway," Tony says.
The kids set out with their own bags and special items: Ash with a beloved stuffed animal. Tony with a foam football. Phil with his Gameboy. Eli with a family picture of him and his parents when life was good. Trix and his Walkman with a mix tape he listens to every night. They initially don't know exactly where they're going, but their freedom knows no bounds.
In the first part of their journey, we learn a little more about the kids through their dialogue. Tony's dad never made it as a sports star, so he pushes Tony to live his dream. He mentions he likes sports, but doesn't know if he wants to go pro. "Why not? Those guys make millions of dollars playing games we play in P.E." Trix says. "But it's not what I'm meant to do," Tony says, "Maybe I'll be a firefighter.. or an astronaut."
In the course of their pleasantries, Ash stops dead in her tracks. When the boys catch on, Phil notices she has blood dripping down her leg. "Crap. My first period and it has to happen in front of you guys," Ash says. They boys aren't exactly sure what to do. Tony shouts, "That thing just bleeds like that?" Theyre all awkward about it, but luckily Ash had a change of clothes and a tree for privacy.
As they cross a highway overpass, they take a moment to stare at the traffic zipping by below. They do the truck-horn gesture at some semis until they get one to notice them and honk. They laughed and cheer, Trix howling like a wolf.
They have set up a campsite with sleeping bags, tents and food they packed. Trix tries to light a fire his way, but Phil, a former boy scout, helps get a fire going. "They taught you that in boy scouts?" Ash asks Phil. "Yeah," He says, "they didn't teach you in girl scouts?"
"All I remember about girl scouts is selling cookies to creepy guys outside grocery stores." She quips.
The peaceful setting with the fire gives Ash a chance to open up some on her life with her mother, how she's afraid to be her. She's thankful to how the boys helped her earlier, that it wasn't like Carrie. They remind her that she won't be like her mother. She says "this is why I kinda prefer hanging out with you guys. No drama like with the girls."
The next day, the kids pass the rotten carcass of an animal, and come across a rest area. While Phil and Tony browse the vending machines, Ash studies the bulletin board of missing people. Maybe in the hopes that their faces would be on the board, knowing that someone was looking for them. Trix sneaks around empty parked cars and semis jiggling handles, hoping to get a car he can try to steal from. Eli spots a payphone and tries to call his dad, and unfamiliar voice answers, politely telling him his dad is at work. Eli hangs up, staring at the phone. His parents are moving on and he's hardly had a chance to process life.
They're interrupted by an angry truck driver chasing Trix, grabbing him and throwing him against the wall, confronting him for stealing from his truck. Tony throws his coke bottle at the driver's head, and the kids bolt.
When they catch their breath, they confront Trix, Ash asking him why. He says he can't help it, that he hates it. He lives in a poor family that is in and out of prison, including his brother in juvie.
A walk through some woods prompts Trix to suggest never going home again and how they could just run away. "All of our lives suck anyway," he says. Ash says she needs a shower and a real bed. Phil is so trapped in his Gameboy that he gets separated from the rest and trips over a stick. He fumbles around for his glasses, comes within feet of a black bear.
Back with the group, Tony notices Phil is missing and the kids call out to him, they see the bear nearby and Phil looking terrified. The kids all scream and shout to make scare the bear away. When successful, they check on Phil and notice he wet his pants in terror.
They come across a river with a quick flowing current. Trix talks them into crossing the river to save some time, attempting to walk carefully along some rocks to the other side. Trix slips and a domino effect happens where the kids stumble and fall and end up pulling each other in. They manage to swim to a small cave along the river. Tired, they decide to camp out in the cave. They each try to carve their names in the cave rocks, a permanent mark to show they were once there.
As Trix, Tony and Phil sleep, Eli tells Ash they should get married someday. Ash hates the idea, "my mom's been married three times already, each husband worse than the last. I have 4 half siblings I'll never meet. Sometimes I wonder if my real dad is out there thinking about me, if he even knows me." She notices Eli is crushed by her marriage rejection. She lays her head on his shoulder. She asks how he envisions a marriage together, he smiles and explains: house, 3 kids, two dogs.. his vision trails on as we get a glimpse of the night sky.
The kids walk along a dirt path, it starts raining and they hop a fence to get shelter under an abandoned horse stable. Trix, listening to his headphones, starts singing along to the song on his mixtape, badly(Hey Jealousy: Gin Blossoms). The kids play along, singing, dancing, playing in the rain as the real song plays.
After the weather clears and the sky is dark, they continue onto the dirt path. Phil mentions how his dad says he's not 'man' enough. Trix jokes 'he's got a point' Phil asks what he means by that. "Look at you, you're like 10 pounds soaking wet. You're too shy and quiet, all you do is play on your stupid Gameboy.." Phil shoves Trix hard. "Damn it Phil, now I have to beat your ass." Before Eli could get Trix to stop, Trix slaps the taste out of Phil's mouth. "I wasn't trying to hit him that hard, honest." Trix says.
Tony shoves Trix in retaliation. The boys end up in a fight on the ground until Ash sees a car creeping toward them. She shouts, "Headlights!" And the kids find a spot to hide. The car stops for a moment, a light trying to survey the area around them. The kids tense up and are still, holding their breath. "It's a cop," Trix says under his breath. The cop doesn't see anything and drives on, still creeping along, just in case. They kids walk the opposite direction.
The early hours of dawn, the kids had been walking all night. The boys play a word game to pass the time, "Would you rather.." and before Tony asks his question, he steps into a bear trap and screams and cries. The kids scramble to help him and talk him through it while Phil helps get Tony loose. Phil uses a shirt as a tourniquet. Trix gets angry, "That's it. I don't even know why we're even doing this stupid thing anymore."
"You convinced us to," Eli says. "Stop listening to me. I'm far from a role model." He says in response, "Let's just get out of here."
"We've come too far to give up," Ash says. She looks at Tony whose slowly calming down. "Tony you ok, think you can go on?" She asks.
He nods, "Guess I have a reason to not show up for football tryouts next year," the group laughs.
As they venture on, the kids cheer Phil up for being tougher than his dad gives him credit for, reminding him of the great stuff he's already done and that they wouldn't survive without him. But they finally spot the Hawthorne house just up ahead.
The house is indeed haunting, vines growing around the outside. After all they've been through, the kids don't hesitate to enter the house. They explore the interior as Tony has some more insight into the legends he's heard about. They notice all kinds of items left behind by former explorers of the house. Mostly kids items: toys, dolls, blankets, children's books and children's VHS movies, kids drawings, pictures, etc. Ash thinks it's creepy, but Tony says, "People who left something of their childhood behind." Eli says to himself, "Sacrifices." "Think they were all forgotten, just like us?" Ash asks.
Realizing the house wasn't haunted, it's sacred. A place people left a piece of their childhood behind in. Tony places his foam football down. Ash kisses her stuffed animal one last time and sets it down. Trix sets his mix tape down. Phil hesitates a few minutes before setting his Gameboy down. Eli digs the family photo out of his pocket, stares at it one last time and sets it down.
No words, just silent understanding and tears in their eyes. They leave the house, their childhoods behind.
They start the trek walking back to their homes, but are near a slow moving train. The kids start running, but Tony is limping behind. The rest of the kids throw their bags onto the train and help each other up on the train. They encourage Tony to catch up and Tony manages to fight through the pain and catch up, Trix pulls him up. "You sure you don't wanna be Emmit Smith's backup?" Trix asks. "Please don't tell my dad." Tony says.
(Fade Into You by Mazzy Star plays over the visuals)
As the train rides on, the kids all laugh and reflect on their journey and childhood. Trix tosses his last unlit cigarette off the train, a gesture to show he intends on being better and it starts qith throwing out the object he stole earlier, Phil is laughing and making jokes, brimming with confidence. Tony is laying on the train floor, still hurt but ok He stares out the boxcar door at a world vast and open. Ash and Eli are next to each other. Pinkies of of their hands locked together. As long as they got each other, they can take on their worlds together.
The fade out is like a dreamy over-saturated sunlight as Fade Into You plays into the credits roll.
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