The Body Tree

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(EERIE MUSIC)

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

Thirty years I waited

to see this place.

It look like what you thought?

It's not what it

looks like that matters.

It's what it feels like.

The Altai's one of the most

spiritual places on Earth.

Healing, magic, energy.

They tap into sh*t here

that the rest of the world

can't even comprehend yet.

Maybe that's what

you want to believe

so that you didn't waste

the last thirty years

of your life studying it.

Cynicism.

It's easy but it doesn't

leave much room for happiness.

(CHUCKLING)

I'll keep that

in mind professor.

Personally, I'd rather

be in the Bahamas.

Well, maybe next

time you could've asked

one of your friends

from the Bahamas

to get stabbed

four times instead.

Jesus, how'd I get

stuck in a car with you?

Any idea what we should

say to Kara's parents?

"I'm sorry?

"My condolences?"

Don't say anything.

It's been a year.

Yeah, they've probably

already gotten over it, huh?

I just mean maybe they

don't want to be reminded

their daughter's dead the

moment we step out of the car.

And you think they won't be,

surrounded by all

of her friends?

Maybe it'll be a little

awkward when they see you, huh?

Mike, let it go.

You coulda all been one

big happy family, Alice.

Is this you letting it go, Mike?

You think I'm the

only one thinking that?

No, but you're the only

one who's a big enough ass

to bring it up.

(CARS RUMBLING)

There's bodies

in these mountains.

(EERIE MUSIC)

Human bodies?

In 1993, archeologists

found a female mummy

encased in ice.

Twenty-five hundred years old.

The Altai did not

want her moved.

Said she was there

to bar the entrance

of the kingdom of the dead.

Let me guess.

They moved her?

And as soon as they did,

an earthquake shook

the whole area.

Floods, disease.

Christ, even the suicide

rate went up around here.

Sounds like a good time.

Let's just say

this isn't a place

where the dead like

to be disturbed.

(CHICKENS CLUCKING)

(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)

(WOOD CREAKING)

It'll be fine.

But if you need anything.

Thanks.

Hey.

Hey.

It's okay.

Don't be scared.

(CAMERA PHONE SNAPPING)

(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)

If even the locals

gotta ask directions,

we're really going to

the middle of nowhere.

(LAUGHING)

This is Siberia.

Everywhere's in the

middle of nowhere.

Oh my God.

(SOMBER MUSIC)

(WIND RUSHING)

(CAR HONKING)

Welcome to my home!

It's very good to uh...

English, I understand

but uh, speak not so...

This is Piotr.

I'm Sergei, the

one who wrote you.

Welcome.

Mike.

Ah, Mike.

Helen.

(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)

Tony.

Ah, my man.

Hi.

Alice.

Come! Come!

Please, hot tea inside.

Welcome, my friend, welcome.

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

You want to show

everybody you're a tool?

(CAMERA PHONE SNAPPING)

He's like the Siberian Tarzan.

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

It's a Tree of Spirits.

In our culture, we

believe that the distance

between the living and

the dead is not that far.

And some spirits

choose to remain here.

So people hang ribbons.

As a sign of respect.

And to make a wish.

What do you really want in life?

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

I gotta show you something.

(UNSETTLING MUSIC)

(SOMBER MUSIC)

I miss Kara too but...

This is just creepy.

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

Alice,

it's Brandon.

(UNSETTLING MUSIC)

And you'd think they

wouldn't want to see him here.

Hate to say this but

you'd think they wouldn't

wanna see you either.

What is this?

This must be why we're here.

Coo bro,

my computer doesn't

turn on, man.

Is the battery charged?

Here, let me take a look.

Oh, wait.

I know what it is.

(LAUGHING)

Are you outta your mind, Tony?

Bringing that sh*t?

Tio, when traveling

international,

it's called smuggling.

Are you familiar

with the term "gulag?"

Is that what the locals smoke?

(LAUGHING)

Hey.

Sorry about back in the

car. I guess I'm just...

It's fine.

I just...

want Kara's parents to

know Brandon didn't do it.

You believe that, right?

It doesn't matter

what I believe.

I wasn't on the jury.

Helen told me that your dad

was gonna look through the case.

I, yeah.

Because if we could get one

of the top defense lawyers

in the country to help us...

Do you think I like Brandon?

No.

MIKE:
No.

That doesn't mean I didn't

want to know the truth.

I asked my dad to take the

case when Brandon was arrested.

He was too busy.

I asked him when Brandon

was convicted, he said,

"do you know how hard the

appeals process would be?"

At Brandon's sentencing, you

wanna know what he said then?

"I didn't put you

through college

"getting innocent

people out of jail.

"They don't pay enough."

If there was new evidence, I...

Is there anything

that suggests to you

that Brandon wasn't the

one who murdered Kara?

I can't get a signal.

Is there like internet,

phone service?

Oh, not until the construction's

finished in the house.

And when's that?

End of summer.

(LAUGHING)

Yeah, I totally dig it, man.

Off the grid.

Un-f***ing-plugged.

(LAUGHING)

(COMMOTION)

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

(UNSETTLING MUSIC)

Dan, am I on a bad

trip or is that a...

It's a doll.

It's a freaky little doll.

Did he just...

DAN:
Serve it food?

Yeah.

(SIGHING)

Alright, man. F*** it.

Piotr is preparing

as a shaman now.

It's important for the

ceremony to take place tonight,

on the one year

anniversary of Kara's...

Death.

Will her parents be there?

We'll pay our respects later.

This is an Itterma doll, right?

Mhmm.

Did you make it with

Kara's actual hair?

Piotr cut it off before

she was put in her coffin.

That's her favorite dress.

Isn't that what she wearing

the night she was killed?

She did?

They washed out

the blood stains.

And they stitched

the knife holes.

(EERIE MUSIC)

(EXHALING)

Kara.

(EXHALING)

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

(CHANTING)

(FOREBODING MUSIC)

(JINGLING)

The Itterma doll acts like a

vessel for one's spirit.

Having all of you here tonight

the way Kara was in her

final moments helps to...

To summon her?

Yeah.

(LAUGHING)

Can you stop

touching Kara's hair?

It's amazing.

Yeah, that's not the

word I would've used.

(INTENSE EERIE MUSIC)

(MOANING)

(GROANING)

(CHANTING)

(EERIE MUSIC)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(YELLING)

Kara!

(MOANING)

This is delicious, Sergei.

Yeah? You like it?

Oh.

You guys aren't eating?

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

Come.

(WIND HOWLING)

Kara's mother.

Father.

I thought you said her family

wanted us to come out here.

A week after Kara's body

got shipped from the States,

her parent's car got...

(EERIE MUSIC)

it went off a mountain cliff.

I am family.

Kara, my sister.

Why are we out here?

He's asking for permission.

To call upon the dead in

the presence of the living.

And the empty grave?

JEFF:
It must be Kara's.

They just haven't

put her in it yet.

We believe that

the ground is for

those who found peace.

The sky

is for those who

are still searching.

After ceremony.

We bury my sister.

Where is she now?

Come.

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

Come.

(UNSETTLING MUSIC)

(CHANTING)

Alice, please.

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