The Skeptic

Synopsis: After the mysterious death of his Aunt, a confirmed skeptic lawyer, Bryan Becket, dismisses reports that his Aunt's house is haunted and moves in. Immediately occurrences begin he cannot explain. And beyond the occurrences there is something about the house which gnaws at Becket - some strange connection he senses he has with the house's past. Soon, the haunting turns personal, he hears voices suggesting clues to a deep mystery. He questions his sanity, seeks medical help, but instead finds assistance in a young psychic who immediately declares, "There's a very bad secret in this house." Together they embark on a terrifying journey to uncover the secret - a journey which leads them deep into the recesses of The Skeptic's own troubled mind.
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Director(s): Tennyson Bardwell
Production: IFC Films
 
IMDB:
5.8
Metacritic:
31
Rotten Tomatoes:
8%
Year:
2009
89 min
43 Views


[horror music playing]

The Skeptic

[continue horror music playing]

[police radio chatter]

[crickets chirping]

- Miss Diver?

It's Deputy Lara, Ma'am.

Got a phone call from this house.

Somebody hung up.

Everything all right?

Miss Diver?

Somebody in there?

I can hear you, you know.

Miss Diver, is that you?

[wind whistling]

Jesus!

[very loud horror music playing]

- Mm-hmm.

Okay.

My aunt died.

- Did she?

- Yeah, they just found her.

Looks like her heart.

- Oh, God, that's awful.

- Look at the bright side.

We got the house.

- What is the matter with you?

- come on, Robin.

Don't suddenly act like we were all close.

That woman was cold as hell to us.

- That's not the point.

- What is the point, Robin?

The point is, when someone just dies,

it's not a time to bad-mouth them.

It's a time to say a prayer

and count your own blessings.

- I am counting' my blessings.

I get the house.

- Marlene Diver was not a great catholic.

But she was a great bingo player.

[laughter]

But I'm guessing God will take her,

because where it counted,

she loved her neighbour

with the best of them.

- You've got to be kidding' me.

He doesn't show up

for his own aunt's funeral?

- He's in mourning.

He's just probably running' a little late.

- He looks in a good mood.

Someone should make sure he knows

that she didn't pull through.

- He's very strong, Carl.

- Hello, Carl.

- Sorry for your loss, Bryan.

- What?

Oh.

Oh, yeah.

It's a sad day.

So what'd I miss?

- Her eternal soul

being lifted up into heaven.

- Oh, sh*t.

I really wanted to catch that.

Hey, do you want to take a ride

with me later?

I'll drop you back.

- Where?

- My aunt's house.

I just got the key

from the sheriff.

- Thank you.

I may stop by.

Bryan Becket.

- Thank you for doing this, Father.

She would've appreciated it.

- Well, at least she came on time.

You don't take any of this seriously,

do you?

- What?

- Religious ritual, the church.

- Hey.

I'd love to take the church seriously,

but it's kind of hard

with the Pope running' around

wearing' those hats.

[laughter]

- You want to know what I think

your problem with death is?

- Not really.

- You don't believe in anything, you know?

You don't believe in a higher power.

You don't believe

in the afterlife, nothing'.

- You're right.

Life would be easier if I were gullible.

- You think I'm gullible, Becket?

- Sully, you believe in everything.

- I don't believe in everything.

- Yes, you do.

- No.

- Okay, didn't you once tell me

you believed in the Loch Ness monster?

- They're going to catch that sucker.

You'll see.

Scottish scientists went down

in that lake using sonar, Beck.

- And their results were inconclusive.

- Wrong!

They picked up a large moving mass

changing directions in organic patterns.

So what else could it be?

- I don't know.

I don't know what the military

was covering up at Roswell.

Does that make it aliens?

- No, but alien bodies

on the ground made it aliens.

- You know what your problem is, Sully?

- What?

- You were raised Catholic.

- Oh, here we go.

- Really, I mean it.

How big a stretch can it be

believing in the Loch Ness monster

once you bought the Holy Trinity?

There it is.

- Oh, my God.

It's a monster.

She lived there alone?

I wouldn't be caught dead

alone in there.

Creep me out.

- I can't wait to get in there.

Hear there's all kinds of antiques,

even a wine cellar.

- You hear?

Oh, that's right.

This is the aunt that didn't like you,

so she never invited you over.

- I don't care if she didn't like me.

She's dead now.

I'm inviting' myself over.

- Yeah, but why didn't she like you?

- Don't know.

- You know, I got to admit,

I find this all very, very intriguing.

- Yeah, well you also find

astrology intriguing, and it's not.

- [whistles]

Wow.

How rich was she?

- She wasn't rich.

This house is the last

of the old family money.

- Yeah, but it's yours to sell, right?

- Yep.

- You know, I heard about all

the great parties she used to have up here.

You were never invited,

not even once?

- Look at this.

This is a genuine Iroquois vase

just sitting here.

- Did you offend her in some way

to insult her religious beliefs

or something'?

'cause, you know,

you're known for that.

- The woman wasn't religious, Sully.

- She went to church every Sunday, Bryan.

- Yeah, so did all those people in Salem

who burned the witches.

- Yeah, right there, that comment?

That's the kind of thing that might

offend someone that was human.

- I wasn't offensive, Sully.

I was sweet and thoughtful,

and I was the lawyer in the family.

Get you out of a parking ticket,

manslaughter, whatever you need.

Solid mahogany.

- Yeah, but, you know,

something still doesn't add up, you know?

You got your classic mystery here.

Don't you see that?

- Yeah, it's right up there

with crop circles.

- Okay.

You know what?

I don't care how high

your IQ test scores were.

You lack common curiosity,

and that's a flaw.

It is.

And I've got it.

You know,

I'm curious all day long.

I'm like a two-year-old.

- You want to hear my theory

on my aunt?

- You have a theory?

- I don't think she was the saint

that everybody thought she was.

I think she was hiding something

about herself or about her past.

And she feared being around

someone like me,

someone who was smart

and shared her blood.

I just might figure it out.

That's a pretty juicy theory.

It's right up your alley.

What do you think, Sulk?

- [gasping]

- Sully!

Sully!

[crashing]

Hey!

Sully?

Sully.

Where's your juice?

Where's your juice?

Where's your... okay.

I got it.

All right, just hang on, pal.

You're going to be fine.

Let's just get some juice in you.

- There's something upstairs

in the closet

behind the crucifix.

- What?

come on.

Sip this.

Sip it.

Good, good.

That better?

- Yeah.

- Feeling' better?

Is it working?

- Mm-hmm.

- Good.

You didn't eat today, did you?

- No.

- Well, God damn it, Sully.

You can't take those pills

and not eat.

How long's it going to take you

to learn that?

- Apparently a little while longer.

- Yeah, have a little more.

- Okay.

Yeah.

Oh.

- What was that you were

blabbing about?

A closet upstairs with a crucifix?

- Did I say something?

Did I say something weird?

- What's this?

- I think it was on the desk.

- All right, come on.

You need food.

Hey.

You and I need to have a little talk.

- Man to man?

- Man to man.

Now, your mom and I told you

that my Aunt Marlene died, right?

- Her heart got old.

- Yeah.

And I'm in charge

of selling her house.

She's got a lot of expensive

stuff over there,

so I'm going to have to go

and live there for a while,

make sure nobody takes anything.

- Okay.

can I visit?

- Of course you can.

Whenever you want.

And you can call me too, okay?

- Okay.

- I got to go tell Mom.

- Be careful.

She's still mad from breakfast.

- Hey.

Look, my aunt's house is just

going to sit there until we sell it.

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Tennyson Bardwell

Tennyson Bardwell is an American film and TV commercial director and screenwriter. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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