I Am a Ghost (2012) - full transcript

[ Wind whistling ]

[ Wind whistling continues ]

[ Wind whistling continues ]

[ Door creaks ]

[ Woman crying ]

[ Static ]

[ Classical music plays
on radio ]

[ Static ]

-They contrive to free you
from the four walls of today

for a half hour
of high advent--

[ static ]



[ Big-band music plays
on radio ]

[ Music continues ]

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Bangs ]

[ Clattering ]

[ Music box plays
"when they've gone away" ]

[ Music stops ]

[ Soft exhale ]

[ Thumping ]

-[ Yawns ]

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Chirping continues ]

[ Mid-tempo music plays
on radio ]

[ Grunts ]



[ Water running ]

Oh, god.

[ Cries ]

[ Big-band music plays
on radio ]

[ Man groans ]

[ Man groans ]

[ Man groans ]

[ Grunts ]

[ Water running ]

Oh, god.

-Anything?

-Eggs, milk, cheese.

Cheese.

[ Birds chirping ]

What else?

Flowers.

[ Door creaks ]

[ Humming ]

[ Humming continues ]

-Anything?

-[ Yawns ]

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Mid-tempo music plays
on radio ]

[ Yawns ]

-Emily?

-Who's there?

-It's me, Sylvia.

-Who are you?
What are you doing in my house?

-We know each other, Emily.

My name is Sylvia.

Please put the lamp down, Emily.
I mean you no harm.

-Show yourself!

-Emily, we do this every time.

-What are you talking about?
Who are you?

-Don't leave the room, Emily.

-Come out.

I know you're in the wardrobe.

-I am not.
-You are.

-I'm not.

I'm in front of the wardrobe.

-What?

-♪ I'll never leave you alone,
my dear ♪

♪ you needn't be afraid,
my dear ♪

♪ I am the one who protects you,
dear ♪

♪ when they've gone away

♪ people come and go, my dear

-♪ babies are born and grow,
my dear ♪

♪ I'll be the one who loves you,
dear ♪

♪ when they've gone away

-now, Emily, repeat after me.

"I am a ghost.

"I am a ghost. I am a ghost."

-I am a ghost.

I am a ghost.

I am a ghost.

-You see, Emily, that is why you
can't leave the room abruptly.

-What?

-You can't
leave the room abruptly

without closing off with me.

Every time you do, you lose
all memory of what we're doing.

-I can't have lost all memory.

I remember who you are.

-That's a good sign.

Can you repeat to me
what we are doing?

-I'm dead.

I was murdered in this room.

-Good.

Murdered by whom?

-A monster.

A demon.

He was a tall man
with gray skin.

He had a look of utter
malevolence on his face.

He chased me through the house,

screaming the most
inhuman scream.

And he had caverns for eyes.

Not that they were dark,
but they were empty.

An evil hell-bent on killing me,

staring at me
from two dark caverns.

And he knew me
but I didn't know him.

-I am the medium to the family
that owns this house.

They have hired me
to live with them

until I've successfully
rid their house of this spirit.

-Me?

-Yes, you, Emily.

You are a ghost.

-And I'm haunting my own house.

-You are haunting theirhouse.

-A family?

Sylvia,
how long have I been dead?

-I can't tell you that, Emily.

-Why not?

-Because the last time
I told you,

you were so disturbed
by that bit of information

that you fled the room crying.

I hadn't heard from you
for days,

and when you came back,

you had forgotten
everything we'd learned

in the previous session.

-So, I am a ghost.

And you're trying
to get rid of me.

-That's a bit harsh, but yes.

-Why can't I see you?

-Emily, how much do you remember
from last time?

-I remember meeting you
for the first time.

I thought you were a ghost.

-Yes, well, that's every time.

-I remember you asking me
how I died.

-And how did you die?

-I just told you.

-No, but how?

-The man -- the monster
brought me into this room

and I fell on my back
on this rug.

He stabbed me with a knife
repeatedly.

He plunged the knife into me
over and over again.

That's all I remember.

-That's usually
where the story ends.

-Apparently not! Look at me!

-I can't see you, Emily.
I can only hear you.

-I can't see you, either.

It's like you're a ghost.

-Likewise.

-Can the family see me?

Are there any children?

-There are two young children,

but I'm the only one
who can communicate with you.

-You can speak to the dead?

-That's why they hired me.

-Are they adversely affected
by my presence?

-They still feel your presence,
Emily.

Doors closing on their own,
cupboards slamming,

frying pans moving
and brooms moving

as if being swept by a ghost.

-But are they adversely
affected?

-Knives being thrown,
mirrors shattering.

-Knives being thrown?

-Well, that's what the family
witnesses.

That's why they hired me.

-Wait.

[ Sighs ]

I was in this room
ready to tidy up a bit,

and suddenly,
you called out to me.

Now I'm dead?

I was about to clean
and now I'm dead.

Do you see how this is
perplexing to me?

-What did you do
before you came in here?

-I don't know.
-Think.

What were you doing
right before you came in here?

-I don't remember.

[ Sloshing ]

[ Sloshing stops ]

I know that earlier, I had eggs.

And then I went to the store
to buy more groceries.

And then I cleaned the house.

-These are all memories
of things you did

while you were alive, Emily.

Don't you see that?

-And at some point,
I bought flowers.

-Hauntings are nothing more
than emotional imprints in time.

If a man were to frequent
various places in his house

long enough,
he would leave his scent.

What you're experiencing
is a sort of scent

that you've left behind.

-Scents? Imprints in time?

Well, if haunting is nothing
more than imprints in time,

shouldn't the living be able
to haunt a house, as well?

Sylvia?

-I'm here, Emily.

I just don't know
how to answer that question.

-I feel like I just woke up from
a dream in which I was alive.

-Essentially, you did.

[ Sloshing ]

-So, can I just leave, then?

-Do you know how?

-I could just walk
out the front door.

-No.

You can't leave this room
without closing off with me

or you'll forget ever--
-I'll forget everything, right.

I can see the front door
from here.

Sylvia, how do we close off?

-Well, we have yet to close off.

We've never closed off.

-Oh.

-Before you leave,
you have to walk through me.

-What does that mean?

-Exactly as it sounds.

You must pass through my body
before you walk off.

-That doesn't sound
so difficult.

-You always say that.

-Oh.

But then what happens?

-You flee.

Before I can get
any more information out of you,

you flee the room,

and the next time I see you,
you don't remember anything.

-I promise
I won't do that this time.

-You said that last --

[ sloshing ]

All right.

-So, where are we now?

-We're in your mother's room.

-No, I know where we are.

I mean, where are we as far as
getting me out of the house?

-I don't know.

It's different for every spirit.

Every soul
has a different solution.

-Oh.

And have you banished
many spirits?

-I wouldn't call it banishing,
Emily.

I'm guiding you
into the next place.

-Well, have you guided
many ghosts?

-I've guided
every spirit I've met.

-So, guide me out of here,
Sylvia.

-I've been trying, Emily.

I don't know
what I'm doing wrong.

-Well, what's the first step?

-The very first thing
I have to do

is build rapport with the spirit

and to get them to acknowledge
that they are dead.

-I've done that.

-Yes, and usually that's enough
to send them,

but it's not working for you.

-What if I were
to close off with you

and try to walk
out the front door?

Can we at least try?

-All right.

You have to pass through
my body.

-All right.

-I'm in front of the bookcase.

Where in the room are you?

-I'm on the far side
of the room.

-All right. I'll come to you.

-No!

-Emily, stop.

[ Disembodied voices speaking ]

[ Big-band music plays
on radio ]

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Bangs ]

[ Clattering ]

[ Music box plays
"when they've gone away" ]

[ Music stops ]

[ Soft exhale ]

[ Thumping ]

[ Birds chirping ]

-[ Yawns ]

[ Chirping continues ]

[ Mid-tempo music plays
on radio ]

[ Grunts ]

[ Water running ]

Oh, god.

[ Cries ]

[ Big-band music plays
on radio ]

[ Static ]

-Emily.

[ Static continues ]

Emily.

[ Static continues ]

[ Distorted ] Emily!

[ Groans ]

[ Groans ]

[ Floor creaks ]

[ Groans ]

-[ Grunts ]

[ Water running ]

Oh, god.

-Anything?

-Eggs, milk, cheese.

Cheese.

What else?

Flowers.

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Door creaks ]

[ Humming ]

[ Humming continues ]

-Anything?

-[ Cries ]

[ Mid-tempo music plays
on radio ]

[ Static ]

[ Yawns ]

-♪ I'll never leave you alone,
my dear ♪

-Who's there?

-♪ You needn't be afraid,
my dear ♪

♪ I am the one who protects you,
dear ♪

♪ when they've gone away

-♪ people come and go, my dear

♪ babies are born and grow,
my dear ♪

♪ I'll be the one who loves you,
dear ♪

♪ when they've gone away

-now, Emily, repeat after me.

"I am a ghost.

"I am a ghost. I am a ghost."

-I am a ghost.

[ Rattling ]

I am a ghost.

I am a ghost.

-Welcome back, Emily.

-I'm guessing
we didn't close off.

-No.

-I must've been gone
a long time.

-Not as long as the other times.

-I still feel like
I'm waking up from a dream.

-In essence, you are.

-That song.

-What about it?

-You used that the last time
to calm me down.

What is it about that song?

-In one of our sessions,
you taught me that song.

-My mother used to sing it
to me.

Why would I have taught it
to you?

-I asked you to.

I told you that the only way
for me to jog your memory

is if I repeat something
that you specifically taught me.

-I hate that song.

-[ Chuckles ]

I see the lights turning on.

-Oh. Sorry.

-Don't apologize.
I'm used to it.

So, why do you hate that song?

-My mother used to sing it
to me.

-You hate your mother?

-I do.

My family left me in this house,
you know.

-I know.

-To die.

-I did my research, Emily.
I know.

-Are you sure I can't
just leave this house?

I just went grocery shopping.

-Emily, you're not fully
grasping what's happening.

You didn't go grocery shopping.

You're just passing through
a memory.

-But I came back with eggs
and cheese and flowers.

-That grocery store

probably doesn't even exist
anymore, Emily.

-But I can see sunlight
streaming in

through the windows.
-That's not real.

-So, if I were to open
that door, what would I see?

-Emily, do not leave the room.

-I know.

I promise I won't leave
without closing off.

What if I would open that door
and leave this house,

never to come back?

-I really don't know.

I've never done that or allowed
any of the spirits to do that.

But where would you go?

-I don't know.

Perhaps I'll be like
one of those legends

in which a lady haunts
the roads and lakes.

-[ Chuckles ]

You don't really want that,
do you?

-Well, you want me gone,
don't you?

-Emily, I don't expect you
to believe this,

but I'm more concerned
with guiding you

to where you have to be than
the well being of this family.

And on the roads and lakes is
not where you're supposed to be.

-Why don't we close off
and I try to go outside?

-I don't know.

-What's the worst that can
happen, Sylvia, honestly?

I'm a ghost.

-First, we don't know what will
happen if you leave this house.

Second, you keep fleeing
before we can close off.

-I promise I won't flee.

-You said that last -- fine.

But you have to walk to me now.

-Fine, where are you?

-I'm standing on the rug.

-All right.

Should I just walk over it,
then?

-Yes.

-Will it hurt?

-No spirit has ever told me
that it was unpleasant.

-[ Gasps ]

[ Grunting ]

Oh, my god.

-Emily, are you all right?

-Dementia praecox.

-Dementia praecox?

-Dementia praecox.

-Dementia praecox?

[ Choir singing
"amazing grace" ]

-♪ That saved

♪ a wretch like me

♪ I once was lost

♪ but now...

-[ Echoing ]
People are often afraid

of what they don't understand.

Electricity's improving
our world.

Electricity's our friend.

Okay, I'm just gonna dab a bit
of this on your temples here.

I know it's cold.

I apologize.

All right. There we go.

[ Machine whirring ]

-What's that noise?

-Shh. It's just the machine
getting warm.

Electricity's just light.

It's just light.

-[ Breathes heavily ]

I can't see. I can't see.

-You'll feel better
on the count of three.

-Please! I'm scared!
-Two, one.

-Don't look back.

[ Sloshing ]

[ Sloshing ]

-[ Gags ]

[ Panting ]

I can breathe now.

I feel so awake.

So conscious.

-What are you feeling?

-I died.

I died right here
in a pool of my own blood.

-Yes, you know that.

-But this time
I know I won't forget.

I can't.

The pain is too strong.

I had a terrible childhood.

My mother used to tell me
that I had a demon inside of me

and that I needed
to be exorcised.

-What behaviors did you exhibit
to make her say that?

-I don't know.

I would black out,

and before I knew it,
10 minutes would've passed.

I didn't even know
what happened.

-What would happen
in those 10 minutes?

-Awful things.

I remember waking up
from a blackout

and my hand was wounded
and bleeding.

One time I woke up
from a blackout

and I was choking
my younger sister.

My father wanted
to take me to the doctor,

but my mother just wanted
to throw me in a lake.

After my father died,

my mother found it unbearable
to deal with me.

One morning, I woke up and she
and my younger sister were gone.

It didn't dawn on me
until three days later

that they weren't coming back.

They left me here to die.

They left me here to die.

-Emily.

I understand what it's like
to be different.

Believe me.

You say that your mother wanted
to throw you in a lake?

Well, guess what?

My mother actually left me
in the woods.

She'd had enough
of my talks with the dead,

my unholy talks with the dead.

You and I are not unlike
each other.

You have to trust me.

-I just walked through you.

I'm pretty sure
that I trust you.

Besides, what you have
is a talent -- a gift.

-It's all I know how to do.

I do it because I can't
do anything else.

-Sylvia, what should be
happening right now?

-Usually, you see a light
and I guide you into it.

-Light? Really?

It's as it's been written?

-Yes.

-Well, I see no light.

-And I can still hear you,

so I know you're not ready
to walk into the light.

-Sylvia, do you think I could
try to leave this room?

-In my experience,
after spirits close off with me,

they can freely walk about
without any memory loss.

-So, I could try
to leave the house?

Sylvia?

-I heard you.

I just don't know
if it's a good idea.

-Oh, let me.

I have a good feeling
about this.

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Chirping continues ]

[ Chirping stops ]

[ Screams ]

[ Panting ]

[ Rattling ]

[ Door creaks ]

[ Humming ]

Sylvia, I opened the door.

-Really? What did you see?
-Nothing.

-What do you mean?

-It was pure black.

No, it was blacker than black.
It was nothing.

-Darkness?
-Darkness implies a feeling.

No, this was nothing
all at once.

A vast sea
in a tiny grain of nothing.

And I screamed.
I screamed out of fear.

-I'm often terrified of night
myself.

-No, Sylvia, this was different
from night.

I've seen night
and I've seen blackness.

This was nothing,
and I've never experienced

anything more frightening.

Did you see that?

-I can't see anything you see,
Emily.

-I just saw myself
in the hallway.

-This happens
when you close off.

You become
tremendously conscious,

and now that you have
full consciousness,

you can see
each of your memories

as they've been imprinted
in time.

-So, you're saying that...

Eggs, milk, cheese.

Cheese.

What else?

This is crazy.

Flowers.

Insanity.

[ Chuckles ] Absolutely mad.

Sylvia? Can you hear me?

[ Birds chirping ]

No memories here.

Sylvia?

I'm in my bedroom
and there's no one here.

[ Clatters ]

Have I no memories
implanted here?

So, are you telling me
that these are all nothing more

than reflections of myself?

They aren't real people?

Are you telling me
they can't hear me?

Are you telling me
that they can't hear anything?

[ Clatter ]

[ Yawns ]

Sylvia, I just saw myself
in every room in the house.

-Yes, Emily.

Those are your impressions
on the house.

-My impressions?

-Yes. Were they illuminating?

-It was frightening.

One of them looked right at me

and another one heard me,
I think.

-That's impossible.

-I'm telling you, it happened.

It -- it was pure horror
staring at myself.

-I can imagine.

-Sylvia, I'm scared.

I'm scared to see what happens
in this room.

-Emily.

-I don't...I was murdered
in this room.

-Emily.

-I don't know
if I can handle seeing that.

-You weren't murdered, Emily.

-I-I beg your pardon?

-You weren't murdered.

-I don't understand.

-I did more research on you,

and it looks like you were not
stabbed repeatedly

by a man nor a monster.

-Research?

-As a child, you were diagnosed
with dementia.

-Dementia?

-A special kind of dementia --
dissociative identity disorder,

also known as
multiple personality disorder.

You were taken by your parents
to the doctor who diagnosed you.

You would have short spells
in which you were someone else,

someone violent and inhumane.

But when the spell lasted
longer than a day,

you were taken back
to the doctor,

and he diagnosed you with
what he called dementia praecox,

now known as
dissociative identity disorder.

-Also known as multiple
personality disorder, yes.

I don't see
how that means anything.

-Emily,
you weren't killed by a man.

You killed yourself.

You stabbed yourself repeatedly
on that rug in this room.

-No.

-Yes, Emily.

This changes everything.

-How?

-Because you may have
closed off with me,

but you haven't closed off
with yourself

if you don't remember
committing suicide.

-I was killed by a man
in this room.

-I know you think that,
but my research says --

-your research?!

I know what I saw
and I know what I felt!

-Emily, as you go through
your memories in this house,

are you able to relive
the murder?

-No, but I remember it!

-Yet here we are in your
mother's room where you died,

and you see no other version
of yourself dying.

-I'm unclear
on what you're implying.

-You saw yourself in every room
in this house except this one.

Why is that?

-I'm not the one
with the answers, Sylvia.

I'm not the one with the gift.

-Emily,
my aim is not to insult you --

-you're calling me crazy!

-Emily, you're talking
to a disembodied voice,

and I converse with dead people.

I think we both transcended
the boundaries of sanity.

-All right. Yes.

I can see myself in every room
in this house but this one.

I don't know why.

I don't know why
any of this is happening.

-Do you remember
having another personality?

-Like I said, I would black out,
and when I would wake up,

I would be
in horrible situations.

-Like having a bloodied hand.
-Right.

-Or choking your sister.
-Right.

-Emily, you lived your whole
life with a demon --

a monster inside your body,

and when you killed yourself
in this room,

you released not one soul,
but two into this house.

-Well, that's illuminating.

Sylvia?

Where are you?

-I'm sitting
at the writing desk.

-So, what does this mean?

-It means that I've been
trying to guide

half of a person
into the afterlife.

-Half of a person.
-Yes.

You may have released two souls
when you died,

but they are still two halves
of the person who lived.

I can't guide you into the light
without your other half.

I can't guide you into the light
without the monster.

-The very mention of him
chills my bones.

If I released two souls
into this house,

why haven't I seen him?

-You're only reliving memories,
Emily. Remember?

-Yes, I remember, Sylvia,
but I closed off with you.

I'm cognizant now.
-You're not cognizant.

You're just connected to me,

and you wouldn't be reliving
his memories.

You can only relive your own.

Why do you think you blacked out
when you were alive?

-I lived with a man inside me.

-Yes.

And we need to find him.

-I wouldn't know where to begin.

-I don't know either.

-Oh, god.

[ Cries ]

How long has it been
since you've spoken with me?

-A day.

-So our times are in sync now.

It feels like
it's been a day for me.

[ Bangs ]

-Why do you think
this is of interest?

-Because I have no memory

of what may have
frightened me here.

-But do you remember
what the staircase leads to?

-The attic.

-Why haven't you gone there?

-I never went there.
I'll never go there.

That's where my mother

threatened to lock me
if I was unruly.

-Did she ever do so?

-No. Empty threats.

-Maybe you were simply
frightened of the attic

because of what it represented.

-Possibly.

[ Wind whistling ]

[ Door creaking ]

Sylvia, I just had a fright.

I went to the attic to see what
was there and there was nothing.

Nothing.

It's just an empty attic,

but a wave of emotion
came over me.

Suddenly, I felt fear
and anger and sadness.

It hit me
like a recovered memory.

Sylvia, I don't know
what that attic was,

but there was no one there.

Sylvia?

Sylvia?

Sylvia?

Sylvia?

Sylvia?

Sylvia?

[ Creaks ]

-[ Distant ] This is a house
for the living, not the dead.

Seek the light.
Go to where you belong.

-Sylvia?

-[ Screams ]

-Sylvia! Sylvia, help me!

-[ Screaming ]

-[ Gasps ]

-[ Screaming continues ]

[ Growling ]

[ Screaming ]

-Stop!

[ Panting ]

-[ Growling ]

You haven't found me.

I've come to you.

I've lived in your body
for my entire life,

living your insipid existence,

hearing your futile pleas
for answers --

answers to questions

you could never muster
the intelligence to ask,

answers that you wouldn't
be able to handle

had you received them.

I had to answer to your stupid
name as it was called,

lashing out whenever I could.

I tried to escape you,
but you kept me at bay.

I've been called a demon
and a monster,

and yet I'm the victim.

I hoped for release
when I killed you.

I hoped for freedom and light

and all I attained
was a prison --

an attic to house me
when I was unruly.

A place where I could relive

all of the worst memories
of our life.

For this reason, I sought you.

For your death, I yearn.

For your death, I hunger.

[ Screams ]

-[ Screams ]

Oh, god.

[ Glass shatters ]

[ Screams ]

-Your god is dead.

-[ Screams ]

-[ Screaming ]

-Sylvia!

Sylvia, help me!

Sylvia, help me!

Sylvia!

-[ Distant ] This is a house
for the living, not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

[ Clatter in distance ]

This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

-Oh, god!

-[ Screaming ]

-No, I don't want to die!

Oh, god!

[ Screams ]

[ Music box plays
"when they've gone away" ]

Sylvia!

Sylvia, help me!

[ Glass shatters ]

No, I don't want to die!

Oh, god!

-This is a house for the living,
not the dead.

Seek the light.
Go to where you belong.

[ Thumping ]

This is a house for the living,
not the dead.

Seek the light.
Go to where you belong.

-Sylvia, are you doing it?
Are you guiding us?

Sylvia!

Sylvia, help me!

Sylvia, I'm frightened.

I don't know what to do.

-This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

-Light? What light?

-This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

-Sylvia, I'm scared.
There's no light.

Everything's going dark.

-This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

-Sylvia, can you not hear me?
I'm scared!

-This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

-[ Howling ]

-This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

-[ Howling ]

-This is a house for the living,
not the dead!

Seek the light!
Go to where you belong!

-Everything will be fine.

Everything will be fine.
Everything will be fine.

I am a ghost. I am a ghost.

I am a ghost. I am a ghost.

I am a ghost. I am a ghost.

I am a ghost.

[ Music box plays
"when they've gone away" ]