Moon of the Wolf (1972) - full transcript

[BARKING]

Tom, Tom!

Get your back waddle
out of that bed.
Bring your shotgun.

Dirty old blimey dogs.

We're coming
at you this time.

Them hounds got the scent
of something out there,
all right.

[BARKING CONTINUES]

Wild dogs.

All I'm saying,
by the sound of them.

TOM SR: Damn wild dogs
at the swamp, let's get them.

-[DOGS BARKING]
-TOM JR: What's that, Pa?



What?

TOM JR: Looks like a body.

Here, Pa, take these dogs.

TOM SR: Stay here,
and shut your choppers,
you flea flakken fat laps.

Oh, sweet jeepers.

It's Ellie Burrifors, Pa.

-Ellie Burrifors?
-Yeah.

Dead?

Anything dead would
be stinking by now.

Wild dogs
got them themselves
a taste of human blood.

Ain't nobody
going to be safe out
in their houses.

We get together
and wipe them
off the island.

You go call the sheriff.

Yes, Pa.



All right.
What can anyone
tell me about it?

Well, young Tom, here,
he come on her first.

How'd the rest of you
get here so fast?

Brandon Skellar
was at the gas station
when I called you, Sheriff.

He came on along the park
driving back here.

Who else knows about this?

Only Preacher Biggers.

-I called him after
I called you.
-What for?

Well, I figured somebody ought
to tell her brother
what happened to her.

Preacher Biggers
is the only one
in Frenchtown got a telephone.

Well, we're lucky you
don't have a whole pocket full
of dimes, aren't we?

Well, don't a family
got a right to know?

It's up to the authorities.

Now, Ellie and
Lawrence Burrifors
got a father next to death,

he hears about
something like this,

there are going to be
two dead bodies.
Is that what you want?

I guess not.

Now, what can you
tell me, Doc?

Right now?

Only that it's not considered
good medical practice
to perform autopsies

in the middle of swamps
surrounded by howling dogs
and scratching rustics.

DOCTOR DRUTEN:
I want the remains
moved to the hospital

as soon as you can arrange it.

Do you think that can be
accomplished by the
neighborhood clods

without completely
obliterating any chance

there might be
of determining cause of death?

LAWRENCE: Ellie!

Ellie!

[SHRIEKING] Ellie!

SHERIFF WHITAKER:
All right. Somebody grab
a hold of him now.

Go on, stop him.

-LAWRENCE: Let me go...
-You don't want to see her
like that, Lawrence.

LAWRENCE: You let me go!

[WHISPERING] Ellie...

Ellie...

Anybody know how it happened,
Sheriff Whitaker?

Did you bring him here,
Reverend?

He'd have stolen my car
and come anyway, sheriff.

LAWRENCE: Poor Ellie.

[WHISPERING] Ellie.

Who killed her?

It was the wild dogs, boy.
This couldn't be done
by a human person.

Take your hands off me,
mister.

-Now, you hold on
to your manners, boy!
-All right now.

All right now. Let's hold it.

Just hold it.

Now, you go on home
with the Reverend
and wait for me.

Go on... Go on!

Now, you two boys
help doc with the body.

Now, the rest of you,
get out of here.

I want to look around
for myself.
Go on, get!

BIGGERS: Come on, Lawrence.
Come on.

-He thinks
someone murdered her.
-Well, what do you think?

Wild dogs do it to her?

Tell me what you mean
by do it.

Dogs might very well
have done something to her.

There were bite marks.

Well, then they killed her.

You show me a pack of dogs
where one of them knows
how to hit you

on the side of the head
and knock you unconscious

and I'll sign
the death certificate saying
she was killed by dogs.

-Something struck her.
-Someone struck her.

With enough force
either to kill her outright

or to render her
sufficiently senseless to be
dragged out into that field

and left for the dogs
to finish off.

Find someone strong enough
to do that with his left hand

and you'll have who did it.

WHITAKER: Left hand.

The mark was along here.

That's where a left-handed
person would strike you
if you were facing him.

You've got a murder, sheriff.

That's just what I needed.

-Hello, Sara?
-Sheriff?

I'd like to come in
if you'd allow it.

[DOOR OPENING]

Hi, Lawrence,
you feeling better?

Did you find out who did it
to her?

How's your father?
Does he know about it?

I just bathed him.
Do you want to pay
your greetings?

WHITAKER: That'll pleasure me.

[MUMBLING INDISTINCTLY]

What's he saying?

What he's been saying
ever since Ellie was killed.

WHITAKER: Hugh,
what are you saying, Hugh?

[MUMBLING INDISTINCTLY]

Lougaroug.

[HUGH SPEAKING FRENCH]

What was he talking about?
I don't know French.
What's a lougaroug?

I don't know.

Well, you speak French.

Never heard that word before.

LAWRENCE:
First time I heard that word

was when I came back
from where they found Ellie.

Does he know about Ellie?

-Yeah, he knows.
-Who told him?

-Nobody told him.
-Well, then how does he know?

Well, I can't tell you that.

He's been talking like that
ever since I got back.

Talking about...
His pretty Ellie.

Little girl, sweet daughter
and the lougaroug.

He knows.

Somehow he knows
without anybody telling him.

Nah, doesn't make any sense.

He's just got crazy things
going on in his head
because he's old and sick.

Let's talk about
what's going on in your head.

Well, you know what's going on
in my head.

I want to know
what got it going.

-It wasn't wild dogs
that killed Ellie.
-Now, how do you know that?

She was having trouble.

What kind of trouble?

With a man.

-You know who?
-I don't know who.

Wasn't anybody
from down here
on the bayou,

somebody up
on Pecan Hill, some other
Marsh Island snobbery.

Well, how'd you know?
She tell you that?

She didn't tell me anything.
That's how I know.

We was good friends.
She used to
tell me everything.

-Then suddenly she just...
-[CLAPS]

Shut up tight.
Wouldn't talk a word to me.

And so was last night,

when she was
ironing her dress
and brushing out her hair.

I asked her...

She wouldn't say.

I know.

Don't you worry about that.

How'd you know there was
trouble between them?

You said there was trouble.

I could read her face
like a newspaper.

Something had gone wrong.
Something bad.

I tried to find out
what it was but
she wouldn't tell me.

She just sassed me
and told me to shut my mouth
in gutter French.

So, what'd you do?

-Well, I hit her.
-How hard?

Well, hard enough to let her
know what I thought about her
letting the...

quality put their
fat fingers all over her.

Go on, show me
how hard you hit her.
Show me how you hit her.

Go on, show me.

And I've known you
for 10 years.

I never knew
you were left-handed.

ANDREW RODANTHE: Sheriff?

WHITAKER:
Good morning, Mr. Rodanthe.

ANDREW: Good morning, sheriff.

How are you?
Is there something
I can do for you?

-[HORSE SNORTING]
-Well, I just, uh, came by.

I guess you heard
about Ellie Burrifors.

Yes, I did hear, sheriff.
It's a terrible thing
to happen.

Come on, let's sit
on the gallery.

Is it true they discovered
her body just the other side
of our road?

Yeah, right there
at the Gurmandy place.

Have you any idea
who might have done it?

WHITAKER: We don't know
much yet.

I was just trying to trace
where she went after
she left the house

before she got to the marshes.

She could've come along
the Gun Hill Road

or maybe she took a shortcut
across the bayou.

I was half-wondering
if you might have been outside

between 8:00 and 12:00
and noticed her pass by?

No, I'm afraid not, Sheriff.

I wasn't being
a very happy man
about that time last night.

Oh?

Yes, I was doing battle
with another bout of malaria.

There was a time there
when I thought my shaking

was going to bring
the whole house down
around my ears

but it finally passed off
around 1:00 or 2:00.

And I slept the rest
of the night like a dead man.

WOMAN: Andrew?

We're just about ready
for lunch.

WHITAKER:
Ms. Rodanthe, I didn't know
you'd return to Marsh Island.

ANDREW: Just a couple
of hours ago. I met her plane
in New Orleans.

I guess you don't remember me.

You are Aaron Whitaker.
I remember you very well.

When did you meet
Sheriff Whitaker, Louise?

Well, he wasn't sheriff then
Andrew, he was just plain
Aaron Whitaker

and he was too busy
hating me in junior high.

[CHUCKLING] And I had
this terrible crush on him.

Louise.

You probably didn't know
a single thing about that,
did you?

And I wish I had,
we could've compared them.

Compared what?

Crushes, I had one on you too.

Well, why ever didn't you
say something about it?

-To a Rodanthe?
-Well, we're human, aren't we?

I mean practically,
aren't we Andrew?
Like anybody else.

Even though we're a fine,
old family and settled
Marsh Island and all that.

Even though there's always
been a Rodanthe living in
this great old house here,

you know you can't keep it
warm when it's cold out,

cool when it's hot or dry
when the rain is filtering in
through the cracks.

-Uh, Louise.
-Well, it's true, isn't it?

At least was five years ago
when I left.

Has anybody fixed the roof
since then or put in heating?

Louise. Now, Sheriff Whitaker
is attending to a small matter

and I'm sure you are impatient
to get on with it,
isn't that so, sheriff?

It's nice seeing you again,
Ms. Rodanthe.

But you will come to call,
won't you?

Oh, I have to
remember all the way
they say things here.

Come to call? Is that it?

Or pay a visit?

[CHUCKLING] In New York,
it's ring up, drop in,
hop over.

Things are much more active
in New York.

Louise, I'll be right along.

Oh, dear,
I'm talking too much.

You noticed that I suppose.
I'm a compulsive talker,
everybody says so.

You know, it happened to me
shortly after I graduated
from junior high school.

What a pity
it didn't happen sooner,

I could have mentioned that
terrible crush I had on you.

LOUISE:
Oh, Andrew is staring at me.

Well, goodbye,
Sheriff Whitaker and do...

Ring up or drop in
or hop over.

[CHUCKLING]
Well, my, that does sound
energetic, doesn't it?

Oh, put your hat on
or you're going to get
a sunstroke in this climate.

I'm going, Andrew. I am going.

My sister has been ill,
Sheriff.

That's why she's come home.

WHITAKER: Then I hope
she'll be feeling better soon.

Oh, yeah, she will be
with a lot of rest, quiet,
no excitement of any sort.

What you mean is
I shouldn't bother to ring up,
drop in or hop over?

It hadn't occurred to me
you were taking the invitation
seriously, sheriff.

I wasn't.

-Mr. Rodanthe.
-ANDREW: Sheriff.

TOM SR: You got yourself
a clue, Sheriff?

-Either one of you
ever seen this?
-I don't know.

-What did the fellow call it?
-You identified
Ellie Burrifors.

That means you knew her.

Oh, we knew her all right.
She did cleaning for us
a while.

-Back after Ma died.
-How long?

A year or near about.

Afterwards, she went to work
at the hospital.

-You ever date her?
-Sure didn't.

You mind telling me what
you were doing the night
she was killed?

I was down in town
at the bean wagon,
a lot of folks seen me.

Well, when'd you get back,
what did you do?

I came back around 10:00,
went to bed, that's what.

Did you see him?

Well, I didn't get in
till about 12:00.

-Where were you?
-Leedville.

Well, when you got home,
did you look in to see
if Tom was home?

Tom, Jr. here is a grown man
and I don't bed check him
no more.

Anyhow,
why are you asking us things?

It was wild dogs
who had done it, wasn't it?

You saying
it wasn't wild dogs?

There's more than one kind.

I'll see you.

[ENGINE STARTING]

[SIGHS]

-WHITAKER: Good morning, Sara.
-Sheriff.

-What brings you to town?
-Oh, Hugh sent me
up to the store

to buy some things.

-Some acifiditive
and some sulfur.
-What for?

For the lougaroug.

-For it?
-To drive
the lougarougaway.

Sara, do you know
what a lougarougis?

No, Sheriff, I don't.

But Hugh thinks
the lougarougkilled Ellie

-and now he's scared
it's going to get Lawrence.
-Well, did he say that?

Yes, sir.

Only, I'll tell you
something, Sheriff.

Didn't no lougaroug
kill Ellie, no matter
what the old man says.

And Lawrence
didn't do it either.

And that's what
you've been thinking.

Oh, I'll say, he had a reason
and he's left-handed.

He didn't kill her, Sheriff.

Don't go wasting' no time
on Lawrence. I know that.

Now, how do you
know that, Sara?

Because I know
who did kill her.

Who?

You find out whosoever
made Ellie pregnant

and you'll find out
who killed her.

WHITAKER: Doc, I'm not
getting any more answers

out of the back of
your head than I was
out at the front.

How come you didn't tell me
Ellie was pregnant?

I knew she was pregnant.

I was third in my class.

How come
you didn't say anything?

Aaron, I was performing
an autopsy to determine
cause of death.

Pregnancy didn't
cause her death.

Well, I'm not so sure.

Well, I am.

Doc, if she was pregnant,
somebody got her that way.

And that's a clear lead to...
To who killed her.

No.

No, it isn't.

-Antibiotics anyone?
-[MUMBLES INDISTINCTLY]

Not at all.

Because I got her pregnant.

And I didn't kill her.

I loved her.

Then I guess I'll have
some of your antibiotics.

Sorry, there's only one glass.

I didn't say anything
about needing a glass.

-I know what you're thinking.
-Oh, I think you do.

Burrows Druten, MD. FICS.

Grandson of Senator
Jefferson Druten of Louisiana,

out of his mind in love
with a girl who does cleaning,

isn't that
what you're thinking?

Lawrence said she had a date.
He didn't say who with.

Do you know
who she had a date with?

Of course.

Me.

But she never came.

I waited until I decided
she wasn't going to come
then I went home.

Where were you
supposed to meet?

Down at the bottom
of Pecan Hill,

in the grove,
across the wall from
the Rodanthe property.

That's where we...

Met a lot...
One time in particular.

Lawrence said
she looked worried.

She was.

That's what we were
going to talk about.

The baby.

I wanted to abort it.

She wanted to marry me
and have it.

She wanted us to go
someplace to live,

somewhere else where
people wouldn't know us.

-And leave Marsh Island?
-And the hospital
and my whole life.

-You didn't want to?
-I didn't have the guts to.

I'm almost 50, Aaron.
When do you start
over again at 50?

I wanted to go on loving her.

Not having to give up
anything for it.

She said no.
We were going to
talk it out that night...

But she never came.

So, I went home.

I never saw her again.

Until I've been in
that clearing.

Torn apart.

Sounds like I killed her,
doesn't it?

You ever see this before?

DRUTEN: No, never did.
Where'd you get it?

You never saw Ellie wear it?

This?

Ellie never owned
anything like that.

Okay.

Aaron.

I didn't kill Ellie.

Oh, boy, I sure hope not.

Hey, Doc, what do you use
sulfur and acifiditive for?

You don't, not anymore.

Well, when you used
to use 'em, what did
you use 'em for?

-My grandmother used to claim
they kept wolves away.
-Wolves?

-I see.
-DRUTEN: You're not
going to arrest me?

-Are you left-handed?
-No.

Of course, whoever
made that mark on Ellie,

could've come up from
behind her and that would
make him right-handed.

-Maybe.
-I'll see you.

[DOOR CLOSING]

-Hello.
-Hello.

Andrew had a terribly
important meeting
with town council

so I made him drive me in
with him.

Well, have you found out
who did that awful thing
to that girl yet?

Not yet.

Do I, do I have to
call you Sheriff,
the way Andrew does?

Could I call you Aaron?

Aaron would be fine.

-[CHUCKLING]
-Well, then you've got to
call me Louise.

All right. Thank you.

I was wondering if, um...

Was there something
you wanted to say, Aaron?

Yeah, I was wondering
if you'd have a cup of coffee
with me?

Over at Eddie's.

Well, I'd admire to do that
very much, Aaron.

LOUISE: You know,
I've never went in all my life
in this place, you know that?

So, now that you are,
what do you think?

Well, I think...

I think Eddie doesn't make
a very good cup of coffee.

Maybe you'd like something
else to drink, not much
you can do with a burger.

They're all staring at me now.
What would they do
if they saw me take a drink?

Hey, listen, when Eddie
finds out he had
a Rodanthe in here,

tomorrow all the prices
are going to go up.

[CHUCKLING]

We really own this town,
don't we?

Well, your great-granddaddy
established it.

Oh, I know.
It all got drummed into me
when I was just little.

"You're FFL child,
First Family of Louisiana.

"Don't you ever
forget it, child."

You know, I forgot it.

Oh?

Look at everybody concerned
about me coming back so
suddenly after all this time.

What's Andrew been
telling them?

Well, Andrew...

-Said you were sick.
-[LAUGHING]

Oh, that is Andrew.

He'd rather everyone thought
I was a terminal case or
something than know the truth.

You want to know the truth,
Aaron?

You want to know
why I finally came back
to the ancestral manor?

Well, I can hardly
say no, can I?

No, I guess not after
my leading you on this way.

I was living with a man.
That's what was happening.

That's why Andrew just
can't bear anyone knowing.

And what is worse,
the man I was living with
was not socially acceptable.

And what is worse...

-Oh, there's something worse?
-Oh, yes, when you hear.

The socially unacceptable man
I had been living in sin with,

walked out on me.

Well, I would think that
Andrew would have
been relieved.

Oh, no, he was furious.

Well, if they had dueled him,
he'd have dueled him dead.

You don't walk out
on a Rodanthe even if you
are living in sin with her.

That's socially unacceptable.

You know what Andrew did?
[CHUCKLES]

He hired some detectives
and they came to New York
and found me.

They packed me
right back here.

Well, you didn't have to go,
you could've said no.

He's got all the money.
He'd cut me off.

-Could've gotten a job.
-Doing what?

There's the curse
of the Rodanthe again.

All we women folk
were ever taught was...

Piano and how to talk French.

[CHUCKLING]

So here I am,
back at the old homestead,
having been saved from myself.

And Andrew's running around
telling everybody
I've been sick.

I'm glad you're back.

Are you, Aaron?

Oh, well, stop telling myself
how unhappy I am because
Andrew is such a stinker.

MAN:
Mr. Rodanthe. How do?

ANDREW: Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, gentlemen.
Please, don't let me
interrupt your pleasures.

I've been looking
all over for you, Louise.

Sheriff, this is where
your sleuthing
has taken you?

Oh, Andrew,
don't be so stuffy.

Aaron just invited me
in here for a cup of coffee.

Oh... Well, I'm much obliged
to you, Sheriff,

for occupying my sister
while I was doing
town business.

I'm ready to go home now,
Louise. And you ought to
get some rest.

ANDREW: You're looking
a little piqued

and you remember
what the doctor told you.

Andrew, it's no use.
I've spilled the beans
to Aaron.

LOUISE: That is right.

I have told him
the whole ugly truth about
why I'm back in Marsh Island

so there's no point
in going on and on
and on about...

How I need rest
and how I've been sick
and what the doctor said.

I see.

Well, it's comforting to know

that Sheriff Whitaker
is not the town gossip.

ANDREW:
Sheriff, I hear it being said
that Mr. Gurmandy and his boy

are organizing a hunt
for tomorrow.

Aiming to wipeout
the wild dog population
around here.

Would you care to join in?

We don't often get sport
like that in these parts
anymore.

I just might...

Mr. Rodanthe.

Of course, if the Gurmandy's
kill off all those wild dogs,

I don't know what they're
going to have to talk about
the rest of their lives.

Are you ready Louise?

Lougaroug!

[SPEAKING FRENCH]

Papa, it's okay.

[SCREAMING IN FRENCH]

Papa!

[HUGH WHIMPERING]

[HUGH TALKING INDISTINCTLY
IN THE DISTANCE]

[SCREECHES]

[HUGH SOBBING]

Dr. Druten, quick,
he's looks bad this time,
real bad.

-Get up, Lawrence.
-[MUTTERING]

[BLUBBERING]

[WHIMPERING]

[HUGH CRYING]

Lougaroug...

DRUTEN: You might as well
start thinking about him
dying, Lawrence.

If you're not already.

He can't last much longer.

Oh...

Lougaroug,
is that French, Lawrence?

It's not any French
I ever heard.

Well, that shot
will keep him quite
for a few hours.

Okay.

Dr. Druten.

-Yes, Sara, what is it?
-What did you find when
you examined Ellie?

Just that she was murdered.
Dogs didn't do it.

Like I said.

-Well, you were right.
Excuse me.
-SARA: Nothing else?

No... Nothing.

-Goodbye.
-Nothing?

[ENGINE STARTING]

What's troubling you, Sara?

If he says
he didn't find nothing,

either he's lying
about being a doctor

or he's lying about
what he found.

What are you talking about?

If I tell you something,
Lawrence,

will you promise to
keep your head on your neck?

SARA: Hmm?

What is it
you're going to tell me?

Promise?

Promise.

We'll have a good bunch.

Well, Sheriff, you coming
on the wild dog hunt?

Nah, you bring me a pelt, Tom.

I'm disappointed you're
not joining us, Sheriff.

Well, somebody's
got to mind the store.

-Good hunting.
-Somebody's coming this way
like he's being hunted.

Must be old Hugh again.

-What is it Lawrence?
-You let me by, Sheriff.

-Hey, Lawrence, what is it?
-He killed my sister!

WHITAKER:
Come on, grab him now.
Lawrence, now, cool it off.

It was her...
She was having a baby.
It was his baby!

WHITAKER: Now, Lawrence,
we know you're grieving, boy.

Come on, down boy
or you're going to take
a shot on your head off.

[ALL TALKING INDISTINCTLY]

Come on now, Lawrence.
Now, just stand right up
there, come on over here.

Now, you all go hunt
your wild dogs,
now get out of here.

WHITAKER:
Now, you come with me,
come on.

We better get going with it,

while we still have the light.

LOUISE: Aaron?

[SIGHS]
I was just cutting some roses.

Well, come on in if
you're not looking for clues.

Well, I found the clue
I was looking for.

-What clue?
-For you.

I was wondering
if you were home.

Well, where else would I be?

Not shooting down dogs
with the rest of folks
in these parts.

Would you care for a
glass of lemonade?
It might cool you off.

WHITAKER:
Thank you. It's mighty hot.

LOUISE: You would've
just driven on by.

WHITAKER: Oh, I suppose so,
if you hadn't stopped me.

LOUISE: Well, why didn't
you just come calling
like everybody else?

WHITAKER: Anybody just
wouldn't come calling,
not here,

not without an invitation,
I was brought up
on Marsh Island.

LOUISE: So was I.
I guess that's why
nobody ever came calling.

Well, have you solved
your murder yet?

[CHUCKLING] Not quite.

LOUISE: Well, do you
have any suspects?
Is that the word? Suspects?

WHITAKER: Yes,
that's the word.
And I got three of them.

And I don't want anyone
of them to have done it.

Now, Dr. Druten is a...

Well, he's the closest thing
I got to a friend here
in this town.

[SIGHING] And Lawrence...

Lawrence was her brother,
if he did it...

-LOUISE: Sit down.
-Thank you.

All the folks of quality
around here will, uh...

Will say, see what kind
of people there are
down in Frenchtown,

they're half foreign
and everything.

And if it was Tom Gurmandy,

that'd mean there was
something between
Tom and Ellie.

I wouldn't like to think
she'd lower herself that much,
I liked her.

And I'm some Sheriff,
aren't I?

I've never heard you talk
so long before.

I've never heard myself
keep still so long.

What do you suppose
that means?

Well, I don't know
what it means to you

but when I feel
out lot of place,
I just shut up.

When I do,
I just keep talking.

I guess that's what it means.

I guess that's what it means.

Well, I guess you'd better
drink your lemonade.

Yeah.

[WOLF HOWLING]

They shot eight dogs today,
it took 20 of them to do it.

The only wild dog is
Dr. Druten because
he's the one

I'm going to get
as soon as I get out of here.

You'll get a long sentence
for what you did today.

You take my advice
and just let him alone.

-He killed Ellie.
-You don't know that.

Go on,
get yourself some sleep.

I'll see you later, Teddy.

Do you want me to lock him in?

You planning to escape,
Lawrence?

No.

It wouldn't be worth it.

Well, only lock it
if he has visitors.

-All right, Aaron.
Good night, now.
-WHITAKER: Good night.

[SHALLOW BREATHING]

[RASPING]

[RASPING CONTINUES]

[RATTLING]

[CRASHING]

-What was that?
-Beats me.

But I'm going to do
like Aaron says.

I'm going to lock you up.

Nobody's going to be
fooling around
with my business.

TEDDY:
Now, you be a real good boy.
Sit down. I'll be right back.

-All right. Come on out.
-[SHALLOW BREATHING]

[GROWLING]

[GUN SHOTS]

[SCREAMING]

[RATTLING]

Oh, no...

What do you want? Hey...

[RATTLING]

Ahhh!

Get back. No, no!
What... What is...

[BREATH TREMBLING] God... No!

[SCREAMING]

Same except for the blows.

This time whoever did it,
tore them both apart
with his fingernails.

Cover him up.

Aaron, what in devil's
own name is it?

Well, you and the boys
could've saved yourself

the trouble of shooting
all them dogs, Mayor.

They didn't kill Ellie
or Lawrence or Teddy.

Well, who did?

Damn, look at them bars.

You get through those bars,
Tom?

Sure couldn't.

I don't believe
you could either.

So I've just run out
of suspects.

Hey, Sheriff, is there
anything you can tell us?

There are three people who
were killed by somebody strong
enough to tear down bars.

Find somebody around here
who's strong enough
to do that

and you got yourself a killer.

Well, ain't nobody
that strong.

There are no marks
of any instruments
used on the bars.

They were torn up
by bare hands.

I'll send someone
to take the bodies, Sheriff.

Okay, Doc.

I'd like to have four or five
deputies for volunteers.

Anyone volunteer?

What do you need deputies for,
Aaron?

If Ellie and Lawrence
Burrifors were murdered
by this... Wild man.

WHITAKER: There's only
one Burrifors left, old Hugh.
How do we know he's not next?

I want to post 24-hour guard
down at his house.

All right, I want volunteers.

Yeah, I thought so.

Look at what happened
to that deputy of yours
who was guarding Lawrence.

You want me going out there
and getting myself
all torn apart

guarding some old boy
who's three-quarter
dead anyhow?

All right, go on home,
all of you.

Go on, get out of here.
Go lock your doors.

That ain't no joke, Aaron.
I'm locking and I'm bolting.

And I ain't my feeding
my dogs. You catch
whatever, whoever it is

running around
doing them things.

I've seen them bodies.

Tom Jr., come along.

I'm getting on home.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

Good morning, Mr. Rodanthe.

-Little quiet, wouldn't you
say, Sheriff?
-Uh-huh.

There are probably
eight or nine guns
on us right now.

Is that so?

Well, I heard you
were lacking deputies
so I thought I'd come

and offer my services.
If you think I'd qualify.

I appreciate that but what
happens when I'm supposed
to give you orders?

I guess you'll just
have to forget who I am.

And remember who you are,
Sheriff.

All right. Come on.
I'm going to drive you
over to Hugh's,

I was going there myself.

[ENGINE STARTING]

Marsh Island was settled
by my people, Sheriff.

And I've never
been into this part of town.

You and your sister
are seeing a lot
of new things these days.

I believe you're right,
Sheriff.

-Go this way.
-It appears to be just
as quiet here as up in town.

Twice as many eyes
watching us.

ANDREW: You seem to have
a tremendous knowledge
of everything

that's going on around you,
even when it's
completely invisible.

I am the Sheriff.
Good morning, Sara.
How's Hugh?

Oh, he seems a little
weaker today, Sheriff.

Good morning,
sir, Mr. Rodanthe.

-You know me?
-Oh, yes.

Won't you come in, sir?

My daddy used to work for you,

when your granddaddy
had more than
a hundred hunters.

Well, there's only
a few of them left now

and most of them
are hunting for pastureland.

Oh. What's that smell?

[COUGHING] What's that smell?

[SCREAMS]

-What's wrong with him?
-He's had a fit.

Doctor, you were third
in your class,

I never went to college.
I knew he was having a fit
when he started having it.

He's had a fit and it was
brought on according to
what you've told me,

by something he smelled.

Now, until he comes to,
I can't say anything more.

Well, haven't you had anything
like this before?

-You've been the Marsh Island
doctor for 20 years.
-Oh, yes.

But not the Rodanthe, doctor.
I wasn't good enough for them.

They went to New Orleans.

-He said something
about malaria.
-This isn't malaria.

Well, do you got any ideas?

Not until I can talk to him.

If I just knew something
about his medical history.

-I'll find out for you.
-How?

I'm the sheriff.

LOUISE:
Is he all right, Aaron?

Well, the doctor says
he doesn't have a temperature.

And his pulse is all right.

It's just as though
he was sleeping it off.

Sleeping what off?

Whatever seized him.

Did he ever have a fit
like that before
or anyone in the family?

Granddaddy used to have
what they called his spells.

What were they?

Oh, I don't know.
Please, sit down.

I mean, nobody would
ever talk about it.

Oh, I was just little,
all I remember was
a lot of running around

and whispering
and people
talking about granddaddy

having one of his spells
upstairs, long time later

I was sure they meant
he'd been drinking.

Well, maybe it wasn't
that at all.

Maybe it was the same thing
your brother just had.

Oh, what is it Aaron?
What are you looking at?

WHITAKER: This.

LOUISE:
That was my mother's,
she gave it to me.

-You know where it is?
-Oh, good heavens, no.

Well, I mean, I might know
if I look for it.

I left it here
when I went to New York.

I suppose it's around here
somewhere, why?

Well, it is somewhere.

-Oh, what are you
doing with it?
-Is that it?

Of course it is.
Where'd you get it?

I found it near where
they discovered Ellie's body.

She stole it?

Not necessarily.

Well, how else could she
have gotten it?

I'm going to find out.

You mean Andrew?

I don't mean anything.
I just mean
I'm going to find out,

-I'm going to the hospital.
-Oh, Aaron, could I come
with you, please?

You have to wait
in the other room
while I question him.

-I gave it to her.
-WHITAKER: When?

The night she was murdered.

Now, Mr. Rodanthe, maybe
I oughtn't to be questioning
you in your present condition.

Although the doc did say
he was going to send you
home tonight.

And now, if you don't
know what you're saying...

Oh, I didn't kill the girl,
Sheriff. And I know perfectly
what I'm saying.

I gave her that bit
of bright work

in return for, uh...

certain favors she did me
over the past year.

Favor?

Not the kind you're thinking,
Sheriff.

[GROANS]

[SIGHING]

You ever heard of
Seibert's Syndrome?

Well, it's an offshoot
of blackwater fever,
the one form of malaria.

They don't know anything
about it really.

And once you got it,
you got it forever.

And the only time you know
you've had an attack

is when you
wake up after it's all over.

I've had it
for over a year now.

-What do you do about it?
-You take trakpyradone.

It's the only thing
that keeps it under control.

-Where do you get that?
-Here at the hospital.

-Then Doc Druten
would've known about it.
-No.

Sheriff, I have
an interesting aversion

to my maladies
being paraded around the town.

Being the subject of gossip
in ballrooms and bathrooms.

Ellie Burrifors used to
bring me the medicine
in the evening,

a month's supply at a time.

And those were the favors
she did me in return
for some money.

And the night she died,
that locket...

Mr. Rodanthe, are you telling
me that Ellie brought you

some medicine on the night
she was murdered?

That's right.

What time?

Oh, between 8:00 and 9:00.

-What were she wearing?
-I don't know...

It was a pretty dress,
it was a sort of brown,
I think with, uh...

With checks.

But she wasn't in
a pleasant mood that night,

she had something on her mind
it seemed like.

So I gave the locket
to Ellie, saying,

"Here. Maybe this will
brighten you up a little."

-Did it?
-Not noticeably.

But she thanked me
and I hung...

Hung it around her neck
and closed the catch

and then she went away
to get murdered.

What did you do
after Ellie left?

Something stupid, Sheriff.
Nothing.

Nothing?

I should've gone right back
upstairs and taken two
of the pills but I didn't.

I just sat there,
thinking to myself,

what a pretty girl
that Ellie Burrifors was.

Just sat there thinking.

-And...
-And?

The next thing I knew
I was taking a shower

and it was about 5:00
in the morning.

Mr. Rodanthe,
when you came home
last evening after hunting,

-what did you do then?
-I dined with my sister.

-And after that?
-I went straight to bed.

It tired me out more
than I thought then, huh.

So, I went to bed early,
it couldn't have been
later than 9:00.

-Slept the night.
-Without waking?

Straight through
to breakfast.

And that's when I learned
from my sister
what had happened

in the night to
Lawrence Burrifors
and your deputy.

It was the same person
wasn't it, Sheriff?

All these murders they've been
committed by the same person
haven't they?

Well, it seems so.

If there is a person
that can tear iron bars
out of a brick wall.

Well...

Mr. Rodanthe,
you don't happen
to be left-handed?

I'm ambidextrous, Sheriff.

I can sign my name with
both hands at the same time
and it would take

a handwriting expert
to tell you the difference.

You know, they've been
five of us in my family

who inherited
that interesting trait from my
great-great-grandfather.

Well, take care of yourself.

Oh, Ms. Rodanthe,
is Sheriff Whitaker
still with you?

Oh, there he is.

Aaron, I can't get one person
in this fear-ridden town

to take this medication
to old Hugh.

If he breaks loose
with one more spell

of the lougarougs
it'll be the finish of him.

I'll take it.

A spell of the what?

Something the old man
keeps saying in French.

Nobody around here
can understand him.

I know French.

-Will you go with me?
-Of course.

-Ms. Rodanthe.
-Doctor.

He said he went to bed
at 9:00.

Well, I know it was early.

You know if he slept
through the night?

Well, I don't know,
I dropped off about 11:00.

Hello, Sara. How is he?

-Sulfur, I smell sulfur.
-That's what it is.

And acifiditive.
That's what people
used to take.

-I know.
-HUGH: Lougaroug.

-Do you hear him?
-Lougaroug.

[QUESTIONING IN FRENCH]

[SPEAKING FRENCH]

[SPEAKING FRENCH]

Lougaroug.

[SPEAKING IN FRENCH]

Lawrence.

[SPEAKING IN FRENCH]

Aaron.

Aaron,

it's his dialect, lougaroug.

He's saying loup-garou.

Werewolf.
He's saying werewolf.

LOUISE: He says that
I'm its next victim.

Mr. Rodanthe?

[GROWLING]

[RASPING]

-[SNARLING]
-[NURSE GASPING]

[SCREAMING]

DRUTEN:
Stop him! Stop him!

-[SCREAMING CONTINUES]
-[GLASS SHATTERING]

[GROWLING]

Nurse, call the sheriff.
Tell him what you saw,
what happened!

[NURSES WHIMPERING]

MAYOR: Okay now,
quieten down and listen.

Now, Tom Gurmandy,
he knows these marshes
better than his own name

so I'm putting him in charge.

And remember this...

-[HONKING]
-Andrew Rodanthe, is out there
and he's turned into a wolf!

And we got to find him
and shoot him down
like a wolf.

-Ms. Rodanthe,
this ain't the place for you.
-Mayor! Mayor...

You're planning
to hunt down my brother,

hunt him down and shoot him
like a wild animal?

-Ms. Rodanthe,
you shouldn't be here.
-Mayor, mayor, he's sick.

He's has this illness.
Don't you understand
that he has,

he has these seizures?

Ms. Rodanthe, he had fangs
coming two inches
out of his mouth.

Mayor, mayor, listen to me.
There are drugs.

TOM JR:
Hey, this here is his sister.

How do we know
she ain't going to turn out
to be some kind of a wolf?

You shut up!

LOUISE:
Mayor, mayor, listen to me.
Finding him is one thing,

but hunting him down,
shooting him is
another thing all together.

Now, this is
a law enforcement matter.

You organize this posse
without any legal authority.

I'm acting under authority
vested in me by
the Marsh Island charter.

Now, Tom Gurmandy
is in charge now.

Louise.

WHITAKER: Come on, Louise.

Come on, boys.

[ENGINE STARTING]

[WOLF HOWLING]

[LOUD KNOCKING AT DOOR]

[KNOCKING CONTINUES]

-Well?
-They didn't find him
but they're still at it.

Aaron, Aaron, come in here.
There's something
I want you to see.

What is it?

"Lycanthropy
and lycanthrope-like
diseases."

What's lycanthropy?

Werewolves.

Oh, Louise,
you don't believe in that...

What I believe,
what I want to believe
is that...

Is what Andrew said it was.
A disease that you can take
pills to control,

but after what Dr. Druten said

and after what happened
at the Burrifor house

and Granddaddy's fits
and now this book.

Let me see.

"Many diseases resemble
lycanthropy and some
of its symptoms.

"These quasi-like
lycanthropic diseases

"are relatively harmless
and easily controlled by
a series of modern drugs."

Well, that was Andrew
said it was, those pills.

"Lycanthropeia veritum.

"True lycanthropy may also
respond favorably to
the same drugs

"for a time and then
the disease develops
an immunity to the drug.

"In true lycanthropy
the victim's yearning
for the taste of...

"...blood turns him into
a most powerful, dangerous,
and deadly killer.

"Mythology has it
that werewolves are repelled

"and rendered
temporarily harmless...

"By the smell of sulfur.

"And it is also recorded,
though with no
scientific basis whatever,

"that certain persons
sensitive, sorcerers,
exorcises of evil

-"claim to be able to..."
-No, no. Go on, go on,
read it.

-It's mythology. I'm not
interested in mythology.
-Well, I am.

"Claim to be able to see
the shape of a pentagram

"in the hand of the werewolf's
next victim."

-Louise, it's 1972.
-I heard he looked into
Lawrence's hand

just before Andrew killed him.

Well, that's what Sara said.
But Sara is a superstitious...

LOUISE:
He just looked into mine.

Louise, he is your brother.

-Andrew is a...
-[WOLF HOWLING]

[HORSE NEIGHING]

He's out there.

He's in the barn.

Stay right there.

Come on. Come on!

Stay here, Louise.

Aaron, he tore iron bars
out of cement.

Andrew was born in this house.
Maybe he'll have more respect.

And after I leave,
lock and shutter this door

and go in there
and lock and bolt that too.

And don't leave the room.

I don't know what I'll do when
I find him but it won't be
what they'll do.

Now, don't leave the room,
don't answer the door
until you hear it's me,

Aaron, saying it's me,
all right?

Aaron,
if he has to be killed...

Not their way.

WHITAKER: Rodanthe? Rodanthe?

"The destruction of the victim

"and only two methods
of destruction are known.

"Death by burning

"or death by shooting
of bullets that have
been blessed."

[DOOR BANGING]

[ROARS]

[SNARLING]

[GROWLING]

Aaron! Aaron!

[HOWLING]

[CLINKS]

[CLATTERING]

-[SCREAMING]
-[GROWLING]

[SNARLING]

[GROWLING]

[HORSE NEIGHING
IN THE DISTANCE]

[CRYING] Oh, Andrew.

Oh...

-[WOLF HOWLING
IN THE DISTANCE]
-[GASP]

-[GASPING]
-[HOWLING CONTINUES]

[WHINNYING]

[FIRE CRACKLING]

[GROWLING]

[DOOR BANGING]

Louise?

Oh, Aaron...

He knew.

He made me fire at him.

[CRYING]
He knew... The bullets.

He must have had them blessed.

He must've done that.

[CRYING] He knew.

Aaron, look.