Summaries

Synopsis

An old man conducts a ritual by slaughtering a chicken and hurriedly spreading ash in a circle. His sickly wife appears at the door and tells him to stop, to which he replies "Burn in hell". He starts reading from a book and the letters start to bleed. Then a little girl whispers his name, Yosille, and asks him if he wants to see his wife again, to which he replies negatively. He steps outside the circle, swallowing a dark smoke as his sclera turns black. He then stabs himself with a knife from his back pocket. The demon tries to remove the amulet around his neck to no avail.

Arthur (Art) and his pregnant wife come to Brooklyn to visit his father, who runs a Jewish funeral house in a Hasidic community. He and his father, Saul, became estranged after he married Claire, a non-Jewish British food journalist. Saul is welcoming to Art and Claire, wanting to establish a relationship with both of them. Art has an alternative agenda for the visit. He needs his father to mortgage his house to help his failing real estate business.

Art volunteers to help his father with a new suicide body that has come in. The funeral home is the basement of their home. Art has a run in with Heimish, who works with his father. Heimish cares for Saul and is suspicious of Art's visit. As Saul and Heimish speak, Arthur prepares the body of Yosille. While preparing the body, the amulet around his neck falls through a drain, releasing the demon which immediately begins to haunt Claire.

Saul comes across the knife that Yosille used to commit suicide and becomes suspicious. He calls Reb Chayim and asks about the inscription. Reb Chayim tells Saul that this, in conjunction with an amulet is used for a binding spell. But as there was no amulet found, Chayim dismisses its importance.

Meanwhile, Art and Heimish go to pick up another body. It is the body of Sarah Scheindel, a missing girl from the community. Heimish picks up Art's phone and discovers Art's money problems and his intention to ask his father to mortgage his house. Heimish exposes Art in front of Saul and Claire. When Claire confronts Art, he opens up to her about his loss of faith after the death of his mother.

That night, while Saul is in the mortuary, the demon attacks and kills him. Art wakes up the next day to see men praying around his father's body. Heimish blames Art saying he died of a broken heart and gives him the paper that Art needed Saul to sign.

During the funeral both Art and Claire have disturbing visions. Claire has visions of Sarah Schneidel. Art sleepwalks and draws a sigil. He wakes up on a carpet and thinks he was dreaming.

Art struggles to wrap up his father's business as Heimish has quit. He is told that Yosille needs a police clearance before he can be buried or a next-of-kin must sign off on it, even though it was a clear suicide.

He goes to Yosille's house where he finds a video tape. He discovers Yosille was attempting to conjure the archangel of life, Martiel, so that he could bring back his dead wife Aida. He used Sarah for the ritual. But the ritual killed Sarah and conjured the demon Abyzou instead.

Meanwhile, "Aida" comes to visit Claire and tells her she wants to see her husband's body. When Claire tells her husband Aida is here to see Yosille's body, Art realizes his wife is in danger. While Claire is on the phone, "Aida" burns Yosille's body, which releases the Abyzou. Art tries to rescue his wife, but is unable to.

Art turns to Heimish and shows him Yosille's video. Heimish brings in Chayim for help. They discover the sigil and Chayim says that the demon gains strength and is fed when a child steps in it. Chayim explains the binding ritual and explains that Abyzou has to be trapped in a body. Art is willing to sacrifice himself for his wife and child.

Abyzou kills Chayim, so Art and Heimish rush to begin the ritual. Heimish tells Art not to step outside the circle, but Heimish is taken by the demon. Art begins the ritual, but he sees his wife who is taken and threatened by the demon. He leaves the circle to rescue his wife who is being held against a high window.

Unable to do anything else, Art finishes the inscription to force the demon inside him, but he is unable to kill himself. Heimish crawls to him and Art begs Heimish to stab him with the inscripted knife. Heimish reluctantly stabs Art, then tells him that he should have stayed in the circle. Heimish alludes to the amulet that has been taken off and flung across the room. Art then sees the real Heimish's dead body in the next room, and dies helplessly.

Claire wakes up under a table. She rushes to the demon masquerading as Art, but looks down to see she is standing in the sigil. Abyzou appears and takes her. (thanks to Wikipedia)