Darkest Night

Plot synopsis:
The story in Darkest Night unfolds as a Found footage (pseudo-documentary) "documentary" by a Filipino television journalist, Danny Valencia (Jonas Gruet). In what are purportedly his words, Danny writes that he created the film from videotape found at the site of a 2003 unsolved crime. The opening scene shows him and some workmen at the crime site, ruins of a mansion where a family disappeared.
Then, the video begins. On December 25, 2003, Michelle Espino (Issa Litton) and her husband, David (Allan Dale Alojipan), host their upscale family's Christmas Day reunion at their mansion in the mountains. Susan (Anne Gauthier) and American Ken Tyler (DJ Perry) are engaged after dating for months in Manila. They travel to the Espinos' home with Susan's live-in sister, Chelsea (Jill Palencia). When they arrive, Susan announces the engagement to the entire family and introduces Ken. An autistic cousin, Justin, a video camera savant, takes over videotaping from then on. (See Autism and Savant syndrome.)
After dinner, a mild earthquake jolts everyone, and the power goes out, plunging all into darkness. Everyone realizes that all batteries and electricity are useless except for Justin's video camera. A dense fog surrounds the mansion and the entire area. David goes out, walking toward a neighbor's house to seek information. Later, the television switches on by itself without power, showing a strange pagan ritual congregation with weird singing. Now more frightened, the family members try to guard each other. After several other family members die or disappear, Susan finds an old book bearing the French title “The Way of Baphomet" and the motto Ensemble Toujours (Together Always). Soon, only Michelle, Steven, Susan and Ken are left. They realize the time is 9 am, and it's still dark outside. Susan discovers the French words Ensemble Toujours written on a wall. An upset Michelle rushes outside, finding a prowler. She shoots him, only to find David's grotesquely deformed body. Michelle then shoots herself dead.
Later, Susan, Ken and Steven gather in the kitchen. She shows them the old "[Baphomet]" book and demands an explanation from Steven. He tells them Michelle was into black magic, and the book was her "Bible." She was able to learn powerful magic spells from the it. Many years ago, a cult from France worshiped the demon god Baphomet and practiced black magic on this very land. They all mysteriously disappeared on Christmas Day 1914. Steven confesses he and Michelle also had an affair. Michelle later told him she had found an easy way to ascend magically into "heaven" along with the whole family. Earlier, she had cast a spell on everyone there. However, these rites actually required human sacrifice, mutilation and torture. When Michelle realized her "god" had deceived her, she killed herself. Susan reads from the book that in the final rite a man and woman must wed, and then the bride has to castrate her groom.
Trying to break the magic spell, Susan leads them all in a seance, calling on Michael and requesting release. Michael appears and goes to Steven. Both disappear. Finally, Susan finds that Ken is dead too, and only she is left. She places her engagement ring on his finger with a ring she gave him. Then he vanishes like all the others. The television flickers on again. They see the pagan cult robed in white, gathering outdoors around an altar. Before all, Ken and Michelle make love. She proceeds to castrate him as a human sacrifice. The set then shows a picture of the entire family, robed and near the altar, without Susan and Justin. The scene slowly dissolves. A robed Susan and Justin now stand with the rest of the family.
In the final scene the journalist, Danny, is still among the original ruins with the work crew, as at first. Everyone gathers by a box they had found, and inside is the old French book, “The Way of Baphomet." On top of the book are the two rings together, Susan's and Ken's.

Tags: dramatic, suspenseful, horror

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