Jessabelle

***Jessabelle*** is a 2014 American supernatural horror

## Synopsis

Returning to her childhood home in Louisiana to recuperate from a horrific car accident, Jessabelle comes face to face with a long-tormented spirit that has been seeking her return -- and has no intention of letting her escape.

## Plot

The pregnant Jessabelle "Jessie" Laurent is about to move to her fiancé, Mark's house when their car is hit by a truck, killing Mark and causing Jessie's miscarriage. Two months afterward, the wheelchair-bound Jessie moves in with her estranged father, Leon in St. Francis, Louisiana. She resides in her mother's former bedroom; her mother having died due to brain tumor shortly after she was born.

One day, Jessie finds a box containing three videotapes shot by her mother. Kate (Joelle Carter), who addresses Jessie by her full name, congratulates her on her 18th birthday and gives a tarot reading about Death that tells of a transition, taught to her by Moses, a man whom she met at a local church. Kate warned that an unwanted presence is haunting Jessie, a reading that turns out to be true, as Jessie feels that a black-haired woman (Amber Stevens) is haunting her ever since she moved in. Jessie also has a dream where she is strapped to a bed by her mother and sees a voodoo ritual being conducted, where a man chokes her. Leon, who has repeatedly tried to dissuade Jessie from watching the tapes by breaking them and throwing Jessie's wheelchair, attempts to burn all of the tapes, but a force burns him alive inside the house's shed. During his funeral, Jessie reunites with her high school friend, Preston Sanders (Mark Webber), but collapses after she sees a severely burned man (Vaughan Wilson).

After Preston leaves from tending to Jessie, Jessie discovers a fourth tape that she opts not to watch. The next day, Jessie and Preston head across a nearby bayou, which Jessie has suspected ever since she saw glittering light and flames appearing there. The two discover voodoo icons and effects, as well as a grave of "Jessabelle" with a baby's skeleton, dated on Jessie's birthday, whom they give to Sheriff Pruitt (Chris Ellis) for DNA testing. Jessie and Preston then visit the house of Mrs. Davis (Fran Bennett), the mother of one of their friends, who speaks about Moses. Thinking that Moses is involved, the two head to Moses' voodoo shrine, but is attacked by a group of men who force them to leave. The two return to Jessie's home where Preston confesses that, despite being married, he is still in love with Jessie. Just before he leaves, the mysterious woman attacks and knocks him unconscious.

Left alone, Jessie watches the fourth tape, showing Kate shouting "Jessabelle, you're dead!" before it cuts off. Conducting a ritual to summon the woman, Jessie is informed by Pruitt that the baby is Kate's daughter, but not Leon's. The tape plays out again and shows Kate committing suicide, tearfully saying that Moses is dead. Jessie is confronted by Kate's spirit and realizes the truth: Jessabelle was the biracial daughter of Kate and Moses who was killed, alongside her father, by Leon; Jessie *is* the unwanted presence, being a child adopted to cover up the crimes. Swearing revenge, Kate and Moses planned to transfer Jessabelle's spirit to Jessie. Jessie is pushed by Kate and Moses towards the bayou, where Jessabelle swims up and takes her bracelet, resurfacing back in the form of Jessie, who kisses Preston after he saves her. When Pruitt asks "Jessie" if she is all right, she replies "It's Jessabelle".