The Phantom Farmhouse - Recap

At a countryside mental facility, the Delphinium House, several of Dr. Joel Winter’s patients have gathered for a session and listen to Gideon, another patient, play his guitar. One of the patients complains and Dr. Winter asks Gideon to eliminate the guitar. Gideon responds by casually smashing it. Dr. Winter accuses Gideon of keeping secrets, but Gideon refuses to talk about what he’s hiding. The sheriff arrives and informs Dr. Winter that they found a note at the site where his patient Mr. May was murdered. Dr. Winter confirms that Gideon wrote it, and they ask him why. The doctor wonders if Gideon wrote it because Mr. May was getting out and wanted to meet with Mildred, and the note gave directions. When Dr. Winter notes that Mr. May ever met Mildred, Gideon says that he and the other patients haven’t either, but they’re all in love with Mildred. Gideon suggests that Dr. Winter is in love with her as well, and says that Mildred Squire and her family live in an old-fashioned house just over the horizon. The sheriff asks if Mr. May was a friend of Gideon’s, and Gideon says that May was a scientist at a think tank and he hated him. However, he wants everyone to meet Mildred.



As Gideon wanders off with the other patients, Dr. Winter explains to the sheriff that Gideon hallucinates, but it’s the only thing that brings him out of himself. The sheriff notes that there is the ruins of an old building at the site that Gideon described, and that May parked, walked along the road to the ruins, and stopped to see a girl that doesn’t exist. Later the found his body, ripped and shredded and drained of problem. Dr. Winter assures the sheriff that Gideon has never been off the grounds due to a drug problem.

Later, Dr. Winter goes to see the ruins and is surprised to see an actual farmhouse on the site. He calls out but gets no response, and hears a growling noise with no apparent source. When Dr. Winter returns to the Delphinium House, he notices that the gatekeeper’s dogs are nervous. He asks the gatekeeper, Pierre, about the house, but Pierre insists there is no house in the woods anymore. It burned down years ago, and the only thing left of the residents is three graves. Gideon approaches Dr. Winter and asks if he saw Mildred, and warns him that no matter how hard he fights, he’ll lose in the end. The patient gives Dr. Winter a note talking about how scientists rationalize the supernatural rather than submit to an unknown fear.



Dr. Winter returns to the farmhouse and a white-haired young woman emerges. She invites him in for water and says that he can rest. Dr. Winter goes to the well while she goes inside, and he hears her tell someone to do their own hunting. The woman returns with a cup and says that they are great hunters, and she often argues with her father about whose game is whose. As she drinks, the doctor notices that her fingernails are painted bright red and her index finger is abnormally long. Her parents come out and Dr. Winter notices that their hands are stained red from what they claim are box grapes. He says that he’ll return, and they say he should return after dark. As Dr. Winter goes, he asks the woman her name and she says that it’s Mildred.



Dr. Winter returns to the house and discovers that Gideon has left him books on werewolves. One indicator of a werewolf is bright red nails and an excessively long index finger. Dr. Winter dismisses them as a put-on, but Gideon says that May saw werewolves before he was killed. Dr. Tom, another staff member, objects to Gideon’s claims and insists that lycanthropy is a medical aberration, and causes allergy to silver and wolfs bane. As Dr. Winter prepares to leave, a patient, Betty, says that Gideon’s secret is that he has a pentagram inscribed on each of his palms. Dr. Tom dismisses it as a hallucination, and explains that if they existed that would mean that Gideon is a warlock, and offers sacrifices to the werewolves, just as Gideon gave a note sending May to the farmhouse.

Later, Pierre calls Dr. Winter to the corpses of dead sheep, and insists that werewolves are responsible. The shepherd set a trap, and something set it off and left handprints with an extended middle finger. Pierre insists on giving Dr. Winter a silver crucifix, but the doctor insists that the sheep were killed by real wolves and walks away without the crucifix.



Dr. Winter goes through the woods and spots a sheep, and then sees two wolves pursuing it. He runs to the farmhouse and calls out to Mildred. She emerges from the woods and embraces him, and says that she’s been thinking about him. Mildred says that he should go, but he notes that her parents are gone and they should sit on the porch. She reluctantly agrees but then says that he can’t see her again, for her sake. When Dr. Winter asks why, Mildred says that she loves him.

That night, Dr. Winter returns to the house and Pierre asks where he was. The doctor lies and says that he went to town for drinks. When Pierre says that he left Betty in the meadow, Dr. Winter realizes she’s in danger and runs to find her, only to discover that she’s been brutally murdered

The next day, Dr. Winter confronts Gideon during a session. Gideon shows him the pentagrams on his palms and says that three months after he arrived at the house, he woke up and saw the farmhouse. He watched the parents and came to crave the girl. Then one morning he woke up and found the marks there. He sent May to Mildred because he hated him, and he arranged for Betty’s death because she was a snoop and too nice. Dr. Winter asks if Gideon hates him, and Gideon says that he didn’t. He sent Dr. Winter there so that he would accept that Gideon was telling the truth, but has realized that now the doctor is in too deep. Gideon tells Dr. Winter to leave, because anyone who sees the farmhouse is marked as a victim. When Dr. Winter notes that Betty didn’t see it, Gideon says that she saw it from his window.

That night, Dr. Winter goes to the farmhouse and Mildred runs out to greet him. He says that he loves her and they need to talk, but she refuses and tells him to run. Mildred insists that he’s tearing her apart, and Dr. Winter admits that he doesn’t know who he is anymore. He asks if she can love him, and Mildred says that she loves him more than life. She refuses to look at him, and tells him to come back just before sunrise, bring a prayer book, and read the service for the burial of the dead over the three graves. When he wonders why, Mildred says that she’ll have peace, and tells him not to look around no matter what he hears. Dr. Winter agrees, and Mildred looks at him with blood-red eyes.



Dr. Winter runs off in terror and two wolves pursue him. They finally bring him down, but a white wolf runs up and drives them away long enough for Dr. Winter to escape.

The next morning, Dr. Winter returns to the farmhouse just before sunrise. He approaches the graves and reads the service for the dead, and ignores the sounds of growling wolves around him. The doctor finally collapses, exhausted. Dr. Tom and Pierre arrive and escort him away. Dr. Winter looks behind and discovers that the house is gone, and there’s no sign of Mildred.



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