HOSPICE

Rebecca is a quiet young Black woman from the inner city who loses her mother to cancer and her husband to infidelity within a few weeks. Suffering from severe depression, her doctor prescribes her a new medication to help her cope. Floating through her job at a rundown hospice facility, Rebecca receives a mysterious patient folder for an unconscious old man, Howard, who lives in a rural farmhouse and has only a week to live. Seeing it as a chance to escape for a few days and earn a payday that would allow her to start anew, she agrees to take the job. While at the farmhouse, Rebecca’s grip on reality quickly unravels as hours pass by in minutes, and she believes she sees Howard moving around the house in the shadows. Unsure if it’s the medication causing hallucinations or the old man preying on her fears, she plans to leave the house and her job when she meets a local Black ranch hand, Leonard. The two hit it off as things begin to calm down. During their courtship, Leonard’s secret past begins to unfold, and the horror erupts once again, worse than before. Rebecca eventually learns that Howard murdered Leonard’s mother and adopted him as his own. She also discovers that Howard has been luring people to the farmhouse for decades so he can feed on their souls, allowing him to defy death. During a tense chase through the snowy woods, Leonard traps Rebecca with a bear trap and drags her to the house. After a brutal, bloody battle, Rebecca delivers an ax blow to Leonard’s head before shooting Howard with a shotgun. But he isn't dead. The old man wakes up in the hospital, having possessed Rebecca before he died. Howard smiles. The end.