Synopsis/Details
Searching for her dangerously ill missing mum, Nora finds clues; An old Polaroid of her mum with a priest, holding a baby by the Church of the Holy Covenant of Sarah and a certificate of adoption- Nora’s not who she thought she was.
There’s only two Churches with this unusual name, one collapsed into the sea, so she makes her way to the remote village of Wodensbrough, where the locals speak colloquial middle English.
Before she leaves, she’s summoned to her work to be dressed down, literally, by Bill, her controlling boss with whom she’s having a sadomasochistic sexual relationship. She leaves for Wodensbrough with Bill’s words “Remember, I always know where you are” ringing in her ears.
She finds room at Hawthorne Manor, a Tudor pile owned by the enigmatic pagan-goth Luna who’s twinkling eye for Nora develops into a mutual longing.
Nora is plied with Luna’s special blend of tea- the villagers drink nothing else. There are no children, the school is overrun with weeds- curiously though there are lots of pregnant women, ranging from mid-teens to late sixties.
Searching fruitlessly for her mum, Nora finds herself in a pentagram in the middle of Blackwood surrounded by porcelain dolls tied to trees. She recoils at traces of blood on a centre altar.
She finds the man in the picture, Father Connors. He reveals he’s her father, which Nora finds illogical; Her mum’s far too young to have had her given their comparable ages, plus the priest hasn’t aged a day.
He claims the village is cursed and everyone in it is complicit. A scream interrupts them; a body, disfigured beyond imagination found at the very edge of the village. Nora wonders why no-one ever leaves Wodensbrough.
In the churchyard she finds her biological grandparents’ grave- dated the year she was born. It’s the only gravestone post 1645! Inside the church she encounters the oily Fr Francis who masturbates into the font!
Bewildered by increasingly bizarre events, Nora follows a group of pregnant woman and men dressed as malevolent Morris-men down to the Blackwood pentagram where a young pregnant woman is given a crude C-section during a pagan/Christian mashed ritual. Fr Francis holds the newborn aloft before bringing a knife down!
In Hawthorne Manor Nora finds a cellar containing a cauldron and a book of spells- is Luna a witch? A diary recounts Luna being confronted by the village elders back in the seventeenth century. Upon threat of being burned as a witch, Luna promises to save the village from the plague- but they must sacrifice all their babies.
Fr Connors assures Nora she’s safe so long as she’s not pregnant, unfortunately Bill saw to that in his office! Speaking of Bill, he’s traced her signal and arrives in the village to drag her home.
It’s harvest festival day, and Nora finally finds her mum, apparently healthy, serving Luna’s tea. Nora implores her to leave but she refuses. When Susan discovers Nora’s pregnant, she knocks the tea from her- “Don’t drink that”!
Bill confronts Nora but Luna appears and forces them to descend into Blackwood for the harvest festival rite.
In front of raucous villagers demanding a sacrifice, Luna explains to Nora it’s her tea that gives everyone health and unnatural longevity. The secret ingredient? Babies blood! So long as they drink it and don’t leave the village, they won’t age. When Nora was born, her mum couldn’t face losing her, so they fled with the help of her grandparents, who paid for their betrayal with their lives. Since then, Luna has placed a spell on the boundary bringing instant death to anyone breaching it.
Bill’s had enough of these freaks, he grabs Nora’s hand, but she has a decision to make; Leave with Bill and never see her mum and dad again, or stay with Luna and build an endless life together? With a nod to Luna, Bill is manhandled onto the altar and brutally disemboweled while Fr Francis holds a porcelain doll over his face. It catches his screams- his very soul- forever. The sacrifice has been made!
