i'm not going to stay. i'll get a job. i'll get my own apartment. -- i've never worked? -- hello? yes, this is eleanor. -- where? yes, it's right here. hello baby. she's okay. she woke up and she saw she was alone. that's all right. none. no. maybe. maybe someday. i'd like that. they sent me directions and i've got a map, but it's kind of confusing. here. it's a place called hill house? what are you doing? did i say something wrong to you? oh! you scared me. are you mister dudley, the caretaker? i'm with dr. marrow's group. i'm supposed to check in with mrs. dudley up at the house. is she here? why do you need a chain like that? is there something about the house? hello? hello? mrs. dudley? mrs. dudley, are you here? anybody? wow. hello? hello? mrs. dudley? mrs. dudley? mrs. dudley. i'm eleanor vance, i'm with -- hugh crain. they're so beautiful. aren't they? well, i've never lived with beauty. you must love working here. why would we -- finally. hello? i'm eleanor but everyone calls me nell. eleanor vance. nell. i'm really glad you're here. really. this? it's from a thrift shop. fifteen dollars. it's all i could afford. i don't know what you mean. we couldn't even hear you. no one will come any nearer than that. that's why we're here. i'm between jobs right now. my last job. it. the person i was working for. the job ended. over. so. and you? not really. ohh, sure, you have trouble with commitment. no. i don't have anyone. but i do have a little apartment of my own. it has a little flower garden. you can just see the ocean. at night, when the wind comes in just right, you can hear the buoys in the harbor. so much carving. it's everywhere. on everything. i know. theo! i love this house. i really love this house. we should go back. theo, i'm scared -- uh. nell vance. well, i. uh. you can call me nell, dr. marrow. i'm really. honored to be part of this study, jim. i only saw theo drive up. is something wrong? what? all of you have such interesting problems. yes, because someone was always keeping me awake. ever since i was little. that was my job. i took care of my mother and i had to be there for her all night long, and she woke up all the time. and after she died, well, it's been a few months, but i still, i still wake up, it's. a habit. i know we've only known each other a couple of hours, but i'm really glad to be with people who let me talk about this. i'm really happy to be here with you. what's wrong? all the carvings. that's so sad. here, cover it. don't let her touch it. a monster? but he built this for the woman he loved, like the taj mahal. sorry. i'm not used to being touched. yes. i've missed it. good night, theo. coming, mother! no! you really didn't hear anything? you know it wasn't a joke, theo. theo i think. you've asked us that three times, doctor marrow. what's going on? mother always banged on the wall when she needed me. the night she died. i heard her, but i pretended i didn't. i was just so sick of it all. and then the banging stopped. and in the morning. she was dead. this is the first i've ever said this to anyone. that was the job i had, theo, it's the only job i've ever known, and i failed. i'm actually a bad person, theo. the world doesn't need me. good night, theo. sorry. am i that bad? yes. i feel realy rested, too. theo? the children. the children hugh crain built the house for. the children he never had. couldn't get the last ones. you? there's someone in there! there's someone in there in the fireplace! jim. when i first got here i saw a gray car pull up. i thought it was one of us. this is my car. how could he have left without his keys? what's his first name? david? david watts? can you hear us? david! daviiiiid! david? no, it's getting worse. that smell. oh, god. it was very specific. in the bathroom in my mother's room, the toilet was next to an old wooden table. it smelled like that wood. i wasn't thinking about my mother's bathroom. i looked at theo. she had a look on her face. yes. i got more scared. i'm sorry. i'm messing up the study. i don't know. maybe i. my name. welcome home eleanor. welcome home? i've never been here. who did this? who did this? why are you doing this? i don't know any of you. you don't know me. why are you doing this to me? theo. did you? why? i don't know anything. whoever did this, please, just. just say so. just. please. this is cruel. don't be cruel to me. i can't stand it. you don't know me. are you coming to confess? let's say it wasn't you. who did it? it was a stupid thing to do. welcome home. sure. oh. it's so beautiful. who? why? yes. why? i was just thinking how happy i am right now. all my life, i've been waiting for an adventure. and i thought, oh, i'll never have that, adventures are for people who travel long distances, that's for soldiers, that's for the women that the bullfighters fall in love with. and here i am, and something is happening to me. strange noises in the night. paintings are calling to me. and all it cost to get there was five gallons of gas. i'm getting my adventure. why? it doesn't matter. even if they're tormenting me, someone wants me. what i do with this is up to me. i can be a victim, or i can be a volunteer. and i want to be the volunteer. i don't know. a lullaby i guess. my mother used to hum it to me. and her mother before that, and so on. hugh crain, would you care to dance? only two days. crain's study. there's hundreds of them. this must be a record of the children who died at the mills, like luke said. you really think it was luke? i don't know what to think anymore. i've never had a pedicure before. red. what else? i'm sorry i was mad at you, theo. i'll take that as a compliment. in the city, what kind of place do you live in? a loft. that's a lot of room for one person. probably. maybe there's room for. i don't know, you know. i'm trying. have you ever kept something to yourself because you were afraid it'd ruin things. i think so. who is doing this to me? help! -- what do you think? no. no. jim's not doing -- these things. because i don't want to ruin things. because home is where the heart is. jim? i'm done. how can he think i'm doing this! theo! jim! help! the house. it's a maze, that's how you designed it, didn't you, mister crain? so wherever one of your little guests went, the house brought them here. it's designed to make you come here. but why? after rene. after she killed herself. he turned into a monster. he did fill the house with children. he did, but. they weren't laughing. carolyn showed me where she hid him, hid him with all the ones he killed -- and they're all locked together in here. and he won't let go of them! hugh crain. he's in the house. he's still here. is this true? i've been hypnotized? it's not real? crain? he's not real? this is real, i'm not making it up! theo, you saw it! you were there -- the banging and last night. you, you all saw the painting! -- but the painting! because that's where he burned them up, the child laborers from his mills! because that's where their bones are! he killed hundreds. he took them here and he killed them. their bones are in the fireplace! oh, god, you're not going to look. don't leave me. i don't think i want any. theo. why do you want me? i'm here. i'm here. i'm coming to you, i'm coming to you. the children want me. they're calling me. they need me. no! they're all in here. all the ones he killed. they're just children! we have to help them! why did you bring me here? but you told me to look in the paper! you told me i'd be perfect! then who called me? just had to be sure. oh, theo. you know i don't have an apartment. don't worry about me, theo. i'm wanted. right here. i'm home. my mother used to hum this to me. like her mother hummed it to her. and my great grandmother carolyn hummed it to her. no -- in the night. it's not safe for you anymore. the children need me, and crain is doing everything he can to keep me from them. give me your shoelace. nothing, if you leave right now. there's a war going on all around us. don't get in the way, please. no! no! let them go! he played hide and seek with the children. that's how he built the house. i know. hurry. jim! theo! nooo, not them!