The Small Hand (Ghost Story)-- My take on the movie with spoilers!
PLOT SUMMARY: Adam buys a new house unaware that his past is related to it. It is when a small boy keeps reaching for his hand that the truth is revealed.
You know when a movie begins with a shot of a long stretch of road and a lone car on it, that it is going to be one of those movies where there will be a haunted house and that the protagonist is going to second guess their own sanity when then goes awry.
The Small Hand (Ghost Story) Movie Plot
After a long drive, Adam Snow is taken to a large mansion by GPS. He takes one look at the house and realizes this isn’t what his destination is.
There’s a gate in front of him beyond which there is a garden and a mansion. Just as he leaves, there’s a woman looking down at him from the mansion.
Adam drives to his friend Edward’s house and his wife Alice remarks on how her husband should have told her Adam was coming. She isn’t too pleased to see him.
Adam shows Edward a new book he’s acquired and boasts about the deal he got. The book is the first edition and he tells Edward to handle it with gloves. Alice is impressed with Adam and when she cleans up a scratch he got while trespassing the other house, they share a look.
We then learn that Adam and Alice were having an affair and that they were trying to stay apart for the sake of Edward.
Adam receives a call from his sister-in-law and rushes to the church to see his brother having an episode. He calms his brother Hugo and he is taken to the hospital. His sister-in-law is clearly pregnant and Adam wonders why she didn’t tell him to which she points out if he was around more she would.
Adam has finished his brotherly duties and doesn’t go to the hospital. He returns home and the next morning goes jogging. He ends up at the house he had seen before and this time finds the lock broken. He enters and a woman inside, tells him the gardens are closed and have been for a long time.
Adam apologizes and accepts her offer to lead him outside. However, she disappears and Adam keeps looking around. He comes to a pond and a small hand reaches out to touch him. He senses it and turns all-around to find himself near the fountain. His head is dunked into the fountain and when he emerges, he finds himself in the pond.
He returns and tells his friends of the house. Edward tells him the house is for sale but because of its decrepit condition, no one wants it. Alice suggests Adam should buy it.
She gives a teasing look, either hoping Adam would buy it so they could be neighbors and continue the affair or simply wants to check if Adam is capable to buy a mansion. If he is then she can continue her affair.
Adam agrees and Alice is relieved. Now she can leave her rich husband for a rich boyfriend. But she still needs to take one more test.
She shows him magazines where the house is featured and he notices the woman in the picture Denisa is the same woman he met at the gardens. He’s surprised to learn she died forty years ago.
Phone calls are made and Adam is able to buy the house. He takes Alice with her because Edward is busy and he suggests he take his wife anyway.
Edward appears to know of their affair.
Alice and Adam walk around the house, and she keeps jumping up behind him, probably trying to find out if his heart is strong. When Adam doesn’t have a heart attack because she keeps startling him at every turn, she makes out with him only to have a red remote control car come and interrupt them.
Even the ghosts don’t approve of their relationship.
Throughout their time at the house, Adam keeps taking a video of the house while a strange figure keeps following them around.
Adam wants to show off his purchase to his brother. So what if Hugo has a wife and a kid on the way, he has a big house.
He shows the house to his sister-in-law on his tablet but Hugo isn’t pleased at all when he sees which house he has bought and tells him to sell it immediately.
Adam thinks his brother is jealous and obviously crazy, so doesn’t listen.
He sets about refurbishing the house and meets Denisa again who utters the same dialogue about the gardens being closed. When he asks if she really is Denisa, she practically screams at his face that of course, she is, who else?
He roams around the house and we get to see the boy who keeps touching Adam’s hand. His name is Jamie and he was Denisa’s son. He wears an orange sweater and red pants. He appears to be mocking Adam at every turn.
Later that night, Alice comes over to spend some intimate moments with Adam. However, she wakes up in the middle of the night when her husband calls.
Adam is too busy looking at photographs and other things in the house. Alice runs off downstairs claiming her husband knows. Jamie pops up and holds Alice’s hand, then pushes her down the stairs.
She’s dead. Edward comes along and doesn’t point fingers at Adam. He also tells him that before she died Alice told him that she loved him.
He leaves while Jamie mocks Adam. Adam closes the door on his face as if that will stop the ghost boy.
He goes to Hugo and wants to know why he’s crying in the photo and how come they were at the house when they were kids. Hugo tells him their father dropped them at the house to play with Jamie after their mother died.
When Adam asks why does he appear to be crying, Hugo tells him that’s what his face looks like all the time.
The Small Hand (Ghost Story) Ending Spoilers
Adam is still working on renovating the house but now also wants to get rid of the ghosts. He calls the priest who knew the family for a long time and asks him to do a prayer.
Jamie comes along with his toy sword and Adam stands still as he lunges at him.
Unfortunately, the toy sword is wielded by a ghost boy and hence has turned real in his touch. Adam cuts himself and the priest is shocked.
Jamie then proceeds to fight Adam who has turned into his younger self. The priest continues to watch.
Adam is almost defeated when Jamie comes to the priest, deciding he doesn’t care much for spectators. He kills the priest.
Adam is now desperate for answers and demands them from Hugo who finally reveals the truth.
Jamie was a bully who picked on Adam a lot. When Jamie took Adam to the pond, Hugo searched everywhere and found Denisa having an affair.
He goes to the pond but by then Jamie is dragged Adam under. Hugo jumps in and saves his brother. Jamie’s hand was trying to grab Adam’s hand.
Hugo claims he did try to save Jamie but that he had to make a choice that haunted him through adulthood which causes his episodes.
The brothers reconcile and have a light moment in the evening. They have moved into the alleged haunted house where the brothers faced trauma. But it is a big house, and Adam did put all his money in it so it doesn’t matter if they could be in constant danger.
Jamie is present and taps Hugo’s wife’s pregnant belly.
Adam fears Jamie might harm his family until the little boy can get his hand. Adam leaves behind a letter for his brother to find and goes to the pond to drown himself. Hugo arrives too late.
Three years later, Hugo is happy with his wife and son.
The son follows the red remote control car and sees Jamie outside holding out his hand.
The end.
The story is slow and does drag along for a bit. It doesn’t help that the protagonist looks disinterested and doesn’t care about his girlfriend has died or that his brother had to make a choice to save him or the other boy. This is why you don’t find yourself sympathizing with him.
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