Plot Summary: A man, on the way to a funeral with his family on a plane, gets into an accident. When he awakens he finds himself under the care of a strange woman.
Remember the acclaimed book and movie Misery?
It was a story about a writer's number one fan who was also a psychotic former nurse. She was so crazy about his writing and the protagonist of his book series that when he killed off the fictional character, Anne, the psycho kidnaps him after Paul the writer meets with an accident.
To make sure he doesn't escape, she chops off his foot in the book version. In the movie version, she uses a sledgehammer.
Now Misery was an excellent story, wasn't it? Won't it be great to see another version of it?
Well, here it is. Spell. A movie where the caretaker isn't a psycho nurse but a hoodoo practitioner and the captive isn't a famous novelist but an attorney who had come to the rural village in Appalachia for his father's funeral with his family when his private plane crashes.
SPELL Movie Plot
The movie begins with the introduction of Marquis Woods as the confident and successful attorney who has everything going on for him. He also has a son and daughter, and a wife who keeps giving him annoyed looks because her husband keeps spoiling his privileged children.
When Marquis finds out he has to return to Appalachia because his father died, he decides to fly his private plane only so he can prove to himself how far he has come from the rural town he lived in. His father is dead and there is no way he's going to see what his son has achieved but Marquis still insists on showing off.
There is that scene that seems consistent with movies where travellers when venturing into distant places are warned by bystanders.
Marquis lands his plane to fill up on fuel and snacks and of course, there are some locals wandering about giving ominous looks when the family tells them they are headed over the mountain. But they don't tell them why they are anxious about the family heading there.
As long as they aren't going to be served in a platter who cares. Better the tourists than them, right?
So the family heads off over the mountain. A storm appears just in time to rattle them and test Marquis' pilot skills while also arguing with his wife about their kids and discipline.
Marquis is unable to juggle both his nagging wife and his rattling plane and he crashes.
He awakens to find himself in a creepy little attic. A woman walks in just then and introduces herself as Eloise but gives off Anne Wilkes vibes. She's sweet and takes care of him but also shows a weird interest in Hoodoo.
Marquis asks about his family but she maintains that he was the only one found in the wreckage. Marquis should be wondering how a middle-aged woman and her husband Earl manage to drag him up here but he assumes the couple had help from their son Lewis.
So kind of them to help him, Marquis assumes. He can barely walk and eyes his bandaged foot. He dares to ask why he wasn't taken to a hospital but Eloise tells him that there isn't a hospital nearby and yeah, no phone either. They are in a town far from modern amenities. Besides they are also in a horror movie and rule number one, phones cease to exist/work as soon as the protagonist gets into trouble.
Eloise then tells him he doesn't need medicine when she has Hoodoo to help him instead.
Marquis is shocked but has the good sense not to piss off Eloise because even though he doesn't believe in Hoodoo he doesn't want to be hexed or whatever.
But that doesn't stop him from becoming a stuntman.
He waits until Eloise is preoccupied before he decides to jump through the window and spy on Eloise and Earl conducting their Hoodoo party.
Eloise picks a blind man and already has a doll similar to him laid out. A cat is sacrificed and its eyes put on the doll. Lo and behold, the blind man can see again.
Marquis is shocked rather than wondering if there might be something to this Hoodoo. Wouldn't anyone think that? But Marquis isn't open-minded and believes Eloise is a weirdo. He is almost caught by the guy who just got his eyesight back.
He crawls and jumps back into the room and then makes a terrible lie about why he's wet. Eloise knows Hoodoo and is smart enough not to fall for Marquis' dumb excuse.
So what does she do? Lock him up.
Marquis keeps staring at the doll Eloise made for him that basically has his body fluids on it. He wonders how Eloise got body fluids that didn't consist of sweat. But staring at the doll is better than the crummy walls and of course, there isn't any TV either.
The next day Eloise is gone and Marquis decides he wants to see his bandaged foot. He is shocked to discover a large nail impaled into his foot. He removes it and hobbles his way out but can't find an escape.
Till then Eloise is back and Marquis stabs himself with the nail again knowing that Eloise suspects him and will inspect his injury. She does just that.
Spell Movie Ending Explained
Marquis decides he has to pretend to be nice to figure out what he's doing here. He eats her cooking and demands more only to realize too late there's a finger in his bowl. And of course, the finger is familiar to him. It is Marquis' son.
Now Marquis is convinced his family is in trouble and somewhere around and that Eloise is a liar.
He tries to escape but of course, Lewis carries him back home. Marquis is persistent and continues to snoop and finds a book on Hoodoo and an old photo which insinuates that Eloise might be older than she lets on. He finds that he is going to be used for a ritual and finds instructions on how to make Hoodoo dolls.
Of course, Eloise has hidden her doll knowing that people would want to prick her doll for being so annoyingly sweet and crafty.
Marquis finds his family and embraces his son who is missing a hand.
Marquis confronts and Eloise thinks she can beat him but he surprises her saying he has made a new doll of her and then burns it.
That's the end of Eloise although there is still the actual doll of hers that is still intact in case Marquis wants to visit the Appalachia again to take part in a sequel.
Thoughts about the movie Spell
The movie is too heavily inspired by Misery and the Hoodoo angle just about makes it interesting.
The only thing is, does this Hoodoo thing work and is it really such an evil ritual if it manages to heal people? That angle should have been explored a bit more to make Eloise's actions more nefarious.
Scare scale: 3.5/5
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Great recap! I saw that they refueled in WV. Then crashed shortly after refueling take-off but before destination. Where did Eloise, Earl & Lewis live? I mean, what town in what state. Also, what state did they originate from?
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