[liquid pours]
[clink]
[music]
Man: Since the dawn of cinema we've been making movies
about hell and the devil.
And they've been just films,
so they've been safe. Antrum is not safe.
[music/fire crackling/sirens]
Narrator: In 1988 a small movie theatre in
Budapest, Hungary burnt to the ground.
Bystanders that had witnessed the event described it as if the
building had spontaneously erupted into a monument of fire.
Killing the 56 people who were watching the film.
The film that was screening was called "Antrum".
AJ Bond: It was released in one theatre and it burnt down.
It's kind of the holy grail of underground cult films that
no-one has seen, except for a handful of film festival
programmers who are now dead.
And the rumor is that the film is cursed
and anyone who watches it will die.
Nathan Fleet: You know of Nakata's "Ringu",
Verbinski's "The Ring",
Carpenter's TV movie "Cigarette Burns",
all about movies that kill people.
But Antrum is that movie.
Nathan Fleet: From what I've heard,
because I haven't seen it, a young boy,
a young girl in a forest, digging a hole to hell.
Narrator: In 1983 the film was submitted to film festivals
across the United States.
It is known that it was submitted to at least
7 festivals, from which it was rejected and never received
a public screening.
AJ Bond: It was like the work of the devil.
It's like the devil started submitting
a film to film festivals.
Narrator: Several of the festival programmers had
suffered a fatal or near fatal incident shortly
after watching the film.
This list includes Janet Hilberg of the Jones Park Festival
who died of a seizure 24 hours after screening Antrum.
She was said to be discussing her rejection of
the film with a colleague, moments before collapsing
in a local coffee shop.
[glass breaking]
Asen Gadjalov: And is that possible for an art form to
change the physical being of a human?
This is since day one, since Greek times when we had theaters
and hospitals next to each other,
and people go to hospitals watching shows to actually heal.
So is that possible for an art to have the opposite effect?
Absolutely yes.
Narrator: Tom Stylum of the Colorado Film Festival suffered
a fatal electrocution the following
morning in his kitchen.
Robert Kayle: No, I am not one of those people that are
"I'm afraid because its spooky", And maybe some people died
between this time and that time.
But it hasn't anything to do with the film.
Nathan Fleet: I believe that something
could mess you up, forever.
Narrator: And most bizarrely Joe Barringer of
the La Jolla Film Festival
while at the beach had fallen on a stonefish
and incurred a venomous sting close to his abdomen.
Among the most venomous fish alive,
they are very seldom found on the coastal shore
of the United States.
Joe's accident occurred in the afternoon mere
hours after his screening.
AJ Bond: Seeing even the small portion that I did,
It's not a super scary, like you don't jump out of your
seat with scares.
It just...
gets under your skin.
Narrator: The final deadly event that transpired before the films
mysterious disappearance occurred in San Francisco
in November of 1993.
The film's growing notoriety as 'the movie that kills' enticed a
local movie theatre to screen the film.
The audience was well aware of the film's alleged curse,
before they entered their seats.
Shortly after Antrum began the mood in the audience turned from
playful amusement to a palpable anxiety.
This growing anxiety amongst the crowd escalated into a stampede
towards the theatre exits.
Which had all unexpectedly been locked.
This had created an all-out panic where a large number of
people started rioting and viciously fighting one another.
Resulting in over 30 injuries and the trampling
and death of a pregnant woman.
[music]
Narrator: Later toxicity tests revealed that the majority of
the audience had ingested lysergic acid diethylamide.
Or LSD. Yet every patron insisted
they did not take the drug.
Upon further investigation, Richard Samy,
an employee confessed to slipping large portions of the
drug into popcorn butter that night.
Every present for that screening of Antrum has declined an
interview for this film.
AJ Bond: And as a result it's been lost for years.
Some people don't think it exists,
some people claim to have seen it and lived,
and now apparently...
You guys have found it.
[music]
Narrator: The producers of this film have successfully tracked
down a sole copy of Antrum at an estate auction in Connecticut.
The print revealed itself to be typical of a film shot in the
late 1970s on 35mm stock, with the exception of notable
peculiarities found both in the film's sound and picture.
Analysis suggests that these peculiarities are deliberate and
designed to provoke both a physical and psychological
effect in the viewer.
There are reasons to suggest that since
this print has been in circulation,
some unknown third parties have manipulated it as there are
multiple occurrence of what appears to be un-related and
graphic footage spliced into the film.
Since the producers of this film are unsure about
the origins of this material.
They feel the audience should be specifically warned
about its illicit nature.
For the first time publicly screened in over 20 years
we present to you Antrum, The Deadliest Film Ever Made.
[projector noises]
[music/film scratches]
[music]
[eerie sounds/birds chirping]
[eerie music/eerie wind chimes]
[eerie music]
[eerie music /percussion heartbeat]
[eerie music]
[eerie music/chains rattling in sync with footsteps]
[eerie music]
[eerie music/sound of car driving]
[eerie music]
Nathan: Mom?
Where is she?
[eerie music]
Nathan: Mom?
[eerie music]
Nathan: Mom?
Maxine, is she in heaven now?
[eerie music]
Mom: No, Maxine isn't in heaven, Because she was bad.
[eerie music]
[eerie music/child crying]
Oralee: Another nightmare?
[crickets]
Oralee: Soon.
We'll see her again.
[creepy humming]
[creepy humming/music]
[creepy music/crickets]
[creepy music]
Oralee: Do you still want to go down there?
Oralee: Ok.
Oralee: Remember there's no bringing her back.
Nathan: I know.
Just her soul.
[eerie music]
Nathan: What is it?
Oralee: Let's see.
Hand me the book please.
[eerie music]
Oralee: Oh.
Nathan: What is it?
Oralee: They're offerings.
They protect this place.
Nathan: To keep bad things from getting in?
Oralee: To keep bad things from getting out.
[eerie music/ creepy whispers]
Oralee: Ike says, Everything here is something
that somebody once loved.
To enter the forest, you must make an offering.
Something very special to you.
[eerie music]
Oralee: Feel braver?
Nathan: I have to pee.
[peeing]
[peeing/eerie music]
[eerie music]
Nathan: Oralee!?
Oralee?
Oralee: Nate.
I'm right here.
Nathan: I was...
I was looking for you, where were you?
Oralee: I was just, right over there.
C'mon bud.
Nathan: But... Oralee: It's fine. C'mon...
[eerie music]
Nathan: Where are we going?
Oralee: First, do you remember the verse?
Nathan: Yes, ' In the abundance of your trade you
were filled with violence in your midst.
And you sinned.
So I cast you out as a profane thing from the Mountain of God.
And I destroyed you o guardian cherub from the midst of the
stones of fire.'
Oralee: Good.
This is the forest where the devil landed when
he was cast out of heaven.
And at the very spot, we'll find the entrance to hell.
The Antrum.
[eerie music]
[eerie music/heavy bass]
[eerie music]
Oralee: Come.
Let's see.
Go all the way up And all the way back down.
Nathan: Here?
Oralee: Yeah.
Oralee: Ready?
[eerie music]
[eerie music continues/ambient sounds become quieter]
[eerie music]
[eerie music/church bell ringing]
Oralee: With this prayer, nothing bad shall come of us.
[eerie music]
Oralee: One by one we pray to thee.
Nathan: One by one we pray to thee.
Oralee: Protect us from all we'll see.
Nathan: Protect us from all we'll see.
Oralee: From all we'll hear and touch and smell.
Nathan: From all we'll hear and touch and smell.
Oralee: From all the unknown dark in hell.
Nathan: From all the unknown dark in hell.
Oralee: Together now.
Oralee & Nathan: One by one we pray to thee.
Protect us from all we'll see.
From all we'll hear and touch and smell.
From all the unknown dark in hell.
Oralee & Nathan: One by one we pray to thee.
Protect us from all we'll see.
From all we'll hear and touch and smell.
From all the unknown dark in hell.
Oralee[yelling] & Nathan: One by one we pray to thee.
Protect us from all we'll see.
From all we'll hear and touch and smell.
From all the unknown dark in hell.
Oralee & Nathan [whispering]: One by one we pray to thee.
Protect us from all we'll see.
From all we'll hear and touch and smell.
From all the unknown dark in hell.
[eerie music]
Oralee: Ike said, The deeper we dig,
the more the forest around us becomes darker.
And with each layer that we pass,
the deeper in hell we'll be.
Nathan: Ike said that?
Are you sure?
Oralee: Cross my heart.
Nathan: And hope to die?
Oralee: And hope to die.
[eerie music]
Nathan: We're in the first layer.
Oralee: Yeah? Wow.
Nathan: I don't hear anything.
Oralee: What are we supposed to hear?
Nathan: Trumpets.
Oralee: Nate?
[eerie music]
Oralee: Nathan?
Oralee: Nathan, it's a demon!
Come here, come here, come here.
Be very still.
You see that?
Nathan: That's just a squirrel.
Oralee: That's a disguise.
They're trying to disguise themselves so you don't know
that their demons.
They're tricking you okay?
They're lying.
Oralee: Stay right here, don't move.
Oralee: Use this wand to cast it out.
All sticks here will channel your energy.
You need to run after it and we have to cast it out.
Okay?
Cast him out!
[eerie music/Oralee and Nathan Laughing]
[eerie music]
[ambient sounds]
Oralee: Just a stone.
[audio crackling]
Oralee: Hey Are you hungry?
[eerie music]
Nathan: Is that a demon?
Oralee: No. It's a man.
Nathan: What's he doing?
[eerie music/chattering echoes]
[eerie music]
[man screaming]
Nathan: No!
[man shouting in Japanese]
[man sobbing]
[man speaking Japanese]
Man: I'm sorry.
[eerie music]
Nathan: I found something.
Oralee: Looks like a...
Pill bottle.
[eerie music]
Oralee: Nathan?
Can you hand me that?
[Nathan Screams]
[Gun Shot]
Oralee: You scared me!
Nathan: I saw something.
Oralee: It's okay.
Oralee: Let's get ready for bed Nate.
Nathan: Your feet stink.
Oralee: Come on.
[whispering] Nathan: One by one we pray to thee.
Protect us from all we'll see.
From all we'll hear and touch and smell.
From all the unknown dark in hell.
Oralee: Did you brush your teeth?
Nathan: No.
Oralee: Go brush your teeth.
Nathan: I don't want to.
Oralee: Your breath reeks.
Nathan: You need to wash your feet So, only if...
Oralee: Nathan you need to brush your teeth.
Nathan: I won't brush my teeth until you wash your feet.
Oralee: Oh.
Nathan: What?
Oralee: Oh no!
Nathan: What?!
Oralee: Cerberus.
Nathan: What is Cerberus? Oralee: Shhh.
[eerie music]
Oralee: The gates of the underworld are guarded
by the ferocious Cerberus.
A 3 headed dog with razored teeth and piercing eyes
who can tear up not just your body, but also your soul.
He is charged with keeping devilish beings from leaving
hell And most importantly, keeps living mortals out.
[dog growl]
Nathan: Will Cerberus come after us for coming here?
Oralee: Cerberus is chained to the gates of hell,
which are in the 5th layer.
So we're safe.
Besides, he'd have to smell us coming,
so as long as we don't smell foul.
Nathan: I'm going to go brush my teeth.
Oralee: Okay.
Nathan: You should wash your feet.
[ambient night sounds]
[night sounds/teeth brushing]
[water bubbling/light splashing]
[eerie music]
[Nathan Hiccups]
[night sounds]
Oralee: Everything okay?
Nathan: Yeah.
[howling]
Nathan: One by one we pray to thee,
Protect us from all we'll see.
[backwards talking]
[backwards talking/whispering]
[deep trumpet sound]
[faint sound crackling]
[deep trumpet sound]
[ambient outdoors]
Oralee: What?
Nathan: I have to pee. Oralee: Well then go pee.
[eerie music]
[eerie music/chain rattling]
[eerie music]
[digging sounds]
Oralee: Nate, what are you doing?
Nathan: We're in the second layer.
Oralee: How do you know?
Nathan: Because they scratched me.
Oralee: What?
Oralee: Who scratched you?
Nathan: They scratched me.
[trees rustling]
Oralee: Where did they scratch you?
Oralee: Nathan.
Did you do this?
[creepy ambient sounds]
Oralee: Holy water.
Oralee: Let's see them get us through this.
Oralee: You Okay?
Oralee: Let's go find Maxine.
Nathan: Let's go find Maxine.
Nathan: Maxine! Maxine!
Oralee: Maxine!
Oralee: Which way?
[eerie music]
Nathan: Maxine!
Oralee: You know you are the bravest kid I have ever met.
Nathan: Maxine!
Oralee: Now remember we have to find something of hers,
that's how we'll know that we've redeemed her.
[eerie music]
[growl]
Oralee: What is it?
Oralee: If we find her soon we can be home by sundown.
[eerie music]
Oralee: Nate Come on, let's go.
Nathan: We're in the 3rd layer.
Oralee: No, we're not.
Let's go this way, come on.
Nathan: Its more dangerous now.
Oralee: No, it's not.
Okay? I promise.
[loud trumpet sounds]
Nathan: Maxine.
Oralee: Nathan!
[loud trumpet sounds]
[eerie music]
[creepy ambient noises]
[eerie music]
[muffled grunts]
[muffled grunts/blade sharpening]
[indistinct man talking]
[muffled grunts/ripping]
[man shouting]
[man talking, Eastern European dialect]
[faint cries]
[cries/banging on metal/coughing]
[loud trumpet sound] [eerie music]
Oralee: Quick, grab your bag!
[eerie music]
Nathan: But what about Maxine?
Oralee: No! We're leaving now!
Oralee: NATHAN!
Nathan: No!
We can't leave without her!
We can't leave without!
Oralee: We'll come back!
We'll come back!
We will come---
[loud trumpet sounds]
Oralee: Now Nathan, now!
[eerie music/voices]
Oralee: Get in!
Nathan, get in! Nathan!
[flies buzzing/Oralee Struggling]
[eerie music]
Oralee: Nathan?
[eerie music]
Oralee: Nathan!
[water splashing]
Oralee: Nathan?!
[underwater muffled sounds]
[painting/heavy breathing] Oralee: NATHAN!
[underwater muffled sounds]
[Oralee, incoherent panicking]
Oralee: Come On!
[creepy music/crying]
[heavy breathing/coughing]
Oralee: Are you okay?
[Nathan, backwards talking]
Nathan: One by one we pray to thee,
Protect us from all we'll see.
From all we'll hear and touch and smell,
From all the unknown dark in hell.
[eerie music]
[orchestral, triumphant music]
[faint struggling]
Oralee: You can do it. Hand, hand, hand.
[eerie music]
[heavy footsteps/chains]
Nathan Screams] [deep growl]
Nathan: Cerberus!
It's Cerberus!
Oralee: The Hunters!
The Hunters will see us!
Nathan: Cerberus!
[Nathan Screams]
[Nathan Screams Cerberus Repeatedly]
[eerie music]
Nathan: I saw him.
I did see him.
Oralee: Drink this.
Nathan: The chains that keep him tied to the gates of hell...
He must have broken them.
Nathan: Why won't you listen to me?
He, Cerberus, I saw him.
Oralee: Nathan!
Nathan: I saw him!
Oralee: I lied to you.
Digging the hole to hell,
saving Maxine, I made it up.
I made it all up!
I was trying to help you.
I don't know how you got it into your head that Maxine went to
hell, but your nightmares...
I thought, If I could make you believe that we saved her soul,
maybe they'd stop.
Cerberus, he isn't real.
Because I made him up.
Nathan: But, Ike's Book says...
Oralee: No, I made Ike's Book.
I drew all those pictures, I made the stories.
Ike didn't give it to me.
Because he isn't real.
Nathan: But...
Nathan: I met him.
[eerie music]
[loud metallic bang/glass breaking]
Nathan: Behind Erin's Diner, just like you said.
[eerie music]
Oralee: You must have dreamt it Nate.
[eerie music]
Nathan: He showed me things.
[eerie music]
Oralee: What did he show you?
[distorted voices/flies buzzing]
[distorted voices]
Nathan: That you would try to trick me.
[distorted voices]
Oralee: How was I going to trick you?
[distorted voices]
Nathan: With her collar.
[chains, growling]
Oralee: Go! Go! Go!
[growling, distorted music]
[screaming, gun shot]
[eerie music]
[sobbing, humming]
[eerie music]
[eerie music/low rumble]
[eerie music/dog bark]
[eerie music]
[eerie music/chains]
[dogs growling/flames crackling]
[men talking]
[leaves rustling]
[bottle popping]
[eerie music]
[gun shot] Oralee: Nathan!
[gun shot]
[sobbing]
[eerie music]
[orchestral/intense music]
[man shouts]
[sawing/water pouring]
[sawing/cutting]
[man talking]
[music]
[heavy breathing/man laughing]
[laughing/struggling]
[man talking, Eastern European dialect]
[screaming]
Oralee: Please! Help! HELP!
[man shouting] Oralee: Nathan!
Oralee: No! No no no!
Help!
[Nathan Screaming, man shouting]
Oralee: Nathan!
NATHAN!
Oralee: DON'T TOUCH HIM!
No!
Please no!
Nathan: No! NO! NO!
[Oralee Screaming]
[Oralee Screaming, Nathan Crying]
[Oralee Screaming]
[gun shot]
[man screaming]
Oralee: Run!
[gun shot]
[truck engine starts]
[man shouting]
[audio crackles/cuts out]
[screaming]
[audio crackles/cuts out]
[eerie music]
[outdoor ambient sounds]
[Nathan Sobbing]
[dog crying]
[eerie music/wind]
[chains/wind]
[chains/wind/growling]
[eerie music]
[growling/dog whimpering]
[dog whimpering]
[dog sniffing]
[dog whimpering/eerie music]
[eerie music]
[audio scratches/music]
[audio cuts out/thunder]
[low humming]
Oralee: Nathan!
[low demonic voices]
[eerie music]
[low demonic voices]
[Oralee Screaming]
Oralee: Nathan!
[Oralee Struggling/Screaming]
[low demonic voices]
Oralee: Nathan!
Go to the light!
[crying/screaming]
Oralee: Go away!
[ambient outdoor noises]
[distant noise]
[ambient outdoor noises]
[chains]
Oralee: Nathan!?
[chains]
Oralee: Nathan?
[chains/Oralee crying]
[chains/Nathan backwards talking]
[chains/Oralee crying]
Nathan: Oralee
[chains, gun cocking]
Oralee: One by one we pray to thee,
Protect us from all we'll see.
From all we'll hear and touch and smell,
From all the unknown dark in hell.
[eerie music/thunder/oralee whispering]
[heartbeat/eerie music]
Oralee: One by one we pray to thee,
Protect us from all we'll see.
From all we'll hear and touch and smell,
From all the unknown dark in hell.
Oralee: One by one we pray to thee,
Protect us from all we'll see.
From all we'll hear and touch and smell,
From all the unknown dark in hell.
[audio cracking/indistinct talking]
[audio distortion]
[music]
Narrator: The Producers have commissioned an investigation
into the physical print of the film,
to see if there is any scientific basis for the strange
phenomena surrounding Antrum.
The film contains distinct peculiarities speculated to
provoke a physical and psychological effect
in the viewer.
The first was the presence of binaural beats.
Auditory illusions that stimulate specific frequencies
within the brain.
Brock Fricker: Well binaural beats,
a lot of people over the years have studied
sub-sonic frequencies.
What you hear is maybe 500 cycles.
But if one's at 500 cycles, the frequency on the left side And
the frequency on the right side is maybe 504 cycles,
your brain would pick up on 4 cycles.
And 4 cycles could induce some kind of a state.
They can make you enter into a state of euphoria like a high.
Others can cause you to feel very anxious.
And supposedly certain frequencies,
if they're loud enough, can even cause you to
have nervous breakdown.
[eerie music]
[Oralee Screaming]
Narrator : A more puzzling peculiarity was that over the
original print there was an invisible layer of some type of
thin plastic, Cut and fitted precisely over frames.
Tabitha Zhu: Those are sigils.
So sigils and symbols are said to hold an
emotional power over people.
You don't have to be consciously aware of these associations to
be influenced by it.
These associations, they are deeply embedded in the
collective unconscious of human culture.
For example, something as simple and commonplace as a triangle
carries with it powers with special associations.
For example, in the western world the triangle
is associated with trinity - the father, the son and holy ghost.
In the Eastern cultures the triangle means
manifestation and illumination.
And for the occult, the triangle is a summoning symbol.
Interviewer: A summoning symbol?
Tabitha Zhu: Exactly, a summoning symbol.
Interviewer: To summon...?
Tabitha Zhu: To summon, The devil or whomever...
Dr. Ivan Gaston: You know I'm familiar with the particular
sigil of symbol that is used in Antrum.
Basically it's an evocation to call upon one of 72 demons.
In this case the particular sigil that's in the film belongs
to the demon Astaroth.
It's from a grimoire, a spell book.
It acts as an invitation to whoever is exposed to the sigil.
Basically its saying 'do you want to play?'
[music]
Dr. Ivan Gaston: In the village of Laon in France back
in the mid 17th century.
A group of magicians believed that the children of the village
were more in league with The Devil than with God.
So, they decided to evoke Astaroth.
Now nothing was heard from the village for about 2 weeks.
They found every man, woman and child in church,
sitting in church, with their mouths open
as if beatifically singing.
Only thing was that they were all dead,
they had been murdered.
Now in the main square, they found the magicians walking
in a circle, holding onto their eyes.
They had gouged out their own eyes.
That is the power of Astaroth.
Tabitha Zhu: I don't think a sigil or a symbol or in this
case a movie can physically harm someone.
But it is widely known that beliefs can
strongly influence people.
For example, the Kurdaitcha, who is a ritual executioner
of an aboriginal tribe in Australia.
All he has to do is point a bone at a victim
and the person quickly becomes apathetic,
unresponsive and death occurs within days
of being "cursed" so to speak.
But it is a psycho-somatic response to what the medical
community refers to as a self-willed death.
Asen Gadjalov: I believe in the power of the fear.
And the way the fear works with people.
I do believe that people can make themselves believe so much
in things, that they can turn those things into truth and
that imagined truth, or this imagined feeling,
which could be fear, Can end their life.
[music]