The Collingswood Story 2002

Rebecca Miles relocates to Collingswood, New Jersey to attend Rutgers University, renting a room in a historic house. On her twenty-first birthday, her boyfriend, Johnny Burton, gifts her a webcam so the two can maintain a long-distance relationship.

Johnny, via webcam, meets Grant Edmonds, the actor who plays Billy, and the online psychic Diane Behrens who goes by Vera Madeline, whom Billy claims contacted his deceased father.

Vera explains that Collingswood is well-known to psychics and mediums because of grim historical events tied to a secret society founded by a French immigrant named Alan Tashi. In the 1800s, Tashi is said to have murdered and mutilated nine girls—cutting out their eyes and slitting their mouths into grotesque smiles—before disposing of their bodies in a well nearby. When the townspeople attempted to seek vengeance, they found his home empty. In the attic, they discovered a wooden shaker toy but no sign of Tashi. Vera urges Johnny to have Rebecca contact her again for another session, suggesting that Rebecca is a sensitive and that she has important information for her.

Upon further investigation, Johnny discovers that the house Rebecca is living in was the site of a murder–suicide four years prior, in which a judge drowned his children in the bathtub before killing his wife and then himself. In crime scene photos published online, Johnny glimpses a wooden shaker toy. Armed with this knowledge, Johnny worries about Rebecca, who has been left alone in the house by the homeowners over the Halloween weekend. Rebecca begins to look for evidence of the supposed secret society in Collingswood. She records footage as she drives around town but is unable to locate the address of the original Tashi home.

On Saturday, which is Halloween, Rebecca again connects with Vera for a video conference. Rebecca inquires about the secret society Vera had told Johnny about; however, Vera denies having any knowledge of the matter and acts as though she has never spoken to Rebecca. Furthermore, she claims her psychic readings are for entertainment purposes only. Rebecca video calls Johnny to tell him about her call with Vera. While perusing the bookshelf in the den of the home, Rebecca finds postcards depicting a wooden shaker toy resembling the one left behind in Alan Tashi’s absence, as shown in the crime scene photos. Rebecca recalls that Vera spoke in French during one of their sessions and she begins to suspect that Vera might be a member of the secret society.

Johnny manages to contact Vera again, who tells him to get Rebecca out of the house and alludes to the fact that the secret society practiced rituals in the attic of the house. Meanwhile, Rebecca goes for a drive to get food. On the way home, she again attempts to locate the Tashi residence and manages to find it. When she returns home, Johnny tells her what Vera told him. A defiant Rebecca decides to explore the attic. Recording her endeavor with the webcam as Johnny watches she finds a secret room, where she locates a number of old photographs and occult paraphernalia. Her webcam stream is interrupted by a video call from Vera, who warns her to leave. Vera removes her sunglasses, revealing one glass eye—she explains that she narrowly escaped the cult, who cut out one of her eyes.

Vera’s call suddenly ends and Rebecca reconnects with Johnny. He watches as she attempts to flee the attic in a panic but is confronted by Alan Tashi. Simultaneously, an unknown figure emerges from the closed door behind Johnny and attacks him. The movie ends with an unknown figure taking the webcam to the wooden shaker toy, a shot of Rebecca smiling in the dark and a dead Johnny with his eyes cut out and a Glasgow smile across his face.