Hallowed Ground

Liz is stranded in the small town of Hope and soon learns that her arrival was foretold a century earlier by the founding preacher Jonas Hathaway. She is told she is an integral part of his impending and terrifying rebirth. The revelation sets a dark, fate-bound tone for what is to come.

Reporter Sarah Austin persuades Liz to stay and investigate legends of living scarecrows. They plan to capture evidence for the tabloid by visiting the cornfields at night. The partnership immediately thrusts Liz into the town's chilling secret.

In the cornfield, Liz and Sarah construct a scarecrow and hang it on a cross to photograph it for the newspaper. The scarecrow comes to life and fatally attacks Sarah, sending Liz scrambling for safety. The deputy’s squad car becomes Liz’s escape route, though the deputy is killed upon arrival.

Liz recounts the horror to the sheriff, but communications fail and the deputy leaves to check the problem. The scarecrow stalks Liz as she tries to flee and discovers her car’s engine has been removed, leaving her stranded. She seeks refuge with the town’s preacher, hoping for protection.

Liz learns that the preacher leads the townspeople and wants to resurrect the founder’s spirit by fathering a child with Liz so the spirit can possess the child. The revelation sets up a climactic confrontation as the preacher prepares to enact the ritual. The sheriff struggles to respond as danger closes in.

The sheriff arrives to stop the town’s danger but is knocked unconscious in a car crash. The preacher attempts to rape Liz, but she fights him off and escapes, fleeing deeper into the town’s web of threats. The confrontation marks a turning point in the night’s terror.

Liz discovers Sabrina, a child whose parents were killed by the scarecrow, hiding in an underground shelter. Sabrina has somehow endured the town’s horrors and becomes Liz’s ally in the fight to survive. They plan to hide and seek safety away from Hope.

The townspeople set out in search of Liz, forcing her to hide Sabrina in a cornfield hole while she seeks help in the next town. When she reaches the next town, she finds everyone dead, heightening the sense of danger. The escaped sheriff returns, but his growing possession threat looms.

The preacher’s spirit reaches Sabrina’s pursuit as the sheriff becomes possessed by the evil preacher. Liz is trapped as vines ensnare her and the animated preacher’s corpse, hanging on a cross in the cornfield, appeals to Sabrina. Sabrina’s father’s body later appears possessed as the ritual spirals toward completion.

Sabrina sneaks into the farmhouse and sets it on fire to create a distraction, while the townspeople burn the preacher’s body to fulfill the prophecy. Liz and Sabrina manage to escape the chaos, but the preacher’s spirit continues to threaten them through Sabrina’s father’s corpse. Vines threaten to trap Liz as the scene builds to a finale.

A murder of crows appears as an omen, and the birds attack the townspeople and Sabrina’s father, killing many and allowing Liz to break free. The crow attack signals the collapse of the town’s ritual and the near end of the prophecy. Liz and Sabrina gain a temporary respite from the nightmare.

Liz and Sabrina hitch a ride with a passing truck driver. The driver turns on the radio, and a song reminds them of their ordeal, prompting Liz to switch it off and drive on. They leave Hope behind, heading toward an uncertain future as the road stretches ahead.