There is a lot of evil lurking in the house where Veronica is trapped as a temporary caregiver for an old lady in the film Aged. The horror film, directed by Anubis Lopez, is his second film after Those Who Call. The director seems to be a new name in the horror genre, making the experience worth our time. Starring Carla Kidd, Morgan Boss-Maltais, and others, Aged revolves around strange activities going on in an old house. The plot focuses on a young woman’s arrival in a mysterious house as a caregiver to a cranky and weird old lady. Her son, Charles, also has a very strange demeanor, which leaves us baffled in the beginning. As the events unfold with the progression of the film, we get a better hold of the reasons behind the strange behavior of the characters. What will happen to Veronica in the end? Will she be able to escape the house? Let’s find that out!
Spoiler Alert
What happens in the film?
Veronica and Charles meet at a restaurant to discuss a job. She is offered the position of a temporary caregiver for his mother, who suffers from dementia. Despite being reluctant in the beginning, she takes up the offer and sets off for the house located at a three-hour distance from her own place. As she is introduced to the old lady, Mrs. Bloom, she seems welcoming in the beginning, offering lunch, giving her clothes to wear, and showing her to her room. She tells Veronica that she reminded her of her granddaughter, Emily. When Veronica later searches for Charles in the house, she is told by Mrs. Bloom that he has left to live with his own family. Things seem to be really off in the house when Veronica goes to talk to the gardener, Joe, and she finds out that he knows her name already. On asking him how he knew her name, he tells her that she was all that they were discussing all day in the house. Shortly after, he sees Charles standing in the window, keeping an eye on them, proving that he was in the house and that Mrs. Bloom lied to her.
After finishing breakfast, Veronica is requested by Mrs. Bloom to help her pack for “home.” Veronica thinks her dementia has kicked in and tries to explain to her that she was in her home. More unnerving events occur when Mrs. Bloom seems to see someone, and Veronica thinks that she is just hallucinating, shutting the door behind them. Later, Veronica comes across Emily, who says that she has just come to visit Grandma, but as she was sleeping, she left without meeting her. Veronica is later informed by Mrs. Bloom that Emily passed away years ago because of tuberculosis, which startles her. She feels a strange presence in the house that she tries explaining to Mrs. Bloom, but she turns a deaf ear to her fears. On going out for a walk, Veronica seems to be chased by someone, and when she tells Mrs. Bloom that, she gets angry and tells her that she would be fired if she left the house.
Several unnatural events occur in the house, and Veronica starts feeling sicker with each passing day. Her phone had been taken away by Charles so that she could not have any contact with anyone. Veronica is often able to hear a man and a woman whispering and talking amongst themselves about feeling bad for doing certain things to her. We also see Mrs. Bloom often talking to a strange man named Henry in the house, who suddenly keeps disappearing. Charles and Mrs. Bloom are seen draining Veronica’s blood at night when she is sleeping. In the morning, we see her complaining about the bruises on her arm. She contemplates leaving the house when she is offered soup by Mrs. Bloom, and upon having it, she passes out. As the days pass, Veronica sees herself aging and doesn’t understand what is wrong with her. She also comes across Mrs. Bloom’s diary, where she wrote that she was feeling guilty for doing something bad to Veronica. She is seen toiling, spending sleepless nights, and becoming forgetful, weak, and cranky. She asks Charles to take her home and tells him that it has been a week since she has been working, only to be informed that she has been working for more than two months. She gets agitated to the point of slapping Mrs. Bloom during dinner, only to be rebuked by Charles, who demands she stay there for another week, as she owes his mother some care. The mother-son duo keeps finding excuses to stretch her stay at the house. She tries leaving twice, but somehow, the house keeps pulling her back, and she does not seem to find an escape.
What are the real identities of Mrs. Bloom and Charles?
As Veronica ages with the advancing days, Mrs. Bloom seems to gain more strength, and she stands up on her own two feet. We see Charles preparing a blood bath for Mrs. Bloom in the garden out of Veronica’s drained blood. Veronica is tied up in a chair as Emily and Charles stand beside her. As Mrs. Bloom approaches Veronica, she tells her how she has been cursed and how she is going to pass it down to her. She tells her the story of the real Mrs. Bloom, whose granddaughter Emily had tuberculosis, and how she contracted it from her. Their family members had abandoned them and left them to rot in the house. After Emily’s passing, Mrs. Bloom prayed for death, which never came, and then she made a pact with an evil spirit in exchange for death. Henry was the spirit that the deal was made with, with whom Mrs. Bloom used to talk. It was his presence that Veronica had been feeling throughout her stay at the house.
The spirit wanted a new Mrs. Bloom in exchange for the old one, and hence, the curse had to be passed down. As new candidates are found, the old ones take a blood bath to regain their youth. We see Mrs. Bloom take a blood bath, only to return to her younger self and pass on her old age to Veronica. Charles is seen to be the young woman’s father, who is helping his daughter pass on the curse to another candidate and get rid of it. As they leave the house, she sympathizes with Veronica and tells her that only the first few days will be tough, and then the house will let her know when it will find a new candidate. She is also told that the gardener, Joe, will always keep her company. The freedom that the girl experiences after being rid of Mrs. Bloom’s body is inexplicable. She looks at herself in the mirror, puts some lipstick on, and is gleaming with happiness. We are not sure as to how long she’s been trapped in an old woman’s body for, but she seems very happy to be able to return home. The last scene does clear a lot of doubts. When Mrs. Bloom was talking about packing up to return home, she was expressing her desire to return to her own place as a young woman again.
Final Words
Aged is replete with strange and eerie occurrences, and the anticipation of the events keeps us glued to our seats. The movie is worth watching because of the immense thrill that we feel while watching it. There are several similar eerie films that might keep you awake at night, the most significant among which are The Visit, Visions, and others. While watching Aged, we are bound to contemplate what we would do if we were stuck in a similar situation. There are certain possibilities that could have been further explained in the film. The aspect of black magic was stronger than the elements of the supernatural in the movie, and there could have been a detailed exploration of the ways in which it was conducted by Charles.
