Heart-Shaped Box

The haunted suit arrives at Jude’s secluded New York farm in a heart-shaped box. Marybeth “Georgia” Kimball, Jude’s girlfriend, joins him and opens the box. She asks if he’s going to wear the suit, but he is revolted by the idea. While handling the suit, Georgia is pricked by something she assumes to be a pin.

Jude puts the heart-shaped box in his closet and decides not to think about it.

Hearing whispers coming from Danny’s office, Jude investigates—and links them to a radio. He thinks he hears a shift from weather to violence, but when he raises the volume, nothing seems amiss. He receives a call from Arlene, the nurse tending to his abusive, hospice-bound father, Martin, in Louisiana. She informs Jude that Martin had a minor stroke and is no longer eating well; thus, she can feed him through a tube or let him die. He opts to let Martin die and tells Arlene that he won’t be visiting.

Georgia’s pricked finger appears to be infected.

Jude wakes to something—or someone—in his house. He goes downstairs to explore and, finding nothing, heads back upstairs. In the hallway, he sees the figure of an old man sitting in a chair. Terrified, Jude returns to his bedroom.

Jude wakes the next morning to a cold house. He goes to Danny’s office and asks him to call the woman who sold him the suit. He asks the woman, Jessica Price, what her stepfather looked like, and she asks him to reveal what he’s seen. As the conversation continues, Jude realizes that he knows Jessica—she’s the sister of his former girlfriend, Anna “Florida” Price. Jessica reveals that Florida died by suicide after Jude broke up with her. The sisters’ stepfather, Craddock McDermott, told Jessica how to prepare a suit and send it to Jude to haunt and eventually kill him. Jude says that if he dies, he’s going to take her down with him.

Jude tells Danny, who used to be friends with Florida, about her suicide and Jessica’s use of Craddock’s suit to threaten him. Danny asks if he should call the police, and Jude declines, claiming he’ll deal with the suit another way.

Jude finds a second heart-shaped box in his bedroom—a childhood box full of bullets. He knows that this box should be in Louisiana and wonders if Craddock’s ghost brought it as a warning. He goes through his macabre possessions, one of which is a snuff film. Jude reflects on his ex-wife leaving him upon finding this film.

Georgia finds Jude holding the snuff film. She tells him to get rid of the suit because it smells. When he heads to his bedroom with her, he sees the ghost in the hallway again; Georgia doesn’t see it. Craddock’s ghost has black scribbles where its eyes should be and is holding a gold chain with a razor.

Once in the bedroom, Jude tells Georgia about Jessica and Craddock’s ghost. She initially doesn’t believe him but then admits that she once saw her grandmother Bammy’s deceased twin, Ruth, who was abducted years ago; Ruth also had black scribbles for eyes. Georgia wonders what Craddock’s ghost wants from them.

Jude reflects on the letters Florida sent after their breakup, through which he observed the decline of her mental health. He researches her stepfather and learns that Craddock McDermott was interested in the occult: In fact, he was a professional hypnotist-diviner who honed his craft while serving in the Vietnam War. Jude then receives an email that he assumes is from Craddock and states that they will die together in a hole. Distressed, he searches for Danny, who is in his car in the driveway, unmoving.