Plot summary

A John Doe who committed suicide in a motel unexpectedly returns to life in the Metro General Hospital morgue. The amnesiac man, later learned to be named Michael James Clark, staggers unnoticed into a psychiatric ward room and collapses on a bed.Dr. Edward Graham from the Fulton County medical examiner's office discovers that Michael's body is missing when he arrives at the hospital to conduct an autopsy. Edward becomes more intrigued by the unusual case when he sees a spiral-shaped scar in a photograph of Michael's body.Psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Forrester learns from his boss, Dr. Sarah Grey, that his tendency to put patients over procedure has resulted in disciplinary supervision. A nurse named Travis brings Daniel to Michael after hospital staff discovers him in a catatonic state. Knowing that Sarah would immediately discharge the John Doe, Daniel convinces Travis to route all paperwork through him in order to clandestinely treat Michael.Michael comes out of his catatonia and briefly attacks hospital staff. Daniel is able to calm Michael down.Travis confines Michael to a seclusion room for safety. Michael suddenly enters an entranced state where he hears voices as the lights flicker. His mouth agape, Michael forcibly holds Travis in front of him. Suddenly feeling sick, Travis stumbles outside to the parking garage and is later found dead.Edward visits the motel crime scene where Michael died. Edward finds signs of a bloody struggle as well as a spiral carved into the base of the bathtub.Daniel has his first session with Michael. Michael professes that he needs to leave although he doesn't know why. Unable to remember anything else, Michael suddenly hears intense ringing inside his head.Detective Jim Lawson identifies the John Doe as Michael Clark to Edward. Edward asks to read Michael's supposed suicide note, which says, "I am the mouth of death, none are beyond my reach."Daniel puts Michael under hypnosis. Michael cryptically reveals that he died because he was trying to kill a spinning darkness inside him that wants to enter this world. Michael explains that he can see the horrible thoughts of the entity, who has been here many times before. Michael says suicide only made it stronger and caused him to kill someone. Michael's vision then goes black as he slips back into catatonia.Distraught after learning of Travis' death, Daniel drunkenly calls Sarah in the middle of the night for comfort. Sarah's boyfriend tells Sarah she has to stop enabling Daniel despite her sympathy for his personal troubles.Strange noises lead a nurse named Floyd to unlock Michael's room. While an unruly patient distracts Floyd, Michael enters another trance that kills fellow patient Miss Lewis, who is subsequently found with her mouth frozen open.After discovering that Michael's house was destroyed in a fire, Edward visits Michael's parents, who currently care for Michael's two small children. Edward tells them that their son died, but his body is missing. Mr. Clark tells Edward that Michael should have died in the same fire that killed his wife, because Michael became mentally disturbed afterward.Mr. and Mrs. Clark claim to not recognize the spiral scar in the photograph of Michael's body. However, Mrs. Clark shows Edward a room of book and newspaper clippings where Michael seemingly painted a black spiral on the ground. The collected stories detail unexplained massacres throughout history sometimes attributed to a "God of Death" with a spiral over its face. Edward recognizes a passage in one of the historical texts about the entity as the same quote from Michael's suicide note.Suspicious that Travis and Miss Lewis' deaths may be connected, Daniel conducts a secret session with Michael. Michael warns that his body is being taken over and Daniel must kill him, otherwise no one will be able to stop the entity.A struggle ensues as Daniel demands to know more about the two people Michael claims to have killed. Michael becomes entranced and begins to possess Daniel before orderlies separate them. Daniel hears strange voices while playing back audio of the encounter afterward.Sarah reprimands Daniel for illegally admitting Michael. Daniel insists that Michael is dangerous and cannot be released. Sarah overrules Daniel and removes him from the case.Daniel examines Travis' body in the morgue and sees that his mouth was frozen in a black-veined scream like Miss Lewis. Daniel violently confronts Michael with accusations of murder. Michael suddenly remembers who he really is. The two men continue shouting and experience haunting visions before orderlies separate them once again. Concerned about his increasingly worrisome mental state and behavior, Sarah has Daniel sedated and restrained.Sarah examines Michael. Michael enters another entranced state and possesses Sarah.Edward learns that Michael was found alive in the Metro General psychiatric ward. Edward arrives at the hospital in time to see Michael leaving with his father. Edward hurries after them.Daniel wakes up, escapes his handcuffs, and finds Sarah convulsing in her office. Sarah dies with black veins in her face and her mouth frozen open.Mr. Clark brings Michael home. The lights flicker as Michael has another seizure and emits a piercing scream. Edward enters the house in time to see Michael and Mr. Clark entranced with an exchange of black energy between them.Daniel arrives at the Clark residence to find Edward dead alongside Michael's entire family. Daniel follows a trail of death throughout multiple homes in the neighborhood before finally confronting Michael. Michael enters another haunting trance of spiraling visions. Daniel beats Michael to death with a crowbar.Police process the mass murders throughout the neighborhood. Recovering in an ambulance, Daniel becomes the entity's new host as he is seen in a catatonic state of amnesia with black veins in his face. (thanks to culturecrypt)