Knuckleball (2018)

2018

Action / Drama / Horror / Thriller

IMDb Rating 5/10

Plot summary

So that they can attend a distant funeral on their own, Mary and Paul drop off their son Henry with Henry's grandfather Jacob. On the isolated Canadian farm where her father lives, Mary becomes momentarily entranced by the barn where her mother committed suicide upon discovering Jacob had an affair.After his parents leave, Henry does work around the farm for Jacob. Jacob also teaches the boy how to throw a baseball.Henry meets Jacob's strange neighbor Dixon. Jacob stops Dixon from showing Henry around the property. Henry sees Jacob smack Dixon in his head.Jacob and Henry spend the evening inside Jacob's house. Dixon secretly observes the duo from outside before sneaking into Jacob's barn during the night.Henry discovers Jacob dead in his bed the following morning. Henry leaves a frantic voicemail for Paul, but a storm interferes with reception before Henry's cellphone dies.Mary and Paul hear part of Henry's message. Paul calls local authorities, who dispatch Sheriff Connie to the location for a welfare check. Mary insists that she and Paul return to Henry.Henry runs to Dixon for help. After Henry shows him Jacob's body, Dixon invites Henry to stay at his nearby house.Dixon claims that the storm made his landline unusable, preventing Henry from calling his parents again. Suspicious of Dixon's unsettling behavior, Henry switches two glasses of soda so that Dixon drinks the one Dixon secretly drugged.Dixon's demeanor grows more menacing as he expresses contempt for Henry's relationship with Jacob. Dixon cryptically mentions Jacob telling him Henry was off limits because of his bloodline. Dixon also mentions having to prove himself to Jacob.The phone rings, confirming that Dixon lied about the line being down. Dixon moves to attack Henry, but collapses from the drugged soda.Henry rushes back to Jacob's farm. Henry gathers materials and begins constructing makeshift booby traps for protection.A vision of Jacob compels Dixon to recover and go after the boy. Armed with a baseball bat, Dixon searches Jacob's house for Henry.Dixon trips on a baseball on the cellar steps and falls into barbed wire. Henry uses Molotov cocktails to briefly light Dixon on fire. Henry repeatedly slashes at Dixon with a knife as a chase ensues.Henry hides under Jacob's bed. Dixon reveals that he is Jacob's son from Jacob's affair, and that Mary's side of the family did not know he existed. Dixon captures Henry, tears his clothes, and continues beating the boy.Sheriff Connie arrives. Dixon beats her to death with his baseball bat and takes her gun.Henry uses the distraction to hide in the barn. In the barn's storm cellar, Henry finds a woman locked in a cage. The woman convinces Henry to hand over a shotgun so she can load it.Dixon enters the cellar to confront Henry. Dixon calls the caged woman "Momma." Momma and Dixon shoot each other.Before dying, a vision of Jacob tells Dixon he was kept secret because he was never going to be good enough. Henry considers beating Dixon's body with the baseball bat, but doesn't.Deputy Sheriff Drew finds Henry alone in the house. Mary and Paul arrive as authorities process the scene. Henry sees a vision of Jacob when his parents escort him away. (thanks to culturecrypt)