SYNOPSIS:

A little girl is found in a rural North Carolina house with a dead body and hundreds of birds. She is taken away and her mother is put in a mental asylum. Twenty years later, Arliss Pardot is living a happy life in New York City, blissfully ignorant of her childhood. Until the day they call to tell her her mother has died and she must claim the body. A strange foreboding covers her as she travels to her home town, long forgotten. Once she arrives, the locals and the birds begin to act strangely and the evil presence that has plagued Morganton all these years takes notice. Also taking notice is the local snake minister, Cain Goforth has his own secrets to hide. He was one of Arliss Mother's suitors and in a spurned fit of rage, he killed her lover and locked her away with a creature made of his own rage. Now that creature, which has been loose for some 20 years sees that a new generation of jailer has returned in Arliss and it plots to keep her from accepting her destiny. and they birds have their own agenda. They want the beast locked up at all costs. Arliss and her boyfriend Nick and a local folk historian Merle, must figure out the mystery and bury the spirit. As they work on solving the mystery of where the spirit came from, Cain and his followers build a nicer hose to keep Arliss in. Cain believes he can control the spirit and cleanse the earth. Finally in the end all the groups come together. Cain, The birds, the spirit and Arliss. Nick sacrifices himself to save Arliss and to contain the spirit, which becomes trapped in his body. Cain is murdered by one of his own, his son takes his place as the new minister and Arliss' warden. Arliss, who is pregnant with Nick's child, accepts her mantel as keeper of the spirit.

BEST LEFT BURIED