When a pregnant woman returns home to settle her estranged father’s estate, she learns his death wasn’t an accident, but a sacrifice meant to lure her home, where she and her unborn child are expected to fulfill the deadly covenant her father made with God.

SYNOPSIS:

“The Offering” is an homage to the 70s horror movies about cults ( “The Wicker Man”, “Race with the Devil”, “The Brotherhood of Satan”) that has minimal special effects but plenty of terror and dread.

When Daniel Myers dies in a gruesome accident, his estranged daughter, Jessica, who’s eight and a half months pregnant, and her husband, Matt, come to the small town of Harvest Grove to settle his estate. When she arrives, Jessica finds that the once quaint town and thriving ranch have fallen into disrepair. Buildings neglected, fields and pastures bare, crops withered and dead. Stranger still, there doesn’t seem to be any babies or toddlers. All of the children are over eight. As Jessica and Matt settle in for the night, the remote ranch is besieged by strange figures in black robes. When dawn arrives, Jessica learns the horrible truth. The town’s made a covenant with God. Exodus 13:12-16. “You shall devote to the Lord the first offspring of every womb, and the first offspring of every beast that you own; the males belong to the Lord.” Accordingly, each family has agreed to sacrifice their firstborn son in exchange for bountiful harvests. When Jessica’s mother took her away as a child, she broke the covenant, but now that Jessica’s home and about to bear a son, she’s expected to fulfill her family’s obligation, and they have a beaten and tortured Matt captive in the barn to ensure her “voluntary” cooperation.

THE OFFERING