At a manor house in 1929, Dr. Mordecai Spazman arrives carrying a present. He rings the bell and gives the present to the butler, Justman, saying that it's for the newlyweds. Once the butler takes it and closes the door, Mordecai walks away.
In the bridal suite, groom Harvey Kry Jr. enters the bridal suite. The butler brings the present in and sets it on a table with the other wedding gifts. Harvey tells Justman butler that he and his bride Mary are going to escape. Justman smiles in understanding and leaves, and Harvey hears a low noise coming from Mordecai's present. The card on it says, "Don't open till doomsday" and Harvey assumes that it's a joke. He opens the present and finds a cubical metal box with a peephole in the side flickering with light. Harvey looks into the peephole and see a bizarre alien creature inside. The Creature peers back at Harvey, who screams in terror unable to tear his eye away.
Decades later, the manor lies in ruin. In the nearby town of Winterfield, the Justice of the Peace marries Gard Hayden and Vivia Balfour as the Justice's wife looks on. The justice examines their marriage license and admits that he doesn't think they're as old as the license says. He goes to get set, and the wife makes a call that she says she should have made hours ago. The phone rings at the spiderweb-filled manor, and on the present table the box sits, light flickering out of the peephole. The only resident, Mary, finally answers the phone and the wife tells her that there's a couple there and Gard is big and strong. She fakes calling her doctor, hangs up, and goes over to act as a witness to the ceremony.
Mary cleans the dust on the floor and finds a flower boa under the bed. She shakes it out and puts it on, and checks herself in the mirror before putting on lipstick.
Gard and Vivia kiss after the ceremony is over, and the wife asks where they're going next. She warns that there are no reputable motels nearby, and she suggests that they go out to Mary's place. When her husband objects, his wife overrides him and says that Mary is renting the bridal suite in her manor and Heaven itself couldn't find them there.
Gard and Vivia drive to the manor and Gard asks Vivia if she's afraid. He clarifies that he means being afraid of being married, not the house, and she points out that it's illegal to be married before the age of consent. Harry wonders if she should have listened to her father Emmett, and Vivia assures him that Emmett won't find her.
Mary watches them from the upstairs window, lets them in, and takes them to the bridal suite. She tells the couple that no one has been in the suite since 1929. She charges them $35 a day to rent the room, payable when they leave. There's a withered bouquet of flowers on the door, and Mary says that she left it there to make sure no one went in. She talks about how she's recently stopped waiting for Harvey to return, and tells Gard to use his broad shoulders to open the stuck door. Mary tells him to do whatever he must for Vivia if he loves her, takes down the bouquet, and leaves. Once they're alone, Gard suggests that they drive to a different state. Mary insists on staying rather than running further, and admits that she's relived she won't be like Mary.
Mary goes to her room, puts on a record of 20s music, and dances.
Gard carries Vivia over the doorstep and she talks about how a rival player deliberately broke his nose in two places during a game. He asks her to kiss his nose twice, and she does so and then they kiss more fully. They look around the suite and Mary sees the box of presents. The Creature inside moves to the peephole, and Gard jokingly asks if Vivia would open her presents if he died. She hugs him and Gard says that he's suddenly feeling strong and mature because he's married. Vivia says that she feels the same, and Gard reminds her that Emmett told them that they shouldn't get married until they feel that way. The couple kisses again and Gard goes to get the suitcases and park the car where it won't be seen.
Once Gard leaves, Vivia looks around the room as the Creature secretly watches her. Vivia finds an article about Mordecai, saying that Harvey's father branded him a nut after he claimed that aliens were invading the planet. Mary opens the door, startling Vivia, and asks where Gard is and if he's coming back. Vivia assures her that Gard is coming back after he hides the car, and Mary says that she doesn't care what they're doing because where there is love there is no evil. She says that Harvey Sr. wanted them under his roof where he could keep an eye on them, but Harvey Jr. hated the idea and thought that they could be happy at the house. Mary picks up the paper and says that Harvey Sr. drove Mordecai out, but Harvey Jr. fought for Mary. She then says that they promised Harvey Sr. that they would stay there but prepared to go to a cabin for their honeymoon. Harvey Jr. went to the bridal suite and was never seen again.
In the box, Harvey watches Mary as she talks and clutches at his head in emotional agony.
Mary tells Vivia that one day she will party when Harvey returns, and when he comes back he'll find that nothing has changed and they're all the same as they were in 1929. Once she leaves, Vivia locks the door and hears a noise from the box. She sees the flickering light from the peephole and peers in, while Harvey yells at her to stay away. Vivia sees the Creature approaching the peephole from the inside.
In her room, Mary sings to herself to the music. Gard reenters the house and Mary invites him into her room. She asks Gard to have Vivia come down, and when Gard says that he's tired, Vivia subtly threatens to call Emmett and tell him where his daughter is. All she wants is Vivia is to smile at her to remind her how brides smile.
Gard goes to the bridal suite and knocks at the door, calling to Vivia. Inside, Vivia stares into the box and moans in shock.
Mary sings to herself about doomsday.
Gard busts open the stuck suite door and calls to Vivia. There's no sign of her in the suite. In the box, Vivia pounds on the peephole and begs for anyone to help her. She sees Gard and yells at him to help her, but Gard can't hear her. As he leaves, Mary comes in and is apparently surprised that Vivia is gone. She sees the glowing peephole, and Gard admits that he always expected Vivia to leave. He walks out and Mary begs him not to go, insisting that Vivia will be back. In the box, the Creature moves toward Vivia.
The next day in her room, Mary wakes up when the phone rings. It's Gard, who asks her to send his things. Mary refuses, telling him to come back and saying that Vivia came back and is waiting for him. Gard asks Mary to call Vivia to the phone, and when she doesn't Gard figures that she went home to Emmett. Mary insists that Vivia will come back, and Gard hangs up.
Mary goes to the bridal suite and tells Harvey that he won't break even to pick up a piece of her shattered heart. She pounds on the box and says that she sent someone to free Harvey, and now they're back where they started. Mary pleads to Harvey, saying that she's waited more than 25 years for him, and peers into the box. She says that the Creature can annihilate a million worlds because worlds are nothing to people who live in Hell. Harvey can see and hear her, and covers his ears as he looks at Vivia unconscious on the floor.
Mary collapses on the couch and says that their main chance is gone because he thought Vivia went back to Emmett.
Emmett goes to the Justice and shows them photos of Gard and Vivia. He assures the Justice that he's faultless and assures him that he's no longer the DA as he once was and has moved onto private practice. The Justice goes over to his wife and says that they'd better tell Emmett the truth. Emmett comes over and slips the wife a wad of money. Once she tells him where the newlyweds went, Emmett goes to the Kry manor and rings the bell. Mary goes to the window and calls to him not to go. She finally breaks the window and unlocks the front door.
When Emmett goes in, Mary tells him to come up to the bridal suite and calls to Vivia as if she were there. She says that Vivia is in the suite weeping over her mistake, and Emmett goes up the stairs to the suite while Mary locks the door behind him. She goes to her room and prepares her wedding dress in anticipation of Harvey coming back to her.
Emmett peers into the box and Vivia yells at him to run. As he does so, a beam shoots out of the box and just misses him. It turns to aim at him, hits him with another beam, and he's teleported into the box. Emmett finds himself inside the box in a black void, and pounds on the peephole as Vivia hugs him.
The Justice comes to the manor with the money, intending on giving it back to Emmett out of guilt. Before he can go in, Gard pulls up to make sure that Vivia didn't come back and the Justice tells him that no one answers the door. He gives the money to Gard and tells him to give it back, and warns him that Emmett isn't a nice man and Gard has to face up to him.
The Creature tells Emmett and Vivia that they are no place, and says that it will transport them as it brought them in if it helps them. It says that it and others of its kind came to Earth to "blend their frequencies", but the Creature became separated from the others. Harvey joins Emmett and Vivia as the Creature says that the others are useless without him because he possesses the fundamental annihilating frequency. Once they have the complete frequency, they can blow up the Earth. Harvey refuses to free the Creature, but the Creature figures that Emmett will. It asked Vivia and Mary, but they refused and Harvey said that Mary would send him someone less stubborn than him.
Gard enters the bridal suite and looks for Vivia. He sees the box and goes over to it, but Mary comes in wearing her wedding dress and yells that Gard will spoil everything. First Vivia and then Emmett are teleported out of the box. Vivia refuses to go with Emmett, and Emmett says that he only agreed so they could escape. Gard leaves with Vivia, and the Creature teleports Emmett back into the box. Mary rants at the creature and smashes the box to the floor.
Inside the box, the Creature says that if it can't destroy the world then it must uncreate itself and all of them. The manor "uncreates" along with Emmett, Mary, and Harvey.
Written by Gadfly on Mar 17, 2019