Synopsis
Andy wanders into a near-perfect reproduction of Julia's room, says, in astonishment, "My God". He pushes a button, and a recorded voice of an actress as Julia Lukin speak, fondly talking about her room and her music. Then a man's voice solemnly announces that it was this room where she was found dead aged nineteen. Whilst he listens, Joe, Julia's father, joins him, and proudly talks about the exhibition. It is part of the Julia Lukin centre, the pet project of Joe that Andy was invited to see. Andy listens patiently and ignores some tactless remarks about his wife, but hints that he wants to get back to his family soon. Joe, however, insists Andy stays and listens to a couple of other Julia recordings. One of them has whispers of "No" in the background, and the other has an unhappy laugh - something which Joe believes is an attempt by Julia to contact him.
Andy suggests that, after twelve years, it's time to let it go. Undeterred, Joe talks about Julia's childhood and her discovery, giving away that he dominated the lives of his daughter, and, also his wife, Dolly, who died recently. Understanding little about music himself, he is proud of the title the press gave her of "Little Miss Mozart" (something Julia actually hated). Joe questions the verdict of death by misadventure, and dismisses Andy's suggestion that the likely alternative was suicide. Although he doesn't suspect Andy, who was at a party the night she died, he suspects a man Julia referred to as "my secret admirer" (someone whom Andy now thinks she invented).
The doorbell rings and Joe leaves. The guest, Ken Chase, arrives and introduces himself to Andy, as mortuary attendant who had "an enforced career change". When Joe returns (having rung Andy's wife, Kay, to say he'll he late), Ken correctly guesses Andy is a music teacher, before going on to claim he is a psychic. He explains, in a calm and factual manner, that it is a gift that most people could use if they wanted. Andy reacts to this with hostility, especially after discovering Ken is here at Joe's invitation after seeing the exhibition and writing him a letter.
Ken crosses the ropes and, he claims, is struck with a feeling of unhappiness. This coincides with a coldness that Joe and Andy felt in the roped area (and, as it turns out, all the areas where the original house used to be). He opens the original door to the room but finds only a brick wall, for the other side now houses an air-conditioniong plant. Asking for something close to Julia, he picks up the teddy bear, and (after setting off an alarm the first time), he reacts virgously with emotion. Julia, he says, is unhappy, not because of Joe or Andy, who she loves, but because of the music. Then, promoted by hints dropped by Andy, Joe realises the bear is not Julia's but a replacement for the stolen original.
Now Joe and Andy both turn on Ken, who confesses he knew Julia (or "Julie" as he always referred to her). Andy realises he was the janitor who used to live in the basement. Ken admits he was Julia's "secret admirer", not, as Joe first assumes, a sexual relationship, but merely that she visited him and his family from time to time (in contrast to never visiting Joe who moved to be near her). She spent her time playing their out-of-tune piano, playing games, and helping with the cooking and sewing (badly), but never discussing her own music. Ken explains that on the afternoon before she died, she seemed a different person, saying, for the first time, she loved her parents, and he now wonders if it was her way of saying goodbye. Choosing to pretend they hardly knew her in the media scrum following her death, it is only now that he is setting the record straight.
Agreeing they should go home, Ken and Andy leave Joe alone for a moment. A discordant piano starts playing, and Joe, shouting for Julia,flings open the door only to see the wall. Andy and Ken return, and whilst Joe searches for intruders, Ken politely confronts Andy, whom he saw leaving the house the day she died, and Andy confesses he knows the real reason she died. For over a year, he had been coming to her house and never had any affection returned, until he met Kay. On that day, he went to her house to tell Julia he was seeing Kay and probably wouldn't see her again, only to find her waiting for him, room tidied, hair brushed and bed made. When he went ahead and told her, she pleaded with him, and Andy, angry that she hadn't cared about his feelings all thing time, left, and went to a party, and got drunk.
Returning to the music and the door, Andy, who has consistently dismissed supernatural explanations, suggests Joe may have set this all up himself. However, when the lights start dimming, a woman starts crying, and Joe returns denying anything to do with that, Ken suggests Andy is running out of options, and Andy begrudingly agrees to wait and see. Joe talks about never seeing the body, and how his wife reacted violently when he told her the news. Suggesting it was just as well Joe didn't see the body, Andy tells them what he saw. Simplifying the events of the previous night to "a row", Andy says he went back in the morning thinking he should make things up. The first thing he saw was blood all over the sheets, for Julia had taken not only sleeping pills but everything she could get her hands on. He then saw her body between the bed and the desk, and he believes she tried to get back to her music.
Suddenly, the piano plays again, and stops. Footsteps are heard where the stairs used to be, and there is a knock on the door, with Julia's voice saying "Dad ... dad ... dad ..." The door then flies open, and everything in the room is hurled about. Andy and Ken and thrown to the ground, but Joe, it seems, can see Julia. As he calls out to her, blood starts spreading out on the bed. Ken tells Joe that Julia is now released, and they both leave the room. Andy is the last to leave, saying once more "My God". After leaving, the voice of Julia plays one more time.
Read more about this topic: Haunting Julia