Horsemen(2009)

POOPER:
Kristen is the Horseman of War, Corey the Horseman of Death, Garrison the Horseman of Pestilence, and Aidan’s son Alex is the Horseman of Conquest.  Aidan saves Alex from killing himself, and promises to be a better father from now on.

LONG VERSION:
Police Detective Aidan Breslin (Dennis Quaid) is investigating a series of murders involving people who are found hanging from a custom made hook rig.  At all of the crime scenes, the words Come And See are painted.  One male victim had all of his teeth removed, and a pregnant victim had her unborn fetus removed.  Aidan and his partner Stingray (Clifton Collins, Jr.) speculate that there are four people involved in the crimes.  While reviewing the evidence of the crimes at home, Aidan’s son Sean sees a photograph of the words Come And See and asks about it.  This eventually leads Aidan to look further into that, and he determines the words come from Book of Revelation Chapter 6, which is about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  He believes the four killers are trying to be the Horsemen of War, Death, Pestilence, and Conquest, and there will be one victim for each of the Horsemen.  Meanwhile, Aidan is trying to be a good father to his sons Alex and Sean, which has been very hard for him due to his job and the recent passing of their mother.

One day, Kristen (Ziyi Zhang), the adopted daughter of the second victim, calls Aidan and asks to meet.  During their conversation, she suddenly shows him the missing fetus, and confesses to the crime.  While being interrogated at the police station, Aidan witnesses Kristen’s dark personality emerge, and he determines she is the Horseman of War.  When Aidan and Stingray further investigate her home, they find sexually explicit photos of her with her father.  They promptly arrest him and place his other kids in Child Protection.  Kristen later tells Aidan that her mother was killed because she knew what he did and did nothing about it, and the best way to punish her father was to take away his wife.  Later, another victim has been found, but this one was not attached to a hook rig.  Evidence found in his stomach leads the cops to an apartment, but it was booby trapped and all of the evidence inside it burned up.

In another part of the city, a young man named Corey is at a diner with his drunk brother Taylor.  Corey is coming out as gay to him, and Taylor isn’t taking the news well.  Corey is in the parking lot about to drive both of them home when he is confronted by a thief.  With Taylor passed out in the parking lot, Corey stabs the thief, but he survives.  The thief gives a description of him to the cops, and the stab wound on the thief perfectly matches stab wounds on the previous victims.  This leads Aidan to believe Corey is the Horseman of Death.  Later, Taylor wakes up to find himself attached to the same type of hook rig the previous victims were in.  Corey is also there, and he tells his brother that he can’t live like this anymore.  He picks up a bonesaw, but instead of putting it to Taylor, he begins cutting his own chest and dies instantly.

Even though their are now four victims to go with the Four Horsemen, Aidan feels something is missing from the clues.  He and Stingray soon figure out that Garrison, the unrigged victim, was actually the Horseman of Pestilence.  Aidan speaks to Kristen, who confirms that the first victim was actually an innocent, and Garrison was punished as a result.  Now knowing that there will be one more victim, Aidan and Stingray go over the clues again.  Aidan, who has a background in dental related cases, thinks the teeth of the first victim were used to lure him into the case.  This makes him believe his family will be targeted.  While checking out the house, Aidan enters Alex’s room, which he never enters.  He quickly sees the clues that Alex is the Horseman of Conquest, and he is at the theater where Aidan and his wife first met.

At the theater, Alex surprises his father and knocks him out.  When he comes to, he is handcuffed to a seat and Alex is hanging over the stage in a hook rig.  His stab wound was done incorrectly, so he didn’t die.  Delirious from the blood loss, Alex says that he was angry at his father for not being there for them after their mother died, and he found Kristen, Corey, and Garrison through a website forum because they were also angry at their family.  Each one was to pick someone to hurt, and Alex figured the best way to hurt his father was to kill himself.  Aidan is able to break the theater seat and get loose, and he reaches his gun to shoot the rigging and bring Alex down.  Aidan comforts his son as he lays on the stage, promising to be a better father from now on.  Back at home, Aidan comforts Sean, and he asks about Alex.  The movie ends with him saying Alex will be okay.