La conjura de El Escorial
After watching an online video that mocks a local conspiracy theorist, filmmakers Aaron and Jim decide to make a documentary about him. The man, Terrance G., agrees to show them the various newspaper clippings that he has collected and that he uses to draw connections between significant historical events, including World War I and the September 11 attacks. Impressed with the depth of his research, Aaron begins to sympathize with Terrance, while Jim remains skeptical. During an interview, Terrance becomes agitated and points out a man whom he believes to be following him. Shortly afterward, Terrance disappears without a trace. Worried, Aaron and Jim return to his apartment, which is being cleared out. Aaron manages to salvage the newspaper clippings. When his house is broken into, Aaron moves in with Jim, his wife, and their young child, where he attempts to figure out what each of the newspaper clippings has in common.
It becomes apparent that Terrence had connected several significant historical events to the Tarsus Club, a non-governmental organization founded on an ancient secret society noted for the fact that its members tend to meet just before significant historical events, which has led conspiracy theorists to believe that the Tarsus Club is responsible for said events. The only evidence of its existence is a single article written in Time magazine by Mark Tucker. Unable to find further information about Tucker, Aaron and Jim turn to the Internet and solicit information from the public. A man claiming to be Tucker contacts them and agrees to meet for an interview on the condition that Aaron and Jim remove from the Internet everything that they have written about the Tarsus Club. During the interview, Tucker explains that the Tarsus Club worships Mithras and as such is said to sacrifice a bull at each of its meetings.
Tucker later contacts Aaron and Jim with news that he can sneak them into the next meeting of the Tarsus Club, which will be held at a mansion in the woods. Armed with hidden cameras, the pair document their interactions with members at the meeting. Claiming to be new members, Aaron and Jim are forced to participate in an initiation ritual held outside in which new members declare their allegiance to Mithras and are given raven masks to wear for the remainder of the meeting. While waiting in line for the ritual, Aaron sees Tucker enter the meeting and greet various Tarsus Club members. Realizing that Tucker is a member himself, Aaron becomes worried that Jim, who was before him in line, is in danger. However, he calms down when he sees Jim leaving the ritual wearing a raven mask, and Aaron decides to go through with the ritual himself. Back inside the mansion, a member corners Jim and reveals that the Tarsus Club has brought his wife and their young child to the meeting. At the same time, Aaron finishes the initiation ritual only to be given a bull mask instead of a raven mask. The members then chase him through the woods. Although his hidden camera continues to record as the members catch Aaron and appear to attack him with knives, it does not show his ultimate fate.
In an epilogue, members of the Tarsus Club perform a series of brief interviews in which they claim to have faked their attack on Aaron in order to scare him off, which is a usual practice with intruders into their meetings. The members are also seen editing the footage, now subsumed into a neutral or even positive documentary about the Tarsus Club. Although visibly shaken, Jim seems cooperative, agreeing with their version of events and adding that Aaron was released unharmed. However, he notes that Aaron was traumatized as a result and later disappeared. Jim theorizes that Aaron has joined Terrance, although he does not explain what this means. The Tarsus Club then reassures the audience that its members are not engaged in any nefarious conspiracies, but rather that it simply seeks world-wide cooperation between "governments, businesses, and individuals."
murder