Spoilers for The Odyssey can be found throughout this article, and this comment is not a Trojan horse. Don't say I didn't warn you!

A lot of people like to refer to The Odyssey as a Greek tragedy. However, if you’re familiar with the original writing or have seen Christopher Nolan’s work, you should know it’s an Epic poem and not a tragedy. In fact, the 2026 movie release version has a happy ending, though the characters go through trials and tribulations in the years leading up to the end.

The one big question Christopher Nolan’s new Odyssey movie doesn’t answer is one fans have been asking as the movie premieres: What was Odysseus’ ultimate fate?

Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey Ends On A Hopeful Note … Sort Of

After cleverly constructing the Trojan horse and invading Troy, Odysseus (played by a very bearded Matt Damon) and his men are ready to return home to Ithaca. Eager to do so as quickly as possible, they take a less-trodden path, and it turns out to be a disastrous decision, at least for the crew. Odysseus’ men are picked off through various trials and tribulations, including a run-in with a Cyclops, succumbing to sirens, and angering a god after eating his sacred cows.

The god's anger causes the crew's ship to be broken apart, and Odysseus washes up alone, spending nearly seven years with Calypso (Charlize Theron) before he is ultimately able to journey back to Ithaca. Back home, he challenges and murders the suitors who had been sniffing around, reunites with his family, and reclaims his throne. He treaties with his wife Penelope and tells her of the horrors he feels are coming to mankind following the Trojan War, but says they will brave them together.

Nolan’s The Odyssey ends with Odysseus and Penelope (Anne Hathaway) literally sailing into the sunset, hoping to sail off and pay tribute to the ones he lost along his journey. I do love that the movie ends on a peaceful note after so much devastation (even though the boat scenes themselves were rough to film in this movie). It feels earned despite Odysseus’ worries about the age of man and what is coming ahead.

The Fate Of Odysseus And How He Dies, According To The Lore

Christopher Nolan’s movie does miss key points in The Odyssey, and its changes from Homer's work have been widely debated. In one change, Odysseus reunites with Penelope thanks to an icon he carried, when in Homer's work she asks him to move an immovable bed. In the poem, there’s another subplot similar to the one with Zeus’ cows in the movie in which Odysseus’ crew unleashes some wind from a bag that had been gifted to Odysseus to help them on their journey home. This is left out of the movie.

In a third example, we do meet Circe (Samantha Morton) in Nolan's film, but that storyline is stuffed into one day. In Homer’s work, Odysseus charms Circe, and he and his men stay on her island for a year. This is actually an important distinction for reasons that will become clear.

There was once another poem following The Iliad and The Odyssey that chronicled what happened next. It’s called The Telegony; it was not written by Homer, and it’s been lost to history. However, subsequent versions of Odysseus’ tale explain what is essentially the sequel to The Odyssey. In this version, Circe and Odysseus have at least one child together, a son named Telegonus (not to be confused with Telemachus, whom Tom Holland plays in Nolan’s film).

Telegonus grows up with Circe, and upon entering manhood, goes out into the world to seek his father. Various versions of the story exist after this. In one, a prophecy that he'd be killed by his son has made Odysseus an embittered and suspicious old man, one who’d sent Telemachus away thinking that child would be his undoing. Yet it’s Telegonus who appears and kills Odysseus.

In another, Telegonus raids Ithaca thinking he is elsewhere on the planet. Many versions of this story end with Telegonus killing his dad without realizing he’s killed the very person he was seeking. Odysseus’ fate is to die at the hands of a son he didn’t even know. This story is the one that is very much the tragedy.

So, I see why that’s not the note Nolan wanted to end on. Plus, given the movie's three-hour runtime, I don't think this movie could have realistically handled another storyline. However, if this version of the story piques your interest, Madeline Miller rewrote it beautifully in her novel Circe, a book I would very much recommend.

Ultimately, the way Nolan weaves his story gives us more than just many vivid set pieces. We really feel like we’re with Odysseus through this long and convoluted journey, and we’re rooting for him to get home. It’s complicated, of course. The man can’t just walk in and reclaim his fiefdom. His return is marred by violence, and he knows there are bad things still to come. But we want him to find his place with Penelope, and live out their dream of sailing off into an unknown future.

SPOILERS are ahead for Girls Like Girls, now in theaters!

When it comes to book-to-screen adaptations, we’re used to changes from the source material freaking out fans. But sometimes a different take on the same story for another medium is exactly what the story needs. For example, Hayley Kiyoko’s Girls Like Girls movie is missing one key moment from the novel's (and music video’s) ending; there’s actually a very specific reason why.

Hayley Kiyoko’s Girls Like Girls vision all started with her 2015 pop anthem of the same name. She then turned the song into a music video that went viral and had fans calling for a movie about the video's pair, Coley and Sonya. Since then, she’s been working on adapting it for the big screen, but before that, she turned it into the New York Times bestselling YA novel. Now it's finally here, as one of 2026’s movie releases, and she's “proud” of how she adapted things – even though one unexpected change came up during post-production. In our interview with Kiyoko, she said this of the ending:

Kiyoko is talking about the fight that breaks out between Coley and Trent, whom Sonya has had an on-again, off-again relationship with, in previous iterations of the story. The writer/director even filmed the fight on the set of the latest LGBTQ+ movie, but ultimately decided that she wanted to center the conclusion of the film on its coming-of-age lesbian relationship rather than another guy. As she continued:

Girls Like Girls is Hayley Kiyoko’s first time directing a feature film after spending years helming her own music videos and trying to turn the pop anthem into a movie. When it comes to book adaptations, it’s not very often that the author is also the director. How cool is it that she trusted her gut to tell the story slightly differently and make the kind of changes that felt right for the film all this time later?

Without the violent moment becoming a focal point of Sonya and Coley finally becoming girlfriends, the movie ending is more about Sonya trying to accept her queer identity and Coley being there for her. The last scene is a sweet poolside moment between them instead. Trent is still very much part of the Girls Like Girls movie, but Coley doesn’t need to fight him to get the girl this time, and that's a change the director loved.

Major spoilers for Disclosure Day lie ahead!

What would happen if there was definitive proof of the existence of alien life from the government and it could be shown to the world? That’s the topic at the heart of Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day. This recent 2026 movie release offers action, thrills, humor and heart as one would expect from a Spielberg film. However, it's also incredibly thoughtful and that vibe persists up through the final frame. With that, CinemaBlend recently spoke to screenwriter David Koepp about the final word that's uttered in the film.

During CinemaBlend's chat with Disclosure Day screenwriter David Koepp, who also previously wrote other famous movies like Jurassic Park, Spider-Man and Mission: Impossible, I had to ask him about the movies's last word: “Listen,” which is uttered by Emily Blunt's Margaret Fairchild. Koepp provided a thoughtful answer:

During the spine-chilling ending of Disclosure Day, Margaret and Josh O’Connor’s Daniel Kellner are able to make it to the KCTV station to make the film's titular event happen after a couple of hours of nail-biting thrills. Margaret gets to anchor for the first time to break the news, while Daniel leaks the life-threatening bag of government files he's been risking his life for.

After humankind witnesses a montage of jaw-dropping footage of evidence that the government has been recording extraterrestrial life from across history, one of these aliens appears in the newsroom as well to deliver a message through Margaret. We never hear the message itself as the movie ends on the word: “Listen”.

While some might see the credits unfold and say “That’s it?”, as Koepp shared, we don't need to as the word itself encapsulates the entire message of the movie. Disclosure Day is about showing empathy for others, and the biggest rule of grasping the feelings of others is to in fact listen to them. As the screenwriter continued:

Koepp was also inspired by the sci-fi masterpiece, Slaughterhouse Five, specifically at the start of Chapter 2. The novel from Kurt Vonnegut also features aliens called the Tralfamadorians, who experience all of time simultaneously. So it’s both a nod to one of the great classics of the genre and a clever way to deliver the message of the movie.

While he could have certainly thought up some message from the aliens, I appreciate David Koepp explaining the reasoning for the conclusion. The critically-acclaimed Disclosure Day certainly gets me thinking about how the world would really react if the moment indisputable evidence of alien life was shown to the world really happened. At the same time, it explores how human empathy and connection is one of our greatest strengths as a species, and the final word underlines that point beautifully.

Spoilers from Disclosure Day ahead! If you haven't seen the movie yet, it just arrived on the 2026 movie schedule.

Disclosure Day is more than two hours long – nearly two and a half hours, in fact -- and I'm not going to lie, I did look at my watch a few times during the movie. It wasn't that I wasn't thrilled by the action or intrigued by the layers of the plot. Steven Spielberg's new film has everything we could hope for from one of the iconic director's alien movies — great characters, exciting moments, an impactful score and a meaningful plot. I was undoubtedly entertained, and yet, I was also waiting. By the time the climax hit, and I felt tears in my eyes and goosebumps on my arms, I felt like I was being rewarded for my patience.

This Movie Requires Patience

I'm still processing my thoughts about Disclosure Day -- I just caught a screening of it on Thursday night -- but I can say with certainty that the ending left me emotional and a bit shaken. I went into it knowing that this was not so much a movie about aliens, as it was a story about exposing the truth about aliens -- the marketing was clear enough about that. Still, as the story got going, it felt like we were being given breadcrumbs of information about what was happening -- what was being hidden, the information in the stolen drives, the strange hand-held device being used to "dive" into people.

Every time I felt like we were getting close to an answer, some twist or turn took us in a new direction. And I admit, the thought "I really hope the ending is worth this build-up" crossed my mind more than once.

Was it worth it? Yes, honestly. Let's talk about that ending. The question of whether or not it's for the best that mankind knows we're not alone in the universe, and that alien beings have literally been on this planet for decades or longer, is posed throughout the film, from various characters.

The Set Up For The Ending

• Jane (Eve Hewson) fears what the knowledge might do to people's ability to believe in a higher power.
• Noah (Colin Firth) wants to keep the information within his control, and the confines of his business, while his former colleague, Hugo (Colman Domingo), is determined to bring the truth to light.
• Margaret (Emily Blunt), with her new empathic abilities, and Daniel (Josh O'Connor), with his not-so-new mathematical ability to understand the alien's language, are seeking their own personal truths, while serving as the vessels creating the necessary connection between the aliens and mankind.
• Jackson (Wyatt Russell) just wants to stay in Kansas City and play songs with his band.

By the time everyone (minus Jackson) makes it to the news station, any doubt I might've had that it's for the best for mankind to know the truth is gone. It's clear throughout the film that the world is not in a good place, and humanity is already on the brink of implosion. Jane has come around to putting her faith in mankind and delivers Margaret the device to get the lights turned back on so she can resume the broadcast.

And it's here that the ending really happens. Spielberg has made us wait, and it feels like we've earned our way to this point in the movie -- but we're not quite there yet.

The Payoff

I don't know that I thought about it as it was playing out, but looking back, had the big reveal focused entirely on Margaret telling viewers everything and showing the footage, I think it might've been less impactful. After Margaret gets the story rolling, the TV station reaches out to their affiliate in New York. We also see the decision to push the feed out to everyone -- not just NBC affiliates, but everyone. Watching this process play out gives us a chance to reset our perspective and see the hugeness of what's going on, beyond what Margaret and Daniel have been through.

Our attention is shifted to a major news anchor who's trying to process the footage Daniel has uploaded and is streaming through the feed as she’s seeing it for the first time with everyone else. This part feels very important to the emotional punch. Up until now, we've been following Margaret through this whole story. Her and Daniel's perspectives have been integral, as has their journey toward the truth from their childhood experiences. They’ve reached their resolution by this point, now it’s our turn.

By switching the perspective to this new news anchor, we're watching what feels like a truly genuine reaction from someone who is just learning this information. All of her emotions are coming through -- her voice, her facial expressions, her eyes -- as she's trying to navigate what's being shown and also make space in her own mind for this new reality, all the while also trying to relay information to viewers.

This is what Disclosure Day was all about, and it feels real. The disclosure scene gave me chills, and at the same time, had me welling up with emotion. Maybe a part of that is because I've experienced this before -- the feeling of the world changing right under my feet in real-time -- and know how big what's happening would be if it were real. We see people paused everywhere, watching the footage of the aliens and seeing bits of what's been done to them. All I could think was that the words coming out of this woman's report would echo in their memories for years to come.

It Was Always About The Truth

Spielberg captures the intense historic significance in a way that's both grand and simple. In the end, the truth coming out was always what Disclosure Day was about. The movie takes its time to get there, but I think one of the lessons is that truth takes patience, determination and perseverance. It also takes faith, if not in a higher power, then in humanity. As a cynical person, I need to chew on Jane's part of this story some more, because I think what she went through might have hit the hardest for me.

The movie leaves us with a big cliffhanger. After the footage is revealed to the world, the living being Hugo helped escape years ago arrives at the Kansas City news station and speaks words into Daniel's ear, which he relays to Margaret. The only thing we get before the screen cuts to black is Margaret saying "Listen" into the camera. Is there more to say? I'm assuming so, but whatever the alien has to share with mankind isn't for this story. What happens next is for us to consider and imagine if we want, but the story Disclosure Day meant to tell is finished. What matters here is the truth being known. The world will now have to reckon with the information they've been given and the things they've been shown.

I don't have a personal star rating locked in for this movie, and I can see why some people love it and why it might not be for everyone (critics or audiences). I do know that I definitely want to see it again, because I think there's more that I didn't catch or haven't quite put together yet. I'm still pondering over Noah's choice at the end, and want to revisit the conversation that he had with Hugo to better understand where both of their characters are coming from. In the meantime, my biggest takeaway from this movie was that this was a film that required patience, but it packs an emotional punch that left me with chills. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

It’s hard to believe it’s been seven years since The Big Bang Theory said its final goodbyes to the live studio audience, and those watching on CBS. So much time has passed, in fact, that two spinoffs have come to fruition, with a third on the way. Kaley Cuoco’s personal life has changed, too, and given the context we have about her relationship with Tommy Pelphrey, I was really interested in what she had to say about Penny, Leonard, and the ending to her iconic sitcom.

I was perusing through Jessica Radloff’s Big Bang Theory book The Definitive, Inside Story Of The Epic Hit Series when I came across Cuoco’s personal wishes about her character’s ending on the series. While she liked a lot of what Leonard and Penny’s relationship was about, it actually seems as if she wished the finale would have gone in a completely separate direction, with Cuoco telling the author:

Cuoco previously had some strong feelings at the time about Big Bang ending, but they more had to do with the show itself ending than how it ended. In fact, she famously even cried during the final table read. She’s not fully mad about the finale or anything, but it’s clear from her comments that she didn’t know if the direction of that final episode was really the right fit for Penny the way she’d played her over the course of the last few seasons.

If it’s been a while since you’ve seen the finale, Penny was pregnant and had kept the news from Bernadette, Amy and the girls. Sheldon found out first and, of course, spilled the beans, and the girls were kind of upset with her for keeping the secret. All was well by the show's final scene where they got together to eat takeout on the couch, but Cuoco at the time of the writing of the book felt that Penny’s life was mirroring her own career trajectory, and should have gone a similar way.

Now we know, a lot can change really fast, however. In April of 2022, after her divorce from Karl Cook, Kaley Cuoco met Tommy Pelphrey. The two would soon start dating, and by November of that same year, she’d announced she was pregnant. She told Dax Shepard later on Armchair expert she hadn't though kids were in the cards for her, and her own real-life trajectory honestly ended up mirroring how things changed quickly for Leonard and Penny on the show.

It all worked out exactly as intended, and Cuoco didn't wholly hate the ending of The Big Bang Theory, but if her vote had counted, it's very clear she would have gone in a different direction, just like the show had when they'd fired the original Penny and cast her as "the secret sauce" early on.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. If you have not yet seen the film proceed at your own risk (or check out CinemaBlend's spoiler-free review)

In the run-up to the release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the response has already proven to be exceptionally divisive. Critics have panned the sequel, many pointing to its prioritizing of fan service over storytelling, while early general audiences have applauded it as fun and for Nintendo-lovers. It's clear that different people are looking for different things from the new 2026 movie, but I am thinking there is common ground to be mined. Specifically, I think we can all agree that Fox McCloud, long rumored to be in the movie and voiced by Glen Powell, is the best thing about the film. Putting him front and center in the immediate future of the Nintendo franchise would be the best possible decision.

The Bowsers may now be under lock and key, and the sequel's post-credits scene teases a future with Princess Daisy joining fellow Princesses Peach and Rosalina in the big screen canon. But after his scene-stealing part in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Fox McCloud should next feel the glow of the spotlight in a Star Fox spinoff.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Performs A Speed Run Of Everything You Need To Know About Star Fox

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie doesn't offer much in the way of character development for its main collection of protagonists, but the film does take a brief moment to give Fox McCloud a proper introduction, and it's the most exciting thing that happens in the movie. With the swagger that made him so popular in both Top Gun: Maverick and Twister, Glen Powell delivers a killer monologue about the ace pilot's history, his team (including Slippy Toad, Peppy Hare and Falco Lombardi), and his deep love for performing barrel rolls. It's a preview that's also a tease, and it does a lot of heavy lifting in advance of the franchise potentially further exploring the character's world.

On top of all that, the flashback features an awesome stylistic change (which would be amazing to see explored more), and perhaps most importantly of all, a door is left wide open for an adventure at the end of the movie.

Fox McCloud Is On His Way Back Home, But He'll Need To Find A Wormhole To Get Back To His Universe

At the end of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Fox does Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach and Toad one last favor by transporting the Bowsers to prison, but the next stop for him is traveling home… and it's not entirely clear how easy that will be for him. He didn't exactly fall through a wormhole on purpose, and while it's possible in-canon that wormholes are everywhere and easy to find, it might also be a major challenge that takes him on a wild journey through the cosmos.

Either way, one would think audiences would win: either Fox quickly gets back to his home universe, rejoins his team, and finds a new battle against a classic foe (like Andross or Wolf O'Donnell), or he ends up on a life-changing trip to find his way back to his friends and loved ones. The story opportunities are really limitless after what has been set up.

While we keep our fingers crossed waiting for news from Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment that a Star Fox spinoff is a go, audiences can go see him in action in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in theaters now.

MAJOR SPOILERS are hiding behind every corner and closet door below, so BE WARNED if you haven’t yet watched Scream 7 in its entirety.

The first big whodunnit on the 2026 movie schedule has arrived, though the deaths at the heart of Scream 7 were a tad too morbid for the likes of highbrow detectives like Benoit Blanc or Hercule Poirot. No, these were the kinds of ghastly murders only a Scream Queen Final Girl could possibly stop, so it’s a good thing Scream franchise vet Neve Campbell made her return as Sydney, with O.G. screenwriter Kevin Williamson taking the reins as writer and director.

As it goes with every Scream movie, there are killers to unmask, victims to talk about, and returning stars to point out. This is perhaps the first time I feel like this franchise sets up a good spinoff route, though, so I'll get into that as well.

Who Is Scream 7's Killer(s), And Why Were They Targeting Sydney?

For the majority of Scream 7's runtime, viewers are led to the baffling belief that Stu Macher survived the TV-to-the-head death in the original film, and that he's now hellbent on torturing Sydney anew. The fact that Matthew Lillard's secretive return was well-documented made it seem strangely plausible, as did Ghostface burning the murder-honoring Macher home down in the opening sequence.

Alas, Stu has indeed been gone a long time, and Scream 7 delivers a whopping THREE killers for the characters to run from.

1. Karl Gibbs (Kraig Dane): a woman-murdering mental patient who is coerced into murdering others as Ghostface
2. Jessica Bowden (Anna Camp): Sydney's seemingly tight-knit neighbor, as well as the mother (and murderer) of the true-crime-loving Lucas
3. Marco Davis (Ethan Embry): an orderly at the Fallbrook Psychiatric Hospital who meets Jessica and ropes Karl into the plans (and whose gnarly hairline was an instant giveaway that he's guilty of something awful)

Karl was killed around the end of the first act, leaving the mystery open until the late-game villain reveal, during which audiences got to hear a lengthy explanation from Jessica Bowden about why she put so much effort into ruining Sydney's life.

Jessica suffered for years at the hands of an abusive husband but, after reading Sydney Prescott's autobiography (whose promotional tour was at the center of Scream 4), was inspired to also step up and take control of her existence, albeit in the form of murdering her hateful hubby. But when Sydney wasn’t around for the New York killings that her son was most recently obsessing over, Jessica began to think her Final Girl worship was misguided.

Jessica landed herself at Fallbrook Psychiatric Hospital in Pine Grove, Indiana after learning that Sydney was living there. (It’s not entirely clear how she did all this with Lucas in her care.) Jessica then managed to secure the house next to Sydney’s, where she was able to enact her grand plan of setting Sydney’s daughter Tatum up as a NEW Final Girl.

Kevin Williamson talked about going less meta and self-referential on the whole with Scream 7, so that the focus could be more squarely put on Sydney’s legacy, further informing Jessica’s motivations from a creative standpoint. The sequel’s themes also leaned heavily into nostalgia as a driving force, as well as generational trauma, with Isabel May’s Tatum getting her survival skills constantly tested throughout the movie.

For their parts, both Marco and Karl seem to have just gone along with Jessica’s flow as opposed to having any directly personal vendettas involving Sydney’s family. Because of that, this was one of the worst killer reveals of the franchise in my eyes.

All Those Scream Franchise Cameos, Explained

Anyone hoping for Stu Macher’s miraculous survival was in for disappointment, as it became clear as the movie went on that the character making video calls to Sydney wasn’t actually one-half of the first Ghostface killings, but rather the result of AI deepfake trickery. To be sure, Matthew Lillard’s unhinged performance was everything this movie needed, so even if the explanation didn’t lead to him showing up in the flesh, it was a win all the same.

The digital manipulation was crafted by ol’ Marco, who apparently had a background in computers and IT work that helped him absolutely NAIL what Stu would both look and sound like, without any forms of digital artifacts or other evidence of fakery. (And yet was still working in that hospital instead of doing anything in the tech sector, okay, sure.)

Unsurprisingly, this is also how the rest of Scream 7’s cameos came to be. Just before the big reveals, Sydney watched a bizarrely staged video that included a final performance from Matthew Lillard, as well as a pair of fellow former Ghostfaces in Laurie Metcalf’s Nancy Loomis and Scott Foley’s Roman Bridger. The final callback was David Arquette’s Dewey Riley tugging at Sydney’s heartstrings and drawing out more of her fury.

A List Of Scream 7's Victims

• Scott (Jimmy Tatro) - stabbed multiple times, burned in house fire
• Hannah Turman (Mckenna Grace) - Sliced open and gutted as she swung from ropes during theater rehearsal at school
• Karl Gibbs (Kraig Dane) - hit by Gale’s car
• Chloe Parker (Celeste O’Conner) - neck impaled by broken bar glasses after Ghostface slid her across the bartop and onto the ground
• Lucas Bowden (Asa Germann) - stabbed and head impaled on beer tap, with bloody suds spurting from his mouth
• Ben Brown (Sam Rechner) - stabbed various times through the chest and other areas
• Marco Davis (Ethan Embry) - shot through the head by Sydney
• Jessica Bowden (Anna Camp) - face is literally shot off by Sydney and Tatum

The Mid-Credits Sequence Sets Up The Spinoff I Want To See Instead Of Scream 8

With Sydney's legacy still intact, along with the safety of her (injured) husband and three children, the Scream movies don't really need to continue going, even though it would likely take armageddon itself to stop Paramount from producing more sequels. That said, I do think Scream 7 sets up a magnificent route to a spinoff led by Jasmin Savoy Brown's and Mason Gooding's Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin, respectively.

We're talking about a different kind of legacy here, with Mindy primed to follow in the investigative journalist footsteps of Courteney Cox's Gale Weathers, with Chad as the dutiful cameraman. (Not necessarily the safest job to have in these movies, but still.) The movie didn't hinge entirely on the twins trying to take that mantle, but the ending and mid-credits sequence do indeed lay the groundwork for a spinoff feature.

Instead of having yet another Ghostface return, a Scream offshoot could follow Mindy and Chad (and possibly Gale) investigating a wholly different kind of mysterious killer, and under completely different circumstances. That would allow the creative teams to play up other genre motifs and canonical lore without being beholden to the iconism of Ghostface.

Fingers crossed someone higher up at Paramount hears my beckoning and makes it happen. Until then, the Scream franchise is available to stream via a Paramount+ subscription.

Major spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, so be warned, and don’t make Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal angry.

Though I’ve already shared a lot of love for Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later sequel in my glowing Bone Temple review, I had to completely stay away from talking about the ending there (for obvious reasons), to the point where I could have burst. Now that the critically lauded genre-masher is now out there to watch amidst other 2026 movie releases, the time is right to talk about how wildly subversive the movie’s third act and conclusion is, and how antithetical to traditional horror it all feels.

Similarly to how Danny Boyle and Alex Garland shattered the mold anew by expanding this horror universe nearly three decades after 28 Days Later evolved the zombie subgenre, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple continuously upends expectations and breaks storytelling rules enough that the movie’s truly batshit endgame actually feels felicitously apropos. And lawdy lawd, has any horror movie ever delivered a cliffhanger quite like Samson? Drop the needle onto that Iron Maiden record, because it’s time to rip the skin off of this rule-breaking ending.

Rule Break #1: More Protagonists Survive Than Not

A large majority of horror features rely on two genre tenets: tension and body count. More often than not, protagonists are introduced and developed only to inevitably become villain fodder. The Bone Temple tweaks that formula both by having an antagonist group that outnumbers the good guys, and by limiting the overall number of new characters. (Neither are brand new concepts, obviously.)

So in the end, only one core hero is dead, along with one extremely minor protagonist and the group of barely developed family members. Meanwhile, Spike, Kelly (more on her below), and Samson are still alive, as are Cillian Murphy’s newly returned Jim and his daughter, and we can assume the pregnant Cathy who ditched Spike is still out there. And since we didn’t see Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Jamie or the infant Isla or others from the first film, I’m also counting them as survivors here.

Rule Break #2: A Sub-Villain Becomes An Anti-Hero

As the visually distinct member of Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal’s cult that gets the most screentime early on, Erin Kellyman’s Jimmy Ink is clearly set up to be the traumatized Spike’s guardian angel. (Or devil, in this case.) But that doesn’t keep her from following the brutal and disturbing orders that Jack O’Connell’s Jimmy lays out for his minions, under the fraudulent guidance of Old Nick. She’s totally into the idea of an evil dark lord, so it’s not as if she’s a pillar of virtue even by the end of the movie.

Still, despite her youth and naivety, she held room for the idea that Jimmy Prime was full of shit, so whenever the curtain was pulled back on that grand truth, she didn’t hesitate to punish him with the same sadism he made others suffer. In the end, reverting from her cult moniker back to Kelly, she and Spike take off as a duo, destined to team up with Jim and later make Jamie uncomfortable. How many horror movies give villains this kind of a vaguely redemptive arc?

Rule Break #3: The Big Bad Is Already (Presumably) Eliminated

Given Jack O'Connell's stellar Jimmy-fied introduction at the end of 28 Years Later, I fully expected his cult of personality to still loom large in a third film, in the way that horror's most sickening monsters can never quite be put down for good. But no Jigsaw-length reign for Jimmy, it seems, after he was given an inverted crucifixion ahead of likely getting ravaged by Samson, as hinted at by that jump scare.

Of course, the existence of the infected is still as dangerous and deadly as ever, so it's not as if this franchise's future will be free from baddies. Still, in the way that serial killers were always a threat while Hannibal Lecter continued sating his particular appetite, I even hoped Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal would be kept alive for sequel purposes, which definitely isn't my go-to desire with most modern horror movie antagonists.

Rule Break #4: All Signs Point To Hope In The End

Ever since Carrie rattled audiences with its shock ending, way too many horror movies have repeated the trick of undercutting a happily-ever-after conclusion with a last-second reveal that the central source of evil has not been conquered completely. It's truly a mild surprise anytime it doesn't happen, and once again, Alex Garland and Nia DaCosta sidestep such rote expectations and even go a step further by making The Bone Temple's ending all-out hopeful.

What better beacon of hope can there be than seeing Cillian Murphy's Jim is still alive after all these years? He also seems to have kept his wits about him since 28 Days Later's own hope-embracing ending, and it's too easy to foresee him taking Spike and Kelly in. (Which obviously means tragedy is coming, but still.) Though Kelson's death seemingly stalled any efforts to "cure" or reverse the Rage virus' symptoms, Samson's physiology itself is a secondary beacon of hope to latch onto, which leads us to the following...

Theory Time: I Believe Brains (Including Kelson's) Are Vital For Samson's Recovery

Though morphine alone is enough to stall Samson's bloodthirsty rampages, Kelson later leans into a mixture of medications to try and deaden the cloud of Rage in Samson's mind. The implication is that those efforts were successful, but I think Samson's own bestial and zombie-adjacent actions make for another unwitting stepping stone in the process.

Samson habitually returning to that destroyed train car plays into his humanity's continued presense, but it's seemingly only when he cracks open another person's skull and slurps on their brains that he has flashbacks to being a young boy inside that same train. This is quite the bizarre sequence for a franchise that has purposefully avoided traditional zombie movie elements like brain-eating. (After all, the infected are still technically alive.) So unless DaCosta threw it in there as a winking joke, it has to mean something.

Prescription meds often boost brain chemicals that patients are lacking, so it stands to reason that going straight to the source (i.e. another brain) would provide a far bigger dose of those same chemicals. Given the brains of the infected are already tainted, they likely aren't offering peak amounts of seratonin, oxytocin and whatever else would get Samson's mojo rising.

But what about Kelson's juicy, smart and information-filled brain? I think it stands to reason that when Samson left Kelson's bony empire, he went back to the train and imbibed on the brains of other infected, which would explain why the Alpha was still able to speak and have a somewhat clear mind after returning from a day completely free from the doctor's drugged-up injections.

Which leads to the second part of my theory: that eating Kelson's healthy brain will be like a Rosetta Stone that make's Samson more calm and rational on a semi-permanent basis. I think he'll be able to communicate with Spike & Co. in a way that makes it clear they're on the same side, and I think they'll find Kelson's research and figure out how to utilize it in a way that can help tamp down the Rage in others.

That's probably too optimistic an outcome, though, so maybe the idea will be that eating healthy human brains will be the only way to reverse the infection, thus providing a very disturbing moral quandary for Jim, Spike and anyone else who would love to spread the cure, but without also wanting to deplete the rest of the population.

However things turn out, one thing's for sure: I'll be in a theater seat ahead of opening night for any and all future 28 Years Later sequels, prequels, reboots, VR spinoffs, comic books and more. I probably don't need to show up at a theater to read a comic, but dammit, I'd also like some popcorn while I read.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for HIM. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

“Go big or go home” is a common expression among athletes, and it’s appropriately applied to the finale of director Justin Tipping’s new film HIM as well. The whole movie is rather insane – as brain-damaged quarterback Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers) spends a nightmarish week with his idol Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) in a training compound trying to prove he has what it takes to become the Greatest Of All Time – but that insanity most definitely peaks in the third act. Cameron comes to a full understanding of what’s really at stake in the whole business, and his response to it all is rather… over the top.

As any normal audience member would, I watched HIM’s ending with wide eyes and a slacked jaw when I saw it earlier this month, and it left me impressed to the point that I felt compelled to ask the stars of the film about it when I spoke with them during the recent Los Angeles press day. Tyriq Wither spoke about the surprising conditions and the work that went in, and Julia Fox, who plays Isaiah’s wife Elsie, divulged her thoughts about her character’s personal motivations. But before we dig into that material, let’s first do a recap of what happens in the new horror movie’s final scene.

What Happens At The End Of HIM

At the end of HIM, Cameron Cade finally starts getting answers to many, many questions – and some are answers to questions he didn’t even know to ask. After a week of training with Isaiah, he discovers that becoming the greatest of all time isn’t something that is earned, but rather it is bestowed. He is part of a very specific and designed plot to succeed the man he has long idolized as the quarterback for the San Antonio Saviors, and the first hurdle is battling and killing Isaiah – beating him to death with a helmet.

This act is followed by a blood-covered Cameron walking outside and finding himself attending a daylight ceremony that is attended by Tom (Tim Heidecker), his agent, Elsie White, and the masked ownership of the San Antonio Saviors – not to mention a bunch of creepy, faceless cheerleaders. Our protagonist comes to understand not only that his father had a deal with the owner of the Saviors to raise his son as a star QB, but that the attack that left him brain damaged was orchestrated so that no other team in the league would draft him. The response to this is unhinged and exceptionally gory violence, as Cameron proceeds to slaughter everybody, with the coup de grâce being Tom getting into the middle of a pentagram and exploding as jets fly overhead.

They say “no guts, no glory” – and there are definitely a whole lot of guts.

Tyriq Withers Discusses His Experience Filming That Bonkers Final Scene

As captured in the video at the top of this article, I used the last question in my recent interview with Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans to ask the former what it was like shooting that crazy scene. He explained that a lot went into it, but he noted that the complexity of it all also gave him the ability to become hyper-focused – which ultimately works for his performance, as one can see pure drive in Cameron Cade’s eyes on screen as he executes a swath of people who have successfully manipulated his entire life.

As Withers explained, however, one fun bit of trivia about the HIM ending scene concerns the weather on the day. Cameron is shirtless during the sequence, and the general desert environment of the movie sells all of the action happening in heat – but it might surprise you to learn that it was actually a bit chilly out. Said the actor,

As for Marlon Wayans sitting beside him, he was unable to resist making a joke at his co-star’s expense:

I suppose that’s something that Tyriq Withers can now put on his resume? Maybe under “Special Skills”?

Why Julia Fox Doesn’t Think You Should Judge Elsie Too Much For Her Choices

One of the more surprising players at the end of HIM is Elsie White. Throughout the film, she comes across as one of the nicer, more normal people whom Cameron encounters during his week of training with Isaiah (her use of jade eggs in her vagina notwithstanding), but she shows off some very different colors in the final scene. Despite the fact that her husband has just died, her priority is finishing the larger mission and getting the star quarterback to sign on the dotted line to play for the San Antonio Saviors.

Curious about this revelation, I asked about Elsie’s true face when I spoke with Julia Fox during the HIM press day, and she offered justification for why the character makes the decisions that she ultimately makes. She explained that there was a full backstory for Elsie White that we don’t learn about on screen, and it’s a history that led her to look out for herself while knowing that nobody else would:

You might call that selfish, but Julia Fox more sees Elsie as someone who is operating in pure survival mode. She continued,

Julia Fox has justifications for the role that Elsie plays in the manipulation of professional football… but that justification is certainly not registered by Cameron, as she winds up just as dead as everybody else in the finale of HIM.

Should you care for a second round watching the movie, HIM is now playing in theaters everywhere. To discover all of the features still set to be released between now and the end of the year, including all of the treats arriving in time for Halloween Season, check out our 2025 Movie Release Schedule.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The Long Walk. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

It’s that time once again: for the fifth time in 2025, we have reached a release date for a new Stephen King project. They’ve been arriving all year, including two movies (Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey and Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck), a TV show (MGM+’s The Institute) and two books (King’s new novel Never Flinch, and his illustrated take on Hansel & Gretel). There are still two more titles ahead in the coming months (namely HBO Max’s IT: Welcome To Derry and Edgar Wright’s The Running Man), but this week is all about Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk, and this special edition of The King Beat is taking a specific focus on the shocking ending of the adaptation.

The stunning new film, which has earned rave reviews ahead of its release, is extremely faithful to the source material and pulls no punches in terms of content – but it does make some fascinating deviations from the novel in the ending. While watching the film unfold, I hated it and thought it was terrible, but after mentally digesting the dark conclusion, I have come to respect that it is the finale that the story needs. Before digging into analysis, let’s first compare the two versions, starting with what happens in the big screen version.

What Happens In The Long Walk Movie's Ending

Nailing down the precise start of a movie’s “ending,” can be tricky business, but in the case of The Long Walk, the beginning of the conclusion is pretty easy to mark: it’s when the odds narrow down to 50-50 in the death march.

Following Stebbins’ revelation that he is the son of the Major just hoping for an invitation to his father’s home, the self-described “rabbit” of the race finishes his walk and after this third warning, he screams for the soldiers to put an end to him. With rain set to start pouring down and the contest about to reach mile 331 of the trek, the only two remaining in the competition are Ray Garraty and Peter McVries.

As expected, crowds gather and cheer, excited to see one of the surviving boys be declared the winner. Peter stops, telling him that he wants Ray to go on and take the prize, and they both collect warnings, but the latter convinces the former to just keep going a little longer. Peter agrees, but as he goes, Ray stops and collects his final warning. He is shot and killed by the Major personally, and Peter is declared the winner of The Long Walk.

As fireworks launch, the Major riles up energy from on-lookers, and the crowd sings the national anthem, Peter is despondent and on the ground, overwhelmed with grief. The Major asks the winner what his wish is, and the boy doesn’t ask for future games to have two winners like he said he would; instead, he asks for Ray’s wish: he wants a carbine held by one of the soldiers. Convinced that Peter wouldn’t throw away his life because of how much he has won, the Major is unafraid when the gun is aimed at him. “This is for Ray,” Peter states plainly, and he fires a single round and kills his target. He stares down the road, and then he keeps walking.

Even with three-and-a-half months left to go before the end of 2025, The Long Walk is an easy candidate for “Feel Bad Movie Of The Year,” and it’s actually flabbergasting that it actually manages to be a darker conclusion than the book – which isn’t exactly full of sunshine and rainbows.

How The Long Walk Movie Ending Is Different Than The Book

In Stephen King’s The Long Walk, the final three contestants are the same – Stebbins, Garraty, and McVries – but they each exit the story at a different point than what is featured in the adaptation.

Peter is actually the first of the final three to die in the novel. Like the movie, the strongest relationship forged in the source material is between Ray and Peter, but the boys stick to the pact they make late in the race to stop helping each other. While Ray is providing a bit of distraction from all the horror by telling them a fairy tale, McVries decides that it is his time to stop and sit down. His proverbial ticket gets punched.

When it’s just Garraty and Stebbins left in the race, the protagonist becomes convinced that he is destined to lose, as the illegitimate son of the Major seems impossible to beat. But when Ray prepares to tell his opponent that he is giving up, Stebbins drops over dead, and he is declared the winner.

But for Ray, the Long Walk is not over. Even as crowds cheer his name and he is approached by The Major with congratulations on his victory, he still sees the silhouette of another walker up ahead with whom he believes he is still competing. He doesn’t stop; his mind fully broken, he instead begins to run so that he can catch up.

Both endings are incredibly powerful, albeit very different. The stories each see their main characters reach their end as broken humans who cannot properly live on after their endured trauma, but the film version adds a bit more complexity to the mix by giving more prominence to the “wish” aspect of the rules. While watching the movie, my initial feeling was that the book provided a much better conclusion, but I’ve come around on the take by screenwriter J.T. Mollner and find a lot of power in what he has written – specifically in the larger commentary about society’s treatment of youth.

I Initially Hated The Long Walk Ending… Until I Realized Why Change And Its Extreme Darkness Was Necessary

The Long Walk was the first novel that Stephen King ever completed, and while it wasn’t published until 1979 (under the author’s pseudonym Richard Bachman), the context of the Vietnam War is important to recognize in fully understanding the novel. King was seeing thousands of kids his age being sent overseas to fight and die in a war with an unclear agenda and strategy. That carnage was interpreted metaphorically by the writer as a celebrated “game” in a dystopian America.

More than a half-century after King wrote the book, the Vietnam War is long over and young Americans of today aren’t being drafted into combat, but young people are nevertheless continually burdened by inefficiencies in our society. These generations are told they are going to inherit our world, but meanwhile, public education systems are being dismantled, food insecurity is a major crisis in households with children (17.9 percent of them, per the USDA in 2023), and no gun control legislation is close to being passed despite firearm-related mortality being the leading cause of death among Americans aged 0-19 (as of 2022, according to the New England Journal of Medicine).

The story of The Long Walk is as relevant in 2025 as it was in the 1970s, and it’s necessary that the film end with extreme bleakness to drive home its point. I balked at an aspect of this while watching the movie, but I have since come around to appreciate it for what it has done.

At one point in the second act of the film, the boys get around to talking about the wishes that they hope to make should they win The Long Walk, and these desires tell us a lot about who these characters are and where they’ve come from. In the case of Ray Garraty, he is out for revenge; he’s the one who has the plan to wish for the carbine so that he can shoot the Major as payback for the execution of his father. Peter has what can be considered a more noble goal, in that it’s his intention to declare that future versions of the contest will have not one winner, but two.

So yeah, when Ray dies and Peter makes a wish for a gun instead of saving future lives, it hurts. With effervescent charisma and charm infused by actor David Jonsson, Peter is a character whom we want to see conquer the darkness that has engulfed him and have the fortitude to stand up against the fascist forces that have put him through extreme torture… but in what way is that fair? He is just a kid, and he has spent his entire existence getting broken by systems that he had no hand in, with The Long Walk just being the final nail in the coffin that was built around him his entire life. Judgement should not be held for Peter but for the forces that drove him to the brink – and the way in which The Long Walk makes one consider that is bleak but immense.

For those of you who are reading this feature to gird yourself for the experience of the film, The Long Walk is playing in theaters now (I find it hard to imagine anyone who has already seen it will be rushing for a second screening). And come next Thursday, I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend with a brand new edition of The King Beat digging into all of the latest and biggest headlines from the world of Stephen King. Between now and then, you can discover the long and exceptional history of King’s stories in film and television with my series Adapting Stephen King.

All the SPOILERS are ahead.

When it comes to great psychological thrillers, Darren Aronofsky’s movies will always be in that conversation because the filmmaker is such a master at the genre. This year, Black Swan is turning fifteen years old, and it’s a great time to rewatch the movie, especially for how much its messages about perfectionism hold up. I know I recently did, and I want to break down Nina’s journey and what leads to its tragic ending that leads to the star ballerina’s death.

Black Swan became a big hit despite its small budget when it came out in the winter of 2010 and became an award season darling, earning Natalie Portman her Oscar. Fifteen years later, as Aronofsky has a new film among 2025 movie releases with Caught Stealing, I think Black Swan is very much worth your time to revisit, especially for how the filmmaker takes the audience through Nina’s intense psychological journey as she plays the Swan Queen in a production of Swan Lake. Let’s get into my reading of the ending:

The Meaning Behind The Black Swan Ending Is Actually Explained Upfront

When Aronofsky spoke about his inspiration for Black Swan to USA Today while promoting the movie back in 2010, he said he became interested in the ballet world after his sister studied it herself and he was exposed to tons of productions of Swan Lake. He was initially interested in the idea of being “haunted by a double” since the production itself is about the dual roles of a White Swan and Black Swan.

And, within the first ten minutes of the movie, when the artistic director at Nina’s company arrives to practice to announce his production of Swan Lake, it’s spelled out right there the reasoning behind Nina’s ultimate death in the movie. As Vincent Cassel’s Thomas says:

Thomas also calls the production of Swan Lake a “visceral and real” version of the classic ballet, and that’s in turn exactly what the movie Black Swan is. However, Nina’s storyline is not revolved around a prince, it’s her obsessive dream to be the best at her profession, and the fear that she’ll become like her mother (played by Barbara Hershey), who was once a ballet dancer too, but never got the chance to fully reach her potential after getting pregnant with her.

Thomas's Search For Perfection Is A Losing Battle For His Students

The way Nina is able to win the role of the Swan Queen in Swan Lake early in the movie is by convincing Thomas that she can play both parts of the White and Black Swan. Nina is determined to do just about anything to win Thomas’s approval, but as shown through Winona Ryder’s character of Beth, it’s a losing battle.

Beth was the star ballerina before Nina, who Thomas said was once “perfect” but during Nina’s run-ins with Beth throughout the film, we see that her pursuit of perfection has left her on a dark path. While she was once the apple of his eye and his “little princess,” ultimately he kicked her off the company, seemingly due to her age, and moved on to find a new star. As Black Swan continues, we see how Beth’s life is on a downward spiral after leaving the company, from dealing with an accident that leaves her without the ability to walk (assumedly due to her being drunk at the party that announces Nina's role in Swan Lake), to revealing her tendency to self harm when Nina visits her in the hospital.

Beth symbolizes the ugly path Nina is going on led by Thomas's pushing his students to be “perfect” in order to be worthy of greatness. While Beth should serve as a cautionary tale for Nina, it seems she's been fueled by perfectionism since she was a child by her mother's own toxic background in ballet, and she only follows in her footsteps.

Lily Isn't The Villain, But She Does Represent Nina's Darkest Fears

That brings us to Mila Kunis’s character of Lily, who embodies the traits of the Black Swan that Nina is having trouble portraying in the ballet. In one scene that occurs not long after Nina earns the role, Thomas points out how Lily has all the traits he’s looking for in the Black Swan, and this gets to Nina.

Now, Portman’s role is an unreliable narrator, who often has hallucinations and imagines things that turn out to be in her head throughout the film. In Nina’s eyes, Lily is out to get her role, but oftentimes when Lily appears the Black Swan version of Nina is close behind, which to me symbolizes what Lily really represents. I think Lily symbolizes Nina’s darkest fears of being replaced and not being “good enough” to achieve this perfectionism she’s obsessed with. While she’d like to believe that Lily is behind things, the perpetual reappearance of her seeing herself in Lily shows that the real enemy is herself.

The Black Swan Ending Reminds Us Perfection Is Impossible

That leads us to the ending of Black Swan, when Nina performs the ballet and finally embodies both roles. While starring in Swan Lake, Nina’s hallucinations have her stabbing Lily in order to finally become the Black Swan. However, as we later find out before the final scene of the play, Lily is perfectly fine and not bleeding out in her dressing room as she imagines she is. While we don’t see it happen literally, Nina stabbed herself with the shard of glass, effectively killing herself by the end of the show, much like the character she’s embodying jumping off the cliff and killing herself at the end of the tragic ballet.

As she dies, Nina is happy as she tells Thomas she “felt it” that she “was perfect” during the performance. Nina fully embraced the role of the Swan Queen he was obsessing over since getting the part, but I think her death shows how pursuing perfectionism is impossible. The only way she was able to achieve it was in her death, because as humans it’s just not in our nature to be without flaws.

Black Swan is truly such an excellent film that takes the classic ballet and spins it into a layered character study and solid reminder how putting too high expectations can be a version of self harm to ourselves.

Warning: massive spoilers for Sinners are in play!

Writer/director Ryan Coogler really went for the jugular with his latest film, Sinners, as the 2025 movie schedule debut was so much more than just “a vampire movie.” Perhaps the greatest surprise the man had up his sleeve is the fact that his well received reunion with Michael B. Jordan actually leaves some room to return to this world in the future.

With a mixture of excitement and apprehension, I feel the need to talk these feelings out with you all. So, if you haven’t partaken in the beauty that is Sinners, consider this your final warning. From this point forward, we’re about to get into the gory details, and why this is such a surprising turn.

Sinners’ Epilogue Left A Surprising Twist For Potential Sequels

As Sinners concludes its long night’s journey into day, Sammie Moore (Miles Caton) is our lone survivor. With only the neck of his guitar, and some pretty deep facial scarring from his vanquished foe Remmick (Jack O'Connell), he makes the choice to follow his heart into the world of Blues music.

That decision carries him through decades of fame, as we catch up with him 60 years later, playing his latest gig. As the older Sammie (Buddy Guy) wraps his set and settles down for a drink, two unexpected companions drop in: Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) and Stack (Michael B. Jordan).

As it turns out, they survived the events of 1932, as Smoke (also Jordan) couldn’t kill his twin brother. However, Sinners’ vampire twin was spared for a cost, as he was sworn to never attack Sammie. One final offer of eternal life from the pair, decked out in ‘90s street wear reminiscent of the early rap scene, closes the books, and sees all parties parting once more.

Mary And Stack’s Survival Leaves The Door Wide Open For A Sinners Sequel

60 years is a lot of ground to cover, both in terms of the narrative and cultural connections that Sinners possesses. And I can’t say that Mary and Stack’s journey through various genres of music, trying to find another that could “pierce the veil” would be a tempting proposition. Ryan Coogler’s story in this potential franchise starter proves that the bones are definitely there for further exploration.

Everything from Motown to disco would be up for grabs, especially through the extended metaphor of vampirism used to resemble cultural appropriation through music. But, what could be an interesting thread to weave into this hypothetical tapestry is how Mary and Stack potentially wind back around to being decent folks - while also exploring their relationship a bit further.

I know Stack made Smoke that promise in Club Juke back in 1932, but immortal beings that feast on the living aren’t always bound to such pacts. And, speaking of mortal concerns, let’s get into why I’m worried about what Sinners 2 could potentially delve into. Also, the random idea of Jimi Hendrix fighting vampires at Woodstock, with Mary and Stack’s help, is one I haven’t shaken since my screening.

Sinners Is Such A Singularly Moving Experience, Which Puts Intense Pressure On A Sequel

It is rare to see an original story surprise the world like Sinners is about to, but that’s from my biased opinion that sides with the critical raves it’s earned. While the door’s open for more, to my knowledge, Ryan Coogler didn’t intend for a new series to spawn from his work.

So, if the box office is friendly, and the audience wants more, whatever the follow-up effort may be is going to have quite an image to live up to. We saw a similar situation befall Coogler’s 2022 Marvel movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; but in all fairness, that film was dealt a tragic hand through the passing of Chadwick Boseman.

Outside of Black Panther 2's complicated development, the audience and critical response to Wakanda Forever wasn’t as universally warm as the reception the original received in 2018. I truly feel that watching Sinners for the first time is like seeing Jurassic Park, or even Boseman’s MCU debut, on opening weekend; and chasing that feeling with another entry is certainly daunting.

Buddy Guy Ties Together Sinners’ Cultural Message In A Way That’d Be Very Hard To Repeat

The fact that Miles Caton is playing a fictional character that eventually grows up to be a man played by Blues legend Buddy Guy is perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay Sinners’ breakout star. I’d imagine that through his musical abilities, and his thespian skillset, Caton must have impressed Guy in a way similar to how Ray Charles felt when Jamie Foxx won him over after being cast in Ray.

The overall message of Sinners ties deeply into the message of musicians with a gift that, as Wunmi Moskau’s Annie puts it, “can pierce the veil” of time and space. Turning back to my example of a Sinners 2 where Jimi Hendrix comes into play, his mythos in the halls of rock and roll absolutely qualify as that sort of figure.

Unfortunately, since that guitar legend left this mortal coil in 1970, it opens up a new potential for an awkward follow up. Thematically, that idea could still work; but spiritually, it would feel weird to either see an actor play the role of Mr. Hendrix, or to re-write history and show him dying after a brush with vampires.

Although the metaphor of vampirism as the appropriation and corruption of the culture in play does make that potentially tragic ending to a hypothetical Sinners sequel a little more workable. As always, it would need to be handled with respect; as one can't just graft a supernatural explanation onto a real-life tragedy - despite what X-Men: Days of Future Past's JFK assassination story may suggest.

I cannot recommend checking out this horror dramedy highly enough, as the journey from those first reports about “Ryan Coogler’s mystery project” to the reality we’ve seen on screen has been very sweet. Not every movie nabs notices like Sinners’ critical reactions, so claiming that the Fruitvale Station helmer has his finger on the pulse doesn’t sound so out there. If you're even mildly curious about what's at stake, and you've somehow read this entire rundown before seeing it for yourself, you should head out to the movies at your earliest convenience.

Warning: spoilers for Captain America’s latest adventure are in play. If you haven’t seen the film yet, you’ve been warned.

My fellow moviegoers, there’s a bit of a constitutional crisis we must urgently address in the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As Captain America: Brave New World has now taken its place in the 2025 movie schedule, all of the political intrigue that’s unfolded is going to be a hot button of discussion.

For someone who went to college for a political science degree and has some of that programming still rattling around, the ending to Sam Wilson’s cinematic resurgence left me with a question that will affect all upcoming Marvel movies. In a world where lawmakers would rather draft legislation than face this ever-changing world with a bold blend of empathy and jurisprudence, what we know about Captain America 4 could mean a lot for what’s coming down the line. So let’s jump in, and ask ourselves this question I hope will be answered by May 2nd, the latest, when Thunderbolts arrives.

Who In The World Is President Ross’ Vice President?

I have a feeling the end of Captain America: Brave New World has just given us a lead to expand what we know about Thunderbolts*. Between Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas) pronouncing James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Stan) as a “future congressman,” and now ex-president Thaddeus Ross appropriately being imprisoned on The Raft, the political landscape of the MCU is in further turmoil.

Not even 100 days into the Ross Presidency, Marvel now has its own entry into the canon of movies involving presidential succession! Since Thaddeus Ross has now stepped down from the mantle of the presidency, the vice president is the first in the line of 15 people that can assume the office if the acting president steps down or is incapacitated.

Which leaves me with a very important question: who in the name of Stan Lee was President Ross’ vice president, and now the president of the United States? Whomever this person was could be involved in the labyrinthian conspiracy that undid the former Hulk Hunter’s time in the Oval Office, and that part kind of scares me.

That concern only grows when remembering that Thunderbolts* will also be dipping its toes into a sort of political intrigue. Much like the executive branch’s role in real-time U.S. politics, the veep is a heartbeat away from the presidency - and if the wrong sort of person is in that position, it could spell big trouble.

I mean, imagine if it's revealed that, somehow, Countess Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is the new president! Would you feel safe with someone like that in the White House, fond memories of Veep aside?

Marvel’s Next Cinematic Phase Depends On The Answer To This Question

We’re now in the “brave new world” of Adamantium, which as producer Nate Moore’s remarks on Mutant easter eggs confirmed is yet another carefully laid Marvel Studios breadcrumb teasing the potential introduction of the X-Men. It’s a future concern that could take the political infighting of Captain America: Civil War’s Sokovia Accords, and amp it up to an unholy end.

In Captain America: Brave New World alone we’ve seen Super Soldiers like Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) used as patsies for assassination attempts, and the world has now seen the fury of President Red Hulk, which is literally the largest case for invoking the 25th amendment I’ve ever seen. Short of climbing into a mech, a la Metal Wolf Chaos, I don’t think the leader of the free world has ever been a bigger threat.

Attention towards what President Thaddeus Ross called “enhanced beings” is already being scrutinized, and if the discovery of Adamantium is going to anything, it’s going to give us a Wolverine. I think you see where I’m going with this, as the antics of Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake-Nelson) has left the world with a foundation for the Mutant Registration Act, aka “the Sokovia Accords, with extra bigoted steps.”

Just as the destruction of Wanda Maximoff’s home nation eventually tore apart The Avengers, Captain America 4 has sowed the seeds of discontent. Whomever the next president is, they’ll more than likely be the Commander-in-chief that navigates this next crucial juncture of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Maybe I missed something in Brave New World that gives us a clue to whomever President Ross’s VP is. So I’ll more than likely be scouring for those breadcrumbs when I next see the picture. You can currently do the same, as the Marvel Studios release is now showing in theaters. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to start my campaign to become president of the MCU; because if General Ross can do it, anyone can!

Major spoilers for Attack on Titan down below! If you're not caught up, stop reading now!

There are anime that I connect with, and then there's Attack on Titan. This anime has had a chokehold on my life, and when AOT came to an end in 2023, and the general public found out about the ending, it was divisive. But when I spoke to English dub actors Bryce Papenbrook and Trina Nishimura about what they ended up thinking of the ending, they set the record straight rather quickly. I totally get it.

For those who don't know, Papenbrook and Nishimura perform the English voices of Eren and Mikasa, arguably the two main characters of the anime, and they somehow avoided spoilers for the entirety of the show (unlike me who caved and read the manga). In honor of the compilation film, Attack on Titan: THE LAST ATTACK releasing, I knew I had to ask the two about their thoughts – and Papenbrook instantly said he loved the ending and didn't know how else it could end:

Nishimura took that stance as well, although the voice actress openly admitted that, of course, she wanted the happy ending everyone else wanted – but it was just the ending that "had to happen:"

Nishimura is referring to the moment when Eren takes Mikasa to a cabin in what fans theorize is an alternate reality where they could have run away together from all the chaos—a moment of peace. Nishimura had no idea it would happen, but of course, it ended up becoming just a vision.

The two voice actors have been with the popular dark anime since it aired in 2013, so it's not that surprising to hear they agree with the series' ending, as they've had such a longtime connection with the show. Papenbrook even had the chance to meet with creator Hajime Isayama, and I can only imagine what it was like.

Still, fans online have been critical of the ending, often giving theories as to what else could have happened or how they could have avoided the Rumbling and everything else. In my mind, I would call AOT's ending more realistic than anything—Eren is now dead, and most of the world has been wiped out, but his friends are alive, and they can rebuild, but at what cost?

It's bleak. But in this world where Attack on Titan's most heartbreaking deaths will rip your soul in half, I'll take most of the main characters surviving until the end, even if it was at the cost of everything else. Hell, most of the AOT arcs have splintered my spirit enough that the conclusion, to me, is like a cakewalk at this point.

While they agree on the ending as I do, I'm sure it will be a hotly debated topic for years to come among fans, and it's only a matter of time before we get another big theory video on whether "Eren was right" or not. Regardless, it's still one of the best anime to start on, no matter what you think of the ending, and like Papenbrook and Nishimura's iconic voice performances, the series will live on forever.

Spoiler Alert: There are some major spoilers for the Disclaimer ending below. If you’ve yet to watch the Cate Blanchett series, please come back after doing so.

I finally got around to the Disclaimer ending, and I’m so glad, because this was one of the most intense and incredible experiences on the 2024 TV schedule. The Apple TV+ original series starring Cate Blanchett as a woman forced to revisit and reconcile with one of her most traumatic memories after discovering she’s a major character in a book about an affair and drowning death is fascinating from start to finish, but it really excels in the seventh and final episode.

Since finishing Alfonso Cuarón’s adaptation of Renée Knight’s novel of the same name with my Apple TV+ subscription, I haven't been able to stop thinking about a brief yet powerful scene in the final minutes of the limited series that surprised me in the best way.

What Happens In The Disclaimer Ending?

Throughout Disclaimer, Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett) is tormented by Stephen Brigstocke (Kevin Kline), a retired school teacher who self-publishes a book written by his late wife (played by Lesley Manville) blaming the documentarian for their son’s death 20 years earlier. As the story plays out, Stephen leads Catherine’s husband, Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen), and son, Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee), into believing that she had a torrid affair with his son the day before he drowned saving her child.

But as it turns out, the events in the book are a fabrication by the Brigstocke family, and in reality, their son viciously assaulted Catherine while also forcing her to take lewd photographs (the photos that were sent to Robert and Nicholas earlier in the story). Later on, when Stephen attempts to kill Nicholas after trying to make the now 25-year-old commit suicide, he has a change of heart after the boy cries out for his mom upon waking from a coma.

After the ordeal, Robert attempts to apologize to his wife for not believing her or even listening to her upon learning of the reported affair, but she wants nothing of it and says she can’t forgive him. In the final scene, Catherine, now seemingly divorced from Robert, has a tender moment with Nicholas.

Why I Thought Catherine Not Forgiving Robert Was Such A Powerful And Surprising Moment

Up until the final moments of the Disclaimer ending, I was afraid Catherine was going to let bygones be bygones and forgive her husband for not standing beside her in what was the second most traumatic event of her life. But that doesn’t happen. Instead, Cuarón gives us this powerful moment in which a calm and reserved (yet strong) Catherine tells Robert that she can’t forgive him because she feels like he is dealing far more easily with the idea of someone violating her than the idea of someone bringing her pleasure, and she can’t help but think that he is relieved that she was raped instead of having cheated on him.

This powerful and surprising moment gave me an even greater sense of appreciation for the series and Catherine’s story, as for the first time in her life, she was honest with herself and those she loves, even if it meant divorcing her husband of 25-plus years. He had every chance to make things right, to listen to her, and his lack of faith in his wife was something she could no longer tolerate.

What Cate Blanchett Has Said About Catherine's Decision To Not Reconcile With Robert

The way in which the Disclaimer ending messes with your emotions and leads you to believe that Catherine is going to forgive Robert is masterful. I mean, go back and look at Catherine’s body language throughout the scene. She doesn’t get angry, never raises her voice, and seems to be comforting her husband through it all. And, that seems to have been a goal of Cate Blanchett’s with the scene, as she told Variety:

Earlier in the interview, Blanchett said the scene did have a reconciliation for Catherine “with herself and with that past,” which makes the whole final chapter of the series even more powerful.

Though Disclaimer, with its powerful and surprising ending, is finished, there are still plenty of promising upcoming Apple TV+ shows to look forward to on the 2025 TV schedule.

If you were not entertained by Gladiator II or at least have not been entertained yet by Gladiator II, please pop out of this spoilery article and read one of our other lovely and spoiler-free articles on CinemaBlend.

When Gladiator II hit the movie release schedule, one of my big concerns was that the movie would try to rehash or expand on some of the original movie's ideas in a cheesy or poorly executed way. The movie’s B Cinemascore (which aligns with CinemaBlend’s Gladiator II review) did little to dissuade me before I plunked down into a comfy chair with a bucket of popcorn.

As it turns out, I could not have been happier with the way the movie handled its Gladiator connections – and completely flipped the script on its ending.

A Lot Of Gladiator II’s Connections To The Original Were Handled Deftly

The Gladiator II sequel takes great pains to set up a story of a young fighter that sees loss of a similar ilk to Maximus in the first movie. In the new movie, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is fighting for a cause he believes in and loses everything he loves, including his wife, as he is becoming the person he is meant to be.

After losing a hard fought battle, he’s captured and shipped off to the lower rung Gladiator rings, again similar to Maximus Decimus Meridius before him. The movie also calls back to certain scenes and uses footage from the original movie to make connections between Russell Crowe’s character and Paul Mescal’s clear —as Mescal’s Lucius is a grown-up version of Lucilla’s son from the first movie.

The main component of Lucius’ storyline is the weakest thread in the movie –we’ve written about the connective tissue with Connie Nielsen’s character already – mostly I think because it tries to connect to the original in such a narrative-forward way. So I get the Cinemascore on some fronts; regardless, setting his storyline up in this way allows him to interact with Denzel Washington’s Macrinus and Pedro Pascal’s General Acacius in ways that felt important and engaging. Bascially, the main plot worked for me.

More importantly, a lot of the less focal ways the movie connects to its 2000 predecessor hit home. For example, I liked that Maximus’ armor is highlighted early in the movie and comes into play later when Lucius decides to take on his birthright. I liked the return to the Coliseum in the movie’s final moments. I liked how Macrinus’ story tied in with the lore in the first movie and how the dream of Rome remained a dream after Maximus’ death.

To me, these ties worked to set up a story that was solid enough to thread together two movies set decades apart. I was even more deeply affected by the choice to make sure the ending was very different than the original.

I Thought Gladiator II’s Ending Worked Spectacularly

Gladiator has a perfect ending. It’s iconic, it was meaningful for the character, and it’s the sort of ending we’re still talking about years and years later, the sort of ending that cemented Russell Crowe’s career. The one thing I did not want to see in Gladiator II was Lucius falling to the same fate Maximus did. To me, Maximus was fulfilling an oath he’d made before he joined his wife in the underworld; Lucius was ready to fulfill a dream his grandfather had. If he'd died at the end of Gladiator II it would not have had the same impact and would have felt more like evil triumphing over good rather than the other way around.

While watching, I actually thought Gladiator II might go full circle and have a similar ending to the original movie. There are teases early on about Lucius rejoining his wife in the afterlife that echo Maximus’ storyline. Given Washington’s character Macrinus appears to be sneaky and a worthy (maybe even Oscar worthy) opponent, I was also worried for Lucius by the midpoint of the movie when Macrinus goes from a nebulous character to one who is a major threat. Because of the way the plot was set up, though, I found this option to be far less romantic than what happened in Maximus’ movie.

Instead, in its final scenes, Lucius dons Maximus’ armor and ignites the trust he’s built up in the gladiator ring. He also takes a chance getting a message to General Acacius’ allies, asking them to come to his aid, using a ring he’d been given from his grandfather as currency.

The subsequent standoff between Macrinus and Lucius is riveting (and maybe too violent for some), though I hated to see such a wild character as Macrinus die. In the end, both armies are ready for change and embrace the “idea of Rome’ that Lucius wants to fight for. He lives and with him, the dream of Rome lives on, too.

The ending is hopeful for the future in a similar way to the original movie’s closing scenes, but it’s not trying to be the same thing as the original, and this was a very important distinction I thought the sequel needed to make. Afterward, in another nod, Lucius returns to the Coliseum, echoing Juba burying Maximus’ family figures, and the movie tied into the famous wheat fields scene from the OG movie – again another moment I thought made sense.

Before release, Ridley Scott called Gladiator II “the best thing” he’s ever made. Give his oeuvre and the fact the first Gladiator exists, I’m not sure I’d go so far as to agree, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Gladiator II made for an entertaining sequel. Give it a chance now that it's headed onto VOD platforms. You might be surprised, and even entertained.

Spoiler Warning: There are a ton of spoilers about the Time Cut ending below. If you’ve yet to watch the 2024 Netflix movie, feel free to cut out before anything is spoiled!

Every now and then a movie comes along with a pretty straight-forward premise, only for things to get all complicated by the time the end credits roll. That’s the case with Time Cut, Hannah Macpherson’s slasher that arrived on the 2024 movie schedule in late October 2024 and immediately became a hit with people with a Netflix subscription.

The movie follows teenager Lucy Field (Madison Bailey) as she stumbles upon a time machine in 2024 and travels back to 2003 when she's able to attempt to prevent her sister, Summer (Antonia Gentry) from being viciously murdered by a masked killer. And while it appears to have a relatively east-to-follow story on the surface, it quickly becomes a complicated exploration of place, time, and where we fit into it. So much so, that you might need some explanation to make sense of it all.

That said, let’s break down the Time Cut ending, the various time paradoxes in this surprisingly great horror movie, how things wrap up for all the major players, and what Macpherson also had planned for its big finale. But before we begin, remember there are some major spoilers ahead.

Two Quinns At One Time

In the final few minutes of Time Cut, it is revealed that the Sweetly Slasher, the serial killer that butchered four high schoolers in April 2003 was none other than Quinn (Griffin Gluck), but not the nice and kindhearted version of the character that helps Lucy uncover the mystery of her sister’s murder and prevent it from happening. Instead, it is a future version of the character from an alternate timeline still upset with Summer for rejecting him, and being subjected to bullying from his classmates years earlier.

How do we end up with two Quinns? Well, earlier in the movie, Lucy saves the still-friendly Quinn from being thrown into a river by a group of bullies, which essentially creates a path for the character where he likely won't go on to become an obsessed and vicious killer. However, this doesn’t mean the deranged Quinn who’s already planning his attack is zapped out of existence.

Similar to how time travel works in Avengers: Endgame, Time Cut has different timelines that branch off if something is changed, which in this case would be the bullying incident that Lucy disrupts. But as far as we know, if someone leaves their timeline (using a time machine), they maintain their existence even if their past is changed. This would explain why evil Quinn tells his younger version that killing himself wouldn’t stop the murderer version of him from existing. So this is pretty much the opposite of how things work in Back to the Future.

Lucy Still Exists After Saving Her Sister

Just before evil Quinn can carry out his plan and kill Summer, Lucy attacks him and the two are thrown through a time-warp into 2024, her original timeline. Appearing in a parking garage, the two continue their fight until Lucy electrocutes and then stabs Quinn in the chest with his own knife, ending his life and reign of terror in the process. Summer and good Quinn, having come to terms with the fact they’ll never see Lucy again after she jumped 21 years into the future, are shocked to see their sister and friend, respectively, pretty much appear out of nowhere and say that she’s going to stay in their time.

Not to keep comparing Time Cut to the Avengers: Endgame ending, but Lucy pretty much pulls a Captain America in that she decides to go back to a timeline where she’s going to be happiest. Here, she’ll be able to have a life in which she has a sister and not just a “looming presence” she could never live up to, and parents who aren’t the grief-stricken zombies she knew back in her original reality. However, this does bring up a ton of questions about Lucy’s original timeline and if a version of her still exists within it.

Does This Mean Lucy No Longer Exists In 2024?

Near the end of Time Cut, Quinn and Summer ask Lucy why she came back to 2003 and did not stay in her original timeline, and her response leaves us with more questions than answers if we’re being honest. While she does admit that she tried to go back to her original reality to see if anything was different, Lucy reveals that her parents didn’t recognize her.

As Summer wasn't killed, her parents didn't go on to conceive another child in an attempt to move on after Summer's death. The fact that Lucy's parents didn't recognize her seems to confirm that they didn't have another daughter. Or if they did go on to have a second child, that child wasn't Lucy. So presumably there is no Lucy in 2024, however it also leaves us to wonder, if Lucy had not prevented Summer's death, does it mean that she would have found another version of herself existing in 2024? Or would she simply have slipped back into her old timeline with some changes due to her time traveling activities?

Regardless, as it stands at the end of the movie, Lucy is a girl out of time with no better place to be than 2003, where she can live out her life with Summer and Quinn, as well as the knowledge of everything that has happened over the past 21 years.

How Time Cut Could Have Ended

As has been the case for countless movie endings over the years, Time Cut could have wrapped up in a way that would have had a more happy-go-lucky feeling but thumbed its nose at time-travel logic. When discussing the Time Cut ending with Netflix Tudum following its release, director Hannah Macpherson shared one idea she thought of in the process:

While this would have been a fun way to wrap up the movie, it doesn’t really make sense considering Lucy’s parents didn’t make the decision to have another baby until well after Summer died. Unless, Summer, who was a teenager at the time, convinced her parents they should try for number two, and even then, she and her sister would've had such a big age gap that they wouldn't have had the same relationship they were having together in 2003.

Overall, the Time Cut ending does do a good job of wrapping things up, even if things do get so complicated the more you think about it. And while it’s far from being one of the best movies on Netflix, this sci-fi-infused slasher film is a great addition to the list of great time travel movies.

Max is full of hidden gems. Initially, these movies may not have been on your must-watch 2024 movie schedule, but now, you can’t stop thinking about them. This is the case with Caddo Lake. It’s one of Max’s best movies to watch right now. It’s thrilling, complex, and memorable. The Caddo Lake ending adds to the film’s exciting depth.

It stars Dylan O'Brien, Eliza Scanlen, and Lauren Ambrose. In Caddo Lake, protagonists Paris (O’Brien) and Ellie (Scanlen) each want to solve a personal and challenging mystery. For Paris, he needs to know the exact cause of his mother’s death. Ellie needs to find her sister, Anna (Caroline Falk). The movie takes plenty of twists and turns that leave you stunned and desperate for answers.

Caddo Lake gives plenty of them but also leaves a ton of questions. Let's dive into the ending and all that comes with it.

Warning - Caddo Lake spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution.

What Happened At The End Of Caddo Lake?

In 2005, Ellie discovers that Anna has been left back in 1952. She sees images of her life from things posted online, and she prints out an image of Anna with her class in 1952. Then she returns to the lake to make her way back to 2022. Meanwhile, Paris has been taken to the hospital but he escapes.

He realizes that the missing girl, Anna, is his mother, and he helped save her life in 1952. Paris also sees his father and tells him goodbye before stealing Daniel's (Eric Lange) and Celeste’s (Lauren Ambrose) car.

The police chase Paris to a bridge, where he jumps off and attempts to get to Caddo Lake to return to his time. A dam breaks and he drowns trying to swim back.

Daniel finds Ellie on the lake. She tries to explain how they’re family but offers him some comfort by saying Anna is all right. Once back home, as they watch the news report of Paris’s death, Ellie shows Celeste the picture from 1952 of Anna. Ellie comforts her mother and says Paris and Anna were trying to get back to them. They hug.

How Time Travel Works In The Film

Caddo Lake has a very intriguing, complex time-traveling model. It relies on Caddo Lake’s water level. Low water level opens the portal. Paris notices that most of Anna’s seizures and bleeding ears happen when there is a drought. That’s also why Paris must make it back because the level of the water (due to the rain) will be too high for him to return to 2003.

Like many great time-travel movies, Caddo Lake has its own specific rules. One of them likely is that time travel happens in a loop. Everything that happens to Ellie has happened before. We know that she met her mother in 2005 before we actually see it happen because Celeste mentions meeting a woman who attacked her, and it's only later that we see Ellie turn out to be that woman in the parking lot.

After Anna’s disappearance, the boat is missing because another Ellie took it while the current Ellie was still confused about the lake’s powers. This makes it seem like things in Caddo Lake can never change because everything is stuck in a loop. Therefore, Paris could never really save Anna, and Anna would always end up in 1952.

Caddo Lake doesn’t seem to confirm the idea that time traveling on the Lake is specific to the Lang family, or that they’re just the ones we witness doing it. Paris tries to show Celeste (Diana Hopper) how the lake works but it doesn’t work at that moment because the water pressure is too high. Therefore, there is a chance that she would have been able to travel too if they came at the right time. Most likely, everyone who finds the portals when it’s open can travel.

A supposed consequence of all the time travel is the ear bleeds, seizures, and arm trembles. We know this is a consequence, and not what triggers it, because these things happen even when these characters are not going through the portal.

However, they are linked to when the portals are open, and when the water level is low. This is why certain years Anna has them.

The Complex Family Tree In Caddo Lake

The Lang family tree has almost as complicated of a family tree as some of the greatest soap opera dynasties. Yet, somehow, more confusing. Let’s break down all the familial connections.

• Anna is Ellie’s stepsister.
• Anna gets lost in 1952 and decades later marries Ben Lang (Sam Hennings).
• Ben and Anna are Paris’s parents.
• Paris and Celeste are Ellie’s parents.
• Anna is Ellie’s grandmother and her stepsister.
• Daniel is Anna’s father with an unknown Florida woman.
• Daniel marries Celeste.
• Daniel is Ellie’s stepfather and her great-grandfather

This family history makes Ellie’s statement at the family dinner about not being related to anyone ironic. She’s related to everyone.

The Importance Of Familial Bonds To The Plot

In an interview with Howard’s Haunt, Caddo Lake co-writer and director Logan George mentions that after his mother’s passing, he heard stories about her from his partner and Caddo Lake co-writer and director Celine Held. This sparked the idea of the mysteries of our parents. We don’t know much about their lives before us.

A central theme of Caddo Lake is the bonds of family and how even when broken, they can be repaired. We see this with Celeste and Ellie. They have this volatile relationship due to a lot of toxic history between them. However, Ellie’s journey to find Anna and understand Paris’s disappearance allows her to understand Celeste better as well.

In an interview with Pop Culture Unplugged, George mentions how he wants Caddo Lake to bring families together and encourage some understanding between child and parent and life before the child. Celeste and Ellie’s relationship represents that hope for the movie

The Celeste and Ellie dynamic is one of the driving relationships, but Paris’s relationship with Anna, and Ellie’s relationship with Paris are just as crucial to the story. It seems like Anna and Paris had a loving relationship based on how he made it his mission to try to understand her death. His grief overpowers him to where he can’t let go.

Saving Anna as a child may give him some closure for not being able to save her in the car accident but it may come too late.

Ellie never meets Paris, which is one of Caddo Lake’s greatest tragedies and something we wish happened. However, the movie is stronger because it doesn’t give viewers what they want.

Grief can’t easily be resolved by changing fate. The film’s messages about loss work because George and Held end Caddo Lake on a somber note. They explain this decision to leave loose ends in an interview with The Movie Blog.

The Wolves And Other Phenomena In Caddo Lake

Wolves and moths are recurring creatures in Caddo Lake. This allows everyone to know that something unusual is happening. The film never directly explains the moths, wolves, and dead alligator. However, we can make some guesses.

In 1952, the men around the lake mentioned the wolves. This could mean that wolves were common in the 1950s or constantly traveled through the portals to different times. The same goes for the moths. With the alligator, we can assume that maybe it died because it went somewhere in time where something stronger than an alligator killed it.

The other option is it got trapped between the portal while it was closing and that caused the perfect cut. We also see a lot of items in the lake. These are likely things stuck in it from past travelers. This also supports the theory that the Caddo Lake time traveling isn’t specific to the Lang family. Many may have gone through the portal and these items reflect stuff lost.

Caddo Lake is one of Dylan O’Brien’s best movies and an excellent family sci-fi drama. It’s one of the best movies to watch on Max.

Stream Caddo Lake on Max.

Spoiler Warning! The following article contains major spoilers for the Conclave ending. If you have yet to see Edward Berger’s papal thriller and don’t want the masterful twist ruined, please come back later.

Every now and then, a movie comes around with an ending so shocking and so brilliant you can’t help but audibly gasp in the theater. That is very much the case for the ending of Conclave, Edward Berger’s follow-up to his traumatizing and mesmerizing Academy Award-winning All Quiet on the Western Front. Easily one of the best movies of 2024, as noted in CinemaBlend’s five-star review, this complex, biting, and thoughtful drama about the death of a pope and the election to pick the next leader of the Catholic Church is an absolute tour de force. Now, with the passing of Pope Francis, it has become even more relevant.

If you’ve seen the Academy Award-winning drama and want to have a better understanding of one of the most shocking endings of all time, stick around because we’re about to break it all down and share some comments Berger shared with us late last year.

But seriously, if you’ve yet to watch Conclave, please turn back now…

What Happens The Conclave Ending?

In Conclave, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with organizing the election of the successor to the recently deceased pope, which proves to be no easy task due to the strange circumstances of the sudden death of the Catholic Church’s leader and all the political infighting for control of the Holy See.

At times, it seems like the more liberal Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) or Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow) will be the next pope, while at other more conservative and controversial figures like Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castelitto) or Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) will garner the required votes. However, in the end, Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), a Mexican member of the clergy stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan, who appeared just before the start of the conclave, ends up becoming the next Pope Innocent.

So, why is that so shocking? Is it because Cardinal Benitez is the first pope-elect from North America or because the senior official is stationed in the Middle East (a point of contention throughout the movie)? No, as it is discovered through an investigation into Benitez, carried out by Monsignor Raymond O'Malley (Brian F. O’Byrne) for Cardinal Lawrence, that Benitez is intersex.

Moments before Benetiz is to be introduced as Pope Innocent before St. Peter’s Square, Lawrence confronts the pope-elect about the revelation, to which they respond by saying they discovered late in life that they were born with both male and female reproductive parts. Though visibly torn by the discovery and ramifications, Lawrence does nothing to prevent Benetiz from ascending to the top of the Catholic Church before the screen turns black and the credits roll.

Conclave Is About A Patriarchal Institution At A Crossroads

If anything, Conclave, which was one of the most anticipated book-to-screen adaptations for months ahead of its release, is a movie about a patriarchal institution at a major crossroads. Throughout the movie, the cardinals from the respective right and left wings of the church are not just in disagreement with their counterparts about the direction of the Church (and society as a whole), but instead at war with one another over their differing political and societal philosophies.

And that’s what makes Conclave such an interesting movie with a brilliant ending. For millennia, the Catholic Church has been led by men who, no matter how liberal or conservative they may appear to be, want to keep the institution intact and the way it has always been to a certain extent.

In addition to being the driver at the wheel of the bus coming to the crossroads, Cardinal Lawrence also finds himself at a personal inflection point as he fights a personal battle to stick to his guns and offer his resignation or fall for the temptation of becoming the next pope. However, that becomes a moot point upon the election of Pope Innocent.

Why Cardinal Benitez's Papal Election Is Such A Radical Choice

The idea of an intergender person becoming the leader of the Catholic Church is a very radical and forward-thinking scenario, especially in an institution that has traditionally been ruled by men and also distanced itself from gender and sexual identity issues. And that’s what makes the Conclave ending and Cardinal Benitez’s papal election so shocking.

Sure, if anyone besides Cardinal Lawrence knew the truth, the election would cause all kinds of issues within the Church, but that makes the situation so intriguing. Going back to an earlier point, Lawrence is left in a position where he can protect the institution while also letting someone well-deserving of the position lead it in a new direction, or exposing the truth and potentially bringing about a great schism in the faith.

What Director Edward Berger About Cardinal Lawrence's Decision At The End

Ahead of the Conclave theatrical release, director Edward Berger sat down for an interview with CinemaBlend’s Eric Eisenberg, where he addressed the film’s ending and where Cardinal Lawrence was left after uncovering the truth about Cardinal Benitez. When it came to the cardinal looking through the cracks of the institution caused by political fractures and factions fighting each other (as well as the physical holes in the Sistine Chapel caused by a terrorist attack), Berger said:

In the final moments of the movie, Lawrence appears almost relieved; not just because the conclave has concluded and he no longer has that burden on his shoulders, but also because a new future has been presented.

How Conclave Has Become Even More Relevant

On April 21, 2025, just hours after participating in what would be his final Easter services, Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88, according to Vatican News. The pontiff, who was elected to the head of the Catholic church in 2013, left behind a remarkable legacy as well as a church at a crossroads, much like in Conclave.

In subsequent days and weeks, cardinals from around the world will convene in a sequestered Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City to elect the 267th pope. The passing of the Christian leader makes Conclave even more relevant, as now those who have watched the movie will be more familiar with the sometimes long and arduous process of choosing a successor. While it is unlikely that any of the fictional scenarios presented in the movie will play out in the upcoming conclave, it’s hard to imagine this being an easy, simple, or quick vote.

How To Watch Conclave Streaming

If the death of Pope Francis has made you want to revisit Conclave or watch it for the first time (I guess it’s already been spoiled at this point), you can watch Edward Berger’s gripping and fast-paced movie, containing one conversation after another, by using an Amazon subscription. You can either watch it streaming on Prime Video or make a digital purchase so you can continue to watch it once the movie eventually leaves for another streaming service.

Stream Conclave on Prime Video.
Rent/Buy Conclave on Amazon.

It will be interesting to see how audiences respond to the Conclave ending in the wake of Pope Francis’ passing. However, Edward Berger’s stunning thriller about legacy, ambition, and the folly of man (even by the most pious of individuals) remains just as strong even months after its initial release.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article goes deep into what happens in the Blink Twice ending, so if you continue to read on, do not say we did not warn you.

The new 2024 movie, Blink Twice, originally held the title of Pussy Island, which, now that I have seen the movie, makes perfect sense. The moniker would have been, at least, thematically appropriate for the directorial debut of Zoë Kravitz (who also co-writes with E.T. Feigenbaum), given that it is provocative and cheekily over-the-top, as well as a fun and twisty thriller according to our Blink Twice review. Furthermore, it provides a hint at the dark secret behind its seemingly idyllic setting.

The new movie, which is now in theaters, stars Naomi Ackie as young server Frida, who is invited to join tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum, Kravitz’s real-life fiancé) and others on his private island. She and her roommate, Jess (Alia Shawkat), are initially ecstatic about the opportunity, until concerning revelations lead her to suspect there is trouble in paradise. What sort of trouble is taking place and what does it all mean from a symbolic standpoint? Let’s go deeper into the unforgettable ending of Blink Twice and find out.

What Happens At The End Of Blink Twice

Frida begins to realize her “excellent memory” has been deceiving her when she notices Jess is missing, but Sarah (Adria Arjona in one of her best movies yet), Camilla (Liz Caribel), and Heather (Trew Mullen) suddenly cannot recall her being on the island. After Frida discovers her friend’s bedroom has been converted to a storage space overnight, Sarah confides in her that she is convinced something is amiss when evidence of Jess appears in the form of a lighter with her name written on it.

Frida realizes her memory kicked in after unwittingly taking a shot of non-lethal venom from the snakes Slater’s crew has been hunting, one of which had bitten Jess the night before, meaning it must be an antidote to the memory-suppressive chemical she deduces is in the island-exclusive perfume, Desiride. Frida and Sarah lace tequila shots with the venom to “wake up” Camilla and Heather before Frida tries to reclaim their phones, which proves to be a dead end, but she does find a box of Polaroid prints showing previous outings with different male guests. Around this time, her memories begin to fully surface and she realizes the male island guests spend the nights sexually and violently abusing the women, knowing that they will forget all of it by morning.

By nightfall, Heather and Camilla’s memories finally click on, driving them to violently retaliate against the men and, during the bloody commotion, another look at the Polaroids leads Frida to realize this is not her first visit to the island. Moments later, with many of the island guests dead or horribly injured and Frida tied up, Slater comes clean about his disingenuous apologies for past toxic behavior and hints at his own early experiences with abuse at the hands of his father. Unbeknownst to him, Frida was able to cut herself free and, while he leaves for a moment, puts Desiride in his vape pen, causing him to forget the carnage that transpired.

Slater falls unconscious after he slips and hits his head on a table, knocking over candles that start a fire which Frida and Sarah safely escape and rescue Slater from, as well. We then flash forward to a gala for Slater’s company, which Frida now serves as the CEO for. She is also married to Slater, whom she keeps wrapped around her finger by constantly drugging him with Desiride-infused vape juice.

The Philosophical Question The Perfume Leads Blink Twice’s Characters To Explore

In an interview for Collider, Zoë Kravitz says the idea for Blink Twice came out of her desire to tell a story that explores the concept of power and, especially, taking back power. That is essentially what Frida does to Slater, and by the same methodology he used to assert dominance over her and other women on the island. While this could be viewed as somewhat hypocritical, as far as I am concerned it makes for a very satisfying conclusion to one of the best movies directed by a woman I have seen in recent memory.

In the speech he delivers to a tied-up Frida after the bloody climax, Slater only briefly hints at the abuse he and his sister suffered from their father before explaining that he is perfectly content to suppress that memory. For that reason, he sees no trouble in causing women the same kind of harm, because he offers them the “gift” of forgetting all about his abhorrent behavior by dosing them with Desiride. Magic roofies do not, in anyway, excuse the unspeakable acts Slater and his friends have committed and that makes him, as an abuse victim himself, the real hypocrite.

As far as we know, Frida is not using Desiride as a means to take advantage of Slater in a sexual way. Even before crossing paths with the tech billionaire at the first gala, she was disillusioned by feelings of powerlessness and the struggle to really feel like somebody, which she professes to Jess when she tried to warn Frida about the island after her snake bite. Now, Frida has achieved the power she desired by taking away the power that her abuser used against her. In that regard, our hero and our villain each got exactly what they deserved.

What The Blink Twice Island Represents, According To Zoë Kravitz

Outside of its similarities to another private island owned by a certain disgraced financier, the setting of Blink Twice boasts much deeper allegorical meanings than what comes at face value. Kravitz reflected on the symbolism below the surface in her feature in the aforementioned interview with Collider.

For instance, she says that the island was largely inspired by the Biblical tale of the Garden of Eden, in which the first woman, Eve, commits the “original sin” by taking advice from the Devil himself, disguised as a serpent, and eating a forbidden fruit that will open her eyes to the difference between good and evil. Kravitz finds the concept of a woman seeking knowledge being deemed sinful to be a little “fucked up.”

Thus, she decided makes snakes the saving grace of Blink Twice, imbuing the venom with the power to open Frida’s eyes to the evil before her. This clever metaphor reinforces the film as one of most well-crafted, best movies of the year and, especially, a powerful feminist parable.

Blink Twice seems like the type of movie worth revisiting a second time, with all of its wild twists and turns and symbolism. While it may very likely be available with an Amazon Prime subscription later on, being an Amazon MGM Studios production, I also highly believe it is an August release worth seeing in theaters (perhaps twice), so get yourself to the cinema if you have not already before this crowd-pleasing thriller disappears in the blink of an eye. 

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Alien: Romulus. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk.

After advanced screenings of Alien: Romulus labeled the 2024 movie’s third act as “a big swing,” I knew I was going to be in for a ride. So when the word “divisive” was thrown around in further conversation on this latest chapter’s resolution, my excitement mirrored the moment I first laid eyes on Alien: Romulus’ eerie popcorn buckets.

As a fan of this franchise, I can fully agree that yes, this ending is a big swing, and it’s one that I totally believe works. So if you haven’t seen this latest entry in the Alien movie timeline just yet, you’ve been warned, as I’m about to dive deep into this nest of spoilers to explain why. Now, let’s take a peek inside the darkness that is Alien: Romulus, and what’s really going on with that ending.

Alien: Romulus’ “Big Swing” Ending

Thinking back to Alien: Covenant’s absolutely wild ending, the implications of David’s actions are still felt throughout the echoes of future events. Which brings us to the unfortunate demise of Kay (Isabela Merced), expectant mother and friend of protagonist Rain (Cailee Spaeny) in Alien: Romulus

The cause of Kay's death is “the big swing” referred too earlier. Under the advice of Science Officer Rook (Daniel Betts/Ian Holm), Kay uses a substance known as Compound Z-01 to keep herself and her unborn child alive after being attacked by a xenomorph. This decision works out up to a point, as she inadvertently births a human/Engineer hybrid that Weyland-Yutani’s loyal synth servant was trying to bring about.

Rain eventually wins the day by dropping the cargo hold of the Corbelan-IV into a ring of planetary debris, supposedly killing the creature. Ending in traditional Alien form, the film concludes with an audio log as she prepares to go into cryosleep wth her brother Andy (David Jonsson). How things will work out when she wakes up is presently a mystery.

Does Alien: Romulus’ Divisive Third Act Work?

Without question, I think that Alien: Romulus’ third act is a win. While I could have done without the callback to Ripley’s famed line from Aliens, it succeeds in part because of the way in which it embraces Ridley Scott’s prequel films. By doing this, the crazy creature we see at the end is not only a valid callback, it actually manages to make Weyland-Yutani look like an even more evil corporation.

Compound Z-01 ties all the way back to Prometheus, and we’ll get into why later on. But the reason that “The Company” has engineered this substance is to do one thing: make humans a heartier slave labor workforce. Melding human DNA with that of a xenomorph is supposed to create a species that can mine colonies like Jackson’s Star without suffering black lung or whatever new virus has cropped up in this age of humanity.

Once again, the Alien saga exhibits what this powerful company will do to maintain a profit – and that’s not only deeply rooted in the franchise from the salvage team in Ridley Scott’s first film, but it also plays to every other installment’s message about how one corporate monolith is obsessed with this deep space abomination. As always, all other priorities are ignored and the crew is deemed expendable.

Is Alien: Romulus’ New Hybrid Really Dead?

We need to think about how we answer this question, as at the end of Alien, audiences are left with the impression that Ellen Ripley throwing a Xenomorph out of an airlock was a surefire way to kill the xenomorph. And yet, the beginning of Alien: Romulus reveals that not even the vacuum of space can kill the creature.

Since the human/Engineer hybrid has some of that same DNA with “the essence of life” that Rook discusses, there’s a good chance that this monstrosity could still be floating around. All that needs to happen is for a Weyland-Yutani probe to bring it home or to another (doomed) space station, and the grim spectacle can commence once again.

What Happens To Rain And Andy At The End Of Alien: Romulus?

Rain Carradine is indeed our final girl in Alien: Romulus, so she survives by the skin of her teeth. Safe and sound in cryosleep, there’s a chance that she could come back. Or, if there isn’t a direct sequel to Romulus in the cards, the audience can decide whether she drifts aimlessly in space, makes it to the planet of her intended destination, or dies in an accident.

Joining Rain in cryosleep is her synthetic “brother” Andy, as Rain intends on mending him during their journey. The planet to which they’re travelling doesn't allow artificial persons as residents, but Andy's his sister is ready to fix him up nice and new after their harrowing encounter with a Xenomorph (itself) and cross that bridge when they come to it.

Where’s Ellen Ripley During The Events Of Alien: Romulus?

Speaking of adrift in space, where exactly is Ellen Ripley during the events of Alien: Romulus? She doesn’t appear in this film and isn’t referenced by name, though Rook does recount the tragedy of the Nostromo. Fans know from James Cameron's Aliens that she won't wake from cryosleep for another 37 years (or 17 years, if you count the novel Alien: Out of the Shadows as canon).

During Alien: Romulus' point in the Alien franchise timeline, the last survivor of the Nostromo is still floating in the deep darkness of space. If she was present for the events of Romulus, the movie might have been a lot shorter.

How Alien: Romulus Ties Into Prometheus And Alien: Covenant

Let’s talk about how Alien: Romulus ties into both of Ridley Scott’s prequels. The most obvious link is the fact that Compound Z-01 is clearly a recreation of the black goo that was used by David himself to create various grotesqueries in his adventures – as seen in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

The human/engineer hybrid’s likeness is a circle back to the visage of the massive, pale creators of humanity. But the huge swing that Alien: Romulus takes is that what David once used against humanity seems to now have aligned with Weyland-Yutani's interests. Rather than wiping people out, the gifts of the Engineers are now being used to upgrade the comapny's employees in order to build better worlds.

The Future Of The Alien Franchise

There's going to be a lot to chew on in the immediate future with the Alien franchise, especially when acknowledging Noah Hawley decision to ignore Prometheus as part of his upcoming franchise prequel series Alien: Earth, which is set to debut on FX in 2025. There is also a Marvel prequel comic slated to debut in October that’ll give us even more food for thought. We’re going to have to wait and see how the big picture of this mythic sci-fi legacy continues to grow in the aftermath of Alien: Romulus.

The latest installment of the beloved sci-fi horror franchise is now playing in theaters everywhere, and if you want to celebrate all things Alien following your viewing of Alien: Romulus, you can make use of your Hulu subscription and stream all of the previous films.

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for 2024's new movie release Trap can be found ahead. Proceed with caution if you yet to see M. Night Shyamalan’s new film.

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film, Trap is a twisty thrill ride, with a surprise ending typical for the suspense director. The movie stars Josh Hartnett as a serial killer who takes his daughter to a pop star’s concert. He soon realizes the entire concert has been set up specifically to catch him, and he is determined to find a way out of there. The Trap trailer was enough to put viewers on the edge of their seats, but the movie itself offers even more of a thrill ride, and fans have already been asking about Trap 2.

Apparently, the director is already thinking about a sequel to the film because of the cliffhanger ending, and first test screening reactions. We've seen sequels (of a sort) to his films before, with his trilogy of movies, Unbreakable, Split, and Glass. However, most of those movies can be treated as standalone films, and Shyamalan has yet to create a true follow-up to one of his stories.

Now we've learned Trap may actually be the one that will inspire Shyamalan to fully continue a story, and that is thanks to the highly receptive test audience for the film. He told The Playlist in response to being asked about Trap 2:

It’s understandable why audiences would want to see more from this story, as the surprise ending -- and again spoilers -- really lends to a continuation. There are a lot of reasons to watch Trap, and despite many thinking there are some third act problems, the ending itself works. For context, the movie has Josh Hartnett seemingly cornered by the cops in his house after pop star Lady Raven alerts police of her whereabouts. He is able to escape by pretending to be one of her drivers, and eventually ends up back in his house, with plans of killing his wife for instigating his capture. Before he does so, he is finally caught by the police.

This is where audiences probably assumes the film is over, but of course, Hartnett’s serial killer character has another trick up his sleeve, literally. Before getting in the police vehicle, he puts a toppled-over bike in his lawn upright. He is then finally in police custody, however in the last moment, we see that he took one of the bike spokes when he fixed it and slipped it in his shirt. He uses the spoke to free himself from handcuffs right before the credits roll. After watching Josh Hartnett evade police in creative ways throughout Trap, audiences, especially this test screening one, were seemingly curious about what happens after his successful escape.

M. Night Shyamalan also described his love for making the film and the characters he created, which also makes him want to stay within this world. I totally think audiences would be interested, especially considering the filmmaker has a fanbase of his own that loves his creative conceptual films. On the other hand, Shyamalan has long been a champion of original ideas and drawing inspiration from unexplored stories. It’s nice to have a filmmaker consistently trying something new, usually without IP involved. Making another Trap means we may not get an original idea from the director. However, if box office audiences have the same reactions as test audiences, I'm guessing fans will be OK with this.

You can see if Trap is sequel-worthy yourself by checking out the movie now, which is playing in theaters nationwide.

Spoilers for Twisters all the way up to its surprising ending can be found in this story. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the new movie release!

Twisters made plenty of money opening weekend, after hype helped to build momentum in the weeks before release. As Twisters reviews note, the movie is a big budget spectacle, and it's great people are seeing it the way it’s meant to be seen: on the big screen. However, as much as I dug the general premise of Twisters and the fun Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos and Daisy Edgar-Jones seemed to be having, I do have one complaint about the ending of the movie. Hear me out.

Twisters Does Not End With Quite The Emotional Payoff I Expected 

While a good chunk of this excellent action movie is about Edgar Jones’ character Kate reconnecting with her friend Javi (Ramos) after they lost pals and work partners during a devastating tornado, the other huge chunk of this movie is the Kate and Tyler show. Javi brings Kate back into the fold in order to use her smarts and her sixth sense for tracking tornadoes. However, while they are getting down to the work, other tornado chaser Tyler (Powell) and his (seemingly) idiot YouTube pals are shooting fireworks into the twisters. Yes, this is a real plot point, but there’s more to these viral video creators than at first meets the eye.

Tyler is actually a meteorologist and his motivations for running a YouTube account are pure gold, something Kate learns as she gets to know him and the dreams he harbors of saving communities from weather disasters. The two later develop a friendship and a partnership in every sense of the word. Which brings me to my big complaint about Twisters’ ending: The movie cuts out a major kiss between Daisy Edgar Jones’ and Glen Powell’s characters!

How do I know this? First and foremost, the two actors have actually talked about this kiss. During a recent “Hot Ones” interview the two spoke about making out for the movie, and Powell confirms they filmed the scene as they joked about the moment:

Edgar-Jones: ‘I’ve had a number of onscreen kisses in my career.’

Powell: ‘Doesn’t make me feel special.’

Edgar-Jones: ‘They all blur into one.’

Powell: ‘Ouch.’

Oh yeah, and then there’s actual footage from people who were at the airport when Twisters was filming, and yes, there was a smoochfest caught on camera. Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones even high-fived when they finished the scene. It’s adorable. Yet the powers that be chose not to use it in the final movie.

Instead, after Kate saves the day, we do get a really cute scene in which Tyler tracks her down at the airport. When an attendant (in a great cameo from Paul Scheer) gets mad at him for trying to park outside the airport – something we all can identify with – he uses the tool to keep his truck weighted down in bad weather to literally screw his vehicle into the concrete, park the truck, and chase Kate down. It’s very cinematic, but in the very final moments all we get is him taking her suitcase, indicating they’ll stick together. A montage during the credits proves this is correct.

Director Lee Isaac Chung actually told EW he found the kiss "polarizing" which is why he cut it. Powell even joked: 

But the director soothed his ego a bit and said it had nothing to do with Glen or Daisy's performances and had more to do with audiences (allegedly) "being in a different place" these days.  

Maybe I'm old-fashioned for thinking the kiss should have been there. The scene is still impactful without a big close-up kiss, and you can tell Kate is going to take a chance on Tyler moving forward. I guess it wasn’t strictly necessary to keep the shot, but dangit, I wanted it!

I wanted that cute-swing-at-the-fences-movie-magic moment and I didn’t get it. And the infuriating thing is I know for a fact the two actors are perfectly capable of onscreen kisses, having engaged in them in projects like Anyone But You, Set It Up, And Normal People. Yet, it seems this kiss was intentionally cut.

Is The Movie Setting Up For Twisters 2?

Though no one has confirmed a second movie yet, the last beats, particularly during the credits, make it clear Kate, Javi and Tyler are going to continue their work to try to take down tornadoes in Oklahoma and save lives. (Ben even wrote his article!) Everything's pointing to their being more from this Twisters universe should the movie do well, and perhaps the kiss was simply saved for a second movie?

In fact, Lee Isaac Chung did say he set the movie up in a way that Kate is like "a tornado" and that Tyler -- who is a tornado chaser -- is set up to chase her. Theoretically this leaves room for more down the line. 

The move honestly makes me wonder if Twisters 2 is already being planned and will continue a potential romantic arc between the two characters? Maybe we’ll even get a trilogy of movies in which the third movie has Kate and Tyler splitting up and gives them a similar dynamic to the OG cast of Twister, where Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton are exes who decide to work together. That would be a Twister callback that could work swimmingly well.

I’d say that could be a great setup for Twisters 2, actually, but given we haven’t even seen Tyler and Kate kiss yet, I kind of feel like we should have some romantic emotional payoff in a sequel first. One in the form of a giant, emotional, I-can’t-believe-we-just-survived-this sort of bent. A come for the tornado and stay for the kiss sort of deal.

But check it out for yourself and see what you think. Twisters -- which is very much not a sequel to Twister but is from the same studio and has the same vibe--is in theaters now.

Impressively, Late Night with the Devil captures the feel and look of ‘70s late-night talk shows. Its style and storyline make it one of the most interesting horror movies of the last decade. Only time will tell where it ranks among the best horror films of all time, however, it certainly leaves an impression. The Late Night with the Devil ending is haunting, fascinating, and confusing in the most delightful way. 

This leaves us plenty of questions to ponder. It explores the darkness of ambition, fame, devotion, and suppressed grief, and gives you options. It has enough depth for multiple possible readings of it. So, let’s talk about Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian), his demons, and the Late Night with the Devil ending. 

What Happened At The End Of Late Night With The Devil 

Jack, Dr. June (Laura Gordon), Carmichael (Ian Bliss), and Lily (Ingrid Torelli) rewatch the footage of Lily’s possession to prove that it was real and not hypnosis. It triggers the demon inside Lily again. She loses control and kills Carmichael, June, and Gus (Rhys Auteri). Jack then enters a hellish loop of past segments. Eventually, it turns into him signing a new contract with his station, which then morphs into him with The Grove, his studio audience, and D’Abo (Steve Mouzakis).

That then opens the door to his wife Madeleine (Georgina Haig) on her deathbed. She confronts him about his part in her death. Then begs him to end her misery and stop the pain. He takes a ritual dagger and stabs her. This brings him back on stage where he holds a stabbed Lily. We hear police sirens in the background as Gus, June, and Carmichael’s bodies also surround him.

Possible Meaning 1: The Demon Has Taken Over Jack’s Life

Let’s explore the possibility that the ending happens as we see it. Lily’s loss of control over her demon results in Jack entering a state of possession as well. The demon takes over his mind and sends him into a hell loop. It tortures Jack with memories, then kills Lily, either by accident, due to the mind control, or as part of the demon’s plan to grant Jack’s wish for success. He gets it horrifically. 

This ending brings The Grove out front and directly connects Jack’s relationship with the group to the death of Madeleine, and now June, Gus, Lily, Carmichael, and Christou (Fayssal Bazzi). The reveal that Jack made a sacrifice that caused Madeleine’s death isn’t a surprise. Late Night With the Devil foreshadows it throughout. 

At the beginning, the narrator talks about rumors of The Grove, Jack’s secret society group, practicing satanic rituals. Then Lily’s demon implies that they met before during one of these rituals. It mentions meeting him amongst the tall trees. This alludes to an incident with Jack and The Grove. 

We may see this ritual when he begins his loop. Madeleine seemingly confirms it when she accuses him of sacrificing her for his fame. This action, though likely not intentional, leads to her death. It’s implied he didn’t know that the bargain he made would cause Madeleine’s cancer. His dream of success comes true when he creates one of the most shocking, infamous episodes on television. The final scene implies Jack either goes to prison or remains trapped in a mental prison. Both outcomes are most likely true.  

Possible Meaning 2: Jack Has Gone Mad 

The story we witnessed may not be 100 percent true. In fact, none of it may happen as it unfolds on Late Night with the Devil. I believe the beginning that starts as the documentary is real. However, we never hear the end of it. 

Some of it may really happen, like Lily and Dr. June being guests, but, maybe everything doesn’t play out as sensationalized as we see it. Maybe we’re viewing the whole movie from inside Jack’s mind. This is how the Night Owls episode plays out in his head. However, if the film did reintroduce the narrator to conclude the documentary, it may state that Jack lost his mind and went on a killing rampage shouting about demons and his dead wife. The documentary could conclude like many great true crime documentaries and great true crime TV series: with a twist.

This Night Owls episode could be infamous not for the real demons but because of Jack’s violent and shocking acts on live television. 

Though we see Jack behaving in a cool, calm, and collected way throughout the show, he’s still dealing with grief, being overworked, and pressure from the network to deliver. He’s a man very close to losing it all. 

There is a possibility that Carmichael speaks facts. The show could have orchestrated his wife’s fake ghost appearing to drum up ratings since the previous episode with her was the most-watched episode of Night Owls. This incident could trigger Jack’s full mental breakdown. 

Both possibilities could be true because they reach the same conclusion: how far someone is willing to go for success and how that breaks them. 

Digging Deeper With Demons And Devils 

One of Late Night With the Devil’s most standout quotes comes from Lily. To paraphrase, she says everyone has demons. She’s just better at controlling hers. Demons come in literal and metaphorical forms here.

The demon inside Lily is the most outwardly scary, but Jack’s inner demons are the most threatening. Guilt and ambition are the two most dangerous for him. His quest to be the most popular late-night talk show host costs him everything. His reputation, his wife, and eventually his own life. He may survive the night, but not really, because he’s going to prison and fully traumatized. 

His guilt over his wife’s death is probably the driving force that brings her to Night Owls on Halloween. In a Variety interview, Dastmalchian offers his perspective on Madeleine’s appearance. He thinks it may be rooted in love and anger: 

Jack feels guilty for whatever part he plays in her death. Even if he didn’t really sacrifice Madeleine with The Grove, his guilt may lie in neglecting her because of his career. It could be because she got lung cancer and he’s a smoker, or it could be because he does assist in her death. 

The dagger death scene likely doesn’t happen as shown in Jack’s hell loop, but maybe she did ask him to ease her pain by doing something that helps her die, such as taking her off life support, providing her with pills, or even something as intense as suffocating her or lethal injection. 

A death by suicide story is a prominent part of the Christou segment, and maybe that means nothing or maybe it’s there to haunt Jack for helping Madeleine choose to end her suffering. If Jack has done a ritual that caused her death, his deep-rooted guilt haunts him. 

Jack’s Sacrifice In Late Night With The Devil 

Another interesting quote is said by D’Abo. To summarize, he says good and evil don’t exist. Only desire exists and how you try to achieve it. This sums up Jack. He’s a morally gray character led by his desire for success. 

In a MonsterFest interview, Late Night with the Devil directors Colin and Cameron Cairnes mention Jack’s moral grayness as being a nod to some of the main characters from the best 70s movies.  He literally brings the devil to his audience to win Halloween sweeps. 

It doesn’t matter if Jack is having a mental breakdown or if real demonic activity happens because he sacrificed his wife in some way. He’s grappling with the reality that his actions and behavior led to her demise. 

He also sacrificed his own life to please us, the viewers. He begs us to turn away. This symbolizes his wanting to escape his imprisonment of having to cater to an audience. He can’t let us go and we can’t let him. This ends with him fully sacrificing his life and future to win us over. 

Late Night with the Devil leaves room to fill in blanks as we see fit. This amplifies the intense and fascinating experience of the movie.

You can see more of what David Dastmachian had to say about the film in CinemaBlend’s exclusive interview. 

Rent/buy Late Night with the Devil on Amazon.

Love Lies Bleeding pumps you full of adrenaline and leaves you scratching your head by the end. It’s a sexy, violent, and a little bit mad movie. It’s one of the great neo-noir crime flicks. Kristen Stewart gives another great performance in Love Lies Bleeding, and Katy M. O’Brian is equally enthralling in this breakout role. Love Lies Bleeding is hilarious at times with its surreal look at crime, love, and bodybuilding. The film has many WTF moments but the Love Lies Bleeding ending might be the biggest one. 

It borders the lines of reality and fantasy with an ending that escalates, cools down, escalates, and ends on a perfect final image. The Love Lies Bleeding ending ties up the movie but leaves a lot of questions that make you wonder what’s real and what’s fantasy.  Let’s dig into it.

Warning Love Lies Bleeding spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution. 

What Happened At The End Of Love Lies Bleeding 

Lou Sr. (Ed Harris) kidnaps Jackie (Katy M. O’Brian) and plans to pin all the murders on her to free himself and Lou (Kristen Stewart) from facing any consequences. However, Lou warns him to let Jackie go or she’ll tell the police everything. He scolds her and hangs up. He sends one of his men to kill Lou. This leads to a shoot-out.

Lou manages to kill her father’s hired killer and heads to rescue Jackie. After a confrontation with Beth (Jena Malone), Lou saves Jackie. Jackie is not happy to see her because of the assumed affair with Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov). The women talk it out and then Lou goes to find Lou Sr. She tells Jackie to go the opposite way.

Lou Sr. shoots Lou in the leg. The two talk as Lou says the police are on their way. Lou Sr. tortures his daughter a bit by sticking his finger in her gun wound. Then plans to kill her. However, Jackie turns into a huge version of herself and picks him up.

Lou then places a gun in his mouth but doesn’t shoot. She and Jackie leave him for the police to handle. We then see Jackie and Lou on the road. Jackie falls asleep. Then Lou goes to check on Daisy’s body. Daisy is partly alive, so Lou strangles her. Then dumps her in the field and has a smoke. 

How Perception Is Key To The Ending 

The Love Lies Bleeding ending can be taken at face value. Jackie suddenly transforms into a giant. However, it seems more complicated than just Jackie turning massive. The perception of Jackie offers some insight and clues into why she suddenly grows. 

Love Lies Bleeding is a love story and when people are in love, they often only see their partners as brilliant, beautiful creatures, at least at the start of the relationship. When Jackie returns to save Lou from her father, she is probably a normal size but Lou looks at her with such admiration, that she imagines her as this huge goddess-like creature. Some of the best romance movies also have an inflated gaze at the object of affection. 

In an interview with The Mary Sue, Love Lies Bleeding director, Rose Glass, kind of supports this theory of Lou having this elevated perception of Jackie in the end. 

The other way perception can work in this scene is that Jackie envisions herself becoming this goddess. She has always been obsessed with her strength and body. Jackie aims to push it beyond belief and may see herself achieving this when she saves Lou. The giant version is a physical manifestation of accomplishing the goal of using her strength in the best possible way. 

We also must remember that Jackie has kind of lost her mind. She’s been overdosing on steroids and dealing with the guilt and trauma of murdering several people. She could be fully imagining herself as a giant saving Lou. I believe most of the otherworldly stuff happening in Love Lies Bleeding is a metaphor for the characters’ perceptions or mental states. Therefore, I don’t believe Jackie actually turns into a giant. Someone is just projecting that idea of her in this heroic moment. 

The Toxicity Of Love In Love Lies Bleeding 

Love Lies Bleeding is a great queer love story because it shows the complexities of falling in love. It’s not all rainbows and sunshine. It can reach levels of toxicity. Lou and Jackie’s romance follows similar patterns to other romance movies that end up in dark places. Like some of those films, Jackie and Lou reach dangerous levels of codependency and moral grayness. They do end up both killers after all, and kill for each other. 

Love Lies Bleeding showcases the extremes people go to for love. We also see this with Daisy’s obsession with Lou and how that ultimately leads to her death. Then we see this again with Beth and her willingness to endure because she loves and depends on JJ (Dave Franco). Lou also sacrifices some of her life because she loves Beth and doesn’t want to leave her alone with JJ and Lou Sr. 

In an interview with West Side Today, Glass mentions how films often oversimplify the idea of love. They only show it as a transformative thing in a positive way. They don’t show how it can push people to their most selfish and most destructive selves. 

Jackie and Lou are in the early stages of their relationship, so despite everything that has happened, they’re in a blissful haze. Once that clears, they may not be so happy with all the things they did for love and to be together. The Love Lies Bleeding ending shows this possibly sobering reality with how it starts with them running happily to travel the world and escape their crimes, then ends on a somber, harsh note. They still have to get rid of Daisy’s body.

Love can lift you up but also pull you down to the pits of hell.

The Fate Of Daisy And Why It’s Important To Lou’s Fate 

In an LA Times interview, Glass states that everyone eventually becomes their parents. This is the unfortunate fate of Lou. She may not become a ruthless kingpin criminal like Lou Sr. However, she has now inherited some of his attributes. Lou saw herself as more righteous and morally superior to her father, but killing Daisy, who was annoying but not deserving of death, shows she has his capacity for darkness and evil.

She can justify it to protect someone she loves. Lou Sr. may have started the same way. Lou Sr. even points out that she would like to believe she’s nothing like him, but she’s probably a lot like him. The film ending with Lou smoking is a funny nod to her trying to quit throughout Love Lies Bleeding. It also shows that she can’t escape bad patterns: smoking and murder. 

Because Love Lies Bleeding plays with reality, it’s unclear whether Daisy is really still alive. However, it doesn’t matter. Lou’s true colors are shown whether she really strangles a barely alive Daisy or just fantasizes about it. She has Lou Sr.’s darkness. In the same West Side Today interview, Glass explained how horrible deeds are all part of the film’s message.

Love can be wonderful but it can also make you terrible. That’s one of the takeaways from the Love Lies Bleeding ending. Lou and Jackie’s love story is mesmerizing and romantic at times but it’s also chaotic and destructive. It’s the duality of love. 

Love Lies Bleeding is one of A24’s most interesting movies. It breaks the boundaries of reality and showcases all the bliss of falling in love with some gritty, dark aspects. We all go a little mad in love, just hopefully not to the extremes of Love Lies Bleeding.

Rent or buy Love Lies Bleeding on Amazon. 

The Stranger is a Hulu hit. However, it technically isn’t an original for the popular streaming service. Quibi birthed it. For those who have long forgotten the legend of Quibi, it was a streaming service that encouraged subscribers to watch bite-size episodes on mobile devices. It was an innovative concept that ultimately had too many issues to survive; launching and shutting down in 2020. Despite its flaws, the streamer had many positive aspects, including allowing creators to own their work - an often foreign concept in the entertainment business. This Quibi policy is why a new audience can enjoy The Stranger ending.

Based on the trailer, you may expect The Stranger to be another rideshare thriller, similar to Ride and Spree. However, the movie quickly diverges from that concept. Instead, it turns into an interesting cat-and-mouse thriller that tackles socially relevant issues, such as police brutality, the #MeToo Movement, and toxic masculinity. Exploring toxic masculinity and the #MeToo Movement helps the success of The Stranger ending. The end makes the film worth the ride.

Warning: The Stranger spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution. 

What Happened At The End Of The Stranger? 

Carl E. (Dane DeHaan) drugs and leaves a tied-up JJ (Avan Jogia) in a closed bathroom stall. Then he rigs a machine to explode and create bullet holes. The police react on impulse and shoot the stall. Clare (Maika Monroe) realizes Carl’s plan but she’s too late to stop JJ’s murder. She then leaves the police station seemingly giving up on defeating Carl.

She gives Pebbles, her dog, to a shelter. We then see her climbing an abandoned bridge or viaduct in an extremely isolated LA area. She has Pebbles’ leash in her hand. It appears that Clare will become the statistic that Carl predicted and die by suicide. He calls to taunt her. Carl E. also reveals that he obtained Pebbles from the shelter.

As he drives on to celebrate his victory, Clare throws the leash at his car window. This makes him lose control and crash. He hurts his leg to the point where he can hardly move. Clare reveals that she tracked him using Pebbles’ chip, just like he did to track her. This was all an orchestrated revenge plan. 

Carl continues to taunt her even with a gun pointed at him. He demands her help. Clare commands Pebbles to kill and she gives a pretty pathetic growl, which makes Carl laugh.

Instead of shooting him, Clare picks up her dog and walks away. Then a bunch of coyotes appear because of Pebbles’ call. Carl tries to get his phone but ends up just recording his death as the coyotes descend on him. Clare and Pebbles safely leave as they hear Carl’s screams.

How Clare Gets Revenge 

Clare learns and enacts several of Carl’s tricks before causing his death. She manipulates him by playing on his belief in the algorithm behind a person’s fate. He thinks he can break her so much that she’ll decide to die instead of live. He also knows her undying love and devotion to Pebbles. Therefore, he jumps on the opportunity to grab the dog as one final act of trauma to inflict on Clare. Carl’s brand of evil becomes so predictable that Clare preys on it. 

She knows how to exploit his ego, arrogance, sense of superiority, and psychotic nature to use his tricks on him. Clare also becomes a true predator by carefully making this plan. She finds out how to call the coyotes using Pebbles, teaches Pebbles the call, and remembers the coyotes' location. 

This careful planning allows Clare to have a revenge movie-style victory. The Stranger ending delivers an entertaining twist and power shift that makes the film thrilling. Instead of becoming another film where the villain wins, it becomes an epic display of female empowerment. 

Why Carl E’s Death Represents A Win For Women 

The Stranger creator, Veena Sud, creates an irredeemable villain. Dane DeHaan brings this demonic man to life in another impressive performance. Unlike some of his other villain characters, he didn’t see the good in Carl E. In an interview with Flickering Myth, DeHaan talked about Carl E being a man who did bad things because he is just a plain and simple bad dude. The character represents a collective of people, especially men, who revel in hurting others, especially women. Clare has faced a lot of trauma in her life.

You learn that she was sexually assaulted, harassed, and stalked by her teacher. Then no one believed her when she tried to report him. All during the film, she’s terrorized by Carl. He even kills one of the few people she cares about. Clare is an innocent victim who finally gets some justice.

Seeing her kill this very evil man is a cathartic moment. It has shades of Game of Thrones (if you know you know) and a true victory to abuse survivors. Sud intended this with The Stranger ending, which she explains during an Entertainment Weekly interview:

The Stranger ending delivers, because you can’t help but feel triumph after Clare allows the coyotes to kill Carl. It’s a victory for her but a symbolic victory for victims. The bad guy loses in this one. 

The Pros And Cons Of Technology In The Stranger And How It Helps Clare In The End 

Technology plays a major role in The Stranger. The film shows many drawbacks of technology, especially in how it can make people vulnerable to predators. Carl E. has a really important line about opening your doors to monsters when you share too much on social media. The surveillance nature and oversharing of technology become a major part of how Carl stalks his victims.

Despite the problems with tech, this isn’t a "fear technology" movie. It’s more of a cautionary tale on what could happen when you grant too much access to your life online. However, the film doesn’t completely depict technology as an evil entity. Without it, Clare doesn’t get her revenge on Carl. Pebbles’ chip allows her to turn Carl into the prey and her into the hunter.

This aspect of The Stranger ending shows the importance of using technology wisely. While talking about his own relationship with social media and technology, DeHaan echoes this sentiment in his Flickering Myth interview: 

Carl represents the dangerous elements of technology and social media, while Clare showcases some of the crucial ways it helps. It doesn’t just allow her to get revenge but offers a way to connect. We see her looking at JJ’s old contact information. This symbolizes her grief over his death but also her having his number and contact in her phone as a way to honor him. 

The Stranger is the best movie to watch on Hulu right now. It’s a great psychological thriller that gives a very satisfying conclusion.

Stream The Stranger on Hulu.

Wild Things is a movie often talked about because of its famous threesome scene. However, we should remember it for all of the wild twists. Wild Things starts with rich teen Kelly (Denise Richards) attempting to seduce her guidance counselor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon). Things escalate from there and continue to build until it becomes so complicated, you'll need the Wild Things ending explained. 

The film doesn’t take itself seriously, which helped make it one of the defining movies of the ‘90s. It may not be one of the best movies of that decade, but it leaves an impression. People may have watched Wild Things for some explicit content but found themselves engulfed in the many twists and the Wild Things ending. 

Warning Wild Things Spoilers Ahead. Proceed with caution.

What Happened At The End Of Wild Things

Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon) is dismissed from his job after killing Kelly in an alleged self-defense shooting. The investigation finds him innocent of no wrongdoing, so no charges are filed. The next scene reveals that Ray and Sam have been working together. The men go sailing on Sam’s boat. Sam attempts to kill Ray by making him fall off it. Ray manages to climb back on. Then Suzie (Neve Campbell) reveals that she faked her death.

She kills Ray, kills Sam, and rides off on his boat. A few mid-credits scenes explain how Suzie masterminded the entire scheme. She blackmailed Sam by obtaining photos of his affair with Kelly. Then she orchestrates Sam and Ray becoming friends. This is to get Ray involved in the many crimes. Suzie also stages her death, including removing her teeth. 

We also see that Ray killed Kelly not in self-defense but purposefully. Suzie meets with Kenneth (Bill Murray) and gives her a briefcase full of money and a check. 

All The Reveals  

Wild Things has so many plot turns that you may need a recap of all the crazy twists leading up to the final one. The first twist is the rape accusation. Kelly clearly tries to seduce Sam, so her accusations of sexual assault come out of nowhere. The next twist is Suzie corroborating Kelly’s story. We know the girls don’t like each other, so this seems strange for both of them to lie.

The next twist is the courtroom scene where the teen girls confirm their lies. The fact that Sam, Kelly, and Suzie are all working together is the next twist. After that one, the next is that Sam is trying to kill Suzie and Kelly, and Ray suspects everything. Ray working with Sam offers another twist. Then we have Suzie still being alive. The final twist is that Suzie masterminded everything. Some may consider that Ray killed Kelly in cold blood a twist, but it seems fairly obvious. 

The twist about Suzie orchestrating everything puts Wild Things in the same league as some other crime thrillers with shocking twists. However, the twists become one too many. By the time you get to the Ray and Sam working together twist, you know a few more are coming. In an Independent interview, Wild Things screenwriter Stephen Peters revealed that all the twists were aimed as a satire of movies like Basic Instinct, trademark ‘90s erotic thrillers. 

Wild Things' many twists add to the experience and make it more fun than some similar movies that take themselves too seriously.

Suzie’s Revenge  

The Wild Things ending reframes the story. It starts as this confusing tale of young girls trying to destroy an innocent man for rejecting one of them. Then it turns into this crime drama. Finally, it ends as a revenge tale. The film establishes that one of the motivations for Suzie is to get revenge on Ray for killing her friend Davey. The opening scene sets up a lot of what comes later in Wild Things. Suzie storms out of the assembly when she sees Ray and even expresses disdain for him.

We don’t know their history, but we know it isn’t good. The opening moments also start with Sam giving a lecture on sex crimes. This foreshadows that the main part of the storyline revolves around sexual assault or the appearance of it. The first confrontation between Ray and Suzie establishes the importance of the volatility between them. It's what drives Suzie. 

Suzie isn’t just getting revenge on Ray, but Sam, and maybe Kelly as well. She mentions during the trial how Ray abandoned her when she needed him. This action makes her drag him into this plan and blackmail him. We don’t know Suzie and Kelly’s real relationship because most of what we see is part of the whole act.

However, we can assume that Kelly had been cruel to Suzie in the past. Therefore, this could have been revenge on her for her past behavior. Even if Suzie has no direct grievance against Kelly, she could just want revenge for what she represents: the rich.

Classism plays a major part in Wild Things. Minus Kelly, all the main players aren’t wealthy. They’re the others of this world. That’s partly how they’re enticed into this money scheme. Suzie is the poorest of them all. In a Flashback Files interview, Wild Things director John McNaughton discussed the political nature of the film because of Suzie becoming the victor. 

Suzie gets revenge on Ray, Sam, Kelly, and the rich. Therefore, this action gives Wild Things a sort-of eat-the-rich vibe, but not quite since Suzie also eats the middle class.  

How Wild Things Plays With Misdirection 

Wild Things has a lot of twists, but it tells you about them. So much of the dialogue points to what’s to come. In one scene, Ray casually tells Jimmy (Cory Pendergast) that you never know the true self or intentions of someone. This is a not-too-subtle wink to the audience because everyone is lying. However, you see hints of people’s true identities and intentions throughout. Wild Things just tries to make you doubt your instincts. 

For example, Ray comes off as shady, especially when interacting with Suzie. Then he turns into “the hero” of the film by trying to save the girls and expose Sam. Sam is a known womanizer and wannabe social climber. However, at the start of Wild Things, he comes off as innocent. Someone with an upstanding character. This is to make you trust that he would never sleep with teenagers, especially students. Suzie never seems dumb, but suddenly, she becomes anxious and a liability when Ray questions her. 

Wild Things often misdirects the viewers to make the twists land. It works because you start to believe things, despite them not going along with your initial perception of characters and situations. 

Wild Things is one of the best sexy thrillers. It’s also one of the films that succeeds because the twists are fun and the ending adds to the craziness of the movie.

Stream Wild Things on Netflix. 

Warning: SPOILERS for Immaculate are about to be in play. If you haven’t read this chapter from the Book of Sydney Sweeney yet, you’ve been warned. 

Holy wow! I’d heard stories about the ending to director Michael Mohan’s Immaculate being something else, but after experiencing it myself, I have to agree. The wild as hell ending to Sydney Sweeney’s nunsploitation horror show from the 2024 movie schedule is something you really do need to see to believe.

But even after seeing every gory detail, you’re probably going to want some answers. And thankfully, I can provide those to you, and then some. Consider this feature an Immaculate bible study, where we really dig into what happened, what could come next and whether or not that viral T-shirt worthy reaction to Neon’s latest is truly warranted.

So if you haven’t seen it for yourself, consider this our warning and blessing to read on once you’ve caught up. With that said, it’s time to dive into some literal holy dread as we unpack Immaculate’s final act. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the spoilers.

What Happened In Immaculate's Ending?

After relocating to an Italian convent in the wake of her own parish closing, Sister Cecilia Jones (Sydney Sweeney) becomes the receiver of an immaculate conception. Progressing through her pregnancy with an increasing amount of unease, Immaculate’s young heroine learns the truth about the child she’s carrying and tries to escape. After some unsuccessful attempts, Sister Cecilia finally makes it to the outside, where she gives birth to the unseen child. 

This is after an intense moment of extended pain and anguish, as we see Sydney Sweeney soaked in blood, screaming as she delivers her baby through a close-up on her face. Chewing through the baby’s umbilical cord, Immaculate treats us to one shocker of an ending, as we see Cecilia smash the baby with a rock.

Only we still don’t see the baby, but rather watch this event through the perspective of the child itself, with the movie smashing to black as the stone comes down. And if you thought that was wild, wait until you learn how and why this baby came to be in the first place. 

What Was The Convent's Ultimate Plan?

I have to give Immaculate writer Andrew Lobel a huge tip of the hat for what he did with this story that, on the surface, feels like it’s been told before. In light of the couple weeks separating the release of Neon’s religious thriller and 20th Century Studios’ The First Omen, I was afraid that the comparisons between the two would turn into a bit of a competition.

As it turns out, this story is a very different case of religious conception, and it’s all thanks to the plot headed up by convent leader Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte). Don’t let his dreamy looks and reverent nature fool you, the former man of science is one of the driving forces behind trying to bring the second coming of Christ into the world, and he’s used his advanced degrees to try and make it happen.

During a scene of exposition after Immaculate sees Sister Cecilia fail to escape on her first attempt to flee the convent, Father Sal reveals that for at least 20 years, he’s been running a lab that’s tried to resurrect Jesus. Through DNA taken from blood on one of the spikes present at the Crucifixion, and a lot of genetic profiling, several failed attempts took place, including one involving Sister Isabelle (Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi), who killed herself after learning that Sister Cecilia’s efforts were more fruitful.

Immaculate's Ending Felt Open And Shut, Until I Read The Director's Pitch For A Sydney Sweeney Sequel

Admittedly, the ending to Immaculate doesn’t outright tease any sort of follow-up. With Cecilia torching the convent’s lab, and her unseen child dead by her own hand, it all feels pretty open and shut. At least, it did until I read director Michael Mohan’s pitch for a sequel that only got my mental wheels spinning even faster.

While there’s a debate as to whether Sydney Sweeney’s holy final girl survives this ordeal or not, I’m ready to squash that ambiguity in favor of Mohan’s concept for Immaculate 2. Speaking with our in-house ReelBlend podcast, Mohan planted the seed for that continuation with the following remarks: 

The first thing that came to mind when I heard those words was Ms. Sweeney storming both of these labs in two long-take sequences that make up the two halves of this potential Immaculate sequel. Basically, if you took The Raid and spliced it with The Omen, you’d have what I’m imagining for what I’d like to call Immaculate 2: The Unholy Trinity.

We can workshop the title later, as it’s unclear if we’ll even see a sequel to Immaculate. However, this pitch does bring me to one final wild twist of my own. And if you know my mind and movie tastes, you probably saw this coming the minute our discussion turned to resurrecting ancient beings through recovered DNA.

Why Immaculate's Third Act Reminded Me Of Jurassic Park

To paraphrase the great Dr. Ian Malcolm, this splinter cell of religious practitioners were so preoccupied with whether they could bring Jesus back, that they never stopped to think about if they should. Immaculate hammered that home pretty hard, and now Sydney Sweeney’s Cecilia is potentially ready to travel to two more sites to teach that very lesson. Which makes me think that this movie shares a lot of DNA with Jurassic Park. 

The concept of multiple labs working towards this common goal feels like such a nod to the story of The Lost World: Jurassic Park; right down to Sister Cecilia being the survivor that wants to shut it all down. Also, recovering Jesus’ DNA from the spikes of his crucifixion is straight from the original text, making me think that Michael Crichton renaissance I’ve been hoping for is closer than I think. Perhaps those Raptor Jesus memes from past eras of internet history weren't as far off as they thought.

I’d like to think that this wild recounting and thought process surrounding Immaculate’s ending may have converted some of you to my school of thought. But if you happen to have read through this rundown and haven’t seen the movie yet, you should definitely head to a theater near you and enjoy this holy terror. 

For now, here endeth the lesson, and I shall send you out into the world to spread the biblically bonkers gospel of Sister Cecilia and her case of perpetual horror. However, before you depart into the world, don't forget that the world of upcoming horror movies is always just a click away, with The First Omen raising its own hell in the weeks to come.

Major, major spoilers for Netflix’s One Day are ahead! If you haven’t streamed the miniseries, you can check it out with a Netflix subscription. 

If you ask basically anyone who tuned into One Day when it dropped on the 2024 TV schedule, they’ll likely tell you that the ending ruined them. The series, based on the 2009 novel of the same name by David Nicholls, follows two friends, Emma and Dexter, across two decades. As they fight, fall in love and support each other, the audience falls for them as we check in with them on the same day, July 15, every year for 20 years. However, everything is brutally ripped away when Emma unexpectedly dies in the penultimate episode.   

One Day’s unexpected ending is brutal, yet beautiful and real. It forces you to reflect on Emma and Dexter’s entire relationship, and it teaches viewers the power of a single interaction. So, with all that being said, let’s dive into the tragic conclusion of this epic love story. 

How Netflix’s One Day Ends 

Like the final section of the book, which we’ll talk about next, the last episode of One Day shows three anniversaries following Emma’s death while flashing back to the day after they met when they went to Arthur’s Seat. Dexter says on the first anniversary that “it’s just a day,” but clearly it’s not – July 15 doesn’t just mark the day they became friends, it’s also Emma’s death day.

So, breaking down the anniversaries, on the first one, Dexter gets drunk. Ultimately he ends up at his ex-wife Sylvie’s house and his daughter Jasmine sees him. However, Sylvie helps him though, and then takes him to his dad’s house. Then it flashes back to Emma and Dexter when she visited his house the first year they met, and he’s thinking about them reading Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d'Urbervilles while they discuss how death is “sly and unseen.” Meanwhile, in the present, his dad tells him to try and live his life as if Emma is still there. 

That takes us to the second anniversary, where all of Emma and Dex’s friends show up to support him on this tragic day. It’s really awkward, but the sentiment is nice. After they leave he chugs a glass of some sort of alcohol and goes into a room of unpacked boxes where he starts living as if his partner were there. Meaning, that he talks to an imaginary Emma who tells him he can throw away the stuff, but not the photos. 

Emma (or Dexter’s inner monologue rather) is going over everything that’s happened and if he’ll ever be able to not feel so much pain, and eventually she tells him that eventually it won’t all hurt as much. 

Finally, on the third anniversary, Dexter goes back to Edinburgh, where he met Emma, and the flashbacks to the first day they met start flashing by -- forcing us to think about how integral and meaningful that first day was. In the present, Dex, his daughter and his dad go to the town together, and she asks about Arthur’s Seat. Just like the first day he met Emma, they do the climb, and he trails behind his daughter.

One Day then flashes back to Dex and Emma walking down the hill, and Emma gives almost the exact same monologue that’s in the book. She tells him that she’s “not being a footnote” in the story of Dexter’s life. Oh, she was anything but, she was the whole story.

We then see the moments that follow, and Dexter chases Emma down so they can exchange phone numbers. They kiss, the series flashes to all the kisses they shared, and it’s an absolutely heartwarming and heart-shattering moment as you come to terms with the fact that this is the first day of their lovely lives together, but also the anniversary of the saddest days of their lives. 

How It Compares To The Book’s Ending 

Overall, the book One Day ends the same way the show does. With David Nicholls serving as an executive producer on his book-to-screen adaptation, that makes a whole lot of sense. 

The final section of the book opens with the same quote from Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d'Urbervilles I mentioned earlier, which says:

Following the quote, the novel flashes between Dexter and Emma’s first day together and the anniversaries following her death, making the point clear that one moment and one person can dramatically change one’s life forever. 

On the first anniversary of Emma's death, Dexter gets wasted, and Sylvie ends up driving him to his dad's house, where his father says almost exactly what he says in the show. 

The second anniversary brings the biggest differences. In the book, Dex calls everyone, whereas in the show they show up at his house. Then, like in the series, he goes through Emma’s boxes, reminiscing.

Finally, the third anniversary involves Dex, his daughter and his girlfriend (who isn’t in the show) going back to Edinburgh. He shows Jasmine around his school, and they climb up to Arthur’s Seat.

Then, like the show, the book ends with the final flashback to Emma and Dexter climbing down the hill, her telling him she won’t let this relationship be some meaningless moment, and them saying “goodbye” on the first day they met. Finally, the book closes with the two sharing “the sweetest kiss that either of them would ever know.”

With Nicholls serving as EP, and with a dedicated team behind the show, the ending of One Day is uber faithful to the book. It hammers home the central thesis of the story regarding the power of love and a single interaction, and it shows viewers just how life-altering Emma and Dexter’s meeting was. 

The Power Of Flashing Between Dexter Grieving Emma And His First Day With Her 

In the book One Day, the first section about the first day they spent together starts with a Charles Dickens quote from Great Expectations. It reads, in part:

That day for Emma and Dexter – at both the beginning of their relationship and the end – was July 15. It fundamentally changed them, their views of the world and the way they went about life. Without that day after graduation, the next 20 years wouldn’t have played out how they did, and their epic love story wouldn’t have happened. 

By flashing between this faithful first day and Dexter grieving Emma's death in the town they met, the point of One Day is made abundantly clear. The cycle of life and the butterfly effect of single moments becomes unavoidable in the way One Day ends. Emma and Dexter created this bond, a "long chain of iron" that was complex and loving and one-of-a-kind. None of that would have happened without everything we saw throughout the 20 years of their relationship on July 15. 

And, while you were likely pulling for the tissues as you grieved with Dexter, it’s also truly wonderful, because it shows the powerful love they shared while also illuminating exactly how life goes for everyone. 

Overall, the ending of One Day is sad, tragic, beautiful, contemplative and very faithful to the book it’s based on. To go back and see the show in its entirety and how it all impacts the final moments of the series, you can binge it on Netflix now. 

When I originally saw All of Us Strangers at the 59th Chicago International Film Festival, I left the theater in awe of the movie and performances. I was also stunned by the ending. I immediately knew I wanted to dig deeper into it. It’s an ending that shocks you, but also leaves so much to unpack.

This film had a big impact on me in 2023 because of some of its themes, including love, loss, and loneliness. It’s one of the best movies that discuss grief. It tackles the subject in a way that feels more grounded in reality than some films, and shows it as something ever-present that never truly goes away. The All of Us Strangers ending explores that and more.  

Warning: All of Us Strangers spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution. 

What Happened At The End Of All Of Us Strangers? 

Adam (Andrew Scott) brings Harry (Paul Mescal) to his parents’ home to meet them. They refuse to let them in and, and in a panic, Adam freaks out and breaks a window. Harry leaves him. Adam wakes up back in his childhood home with his parents. They discuss Harry and Adam’s relationship. Then his parents tell him that they must leave. They notice how this situation is not good for him.

Adam pleads with them but they must move on so he can as well. The child and parents go on one last outing to his favorite diner. His parents say their goodbyes before slowly fading away. His dad fades first and then his mother, after losing her eyesight — similar to their deaths.

He arrives back at his flat but ends up at Harry’s apartment and notices a really bad smell. The TV is on and the place looks like it hasn’t been touched in a while. Eventually, he finds Harry’s dead body in his bedroom. Harry’s ghost appears. He breaks down about his death and the fact that no one has discovered his body yet. 

Adam comforts him and asks him to go upstairs with him. They lie in Adam’s bed together, talk some, and then drift to sleep. “Power of Love” plays in the background.

What Happened To Harry? 

The All of Us Strangers ending makes it clear that Harry died before they began their relationship. After Adam closed the door on Harry, he went to his apartment, drank himself to death, and possibly overdosed on drugs. It’s unclear if Harry intentionally died by suicide or was so depressed that he continued to engage in destructive behavior, like drinking and drugs, until it accidentally killed him.

It doesn’t really matter if he died by suicide or accidentally. The point is that he was so lonely and scared that he engaged in behavior that ended his life. All of Harry and Adam’s relationship happens after he dies. The conversation between Adam and Harry at the end heavily implies that Harry is also about to fade away. Like Adam’s parents, he is also about to move on. 

This is another movie that thoughtfully talks about depression. Harry’s “sad eyes” are because of his own life tragedies. He doesn’t have his family because of his feeling of being an outsider in it. Then he has no friends and only starts a solid relationship with Adam after his death. Harry, in some ways, is also a cautionary tale to Adam. Don’t close yourself off so much that you are alone in the end.  

The Hope In The Tragic Ending 

It’s easy to interpret the All Of Us Strangers ending as sad and tragic. However, it’s more bittersweet if anything. Adam is likely about to be alone again, but his relationship with his parents and Harry allows him to do some emotional healing. His parents have given him some closure. Adam will never stop grieving them (as his mother states, there will never be enough time with them), but now they've at least gotten to know him. They accept and love him. Adam resolves one of the major things holding him back from love. 

Harry is dead, so Adam experiences another loss, but he also experiences more love. Harry opened his heart to romantic love again. Even at the end, Harry tells him to not close his heart to love, and Adam seems to accept that message. We see a different Adam from the start of All of Us Strangers to the end of it. He won’t continue to isolate himself from the world. 

He will go find love again. Additionally, Adam and Harry’s love story answers the age-old question: Is it better to have loved and lost or to never have loved at all? The film argues it’s better to have loved and lost. Just because there is no happy ending for Adam and his parents, or Adam and Harry, doesn’t make these relationships and love any less important. The pure existence of them makes it all worth having, even if they end. 

Adam also realizes that if he let Harry in at the beginning of the film, Harry would have had a different fate. This makes him see the importance of not pushing someone away. They may need you. All of Us Strangers director Andrew Haigh expands on this idea in a Time interview: 

Adam (probably) doesn’t regret not opening the door for Harry at that moment, because they still have a love story. Just because it happens after Harry’s death doesn’t negate the impact and power of it. Let’s look at it this way: Some people discover their favorite artist after that artist’s death. Their death doesn’t diminish the impact and power of their work and life. Sometimes it makes it even more meaningful. Death doesn’t make love any less meaningful.

The Importance Of The Power Of Love 

“The Power of Love” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood plays a few times in the film. It’s one of those perfect movie music moments. The song basically sums up why the All of Us Strangers ending is hopeful even in its sadness. It talks about how love has a way of healing the soul. The film is also about the ways love heals if you open yourself up to it, even after deep loss. 

In the same Time interview, Haigh explained his use of the song and its importance to the LGBTQ+ experience of the ‘80s and his youth: 

One part of “The Power of Love” says “death-defying love for you,” which could basically summarize one of All of Us Strangers’ messages: Even in death, love cannot be destroyed. The song also mentions “make love your goal.” No matter how life may hurt you, don’t ever stop loving. 

On the surface, the story may seem tragic but it’s really a beautiful way of looking at love and loss. The pain of losing someone crushes your soul, but the love you get from it and after it, makes the whole journey worth it. Death cannot destroy love.

All of Us Strangers is one of the best movies of 2023 and one of the best LGBTQ+ romance movies ever. It’s a film that stays with you in both a hopeful and heartbreaking manner. 

Stream All of Us Strangers on Hulu.

Yorgos Lanthimos’s films show that he appreciates the strange and unusual, because they are often strange and unusual. We have seen examples of this with Poor Things, The Lobster, and even to some degree, The Favourite. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is probably his most strange. It is traumatic and marvelous. 

It is hard to define this film because it crosses genres. This helps make it a memorable movie experience. The Killing of a Sacred Deer ending especially leaves a lasting impression. The film forces Steven (Colin Farrell) to make an impossible decision. However, does he ever really have a choice?

Warning: The Killing Of A Sacred Deer Spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution. 

What Happened At The End Of The Killing Of A Sacred Deer? 

After a few failed attempts to make Martin lift his curse, and Steven still torn between which family member to kill, Bob’s (Sunny Suljic) eyes begin to bleed. This means Steven must decide who to kill. He gathers the family in the living room. Steven tapes them to various pieces of furniture, tapes their mouths, and places a pillowcase over the heads of Bob, Anna (Nicole Kidman), and Kim (Raffey Cassidy). He then covers his eyes with a hat and spins with a loaded rifle. He lands on Kim and misses. He tries again and lands on Anna and also misses. Finally, he lands on Bob and succeeds. Steven kills Bob.

Sometime later, Martin (Barry Keoghan) sees the family (minus Bob) in the diner. The film ends with them all walking out but Martin staring at them.

Did Steven Have A Choice In Who Died? 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer plays around with the idea of choices and forced destiny. It allows the audience to make conclusions about Steven’s free will. Does he actually decide who dies? In a basic yes or no way, it seems like he does because he has the option to pick which family member dies, or he can decide to let them all die. Clearly, the fact that he’s being forced to make such an impossible decision leaves him very little control of the situation. 

Steven may have even less control of the situation than he knows. Bob was always going to die. It was always Martin‘s choice and not Steven’s choice. Martin wanted Steven to sacrifice Bob and ensured it with whatever control he had over this curse. Let’s examine Steven’s attempt to kill either his wife, daughter, or son.

Steven tries to leave the decision to fate by blindly shooting. However, the gun manages to miss Anna and Kim, but perfectly lands on Bob. Now, you can argue that his blind aiming got better with each attempt. Therefore, that explains why the final shot lands on Bob. That could be true. It could also be true that Martin always planned for Bob to die. In a justice or eye for an eye sort-of-way, it makes the most sense.

Steven left Martin fatherless, so he wants to leave him sonless. Plus, at the beginning of the movie, Martin is seemingly trying to use Steven as a replacement father. Martin and Steven will likely have no more contact but in Martin’s twisted mind, maybe eliminating Bob opens the possibility of him becoming Steven’s replacement son.

Bob also was the family member most hostile towards Martin. He could have just not liked the kid and wanted him gone. Bob was also the first to experience Martin’s curse and was going to die first anyway. He seemed marked for death from the beginning. It was also the death that would hurt the family the most as the most innocent and youngest member.

Steven may have had a choice on whether to let the entire family die or not, but I don’t believe he had a choice on which family member would die. 

Is Martin Getting Revenge Or Justice? 

This all happens because Steven accidentally killed Martin’s dad. If you believe in restoring order by sacrificing one life to atone for the taking of another, then you may see Martin’s actions as justice. He avenges his father. Steven also isn’t exactly completely innocent because he was drinking before the surgery. Martin is enacting some justice for his father’s probably-could-have-been-avoided death. 

However, I think Martin’s actions are acts of revenge, not justice. We don’t know details about how exactly their relationship starts, but it seems like Martin is fine with the situation as long as Steven does everything he wants. When Steven rejects him and pushes back on dating Martin’s mother, Martin decides to put this curse on the family. 

He likely had this image that he could make Steven his new father. When he doesn’t want his mother, it begins Martin’s need for his version of justice. This justice is just revenge towards Steven for killing Martin’s father. Justice and revenge kind of live in the same world here. That’s what makes this a great revenge movie. They seem so interchangeable depending on your perspective. 

You also have to remember that Martin is grieving, and like many who lash out when in pain, this curse could seem like a way to cure that hurt. It’s an interesting film about grief because of how it’s manifested in it. 

The Art Of Uncertainty 

After watching many Lanthimos interviews and with the cast of The Killing of a Sacred Deer, the director doesn’t want to give you answers. He may know why and how things happen and have secret long backstories, but he doesn’t share them. Lanthimos lives comfortably in a world of no answers, just more questions. In an LA Times interview, the Greek director shared that part of constructing the script came with the idea of creating “an impossible equation with an impossible answer.” The layers and premise of The Killing of a Sacred Deer make it so that every way you interpret it, there is another way to see it. 

You could see Martin as the villain, but you can also see him as a grieving boy lashing out at his father’s murderer. If this was a straightforward vengeance movie, then Martin may be viewed as the hero. 

He may seem disconnected from everything, but that could be his way of grieving, or just his personality. That doesn’t mean he has no emotions. Steven is also someone who did a lot of questionable things, including surgery while intoxicated and lying to his family. However, you see more humanity in him. You see him as someone who loves his family, so it’s easier for viewers to sympathize with him.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer doesn’t provide easy answers and that’s what makes it such a fascinating film. Lanthimos further explained to Pop Matter that one of his purposes when making the movie was to allow viewers to fill in the blanks with their thoughts and interpretations:

The film works so well because it allows you to just live in its world and decide how you interpret it all. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is one of the best movies to watch if you like Barry Keoghan and if you like Colin Farrell. The film and their performances will stay with you.

For more Yorgos Lanthimos content, check out CinemaBlend’s interview with the director and Emma Stone. 

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains massive spoilers for Dune: Part Two. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

Writer/director Denis Villeneuve has a vision, and we have now seen two-thirds of it completed. With the release of Dune: Part Two, it can be said that the filmmaker has crafted the most epic and faithful adaptation possible of author Frank Herbert’s novel… but he’s not done yet. Still ahead for him is the first ever big screen take on Dune: Messiah, and knowing that makes the ending of his 2024 blockbuster all the more exciting.

While still very much being what’s on the page, Dune: Part Two’s ending is particularly exciting when you look at it through the lens of anticipating what’s to come – and it’s for that reason that I’ve put together this feature. I’ll dissect what it means to have the final moments in the film be with Chani and how events set up what’s (hopefully) on the way, but first, let’s do a quick recap of what plays out in the movie’s final scenes:

What Happens At The End Of Dune: Part Two

With Paul prepared to use his family’s nuclear weapon cache to completely destroy the universe’s one source of the spice melange, he challenges Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV to name a champion to defend his throne in a duel – offering to depose him while also agreeing to marry his daughter, Princess Irulan (a declaration that shocks Chani). The Emperor naturally chooses Feyd-Rautha, and while Gurney Halleck volunteers to fight on Paul’s behalf, Muad'dib chooses to fight for himself.

Face to face for the first time, Paul greets Feyd-Rautha as a cousin, but the familial connection offers only a touch of surprise and no sympathy (in fact, Feyd successfully turns the reveal into a threat). With blades in hand, the two of them begin to fight, and it is a ferocious battle. When Paul is stabbed in the chest, he appears to be doomed, and the move earns shocked reactions from those assembled, but he is able to get the upper hand and delivers a fatal blow with a stab to his opponent’s abdomen. Paul goes over to the Emperor and has him kneel at his feet and kiss the ring. At this, everyone else in the room kneels… with the exception of Chani, who stands defiantly before leaving the room.

As chants of “Lisan al Gaib” ring out, Paul gets word that the other great houses have rejected his threat to destroy Arrakis, and Fremen army and ships take flight for the jihad ahead. As Alia askes Jessica what is happening, the Reverend Mother confirms to the unborn Alia that a holy war has begun. Beyond this celebration, Chani finds herself alone in the Arrakis desert. She plants a thumper to call a worm, prepares her hooks to travel far away, and as we witness her determined face, the film cuts to black.

Why Is Chani So Furious At The End Of Dune: Part Two?

Of the few but impactful changes Villeneuve makes from the source material with Dune: Part Two, the depth provided to Zendaya’s Chani is the best. Specifically, I’m referring to her rejection of the blossoming zealotry among the Fremen and the Bene Gesserit prophecy that suggests that Paul Atreides is a chosen one who is meant to lead them. While Stilgar is eager to accept any and every indication that the Lisan al Gaib has arrived on Arrakis, and Lady Jessica (in collaboration with the unborn Alia) does everything she can as a Reverend Mother to push the narrative, Chani is the presence in Paul’s life who keeps him grounded, and she steers him away from the death-filled vision of the future that horrifies him.

But Chani’s faith in the man she loves is betrayed. Paul knows from his Bene Gesserit abilities that a living nightmare awaits if he makes his way to the southern hemisphere of Arrakis and drinks The Water Of Life, and Chani is proud of his defiance as the guerilla war is raged against the Harkonnens – but there’s a draw that Paul cannot ultimately resist. To the horror of the young Fremen woman, he accepts his place at the forefront of an intergalactic jihad, drinks the worm's poison, travels south, and even fully embraces his own Harkonnen heritage.

Of course, that’s not all. While Paul is honest in his love of Chani, once again declaring, “I will love you as long as I breathe” prior to the final negotiations, there is unquestionable hurt when Paul agrees to take Princess Irulan’s hand in marriage as he ascends to the role of Emperor. Instead of being his wife, Chani is to be remembered in history only as Paul’s concubine. Can you blame her for being so pissed?

Where Does The Story Of Dune Go From Here?

Truth be told, we may not get to see where the story goes from here. Much like how Dune: Part Two wasn’t given the green light when I wrote my feature about Dune: Part One’s ending back in 2021, the blockbuster sequel has arrived in theaters without a franchise future being certain – despite the fact that Denis Villeneuve has spent years talking about his vision for Dune: Messiah. Audiences may eventually have to simply accept the dark developments at the end of the 2024 film as closure… but if the follow-up does happen, there’s a lot to anticipate.

Without giving too much away (Go read the book!), Messiah picks up a dozen years after the end of Frank Herbert’s Dune, and Paul remains Emperor following the deaths of millions upon millions across the galaxies. Though his abilities allow him to essentially become all-seeing, two conspiracies are orchestrated in his court. Wanting to give birth to a royal child herself, Princess Irulan drugs Chani with contraceptives; meanwhile, there is a collective effort from rivals to usurp the throne by introducing a Manchurian Candidate-esque spy with a familiar face that Paul can’t refuse.

Even if he does get the greenlight to make the second sequel soon, Denis Villeneuve has spoken about wanting to create a bit of distance between Dune: Part Two and Messiah – which also just makes logical sense for the cast. If the filmmaker wants to keep his all-star cast playing the characters through the narrative time jump, it makes sense to let the actors grow a bit older and not have the production rely on aging makeup. Regardless of when the movie happens, the hope is just that it happens eventually.

Dune: Part Two is now playing in theaters everywhere, and as I note in my CinemaBlend review of the film, it demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible (and hopefully you fulfilled that demand before you started reading this feature). If you’re looking to watch its predecessor before doing a rewatch of the sequel, all you need is a Netflix subscription to get instant access.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Drive-Away Dolls. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s Drive-Away Dolls is primarily a road trip comedy about two lesbian pals growing closer on a trip to Tallahassee, but at the heart of the plot is a mystery. The car they are driving around in has a mysterious briefcase and hatbox locked in the trunk, and though the audience isn’t informed about the contents, it’s made clear that a criminal element will go very far to reacquire the containers. Is it money? Is it drugs? The answer is “neither,” and the actual answer is not something you’d ever imagine.

Not only does Drive-Away Dolls feature a terrific surprise, but there is more depth to the material than you may realize, as the story is partially inspired by a true story. I’ve put together this feature to break it all down, and I’ll start by answering the film’s big question…

What’s In The Briefcase And The Hatbox That Jamie And Marian Accidentally Transport In Drive-Away Dolls?

It’s about halfway through Drive-Away Dolls that Jamie and Marian discover the unexpected cargo that is stashed in the trunk of their car, but the revelations of the hatbox and briefcase contents come out individually from that point forward. The former comes first, and what’s inside is horrifying: it’s the head of Santos a.k.a. The Collector (Pedro Pascal), who we see get murdered in the film’s opening scene.

As for what’s in the briefcase, Jamie and Marian learn that information before it’s offered to the audience. Drive-Away Dolls attempts a touch of misdirection, making the audience think that it’s money by having the protagonists check into a fancy hotel instead of a crummy roadside motel, but that’s not the truth. What’s inside the case is a collection of plaster penises that are modeled after the genitals of celebrities.

The reason why The Chief (Colman Domingo) and his goons (C.J. Wilson and Joey Slotnick) are after the case is because they have been employed by Florida Senator Gary Channel (Matt Damon), who is in the midst of a campaign. When Channel was younger, he took a psychedelic and had an encounter with an artist named Tiffney Plaster Caster (Miley Cyrus), and it was during that encounter that she made a plaster mold of his penis. Running as a conservative candidate, he doesn’t want the existence of the phallic art piece to be public knowledge, and so he is willing to go to great lengths to acquire it – including murder.

Tiffney Plaster Caster Is Based On Cynthia Plaster Caster, A Real Person Known For Making Plaster Casts Of Celebrity Penises

Drive-Away Dolls is an entirely fictional film invented in the imaginations of Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, but it does borrow a bit from real life with the introduction of Tiffney Plaster Caster. While there is no actual “Tiffney Plaster Caster,” the character is based on artist Cynthia Plaster Caster: an artist who was famous for making plaster molds of musician genitalia.

With inspiration from Frank Zappa, Cynthia Plaster Caster (real name Cynthia Dorothy Albritton) began making her penis art in the late 1960s, and one of her first subjects was Jimi Hendrix. She made dozens of these casts, but she was best known for her “collaboration” with Hendrix, and the “piece” was donated to the Icelandic Phallological Museum in 2022. In addition to working with men, Plaster Caster also made casts of female musicians’ breasts, including Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Lætitia Sadier from Stereolab.

Sadly, Cynthia Plaster Caster passed away in April 2022, shortly before the start of production of Drive-Away Dolls, but the film is a nice tribute to her work and legacy.

What The Filmmakers Have To Say About The Drive-Away Dolls Mystery

Earlier this month, I attended a screening of Drive-Away Dolls at the Vidiots theater in Los Angeles, and it was followed by a moderated Q&A with Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke. The filmmakers were specifically asked about the Cynthia Plaster Caster reveal and how it became a part of the script.

Coen couldn’t identify when the idea was conjured or how exactly it entered the conversation, but he explained that at one point during the writing process it was the proverbial elephant in the room. They had the basic plot of the movie figured out, but they recognized there was a lot of pressure on delivering a satisfying answer to the big mystery. Said the writer/director,

Following up her co-writer/co-director’s comments, Tricia Cooke told the moderator that both she and Ethan Coen were already well-aware of the legend of Cynthia Plaster Caster prior to working on the Drive-Away Dolls script, and it eventually clicked that her story would be a funny match for the narrative. Cooke said,

Drive-Away Dolls has its flaws, as I note in my CinemaBlend review of the movie, but the big reveal is phenomenal and a perfect payoff to all of the setup.

Starring Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Bill Camp, and Matt Damon, Drive-Away Dolls is now playing in theaters everywhere. To learn about all of the films set to be released both on the big screen and on streaming between now and the end of the year, check out our 2024 Movie Release Calendar.

Big spoilers from Madame Web ahead!

Following a pair of Venom movies and the meme-worthy Morbius the newest entry in Sony’s live-action Spider-Verse is here with Madame Web. Dakota Johnson stars as the titular character who finds herself protecting a trio of teens from a villainous wallcrawler. Check out CinemaBlend’s Madame Web review for a spoiler-free look at the movie as a whole. Here there will be no such restraint, we’re looking at how Madame Web ends and what happens to Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, and the rest of the Madame Web cast.

The Madame Web movie spends a lot of time contemplating the future. All the conflict comes about because one man attempts to prevent a particular future from coming to pass. And in a way he succeeds. A new future is at hand for the film's protagonists. Here’s what happens.

How Madame Web Ends 

Throughout Madame Web, our heroes, led by Dakota Johnson’s Cassandra Webb, have been on the run from Ezekial, a man with superhuman spider powers who sees a future where three teen girls, Julia, Anya, and Mattie, played by Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O'Connor, will kill him. He plans to kill them before they gain the superpowers that lead to his demise. 

The finale begins as Ezekial tracks down the girls, who have been hiding out waiting for Cassandra to return from her trip to get answers in Peru. Cassandra arrives just in time, hitting Ezekial with a stolen ambulance, and then using it to rush the girls away while he recovers.  

Cassandra, who has been gaining more control over her precognitive abilities, sees a possible solution to beat him by drawing Ezekial to the old warehouse filled with fireworks where she had previously responded to a call as an EMT. 

By having the three girls follow her instructions, based on her views of the future, Cassandra leads them up to the roof, where a rescue helicopter is waiting. Unfortunately, Cassandra’s ability to adapt her plans as she sees them go wrong only goes so far. An errant firework knocks the helicopter from the sky, and Ezekial knocks all three girls into positions that leave them in danger of falling to their deaths, all at significant distances from Cassandra, and from each other, making it seemingly impossible for Cassandra to save them all.

How Madame Web Uses Her Power To Save The Girls  

Cassandra had been struggling to have total control of her powers, but at this point, things change. We see her begin to access the “web,” a visual representation of her ability to access different points in the timeline. We had seen her interact with her deceased mother earlier with this power, but at that point, the ability seemed to control her.

What we see now is Cassandra using her ability to see the future to change multiple versions of the future simultaneously. Essentially we see three different timelines playing out. In each one, she saves one of the three girls from falling to their death. But rather than simply seeing these as possible futures, Cassandra is actually making them happen, all at once. In this way, Cassandra can be in three places at once, saving all three girls.

Ezekiel then moves to attack Cassandra. Physically she is no match for him, so she's only able to avoid his advance, but she knows what’s about to happen. She keeps her distance until part of the collapsing structure they are on lands on him, pinning him down. Ezekial laments that he was only trying to save himself from the girls. Cassandra indicates that the real threat to him, as he must now see, has always been her. Then it all collapses below Ezekial, and he falls to the street, with another piece falling on top of him, killing him. 

Unfortunately, Cassandra is also trapped, the structure falls out from underneath her, but rather than hitting the street, she falls into the water. Another firework follows her into the water exploding in her face and knocking her unconscious. She is pulled out of the water by the girls, who perform CPR on Cassandra as she had taught them earlier. They successfully resuscitate her, but when she opens her eyes, we can see that something is wrong with them.

 What’s Next For The Spider-Women 

Cassandra Webb is now blind. She’s in the hospital, not too far from a young Mary Parker, who has just given birth to a baby boy. She refers to Julia, Anya, and Mattie as her family, and they clearly feel the same way. In the final scene, some time has passed. Cassandra is healed and at home, but her blindness appears to be permanent. Cassandra is in a motorized wheelchair as the teens come in from bringing food. The new family is happy together. Cassandra knows they’re in for something more. 

All of this started because Ezekial saw the girls as a trio of women with Spider-Man-like abilities. We don’t know when or why they gained the powers, it doesn't appear that Cassandra has told them what's in store for them, but as we get a glimpse of the future that Cassandra can see, it’s clear that the powers are still very much in their future. Cassandra even has a superhero costume of her own, as it appears that the four of them will be working together.

What makes it all potentially interesting is that Madame Web is set in 2003, and according to Ezekial’s original premonition of his death, that happened a decade in the future. This means that, if Sony’s live-action Spider-Verse movies are all set in the same universe, whichever Spider-Man universe that may be, then they should already have their powers in the modern day.

Despite the lack of any sort of post-credits sequence in Madame Web, the movie certainly leaves a door very open to a sequel, or to the characters returning in some other connected franchise film. Critics have not been kind to Madame Web but whether or not the movie ultimately sees more follow-up will likely be dictated by the box office.

50 First Dates starts like any romantic comedy: A serial womanizer meets the woman of his dreams and changes for the better. Their love story has one major twist: She can’t retain new memories. Therefore, she will never remember him for more than about 24 hours. Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler’s chemistry makes 50 First Dates a favorite of many rom-com fans. It’s considered one of Sandler and Barrymore’s best romantic comedies. It’s a memorable rom-com, but not without some questionable choices. Decades later, the 50 First Dates ending didn’t age so well…or did it?

The film falls into the category of movies that have complicated implications if you think about it critically. The 50 First Dates ending especially blurs the lines of romantic and weird.  

What Happened At The End of 50 First Dates 

While Henry (Adam Sandler) is on his boat heading away from the island, he recalls that Lucy (Drew Barrymore) sings on the days that they interact. He interprets this as her remembering him. He then later learns that she’s in the hospital with others who have memory issues. Henry asks if she remembers him. She doesn’t but she shows him various drawings of him. She dreams about Henry every night. 

Several years later, Lucy wakes up alone and plays the video explaining everything. This time it reveals that they are married. She goes outside and realizes that they’re on a boat. She then finds Henry, her father (Blake Clark), and their daughter.

A Tragic And Dark Take Of The Ending 

The 50 First Dates ending can be seen in two ways: tragically or romantically. Let’s explore the tragedy. Lucy loses all ability to control her life while married to Henry. She couldn’t control it much with her father and brother (Sean Astin). Therefore, she finds herself at the whim of one man to another. Lucy, in many ways, loses her ability to make choices. Sandler enjoys playing very funny but sometimes shady dudes. They are some of his best and worst characters. Henry falls within that world of characters. He lies to and manipulates a lot of other women before meeting Lucy.

Despite his past behavior, Henry changed because he fell in love. Therefore, he most likely doesn’t use the situation to manipulate Lucy… but he has the power to do it. He controls her knowledge. He might not manipulate her in big ways but could in smaller ones. For example, maybe on one of their repeating days, they fight and she’s mad at him. He could easily manipulate the situation by adding a part in the tape that resolves it in his favor. We also don’t know how Lucy and Henry made these big life decisions over many years that feel like a day to Lucy. Henry could just tell her what he wants her to believe. He could make these life decisions and convince Lucy that they decided them together. 

However, Lucy does keep a journal and has her father around. This could mean that the journal and her parent ensure that she isn’t manipulated in any way by Henry. If you choose to believe that Henry is honorable in his relationship with Lucy, you still can’t deny the other tragic consequences of her condition. She will never truly get to watch her daughter grow up. She will only see things shown to her in photos and videos, instead of remembering these experiences. She may subconsciously remember them but not consciously. 

Additionally, this experience of having a mother who doesn’t remember her could be frustrating and heartbreaking for her daughter, especially as she grows older. Plus, Lucy herself lives in a constant state of confusion because of her condition. She will only grow more confused as she and the world change physically.  Every new day brings a new set of challenges and adjustments. Lucy’s condition makes her whole life a constant struggle for herself and those she loves. 

A Romantic Take Of The Ending 

50 First Dates is truly one of those films where perspective influences how you view it. If you look at the movie through a romantic lens, then Henry’s actions are grand and loving. Despite their obstacles, Henry chooses to stay with Lucy. It isn’t easy for him either to have the woman he loves forget him every day. He must put effort into their relationship daily to make it work. It’s not an easy romance. Additionally, if Henry didn’t come into Lucy’s life, she would continuously relive the same day. She would stop growing and developing. She could eventually become cripplingly lonely. Plus, the other alternative is to spend the rest of her life in a hospital.

Just because Lucy has a condition doesn’t mean she’s any less worthy of love, choices, and a happy life. She also loves Henry enough to have some part of her subconscious remember their life. Lucy still gets to live a full life despite only remembering it for one day. She gets those big moments of joy every day. Additionally, Lucy’s memory loss makes it important that Henry make every day special for her. The 50 First Dates ending very much embodies the idea of staying with someone through sickness and in health.  

The Alternate Ending 

In an Entertainment Weekly interview, 50 First Dates director Peter Segal shared that the film didn’t have a drastically different ending, like some other films, but originally went in a slightly different direction.

With this alternate ending, Lucy learns about her life from her images as she adds new ones each day. The ending changed to complete Henry’s journey. They wanted him to still get his dream of studying walruses. Unlike other films with controversial endings, the 50 First Dates ending only calls for some debate. It could have resolved some of the ending’s issues by sticking to the original script. This gives Lucy more autonomy with her life and how she learns about it. The original 50 First Dates ending also eliminates the complications that a child presents in this film.

Segal also mentioned discussions on a cure for Lucy’s memory issues. According to the 50 First Dates director, the studio debated it but everyone supported the eventual “bittersweet” ending.

You can make an argument for the tragic or the romantic perspective of the 50 First Dates ending. It’s tragic because Lucy’s lack of memories makes her vulnerable to manipulation. She also will never truly know Henry or her daughter. It’s romantic because it’s the enduring love story of two people who fight every day to make it work. They have a huge, devastating obstacle but don’t quit on each other. Whichever way you look at the 50 First Dates ending, it is a very entertaining romantic comedy with two very charismatic leads and plenty of funny Sandler quotes.

The Passenger is another great Blumhouse film but it departs slightly from the company’s killer horror. It starts in a brutal, horrific way, but then turns into this weird buddy road trip movie. However, don’t mistake it for a carefree, fun movie.  In fact, Randy (Johnny Berchtold) is on a road trip from hell. This makes The Passenger ending so fascinating. This nightmarish situation ends with a happy conclusion that’s a complex tribute to a killer. 

Two stuffed animals haven’t been this important since Pixar made Toy Story. It’s not the toys themselves that are important, but the representation, especially for Benson (Kyle Gallner) and his journey. The green giraffe is more than just a green giraffe here.  

What Happened At The End Of The Passenger 

After fearing her turning him in for the death of Mr. Sheppard (Glendon Ray Hobgood), Benson abducts Miss Beard (Liza Weil). They end up at the diner from earlier. While waiting for their food and drinks, the waitress, Marsha (Kanesha Washington), confronts Benson about his insinuation that she wasted her life. He then shoots her in the leg. Before the confrontation, Randy secretly calls the police while in the bathroom.

Randy pleads with Benson to prevent more deaths. He then tells Benson to listen, and he hears the police sirens. Benson thinks Miss Beard called the cops and waves a gun in her direction, but Randy blocks her. Benson accidentally shoots Randy. He tries to stop the bleeding, and Randy admits that he called them.

A shocked Benson walks to his death. He aims his gun at the police and is shot. The movie fast-forwards to the near future, and Randy has completely changed his life. He babysits for Miss Beard, has friends, and doesn’t let his mother control him.

The final image of The Passenger is the crocodile and giraffe toys from earlier in the film. Randy has given them to Miss Beard’s daughter. 

The Giraffe Represents Benson’s Trauma 

Before walking to his death, Benson tells Randy that he used to want to be a giraffe when he was a child. This is a slight call back to when they go to the Build-A-Bear type shop and Benson requests a giraffe. It’s clearly an animal that he loved all his life. However, the giraffe seemingly represents something sadder. 

It’s a physical representation of a loss of hope and innocence for Benson. The Passenger never explicitly states that Mr. Sheppard abused Benson in some way. However, it’s heavily implied. You can tell Benson has been a victim of Sheppard by how he reacts when he sees him. It’s an instant replay of the trauma inflicted on him. 

We later see Benson break down alone in Miss Beard’s bathroom. These moments give Benson’s violent outbursts more substance. He’s a man who has been silent about his pain for so long, and the giraffe likely represents a time before Benson’s abuse. A time when he used to dream and just be a carefree child who wanted to turn into a giraffe. 

Benson also tells Randy that he’s never been in control before he dies. This one line has so much weight, because it could mean not having control of the things that happened to him, not having control of this situation with Randy, not being in control of his emotional turmoil, or not having control of where his life ended up. He has never felt in control of his life, likely not until he decided to kill his boss and co-workers. 

Even if Mr. Sheppard never abused Benson, it’s clear that he comes from a neglectful home. His mother barely moves and seems distant. Benson hasn’t had the same caring, loving family as many others. This doesn't justify his actions, but it helps show that he is as much a victim as he is a perpetrator. The giraffe symbolically represents the childhood lost because of Benson’s trauma.

It Represents Benson And Randy’s Bond 

The toys, in the most basic form, represent the complicated friendship that develops between Randy and Benson over one day. Their friendship isn’t a fun bromance, but one where Randy constantly fears what Benson will do next. However, a real friendship does develop. That’s why Randy doesn’t immediately burn the toys from that day. 

Strangely, Randy keeping the toys seems like he’s honoring the moment. Maybe not all the violence and murder, but the parts where Benson truly was looking out for him in his own twisted way. Benson and Randy have a complicated, dark friendship. However, it’s the opposite of movies where romances take a dark turn, because this one takes a positive turn. Randy grows into a better version of himself because of it. Additionally, Benson seems like he’s trying to give Randy the healing he never had, so in some ways, he's trying to help himself, too. 

The giraffe could represent Randy’s decision to not view their brief encounter as this devastating thing, but something that positively impacted his life. This shows his character growth. Before his abduction, Randy would have let this incident cripple and stop his growth, similar to how he reacted to the Miss Beard accident. Now he can see beyond his pain and grow from his trauma into a happier, more evolved person. He also learns from Benson by not letting himself turn into him. He can healthily process his scars. 

The Giraffe Helps Show Benson As More Than His Crimes 

Benson is not an anti-hero, but he’s also not fully a villain. He’s something more complicated. In an interview with Infamous Horror, The Passenger director Carter Smith discussed how Benson is more than his crimes. He also mentions how his past could have led him down this path. In an interview with Above the Line, Smith goes into how Benson is a dangerous character, but you’re also charmed by him:

Benson scares you, but has moments that make you want him to survive. And that gives him layers of complexity that aren’t always seen with this type of villain. You should not root for his deranged rampage, but his layers help show him as an extremely damaged human. He’s not necessarily evil, but not well. 

Smith also had this to say about Benson to MovieWeb: 

The giraffe brings humanity to Benson. He committed monstrous acts but he's still human. The Passenger isn’t afraid to challenge how you view this killer. It gives heart to someone who has committed unforgivable crimes. 

The Passenger is one of the best horror movies (sort-of horror movies) to watch on MGM+. It’s also a film with great performances, especially by Kyle Gallner, who continues to take on really captivating roles. The Passenger is a great movie that happens over one day, which allows it to become an intimate, complicated character study. 

Stream The Passenger on MGM+ (via Prime Video). 

Warning: SPOILERS for Leave the World Behind are ahead! If you haven’t seen the movie yet, check it out on Netflix now.

Netflix subscribers have a new hit movie to check out as 2023 winds down. Leave the World Behind, which former president Barack Obama produced (and he didn’t hold back on giving notes) has arrived, and the apocalyptic thriller has been quietly racking up a lot of positive notice. This flick starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke follows two families trying to figure out what’s happened that’s led to their technology becoming useless, all while overcoming their personal differences.

It’s looking like Leave the World Behind, one of the many book-to-screen adaptations delivered to the 2023 movies calendar, may end up becoming one of the best movies on Netflix, but there are certainly a lot of questions left behind by the time we’re wrapped up. So let’s not only break down the movie’s ominous conclusion, but also talk out where the Sanfords and Scotts could go from here, as well as discuss the significance of the sitcom Friends within the story.

What Happens At The End of Leave The World Behind

By the time Leave the World Behind ends, the Sanfords and Scotts are on good terms with each other for the most part. Ethan Hawke’s Clay Sanford and Mahershala Ali’s G.H. Scott work together to get medical care for Clay’s son, Charlie Evans’ Archie. And Julia Roberts’ Amanda Sanford and Myha’la Herrold’s Ruth Scott come to an understanding through the latter elaborating her concern for her mother and the former explaining why she’s a misanthrope. It’s a good thing there’s little to no drama left between all these people, because they’ll need to work together in order to survive what’s coming.

While it’s never made specifically clear who’s responsible for things like knocking out the power and emitting that shrill noise during the events of Leave the World Behind, G.H starts to piece together what’s happened after he and Clay retrieve medicine from Kevin Bacon’s Danny for Archie, whose teeth have started falling out. Per what G.H. once learned from a friend of his who’s a high-ranking officer in the United States military, everything they’ve seen or heard about in the last few days are the signs of a coup d'état, including the knockout of technology, the spread of disinformation and chaos unfolding. The endgame is to turn the people of the United States against one another, which will destabilize the country.

G.H.’s theory is never outright confirmed, but what Amanda and Ruth see while they’re on their own together does lend credence to his musings. While searching for Ruth, and after they avoid being attacked by a herd of deer, the women witness New York City being bombed and hear gunfire in the aftermath of the devastation.

Finally, Rose Sanford -- Amanda and Clay’s daughter -- is last seen walking into the home of one of G.H.’s neighbors, and after partaking of some of their food, she finds their bunker, the same one that Danny mentioned to G.H.. Within it, she finds a DVD set of Friends Season 10, and since this bunker has its own generator, she’s able to pop in one of the discs and play “The Last One,” i.e. the show’s series finale. We’ll talk more later about why Friends was so significant to Leave the World Behind, but first, let’s delve into what may await the Sanfords and Scotts after the movie’s finished.

Do The Rest Of The Sanford And The Scott Family Make It To The Bunker?

Things are already bad enough for the two families when Leave the World Behind is finished between the power being out almost everywhere, the oncoming wave of violence and those crashed self-driving cars blocking the highway out of Long Island. But to make matters worse, when Rose was walking around in that neighbor’s house, there was an Emergency Alert System display revealing that the United States is at war with rogue armed forces, and elevated radiation levels had been detected. 

Between the explosions seen in the distance, and the screeching noises that may have been the cause of Archie's symptoms, including his teeth falling out, it's clear the situation is very bad. I think the odds are more likely than not that Rose will soon find herself joined by familiar faces. For one thing, Amanda and Ruth weren’t that far off from the house Rose wandered into, so once they get over the shock of seeing New York turned into a war zone, they’ll hopefully investigate the house and find Ruth seated in front of that TV.

As for G.H., Clay and Archie, because Danny told them about the bunker’s existence, that also bodes well for them eventually heading there. What’s not working in their favor is the unlikelihood that Amanda and Ruth will be back at G.H.’s home when the trio returns. The men may instead go out looking for them and Rose, not realizing that heading to that neighbor’s home is the best course of action. We can only cross our fingers that they end up there before it’s too late, but as Rumaan Alam, the author of the original Leave the World Behind novel, told Variety, he felt it would have been “dissatisfying” for the movie full closure by the end.

The Significance Of Rose Sanford’s Obsession With Friends

Throughout the entirety of Leave the World Behind, Rose’s obsession with Friends is on full display. She’s streaming the series on her tablet throughout the first chunk of the vacation, and when the internet cuts out, all she has remaining to watch is the two-part series finale. Even in the midst of everything terrible that’s happening, Rose is desperate to finish the show, as Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross mean a lot to her. It’s no wonder she grabbed that DVD set the minute she saw it in the bunker, the world going to hell be damned.

Interestingly enough, Rose’s interest in Friends isn’t something that was present in the Leave the World Behind novel, but it was included in the movie for good reason. Writer and director Sam Esmail explained to USA Today that the sitcom as the “heartbeat” of Leave the World Behind, in that Rose’s attachment to Friends represents her “yearning to escape to that comfort zone.” He also said the following about having the show’s theme song, "I'll Be There For You" by the Rembrandts, play once the credits started rolling:

Rumaan Alam added in the aforementioned Variety interview that he doesn’t see the Friends-centric ending as a “joke” in any way because it’s a “reminder that art is kind of a salve.” The author felt that Sam Esmail ending with that “particular jolt of humor” was “rewarding” and “satisfying.” Still, now that Rose is done with Friends, she’ll need to pick another TV show from that bunker’s collection with which to keep herself occupied.

For those who’ve already streamed Leave the World Behind on Netflix, take a look at the Netflix movie schedule to see what cinematic entertainment the streamer will deliver for the rest of the year. If you’d rather learn what’s coming in the year ahead, the 2024 movies calendar is available for perusal.

WARNING: All the SPOILERS are ahead for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. 

The Hunger Games franchise has returned, but instead of experiencing the games from the perspective of Jennifer Lawrence’s legendary Katniss Everdeen role, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes explores the origins of her greatest enemy: President Coriolanus Snow. Now that one of the most highly-anticipated upcoming book adaptations is here, let’s talk about the ending of the prequel and how it ties back to the epic hero’s journey of Katniss Everdeen decades later in Suzanne Collins’ best selling dystopian world. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows a teenage Coriolanus Snow while he’s living and doing his studies at the Capitol. When his Academy decides to makes members of its senior class mentors to the tributes for the 10th Hunger Games, Snow gets randomly paired up with the District 12 female tribute, Lucy Gray Baird. It’s time to break down how the unlikely pair’s story shakes out and where it leaves the Hunger Games franchise. 

What Happens At The End Of The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes

With the help of Snow throughout the games, Lucy Gray Baird becomes the victor of the 10th Hunger Games. This is helped by Snow sneaking her some rat poison in a compact mirror and Lucy winning the affections of Panem with her incredible gift for song. However, it’s not long before the Capitol learns of Snow’s cheating and is told to face a 20-year term with the Peacekeepers or be ousted to the public for his actions. Snow chooses the way of a Peacekeeper and purposefully asks to take up his post in District 12 where he finds his old Academy mate Sejanus, along with Lucy Gray Baird. 

When Snow learns of Sejanus’ plot with some other rebels to flee District 12 for some peace up north, he secretly employs the use of the Jabberjays to record Sejanus’ plans and send his findings back to the Capitol. Sejanus and some other rebels are then executed for their treason to the Capitol. Things get more complicated when the mayor’s daughter, Mayfair, learns of the plot and shares that she will spill the beans, leaving Snow to kill her and, in the heat of the moment, another rebel named Spruce kills Lucy’s ex Billy Taupe after Billy shares deep discontent for Snow’s actions. Spruce hides the weapons and Snow is reassigned to District 2, but he is nervous he will be caught. 

He and Lucy leave the next day together, but amidst their escape Snow catches on to Lucy perhaps having fleeting trust for him. Shortly after Lucy says she’s heading out to grab some “katniss" (the name of a plant in Panem, along with a future hero’s name), Snow soon realizes Lucy has quietly escaped as the echoes of mockingjays singing familiar The Hunger Games song “The Hanging Tree” haunt him in the trees and a sneaky snake bites him under a piece of clothing Lucy has left behind. While Snow feels betrayed by Lucy, he ends up at the Capitol studying under Gaul, starting his path in becoming the future president of Panem. 

Where Did Lucy Gray Baird Go?

While The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes never tells us explicitly, it’s heavily suggested that Lucy Gray Baird realized that Snow was behind the executions of Sejanus and the other rebels, and hatched a plan to gracefully get away from him and leave the sting of her abandonment along her untraceable path between leaving her song with the mockingjays and the snake for him to find. 

Throughout The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Lucy shows her good nature of seeing the good in people as she accepts help from Snow as her mentor throughout the games. However, as they reunite in District 12, things change between them as Snow suggests some difference in opinion to Lucy’s hopes to live free amongst the trees as he shares his preference for the comfort of the Capitol. Knowing the good-natured character Lucy is, once she finds out Snow is capable of murder and betrayal, she makes a run for it and doesn’t look back. We imagine she joined her covey and other rebels, and perhaps became part of Panem’s outskirts on District 13. 

How Snow’s Ending Ties Back To Katniss Everdeen’s Hero Journey 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes provides an emotional origin story for the tyrannical leader of Panem who goes head-to-head with Katniss Everdeen and the rebellion decades later. The final words of the prequel is a quote Donald Sutherland’s version of President Snow says in the original The Hunger Games movie: “It’s the things we love the most that destroys us.” Snow’s story as a teen highlights his personal experience with a District 12 tribute and how his relationship with Lucy Gray Baird left Snow bitter throughout his lifetime. 

While Snow could not control what happens to Lucy, including ever seeing her again, he could control his path to comfort and power, and clearly decided to walk that trail rather than one of love. While Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen is not part of the prequel simply because the character was not part of the president’s life until the 74th Hunger Games, Lucy’s memory clearly reverberates through her, between Katniss doing the same curtsy and then singing “The Hanging Tree” during the events of Mockingjay Part 1 while fronting the rebellion.  

How Does It Compare To The Novel? 

As we’re happy to report, the ending of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes stays very true to the events of Suzanne Collins’ 2020 novel of the same name, give or take some helpful inner dialogue from Coriolanus that may help the moviegoer understand more deeply Snow’s motivations that guide him through his journey to the top of the Capitol. At the end of the novel, Snow has the same falling out with Lucy and ends up at the Capitol with Gaul. Perhaps the main extra takeaway is confirmation that Snow loved Lucy, but decided he “didn’t like love” because it made him feel “jealous” and “weak.” 

Other than that, time will tell how the prequel stacks up with among other ranked Hunger Games movies. You can check out what critics think of the movie along with CinemaBlend’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes review. 

SPOILER WARNING! The following article contains major spoilers for The Marvels. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

Captain Marvel was a massive hit, so it was little surprise when a sequel was confirmed.  However, what was originally called a sequel to Captain Marvel is far more than that. The Marvels effectively functions as a sequel to three different MCU stories, Captain Marvel, WandaVision, and Ms. Marvel, as The Marvels cast brings together Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan for a team-up of impressive proportions.

All three characters are in very different places when The Marvels begins, as only one of them is even on planet Earth as the story starts. But that’s nothing compared to where they are when it’s all said and done. 

The finale of The Marvels sees the trio do battle with the antagonist Dar-Benn, who has obtained Kamala Khan's bangle as well as its mate – which we learn are capable of incredible power, including the creation of wormholes in space. Here’s a rundown of where each of the main characters finds themselves at the end of The Marvels. 

Where The Marvels Leaves Monica Rambeau 

The end of The Marvels sees a major hole blasted in space-time after the movie's big bad, Dar-Benn, uses the Quantum Gauntlets to try and open another wormhole (but she is unable to control their power). Dar-Benn appears to completely obliterate herself, but she also tears a hole into another reality. Monica, thinking quickly, suggests that if Kamala, using the Gauntlets, and Captain Marvel provide her with a power boost, she can fly out and use the combined energy of the three women to seal the hole.

Monica gets the energy from them and flies out to seal the rift. The major catch, however, is that she has to do it from the opposite side from where the tear was created, meaning she has to enter the alternate reality. What Monica knows but intentionally doesn’t make clear to her teammates is that she’ll need to remain on the other side in order to finish the job.

Carol tries to warn her friend that the rift is closing, and when she realizes Monica has no intention of coming back through the hole, she flies out to try and save her. She’s unable to get there in time, as the rift seals just as Captain Marvel arrives, and Monica has been left behind. This is the last we see of her in the main film, but her fate is revealed in The Marvels' mid-credits scene.

Where The Marvels Leaves Carol Danvers 

Following the loss of Monica, Captain Marvel goes off to keep a promise. During the battle with Dar-Benn, Monica suggest that Carol might have the power to restart the sun on Hala, the Kree homeworld. Captain Marvel agrees to do this in hopes it will end the fight. It does not, but perhaps as a way to remember her now-lost friend, Carol Danvers flies off the Kree world and is able to reignite the dying star – giving light and warmth back to the Kree.

From there, however, Carol Danvers comes home. We cut to a familiar location to those who saw Captain Marvel. She sets up a new home in Louisiana, having apparently decided to move into Maria Rambeau’s old house. With Maria having passed away and Monica now in another universe, it seems Carol Danvers has decided to hold down the fort while she awaits Monica’s return. If that day ever comes. 

Kamala Khan and her family are assisting with the move-in. Considering that Carol and Monica had previously clashed over Captain Marvel’s decision to not come back to earth and see her, it’s a major step. It seems Captain Marvel will be putting down roots on her home planet for the first time since she gained her powers. But what that means for Carol Danvers' or Captain Marvel's future is far less clear. 

Where The Marvels Leaves Kamala Khan 

By the end of The Marvels, Kamala Khan has become the best friend of Captain Marvel that she always dreamed of being. She helps her new bestie move into her home and even sits in the cockpit of a plane with her, as a young Monica once did. Carol insists she’s just watching over things until Monica gets back. But Kamala Khan isn’t looking toward her past; she already has eyes on the future. She has an idea that she wants to run past her new friend.

We never hear what Kamala and Carol talk about, but the next scene clues us into the subject matter. We see Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, who we last saw in the Hawkeye Disney+ series, coming back to a dark apartment after what appears to be her nightly patrol, as she has all her hero gear on her. She throws a slice of pizza to her dog before realizing she is not alone.

In a sequence that is clearly meant to be a slightly sillier version of the original Iron Man post-credits scene, Kamala Khan is sitting in the dark, trying and adorably failing to be as cool as Nick Fury. She tells Kate that she wants to put a team together, and she wants her on it. She's carrying the S.A.B.E.R. pad we saw earlier which we know has "intel" on Kamala and any other heroes that the organization felt it needed to keep tabs on. It seems Kamala wants to put together a complete team of young heroes. 

Kamala mentions that Ant-Man has a daughter, implying we could see Cassie Lang joining this group as well, and previous MCU films and series have established a number of other young heroes who could likely become part of a new team of Young Avengers. 

Each member of The Marvels changes a great deal from the beginning of the film.  Monica Rambeau isn’t even in the same universe she was in when it all started, but she sacrificed herself for the greater good; Carol Danvers has come home again, and she’s embracing relationships with others; and Ms. Marvel may have spent the movie mostly playing the plucky sidekick, but she ends the story ready to take charge of her own destiny.

Major, major spoilers for Upload Season 3, specifically the season finale, are ahead. If you want to stream the latest installment of the comedy, you can watch every episode with an Amazon Prime subscription.

Well, Upload Season 3 has officially come to an end, and much like the Season 2 finale of the Amazon comedy, it left us with a major cliffhanger. However, instead of the show ending with two versions of Nathan, it ends with one, because it seems like one of the variants of Robbie Amell’s protagonist is gone.

At the very end of Upload Season 3, it seems like everything is hunky-dory… for like two seconds. Real World Nathan and Nora are in a good place with their relationship, they settled the case against Freeyond and Horizen, and he isn’t afraid that his head will explode. Meanwhile, Ingrid and Back-Up Nathan have found themselves in a healthy relationship too. However, all these seemingly happy endings get thrown out the window when the Nathans get captured by Horizen at the very end of the episode.

Ending the show’s run on the 2023 TV schedule with such a massive question mark is commonplace for Upload. However, we’re truly entering uncharted territory now, especially when it comes to the two Nathans' futures. So, let’s talk about it.

Breaking Down Who Caught The Two Versions Of Nathan 

Despite Luke, Aleesha, Nathan and Nora giving over lots of valuable information for the Horizen and Freeyond case that had been going on, the corporation still won in a way. While Nora and co. won the case, it was settled and the information they gave over was sealed. So, it only feels like a temporary solution.

After that, it’s revealed that legally, there can only be one brain working at a time regarding Uploads. So, as Nora and Nathan walk out of the building after the case, he’s cuffed and taken away.

Then, as we learn about Horizen's new program called Betta, it becomes clear that nothing about the company is changing, they simply changed their name. Meanwhile, Lakeview Nathan is running for his life, trying to get away from the Horizen people who are trying to catch him. But, in the end, he’s captured too.

So, Is There Only One Version Of Nathan Now? 

After the big battle at Lakeview, where Back-Up Nathan is seen trying to take down Horizen he disappears, and like Real World Nathan, he’s captured by Horizen.

Eventually, Ingrid, Nora and Nathan’s family are able to get ahold of him, however, the thing is, it’s only one version of him. He says in the episode:

To me, and seemingly everyone seeing Nathan, it’s unclear which version we’re looking at. While Robbie Amell worked to differentiate the two, ultimately, they are essentially the same person. And in this moment, it’s basically impossible to tell which one we’re looking at. Nora and Ingrid don’t even know which variant is talking to them, as Nora asks which version of Nathan they're talking to at the end of the episode. This leads me to a few theories regarding which version of Amell’s character we’re seeing.

The first, and wildest, theory is somehow Horizen merged the two versions of Nathan into one. I have absolutely no idea how they’d do this. However, I had the same thought when a clone of Amell’s character came into the picture at the end of last season. And if I’ve learned anything from Upload, it’s that we need to always expect the unexpected. This would certainly be unexpected.

The other two theories center around one version of Nathan being alive, while the other is dead or hidden. These theories hinge on where the bad guys took them. Maybe Real World Nathan was the one on that video because he is the original version, and they’re on Earth. However Back-Up was taken in Lakeview, so it’s possible that they’re in the Upload land instead.

In the end, no matter how much we pick this apart, it’s truly unknown which version of Nathan we’re seeing, to the point that even the director of the episode doesn’t know, because they shot multiple iterations of the scene.

What The Director Said About Nathans’ Future 

Even Sarah Boyd, the director of Upload’s Season 3 finale, doesn’t know which version of Nathan we’re seeing. While speaking to CinemaBlend about Nathans’ wild final scene, she said:

So, it seems that there are even people who were part of the Upload cast and crew who don’t know which version of Nathan we’re seeing. As we discussed, it seems like there’s only one version of Robbie Amell’s character now, because he said the other was "destroyed," and it’s unclear who exactly we’re seeing.

Personally, I’m in the camp of the two being merged into one being. However, that’s a wild theory. Thinking reasonably, we might be seeing Real World Nathan on the footage, and maybe Back-Up Nathan has been locked even further away.

If the show is renewed for a fourth season, the Nathans and their loved ones are in a real pickle no matter what happens. We had finally gotten to a point where Ingrid and Nora were satisfied with their relationships, and so were the Nathans. Plus, Real World Nathan wasn’t living in fear anymore about his head exploding. So, it’s a real shame that all that got so messed up. However, there’s no question that whatever happens next will be wildly entertaining.

Much like how we don’t know which version of Nathan we were left with, we don’t know anything about Upload Season 4, because it has not been renewed yet. However, the minute we know more, we’ll be sure to keep you updated. In the meantime, you can stream one of Prime Video’s best shows on Amazon. 

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Reptile. If you have yet to watch the crime thriller, please proceed at your own risk!

There have been a lot of crime thrillers with shocking endings over the years, finales that make us want to immediately go back and watch a movie we just finished to look for clues along the way. This has been the case for classics like The Usual Suspects, Seven, Psycho, and countless others over the years, and it can also be said for Grant Singer’s Reptile, a new 2023 Netflix movie with all kinds of twists and turns.

The movie, which sees Benicio del Toro play a hardened detective named Tom Nichols as he investigates the brutal murder of real estate agent Summer Elswick (Matilda Lutz), is one of those anxiety-inducing dramas that leaves you guessing at every turn. In fact, as it’s revealed along the way, the mysterious killing at the beginning of the story is just the tip of the iceberg. But before breaking that down, let’s refresh our memory on what happens during the Reptile ending.

What Happens At The End Of Reptile

About halfway through Reptile, Tom Nichols discovers that the murder of Summer Elswick isn’t as simple as her ex-husband, Sam Gifford (Karl Glusman) getting back at her for the dissolution of her marriage, Eli Phillips (Michael Pitt) killing her as revenge against her boyfriend, Will Grady (Justin Timberlake), for bringing ruin to his family, or Will doing the deed out of frustration after Summer doesn’t show up at one of his presentations the day before her death. In fact, it goes much deeper than that…

As his investigation continues, Tom uncovers that not only is Summer’s murder connected to corruption within the local community, pretty much everyone he knows is part of a large criminal conspiracy, including his boss, Robert Allen (Eric Bogosian), and best friend, Wally (Domenick Lombardozzi), who’s running a lucrative side-business. Upon deciding to confront the two of their involvement in the large conspiracy, Tom enlists the help of Chief Marty Graeber (Mike Pniewski), who, surprise surprise, is also a major player.

On the day of the confrontation, Wally shoots and kills Robert in his own home and Tom takes out Marty before shooting and paralyzing Wally. In the final moments of the movie, Will is seen being surrounded by FBI agents on a golf course, presumably for his role in his girlfriend’s murder and the massive conspiracy entangling all the major players in the Scarborough community.

How Tom Nichols Discovers The Elswick Murder Is Just Part Of The Story

As mentioned above, the murder of Summer Elswick seems like a fairly simple open-and-shut case, especially after Sam Gifford’s DNA was found on her (it is revealed they were still sleeping with one another). But after Tom shoots and kills Sam when serving him a warrant for his arrest, 13 kilos of heroin are found in his house, one of which is covered with some unique duct tape.

Later on, while Tom is on administrative leave following the shooting, he sees a news broadcast of a drug bust containing the same bundles he saw at Sam’s house, bundles that were supposedly sent to be destroyed. Upon further investigation, Tom learns that Will Grudy’s real estate company and Wally’s side business, Active Duty Security Consulting, were pulling off an impressive drug scam through a shell company known as White Fish.

Tom, who is confused that Summer never received any commissions for her various real estate transactions, then discovers that she had been talking with the FBI in the months leading to her murder, during which time she was providing information to bring down a wide-reaching scheme where Wally would plant drugs in properties and Will would buy them on the cheap to make killer profits. Summer’s murder, which was meant to take the pressure off, ends up bringing the whole thing down…

Who Was Ultimately Responsible For Summer's Murder

While it is never revealed exactly who stabbed Summer to death, it is heavily implied that Will Grady was the person who called for her vicious murder to silence her once and for all. There is a flashback about 94 minutes into the movie that revisits Will finding Summer’s body in the empty home, but with some key differences that suggest Will’s involvement exceeded calling on someone to do the deed. 

When Will discovers the scene the first time around, Summer is already dead on the floor, but when we go back to that moment later on, she is still breathing and on the verge of dying when her boyfriend enters the room. With Will having been upset with Summer for not attending his presentation the night before, as well as his fear she was going to blow up the entire operation, there’s a case to be made for him killing her in such a gruesome manner.

Another theory is that Will had Wally or Marty do the deed due to their connections with the White Fish scheme and possibility that one of them was with him the night he confronted Eli Phillips about the case. Regardless, Will is the one who was ultimately responsible for the killing, no matter if he plunged the knife into her or not, as he’s arrested in the closing moments of Reptile. 

What Happens To Each Of The Main Characters In Reptile

Okay, so now that we know that Will Grady was responsible for Summer Elswick’s murder (either directly or indirectly), the only thing that is left to do is briefly break down what happened to the other main characters in the Reptile ending.

Tom Nichols and his wife, Judy Nichols (Alicia Silverstone) make it through the twist and turns of the Elswick murder investigation and finally see the completion of their massive kitchen renovation going on throughout the movie. Though we’re left with a lot of unanswered questions about their future, they come out of the ordeal alive and well.

As mentioned above, Will Grady is arrested on the golf course after being confronted by FBI agents. With various crimes being tied to him and his operation, Will is going away for a long time if not the rest of his life.

Eli Phillips, Michael Pitt’s mysterious loner who is one of the prime suspects early on, is one the big unknowns of the Reptile ending, as it is never fully revealed what happened the night Will and that mysterious figure confronted him at his house. No mentions of his death are made, so it’s reasonable to think he’s still alive.

With the deaths of Robert Allen and Marty Graeber, the status of the Scarborough Police Department is left up in the air, especially after it’s revealed that multiple cops in the precinct were involved in the White Fish scheme. And while Wally survives the encounter with Tom in the final shootout, he’s left paralyzed and disgraced, and most likely going to prison for his role in everything.

Reptile is now available to stream with a Netflix subscription, which will also give you access to several more upcoming releases on the 2023 movie schedule. And don't forget to check out some of the other great movies on Netflix upon revisiting the new thriller.

Stream Reptile on Netflix.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains massive spoilers for The Exorcist: Believer. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

It was back in July 2021 that Universal Pictures first announced plans to revive the Exorcist franchise, with writer/director David Gordon Green set to helm a full new trilogy of films to follow up the filmmaker’s continuation of John Carpenter’s Halloween. Over two years later, The Exorcist: Believer is now playing in theaters everywhere, and it has quite an unexpected ending to go along with its story of demon possession.

What happens at the end of The Exorcist: Believer, what is the fate of the two possessed girls at the center of the plot, and where does the trilogy go from here? All of that and more is spelled out in this ending explained feature. To start, let’s do a recap of what it is that happens at the conclusion of the new film…

What Happens At The End Of The Exorcist: Believer

At the beginning of the end of The Exorcist: Believer, things go from bad to worse as Father Maddox (E.J. Bonilla), late to joining the exorcism due to fear of excommunication, is killed by having his head turned 180 degrees on his neck. Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Tony and Miranda (Norbert Leo Butz and Jennifer Nettles) struggle to reconcile with the continued demonic possession of their daughters, Angela (Lidya Jewett) and Katherine (Olivia O’Neill), and they quickly start to get desperate when it doesn’t seem that any of the religious rituals are working.

Victor’s move is to find the scarf that Angela wanted to bring to school (the one that belonged to her deceased mother) and give it to her – despite the fact that he was told not to make physical contact with his child. This seems to have an effect, as the girls’ heartbeats start to get out of sync… but things go to hell when Katherine starts crying and begging, not wanting to die. Frantically, Tony goes to the girls and accepts the demon Lamashtu’s deal offering that one of them will live, and one will be killed. He calls out, “I choose Katherine” – willing to sacrifice Angela for the safety of his own daughter.

Angela screams and Victor goes flying across the room as the lights in the room flicker. The young girl levitates and vomits black liquid before flat-lining, and while she seems to be dying, Katherine seems to get back to normal. This is only temporary, however, as the monitors flash and suddenly Katherine is the one who doesn’t have a heartbeat. As she dies, Angela wakes up in Victor’s arms. CPR and a defibrillator are used on Katherine, but they are no use. She is dead.

In the aftermath, the cops arrive. We see shots of the characters’ lives after their experience with demonic possession: Tony and Miranda meet at a restaurant alone, Victor visits the grave of his wife, and Angela goes to school and can’t help but see that Katherine’s chair is empty.

At the hospital where Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is recuperating from being blinded by Katherine, her daughter Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) arrives, and they cry and embrace.

Why The Demon Lamashtu Kills Katherine

I could perhaps sum up this section with “Demons are assholes,” but let’s dig a bit deeper.

By itself, Lamashtu killing Katherine after her father “chooses” for her to live is a classic evil move. Tony gives into the seduction of the bargain, and he does a horrible thing by doing so: he is willing to sacrifice Angela’s life so that he can save the life of his own daughter. The reward for making this terrible agreement is the worst punishment imaginable.

At the same time, one can also see the parallel that is constructed between what happens in the first act versus the third act. At the start of The Exorcist: Believer, Victor is given the choice to either save his wife or their unborn baby when she is injured during an earthquake, and while he chooses his spouse, medical complications see his wife die and Angela survive. Lamashtu taunts Victor with this knowledge, and it turns out to be foreshadowing for what Tony does.

How Does This Set Up Things Up For The Exorcist: Deceiver?

One of the standout trends this year is the heavy lean into cinematic serialization. The summer was a season of “Part Ones,” with Fast X, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning each only executing half of a larger planned narrative. Given the announcement that The Exorcist: Believer was kicking off a full trilogy, there existed a possibility that the film would have an open-ended conclusion that would only be satisfied through two more movies… but that’s definitely not the case.

Unlike, for example, the ending of 2018’s Halloween, which provides a cliffhanger regarding the fate of Michael Myers, The Exorcist: Believer doesn’t have any obvious loose plot threads as far as the possession is concerned. There isn’t any specific indication that Lamashtu has stuck around, and while Victor, Angela, Tony and Miranda will have to deal with the trauma they endured, there’s nothing in the movie to suggest that they will have more demon-related issues in the future.

The story of Chris MacNeil also appears to be wrapped up now that she has been reunited with Regan. There’s obviously the possibility that the characters will return in The Exorcist: Deceiver, but the movie answers all raised questions (namely “Is Regan still alive?” and “Will she be able to forgive her mother for writing her book?”).

It’s entirely possible that the second chapter in the new Exorcist trilogy will be an independent narrative that isn’t built to be a continuation of what plays out in The Exorcist: Believer, and perhaps the third movie will be the one that ties everything together. It won’t be long before we find out more, as The Exorcist: Deceiver is scheduled to be released on April 18, 2025 – meaning that production will likely start in the first half of next year.

Starring Leslie Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett, Olivia O’Neill, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, and Ellen Burstyn, The Exorcist: Believer is now playing in theaters. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest updates and news about the development of The Exorcist: Deceiver, and check out our Upcoming Horror Movies guide to learn about all of the scary features on their way to the big screen and streaming in the coming months.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains massive spoilers for No One Will Save You. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

Sometimes you watch the end of a movie and just know that the discourse surrounding it is going to be fervent. The final moment of Inception is a relatively recent example that springs to mind, but there’s also the haunting twist of The Babadook and the shocking conclusion of Hereditary. Writer/director Brian Duffield’s No One Will Save You is the latest of these kinds of titles to be released, as it packs an unexpected ending that manages to be both happy and scary at the same time.

It’s a fascinating film all around, but we’ve put together this feature specifically with the aim of analyzing the special ending and the fate of Brynn Adams, the protagonist played by Kaitlyn Dever. Before we dig into the big mystery of the movie and Brian Duffield’s comments about how the final scenes came together, let’s first do a quick recap of what happens at the end of No One Will Save You...

What Happens At The End Of No One Will Save You

The beginning of the end of No One Will Save You comes as Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) kills her alien clone before her alien clone can kill her – slicing her neck with a box cutter. When the clone dies, Brynn continues to try and run away, but her path is blocked by a massive, multi-legged extraterrestrial, and before she can even think about evading it, she gets trapped in a beam deployed by a floating UFO.

Brynn is pulled aboard the ship, and a group of the greys surround and analyze her while she remains paralyzed. One of them reaches out and puts a finger to her head, utilizing some kind of psychic ability. The protagonist suddenly finds herself inhabiting her own memories, and while she is at first happy to see her younger self doing crafts with her mother, she is then horrified to relive the incident that led her to be isolated from her home town: the death of her best friend, Maude. At first she can only observe events, but when she watches as her younger self writes an apology letter to her deceased best friend, Brynn is able to reach out and hold her hand.

Back in the present, the aliens discuss what they have witnessed, and they look up to the top of the ship as though awaiting an order from a higher authority. There are loud sounds and a bright light, and Brynn is ungracefully returned to Earth – dropped on the street where she was first abducted. She lies down in pain, still bleeding as a result of being stabbed by her clone, but after seeing some flashing colored lights in the sky, she begins to smile and laugh.

Sometime later during the day, Brynn happily puts on makeup in her bedroom and goes out for a bike ride – her face still showing healing cuts from her terrifying ordeal. When she waves at people in town, they no longer ignore her; instead, they smile and wave back… with the alien organisms in their throats wiggling and making their presence known. That evening, she attends a soiree and has the opportunity to dance and be happy and normal, all while UFOs gently float across the sky.

What Happened Between Brynn And Maude That Led To Brynn’s Isolation?

When we first meet Brynn in No One Will Save You, she is firmly entrenched in her life of solitude, but it’s never explicitly revealed why it is that she has been rejected by her community. We know that it has something to do with Maude Collins, her childhood best friend, but the movie remains vague about what actually happened. It’s made clear that it was something awful – most notably illustrated by the reaction the character gets when she accidentally runs into Maude’s parents – but it’s not until the end of the film that we learn what went down.

As revealed in the aforementioned alien-induced flashback, Brynn and Maude were having some kind of heated argument that escalated to the point where Maude pushed Brynn down to the ground. Filled with anger and not thinking rationally, the film’s protagonist instinctively grabbed a rock and proceeded to hit her friend on the head with it. An instance of horrible luck, the blow was fatal.

The film doesn’t get into the legal consequences that Brynn faced for the accidental death, but that’s arguably incidental in light of the prison that she has built for herself. She finds some happiness for herself in dressmaking and various crafts, but she is ensconced in grief and guilt and her entire life is trapped behind that one mistake. Through the alien home invasion she experiences, she finally has a true confrontation with all of her feelings, and she changes in a major way… while the world also very much changes around her.

Writer/Director Brian Duffield Kept Waiting For Somebody To Say “No” To His Wild No One Will Save You Ending, And Nobody Ever Did

If No One Will Save You were to end in a more traditional manner, it would conclude with Brynn working to build a new ordinary life for herself in a still ordinary world, having emotionally grown in the aftermath of her alien encounter. Instead, she comes out of her adventure a healthier person, but the world that she is living in has been conquered by otherworldly visitors.

When I spoke with writer/director Brian Duffield about the movie earlier this month during the film’s virtual press day, I specifically asked about the atypical ending and how it came together. The filmmaker explained that a big part of the equation was simply wanting to let the story on a happy note for his protagonist, saying,

Even after Brian Duffield adjusted his script to feature more setup for his desired ending, he still kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for someone to tell him that it all needed to change. Ultimately, he got a suggestion for the last shot of the movie that ended up being used (the UFOs flying in the sky), but he otherwise didn’t field any arguments to alter what he had come up with. Duffield continued,

It’s a great lesson for all creatives out there: don’t just create something that you think other people want to see; always go with your boldest and best ideas, and you may get the opportunity to execute them.

No One Will Save You is now available to stream with a Hulu subscription, and you can discover all of the new films set to be released between now and the end of the year by checking out our 2023 Movie Release Calendar.

SPOILER WARNING! Spoilers for A Haunting in Venice are in play. If you haven’t seen this chilling thriller just yet, you’ve been warned! 

With A Haunting In Venice, the famed deductive skills of Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot are put to the ultimate test. In a case that involves potential supernatural threats and very real deaths, Agatha Christie’s Belgian sleuth has to determine what’s truth, what’s fiction, and who’s to blame for all of it. It’s perhaps the man’s most challenging case, and the ending is treat for the audience to see unfold on the big screen.

But just in case you wanted to check your facts and walk through the solution to the third Poirot film, never fear. We’re about to dig into all of the dangerous details and uncover the truth behind what was going on at this perilous palazzo. So if you’re already read into this case, then feel free to proceed. All who haven’t experienced what I called a “gorgeously claustrophobic” film in CinemaBlend’s A Haunting in Venice review are officially warned that spoilers are very much on the way. Now let’s reach out to the past, and see what happened on that Halloween night in Venice, 1946... 

The Solution To A Haunting In Venice’s Heinous Crimes

The mystery at the heart of A Haunting in Venice stems from a death that takes place prior to the spooky gathering at the center of the story. Famed opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) lost her daughter to one of two causes. If you’re a skeptic, Alicia Drake (Rowan Robinson) committed suicide in a fugue of illness. Or if you’re more superstitious, Alicia was driven mad by the curse on her family’s palazzo, which is allegedly haunted by the spirits of children left to burn in the plague hospital that the building used to be. 

In actuality, Alicia Drake was accidentally driven to death, though that was only because the circumstances were primed by Rowena herself. Alicia died because she was secretly being poisoned by her mother in order to stop her from running off with young chef/fortune hunter Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen).

Lacing her daughter’s tea with a poisoned honey, Rowena Drake wanted to keep her daughter close to her by a means of Munchausen by proxy. However, one horrific night when Alica Drake’s illness seemed its worst, caretaker Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin) served her the usual tea – only with an accidentally extra potent dose of honey. That accidental murder set off a chain of events that would come home to roost in 1946 when a seance turns deadly. 

The Victims And Survivors Of A Haunting In Venice

While Rowena didn’t necessarily mean to kill her daughter, she did personally influence the murder of two other people. By flat out murdering famed medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) and coercing party guest/admirer Dr. Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan) into suicide, her secret was supposedly safe. If only Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) and Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio) hadn’t conspired to try and scheme Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) into experiencing an encounter with the dead!

Luckily, the murders only add up to three corpses among A Haunting in Venice’s cast, as the rest of the party’s guests survive. The now orphaned Leopold Ferrier (Jude Hill) is going to live with Olga Seminoff, even though he had his own part in the wrongdoings that led to the night’s events. As Leopold was blackmailing Rowena Drake with the knowledge of her deeds, his father’s death in A Haunting in Venice came from Rowena being convinced it was the lovesick Dr. Leslie Ferrier pulling the strings. 

In their final encounter, Hercule Poirot tells the young Leopold to atone for acts through kindness. That in turn inspires the boy to use some of the money he took from Rowena to send Nicholas and Desdemona Holland (Ali Kahn & Emma Laird) to America –fulfilling the dream that helped them survive World War II. 

As for Rowena... well, her fate was death no matter how you look at it. However, whether it was a result of clumsiness on a rain soaked night or the ghost of Alicia pulling her off of that balcony is up for debate. Which only opens the door to another big question:

Are There Really Ghosts In A Haunting In Venice?

The answer to this A Haunting in Venice query is very vague, as we first see Hercule Poirot debunking the fraud that is Joyce Reynolds. Even after all of the visions and encounters with Alicia Drake’s ghost plaguing him, Poirot technically writes it all off as the side effects of being poisoned by the same honey that killed Alicia. However, by the time Hercule leaves with the survivors of A Haunting in Venice, he doesn’t seem as dismissive of some sort of spectral presence as he was in the beginning.

While not fully convinced of the phenomenon that only he seemed to see or hear, conversations with Leopold Ferrier about these encounters don’t seem to end with Hercule Poirot totally turning a cold shoulder to the ghosts of the past. It’s not definitively answered whether or not there are ghosts; as with all good stories, some things need to be left up to the mind of the viewer. 

Could A Haunting In Venice Serve As Hercule Poirot’s Last Case?

We’ve officially reached the end of what could be called the Hercule Poirot trilogy. Three films starring Kenneth Branagh as the beloved detective are now in the books, and this last case sees Poirot coming out of retirement to solve yet another murder. But could Kenneth Branagh’s sleuth return to his life of gardening and pastries, leaving crime solving behind for good? 

Well, yes and no. At the end of A Haunting in Venice, we see that Hercule has indeed returned to consulting the public on their various problem solving needs. So while this movie could be seen as a perfect end to the career of Hercule Poirot, it doesn’t need to be the final time we see him in action on the big screen. 

If anything, “old friend” Ariadne Oliver could come back for some more fun as well. While she does deceive Poirot for the sake of inspiring a new bestseller, her handful of Agatha Christie adventures with our dessert-loving detective do leave the door open for her return. And seeing as the timeline of this trilogy spans from 1934’s Murder on the Orient Express to the new 1946 setting in the altered narrative of this latest chapter, there’s room to go back in time to an earlier adventure too.

As Agatha Christie’s great-grandson James Pritchard was ok with the vast changes made to A Haunting in Venice’s story, there’s always room for anything to happen. Provided, of course, that there’s a good reason for making such a change and if the team behind these movies is willing.

In the case of this latest cinematic whodunnit, the audience is given a novel reinvention of Hallowe’en Party’s shocking story. It just so happens that the setting and the crime have been tweaked for maximum horror-thriller excitement. Even if you've spoiled the movie for yourself, you can still see enjoy A Haunting In Venice, which is in theaters now. And for those of you who missed out on Death on the Nile, you can currently stream that caper with the use of a Hulu subscription.

Red Lights is a movie that plays out in two parts. The first part establishes the world, introduces the characters, and just eases you into the Red Lights story. However, the second part goes fully unhinged, in the best way. The 2012 movie is an exciting thriller that really becomes stronger because of its ending. Red Lights stars Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, and Elizabeth Olsen. It follows Tom Buckley (Murphy) and Margaret Matheson (Weaver) as they investigate people claiming to be psychics, mediums, and other supernatural beings.

Their main goal is to prove that these people are frauds. Tom and Margaret clash when it comes to Simon Silver (De Niro), one of the most famous psychics. Red Lights is all about beliefs, con artists, showmanship, and the existence of the paranormal. The Red Lights ending really drives home some of these themes. Like many other great psychological thrillers, it ends with a captivating movie twist. It’s one of those movies with wild endings. 

Warning Red Lights spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution. 

What Happened At The End Of Red Lights 

Tom goes to confront Silver but before he can, one of Silver’s men attacks him in the bathroom. He’s badly beaten but makes it back to the show to challenge Silver’s powers in front of everyone. Meanwhile, Sally (Olsen) and Ben (Craig Roberts) work to figure out if there is any proof that Silver cheated during the test to prove his psychic abilities. They discover that he not only used a watch to receive coded answers but he’s actually not blind. 

During the performance, Silver and Tom proceed to yell at each other. Silver claims he will use his power to harm Tom. Tom continues to call him a fraud. Then suddenly the room begins to shake. After it stops, Silver asks Tom how he did that. Tom throws a coin at him, which he catches and exposes that he can see. Tom walks away as Silver continues to shout at him demanding to know how he did it. 

The final scenes show Tom as he releases Margaret’s son from life support. He also writes her a letter explaining his regrets for not telling her before she died the truth about him. He joined her team because he had been searching for others like him. He has now accepted what he is and wishes he told her that there was something beyond death.

Tom’s Journey Of Self-Acceptance 

In many ways, Red Lights is a coming-of-age movie and a hero’s journey film. It’s less about Tom’s journey of self-discovery and more about his journey of self-acceptance. He has known that he was a psychic all throughout the film but kept it hidden from everyone, including the audience. The final moments of the film reveal that he’s not a non-believer but someone who believes and knows the truth and has been running from that fact most of his life. 

In an interview with The Scorecard Review, Red Lights writer and director Rodrigo Cortés explained how he wrote the film with self-acceptance at the forefront. We see this throughout the movie but it doesn’t become completely clear until we know the twist. Once you know that Tom is a true psychic with various abilities, you understand why exposing Silver and others like him is so important to him. It’s one of the great thrillers that the story doesn’t fully form until you know the ending. 

After knowing the twist, you understand his obsession and steps toward madness. He isn’t being stalked by Silver in the way the audience believes. Instead, he’s full of guilt for hiding his true self from Margaret. He could have given her some peace if he only told her the truth before his death. He accepts himself because he has seen the consequences of denying it. Tom also finally experiences inward peace and freedom because he embraces his powers and identity. 

How Red Lights Tricks The Audience 

Red Lights is a movie that enjoys tricking the audience. It leaves a lot of breadcrumbs about what’s happening throughout the movie. However, it sets itself up as a movie about con artists, hoaxes, and frauds. Therefore, it conditions you to believe that this isn’t really a movie about paranormal activity. We have no reason to suspect that Tom actually has powers. Nevertheless, he tells us the truth in various scenes. The most important one is when he’s with Sally showing her a few magic tricks. In this scene, he tells Sally (and the audience) that they created the magic by looking in the wrong direction. 

Everyone looks at Silver as maybe the one who has psychic abilities. We’re led to believe all this paranormal stuff begins to happen because it’s Silver sending his rage toward Tom to scare him. In actuality, it’s Tom losing control of himself, so his abilities begin to malfunction. Even during the Red Lights promotional stage, the marketing team hints to the viewers to not trust what’s happening in the movie. The posters (via We Are Movie Geeks) show the cast with taglines such as “Don’t trust your eyes” and “What do you think you know”?

This is very much a movie about being tricked into believing something that isn’t real, and it does that by also tricking the viewers into believing a false reality. Paranormal activity does exist here but just not in the way the audience may think at the beginning of the movie. 

Tom And Silver’s Relationship And What It Represents 

Tom and Silver are linked in a way that all great heroes are with their one major foil and villain. These feuding duos remain a constant in each other’s lives. Sometimes they put their differences aside for a common goal, but they’re always going to be enemies. Silver is the Joker to Tom’s Batman. They exist to antagonize the other and represent two opposite sides of the same coin. 

Tom is someone who probably hates that he has powers and wants to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible. Silver probably wishes he had powers and loves the spotlight. In order for Tom to stop Silver, he must expose himself. They are connected in a deep way so that in order to destroy one, you must destroy the other.

Now, one can also look at it as Tom frees himself by exposing his powers. He can embrace his true identity but there is also a chance that he will never know external peace again. People will want to find him because of the incident. Tom can no longer just exist in the shadows.

Can You Trust The Ending?

Tom isn’t the most reliable character. He tells Sally a story to imply that his mother may have been a victim of one of these fake psychics. Then later he says she’s a homemaker. You never quite know what’s the truth with Tom. He’s not fully an unreliable narrator because most of his lies are to hide his secret. However, it does put into question what’s real and what’s not real in terms of the twist.

It’s a possibility that Tom could just be going through a state of delusion. As Cortés points out in his interview with Tribute.ca, Red Lights is a movie all about beliefs. According to him, many people who believe in a higher power (or even the nonexistence of one) have confirmation biases, because they look for things to confirm their beliefs. This can also relate to the audience in that they may look for clues to either confirm or dispute Tom’s psychic abilities. However, Cortés has only spoken about the ending as truth. He even implies in an interview with Joe Robberson that Tom survives the bathroom brawl because he’s otherworldly. 

In Cortes’s vision, Tom very much is what’s revealed at the end: a man with psychic powers. 

Red Lights is one of the best movies to watch on Peacock right now. Many may not consider it the best Cillian Murphy movie, but it’s one of my favorites because of the Red Lights twist ending and how it makes you question everything that happened before it.

Stream Red Lights on Peacock.  

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The Nun II. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

After 10 years, the timeline and continuity for The Conjuring Universe has gotten quite complex. At the core of everything is the main run of Conjuring movies (The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It), but the popularity of those titles has inspired multiple spinoffs with sequels of their own. The latest spinoff sequel is director Michael Chaves’ The Nun II – and now that it’s in theaters, we can discuss the strange relationship that the end of the film has with the established canon.

It’s all a bit complicated, which is why we put together this feature. What happens at the end of The Nun II, how does it fit with the rest of the Conjuring Universe, and what does the director have to say about its franchise connections? We’ve packed everything you want to know in this piece – and we’ll start with a recap of the new horror movie’s last few scenes.

What Happens At The End Of The Nun II

For a brief moment at the end of The Nun II, it feels like all may be lost. Valak (Bonnie Aarons) has achieved its goal and acquired the eyes of Saint Lucy, and the girls at the all-girls boarding school are helpless while being chased around the grounds by a demonic goat (who may or may not actually be Satan). But then Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and Sister Debra (Storm Reid) figure out how to win.

Reflecting on their earlier conversation about how faith is behind the idea of transubstantiation, Irene and Debra pray together and take advantage of the fact that the property used to be a winery before it was turned into a school. Caskets of red wine explode and douse Valak as it hovers in the air, and the prayers of the protagonists turn the liquid into the blood of Jesus Christ (the same weapon that was successfully used in The Nun). The unholy evil burns in a pillar of fire, and the demon goat returns to its place in the stained glass window of the chapel. Maurice (Jonas Bloquet) screams as Valak immolates, but Irene and Debra pray with him until he is back to normal and the film’s titular antagonist is embers.

The next morning, Irene finds Maurice back out in the school’s garden tending to his tomato plant – which grew from the seeds that the young nun gave to him when they went separate ways in Romania. Also with “Frenchie” is Kate (Anna Popplewell) and her daughter Sophie (Katelyn Rose Downey), and the formerly possessed groundskeeper apologizes to them all. As Irene watches, the trio walks away hand in hand, and the movie ends with a cut to black.

Wait, Does The Nun II Fit With The Rest Of The Conjuring Universe?

Those of you who distinctly remember the ending of The Nun may be a touch confused by what happens in the final minutes of The Nun II. For those who don’t recall, the 2018 movie concludes by executing a special deep canon link featuring Maurice a.k.a. Frenchie – who is shown to be inhabited by Valak following the big third act battle (as indicated by a scar on his neck that looks like an inverted cross). After this reveal, the film fast-forwards to 20 years later via footage from The Conjuring, with Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) giving a lecture that features footage of them with a possessed Maurice performing an exorcism.

Maurice being plagued by Valak is a detail that properly syncs up with what happens in The Nun II, but it’s at the end of the 2023 film where things go wrong. In the last scene, Maurice is looking happy and demon free as he says goodbye to Sister Irene, and if that’s truly the case, why would Ed and Lorraine Warren need to do an exorcism? The puzzle pieces don’t fit together… though there is a pretty simple solution for the franchise: make The Nun III.

If the canon is going to be cleared up, that means Maurice is going to have to get repossessed, and the story of how that happens could close out a Nun trilogy. Additionally, the theoretical sequel could explain how Valak survives the events of The Nun II (we know that the demon comes back years later thanks to The Conjuring 2), and it could also finally forge a definitive link between Sister Irene and Lorraine Warren.

How The Nun 2 Director Approached Its Big Ending Knowing The Movie’s Place In The Conjuring Universe

Director Michael Chaves is certainly not a novice when it comes to The Conjuring Universe. The filmmaker helmed his first chapter of the franchise making 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona, and he followed that up by making The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. The Nun II marks his third film in the canon, and when I discussed the ending of the new film with him during the movie’s virtual press day, he started by demonstrating his depth of knowledge regarding not only big screen continuity, but the real files of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Said Chaves,

Maurice "Frenchie" Theriault could be called a doomed character in The Conjuring Universe, as his entire life in the movies is leading to his post-exorcism death, but Michael Chaves apparently wasn’t ready to tell that story (but obviously he is keeping that door open for the future).

As for the construction of the ending, Michael Chaves addressed that there was an inherent challenge in telling what is a middle chapter in the franchise (The Nun II is simultaneously a sequel and a prequel). Fans know that there is more of this story to be told, but he wasn’t interested in doing what audiences saw from Fast X, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 this summer:

The way that the director explains it, the film is able to serve two audiences. Movie-goers who come to The Nun II knowing nothing about The Conjuring Universe will be satisfied by a self-contained horror story, and die-hards will understand that there is still more of this story to be told. In Chaves words,

While we don’t presently know if/when we will get The Nun III, the franchise does have future plans in the form of The Conjuring: Last Rites, which was first announced in October 2022 with David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick penning the screenplay. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more updates about the amazing horror franchise, and learn about all of the scary films on the way in the coming months with our Upcoming Horror Movies guide. Or if you're interested in visiting or revisiting some past horror movies, check out our list of the best horror movies of all time. 

Spoiler Warning: The following article is an expressway of spoilers for Twisted Metal Season 1. If you have yet to watch Peacock’s video game adaptation and wish to avoid spoilers, please take your first exit.

After what seems like years of hearing about it, Peacock’s high-octane thrill ride that is Twisted Metal has completed its first season; a run of 10 episodes that was as fast and furious as the classic video game franchise on which it is based. With a combination of intense action, some over-the-top and hilarious music moments, and outstanding chemistry shared by its leads, Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz, there was a lot for viewers to enjoy.

While the show’s debut season didn’t offer up as much vehicular combat as longtime fans may have liked, the Twisted Metal ending sure did a great job of teasing what’s to come, both when it comes to the titular tournament at the center of the game franchise and the mysterious figure pulling all the strings. Here’s where the show has been and where it could be headed in the future.

What Happens At The End Of Twisted Metal Season 1

In true video game adaptation fashion, Twisted Metal Season 1 was essentially a 10-episode fetch quest that saw milkman John Doe (Anthony Mackie) be tasked with driving from New San Francisco to New Chicago in order to pick up a mysterious package for the even more mysterious Raven (Neve Campbell). However, In the season finale, we learn that the amnesiac delivery driver wasn’t picking up medicine, riches, or some biological weapon, but instead a pint of ice cream (the wrong flavor at that).

In the final moments, as John is about to leave the safety of the Bay Area to find Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz), who is on her own journey after their cross-country trip, Raven tells the milkman that this was actually a test to see if he could handle driving for her in Calypso’s upcoming Twisted Metal tournament, a vehicular combat contest in which the winner gets anything they desire…

Calypso Has Been Teased All Season, Who Is He?

Though he is never seen in the flesh, Calypso is a major presence that can be felt throughout Twisted Metal Season 1, with the first reference to the creator of the titular destruction derby with guns coming in the debut episode in the form of a “Calypso is real” tag on a highway sign. 

There are a few more teases throughout subsequent episodes, and John Doe and Quiet even speak with the mysterious figure upon arriving in New Chicago in the “NUTHOUZ” episode. Even then, we only hear his voice (through an intercom) and never get to see his face. Then the biggest reveal about the character comes in the aforementioned scene in which Raven tells John about an upcoming tournament being organized by the mystery man. But, who is Calypso, anyway?

Ever since the Twisted Metal video game franchise was introduced back in 1995, Calypso has been a major figure in the series’ events, as he is the founder of the tournament from which the game draws its name. The malevolent, charismatic, and demented event organizer has the ability to grant any wish the winner desires, but more times than not, there’s a catch that results in the champion actually being the biggest loser.

From the first game’s hilarious canned endings to those comic book-like cutscenes from its sequel to 2001 reboot, Twisted Metal: Black, Calypso has long been a man who can pull off the impossible, but for a hefty price. How the character is depicted (and who plays him) in a potential second season is anyone’s guess. 

All Roads Lead To The Titular Vehicular Combat Tournament

Though the Twisted Metal tournament itself doesn’t get mentioned until the final minutes of the new Peacock original series’ debut season, the previous episodes do a fantastic job of laying the groundwork for the vehicular combat contest with the aforementioned Calypso signs, the walled-off cities, and vast battlegrounds sprinkled throughout the Divided States of America. We don’t know where the deadly tournament will take place – the first game was in Los Angeles, the second was a “World Tour,” and Twisted Metal: Black was in the fictional city of “Midtown” – all roads lead to vehicular combat, possibly in New Chicago.

Unlike New San Francisco and Agent Stone’s (Thomas Haden Church) car blockade in the American West, the “Windy City” could be the best possible place for Twisted Metal to go down. It’s centrally located in the country, there are obviously multiple roads going in and out of the region, and the city is seemingly an automated fortress, which would be ideal for Calypso to hold and oversee his epic destruction derby. Just thinking about John Doe, Sweet Tooth, Quiet, and the rest of the possible contestants racing down Lake Shore Drive, blowing up landmarks like Wrigley Field, and recreating The Dark Knight’s “truck flip” would be sight to see.

If the combat in Twisted Metal Season 2 is anything like the showdown with Agent Stone’s cops in the Season 1 finale, then we’re in for one hell of a ride. 

Who Are The Drivers Participating In Twisted Metal?

More than a dozen characters from the Twisted Metal franchise showed up in the first season, and many of them are still alive and well enough to enter the upcoming tournament. 

In the final moments of the Season 1 finale, as Raven is telling John Doe about the contest, drivers from throughout the season – Preacher (Jason Mantzoukas), Miranda Watts, a.k.a. Twister (Jamie Neumann), Amber Rose, a.k.a., Flower Power (Diany Rodriguez) – are shown on a bracket, leading you to believe they’ll all be in the tournament. Interestingly enough, the board also featured Bloody Mary (Chloe Fineman), even though she was presumed dead after an encounter with John and Quiet earlier in the season. The brief scene also teased some of the franchise’s most iconic characters, like the motorcycle-riding spirit known as Mr. Grimm and Axel, a man who has long been trapped in a vehicle of his father’s creation.

But, that isn’t all, since Sweet Tooth (Samoa Joe/Will Arnett) could also be in the tournament, as it’s revealed in the Twisted Metal Season 1 mid-credits sequence that he somehow survived setting his head on fire, being shot, and getting hit by a car in that epic battle with Stone. There is also the Dollface situation, as John Doe’s long-lost sister confronted Quiet before the credits rolled. We’ll have to see if the pair form a team of their own or become bitter enemies on the road to Twisted Metal.

Hopefully, the show is picked up for a second season so that we can see Calypso and his tournament in all their glory after the way things wrapped up in the Twisted Metal ending. But, while we wait for more information on the return of one of the most surprising shows on the 2023 TV schedule, now would be a good time to check out everything that comes with a Peacock subscription.

Stream Twisted Metal on Peacock.

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS are ahead for all six episodes of Good Omens Season 2 on Prime Video.

The long-awaited second season of Good Omens finally arrived for Amazon Prime Video subscribers in the 2023 TV schedule, and the new batch of episodes had to tell a story beyond the pages of Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett’s original book. With Gaiman on board as a co-showrunner, executive producer, and writer, the series was in the right hands to pick up where Season 1 left off, complete with the author creating new characters for returning stars. Season 2 ended on some game-changing choices from Crowley (David Tennant) and Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) that would certainly mean a drastically different Season 3.

Unfortunately, Good Omens has not yet been renewed for a third season, and the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA strike means that the stars could only promote the new episodes giving Crowley and Aziraphale everything they wanted early on. The demon and angel got more than they bargained for by the time the final credits rolled, so as the wait begins for news on Season 3, let’s look at the ending and what it means for the future!

How Good Omens Season 2 Resolved The Gabriel Mystery

The central mystery for Good Omens Season 2 concerned the Supreme Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) and why he turned up on Aziraphale's doorstep naked, alone, memory-free, and with Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” stuck in his head. There were plenty of subplots that included Crowley and Aziraphale going back and forth on how to handle the amnesiac archangel, the duo trying to set two humans up to fall in love, and the demons laying siege to the bookshop to get them to “surrender the angle,” but the mystery was all about Gabriel. 

As it turned out, the resolution to the mystery had nothing to do with Gabriel wanting a second try at Armageddon after Heaven and Hell were thwarted in Season 1. No, Gabriel had fallen in love with Beelzebub (played by Bridgerton’s Shelley Conn with a very different look) over the course of their clandestine meetings as representatives of Heaven and Hell, and the fly that had been buzzing around the bookshop all season contained his memories. Their story ended when they decided to run off to Alpha Centauri to be together forever, with the knowledge that they could never come back. 

And that would have been a very unexpected but pretty happy ending to Season 2… if the final credits had rolled then, but the power vacuums in Heaven and Hell had to be addressed with Gabriel and Beelzebub gone, and that’s where Crowley and Aziraphale – spectacularly lacking in self-awareness even after seeing another angel and demon acknowledging their love for each other – made their game-changing decisions ahead of the reveal of what could go down in Season 3. 

Aziraphale Is Taking Gabriel’s Place In Heaven

The departure of Gabriel meant that the angels had to decide who would take his place in charge of Heaven, with Michael (Doon Mackichan), Uriel (Gloria Obianyo), and Saraqael (Liz Carr) in the mix, while Muriel (Quelin Sepulveda) was clearly not in the running. The Metatron’s (Derek Jacobi) arrival put an end to their debating, as he had a different candidate in mind to run Heaven's "enormous projects" with "huge plans afoot" as the new Supreme Archangel: Aziraphale himself. 

And bless his little angelic heart, Aziraphale could only see the positives of this offer and the opportunity to reshape Heaven in the way that he wanted… with Crowley by his side, as an angel again. Season 2 had revealed that the two knew each other before Crowley sauntered vaguely downward and was cursed with his snake eyes. In some truly unfortunate timing, the angel excitedly dropped the bombshell just as Crowley was ready to declare his feelings.

Crowley didn't even need a moment to think about the offer and immediately wanted to hear that Aziraphale had turned Metatron down, but Aziraphale was set on the decision, even after Crowley planted a big kiss on him in a grand (and possibly ill-advised in light of the timing) gesture. Aziraphale ended the season returning to Heaven and leaving his bookstore in the hands of Muriel, without the support of the one being who'd been around him for more than 6000 years. What would Jane Austen say?!

Crowley Is Staying On Earth

For his part, Crowley was getting a lecture from Nina (Nina Sosanya) and Maggie (Maggie Service) about his relationship with Aziraphale while the angel was getting the offer to run Heaven from Metatron. The two humans convinced him that he and Aziraphale finally needed to have a real conversation with each other, and – in possibly Crowley’s bravest move of the entire series – he immediately tried to have it as soon as the angel returned to the bookshop. 

Aziraphale was too busy failing to read the room to register what Crowley was saying, and the mood turned as soon as the demon heard that Aziraphale planned to take the offer to rule Heaven and wanted to reinstate him to angel status to work by his side. Presumably motivated by more than just not wanting to wear the same kind of angel uniform that he did during his undercover mission Up with Muriel, Crowley refused flat out. He did make one last-ditch effort to convince Aziraphale to run away together and then planted a kiss on him, and only got an “I forgive you” in response. 

So, as Aziraphale joined Metatron in the elevator to return to Heaven and take Gabriel’s place, Crowley returned to the Bentley, free to use his flat again with Shax (Miranda Richardson) taking over for Beelzebub, but no longer able to rely on Aziraphale on Earth. While Season 1 ended with Crowley and Aziraphale toasting the world together at the Ritz while “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” playing over the soundtrack, Season 2 ended with Crowley bitterly listening to the same song in the Bentley while Aziraphale went Up, then switching the radio off. If ever he could have used some Freddie Mercury to cheer up!

The Second Coming May Be Nigh

While the biggest game-changer of Good Omens Season 2 was undoubtedly the split between Crowley and Aziraphale, the final conversation between Metatron and Aziraphale set up what could be an epic third season. When Aziraphale asked about the projects that needed his attention in Heaven, Metatron previewed that they're working on “The Second Coming,” and there is plenty to speculate about from that tease for however long the hiatus lasts before (hopefully) Season 3!

Although the finale ended without giving any further explanation, “The Second Coming” seems most likely to refer to the second coming of Jesus Christ in the Christian faith and/or a particular poem by William Butler Yeats. In Christianity, The Second Coming is the idea that Jesus will return to Earth after his ascension to Heaven following his crucifixion, but Good Omens actually showed the crucifixion of Jesus back in Season 1. It was notable enough that both Crowley and Aziraphale were present, but neither gave any sign that there was anything particularly divine about him. 

Besides, Good Omens tends to draw on stories from the Old Testament, such as Noah's Ark in Season 1 and the Trials of Job in Season 2. It seems most likely to me that a Good Omens version of The Second Coming would involve a second attempt at the apocalypse via an Antichrist, since Adam didn’t exactly work out in Season 1. That was Hell's effort, so it’s hard to guess what Heaven’s attempt would be. 

The mention of “The Second Coming” could also be a nod to the poem of the same name by William Butler Yeats. Written in the aftermath of World War I, the poem involves apocalyptic imagery to go along with the line that "Surely the Second Coming is at hand." Basically, Yeats’ version of The Second Coming evokes terrifying end times more than Heaven on Earth, and that sounds like something that Good Omens would lean into... and somehow make funny.

If a second apocalypse is planned for Season 3, the bad news is that Crowley and Aziraphale aren’t on the same page. As much as their incompetence in Season 1 was entertaining enough to make my list of things I wanted to return in Season 2, that was when I assumed they’d always be on the same team! 

Is The Love Story Over? 

As much as a second apocalypse is a scary prospect (particularly in light of the even scarier fact that Good Omens is not yet renewed for Season 3), the biggest emotional blow of the finale was the split between Crowley and Aziraphale. Their farewell was all the more painful after they started the season as a mostly united front, even if they didn’t entirely agree about Gabriel or – on a smaller scale – how to get Nina and Maggie to fall in love. Just look at how David Tennnant and Michael Sheen described Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship at the beginning of Season 2 to CinemaBlend, prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike: 

• DAVID TENNANT: "Well, they've only got each other now because they don't have their respective head offices. They are so reliant on each other, and they are the only other person who can really understand what it is to have this existence. And really, I think they're quite content with that, to an extent, and keeping their heads down is obviously the super objective to just get by. So when everything unravels, it's far from ideal."
• MICHAEL SHEEN: "And of course, this third character comes along, Jim, angel Gabriel, with no memory. And so inevitably, they start to be like the parents to this errant exasperating child who shows up. And so that kind of the sense of them being in this sort of marriage is obviously made more extreme by the fact that they have to look after this strange child."

Additionally, Neil Gaiman has said many times (including on Twitter) that Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship on Good Omens’ is a love story, so if I’m confident of anything for Season 3, it’s that their love story isn’t over despite their schism at the end of Season 2. I have to take Crowley's side when it comes to the argument with Aziraphale, but surely they can resolve their fight! Gaiman just needs to channel his inner Jane Austen. 

You can find all six episodes of Good Omens Season 2 streaming with an Amazon Prime subscription now, as well as the full first season, while waiting for some (hopefully good) news about the future of the series! 

Warning: Spoilers for The Witcher Season 3 Vol. 2 ending are ahead. Come back once you’ve watched the full season!

Well, after several months of wondering not only how The Witcher will wrap things up in its latest season, but how star Henry Cavill will depart his role as Geralt of Rivia, fans have finally been able to binge the final episodes and see where we leave Ciri, her gruff protector, Yennefer, and a host of other characters.

The Witcher Season 3 Vol. 2 ending has helped the show land back at number one for those with a Netflix subscription (despite the previous downturn in viewers for the first part, released in June), and brought our characters to some very new emotional territory after the events of the Vol. 1 ending. Let’s dig in, shall we?

How Ciri Escaped Capture

Well, poor Ciri has been on the run for a full three seasons now, so I suppose no one should be surprised that she had to escape three times over the course of Vol. 2’s three episodes. First, after heading to Aretuza and finding both Yen and Geralt in the midst of the coup, she had to escape from Vilgefortz. That saw her magically transported to the middle of the desert in Korath, where she wandered for several days and finally got close enough to civilization (with the help of a unicorn and visions of legendary elven leader Falka) to…get captured by a group of folks looking to win the reward for taking her to Emhyr in Nilfgaard.

Ciri awoke in a tavern, tied to a post while a young man was tied to another, as her captors took a break before heading to the emperor. As they discussed her with other patrons, we hear someone tell them that Ciri couldn’t be Ciri, because word has come from Emhyr that she’s already on her way to the palace (though it turns out that Vilgefortz has delivered Teryn to the emperor, the Aretuza apprentice Geralt had earlier rescued from experiments).

During their conversation, she manages to get one of them to come over and feed her, allowing her to steal a knife so that they can cut themselves loose. When a fight starts between the patrons, we’re introduced to the young man’s friends, a group known as the Rats, and when they’ve dispatched most of the patrons, they have Ciri fight the man who’d fed her and then held her at knife point during the melee. 

The princess wins, making her first human kill, and when a Rat asks who she is, she tells them to call her Falka, making it seem that Ciri will be with them for a while.

Yennefer’s In Charge Of The Mages Now

The Thanedd Coup killed/seriously injured a lot of mages, and left Tissaia white haired and somewhat broken after using some last resort magic to clear out the last of their elven attackers. Several of the female mages who’ve survived journeyed to where Geralt fought the creature made of the apprentices Vilgefortz experimented on, undid the magic that bound them and took them back to Aretuza for burial.

Yen had been hoping to find Ciri there, but, of course, had no luck. The trip did help to cement everyone’s desire to get back what they’d lost during the coup, and once they’re back at Aretuza, Yen tries to convince a guilty Tissaia that Vilgefortz’s betrayal wasn’t her fault. Unfortunately, her teacher/mentor doesn’t listen, and kills herself. Yen then heads to Brokilon, where Geralt is recovering from his near-fatal fight with the traitorous mage, and heals him enough to really get him back on his feet, making him promise they’ll see each other again. 

When she’s back at Aretuza, Yen rallies the remaining high-ranking female mages in an effort to finally take down Vilgefortz, and, without Tissaia or the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, her mission now is to lead them. 

How Henry Cavill's Geralt Ended Season 3

This has been the big question since we found out that Cavill was leaving, and would be replaced by Liam Hemsworth, in October 2022. We were promised a “heroic sendoff” for his Geralt amid rumors of some pretty serious creative conflicts between him and the team behind the fantasy hit, but I doubt that many fans would see his last scene that way.

As noted, Geralt’s beach-front battle with Vilgefortz left his sword destroyed and him (literally) broken and close to death, with the hero nearly drowning until Triss found him and took him to Brokilon so the dryads could work on healing him in a safe place. He’s desperate to hear some word of Yen and, especially, Ciri’s whereabouts, since he had to send her fleeing from the beach before the fight and didn’t know what happened to her.

When Jaskier finds him, he’s eventually able to tell a slowly recovering and very stubborn Geralt about Emhyr’s declaration that Ciri is headed to Nilfgaard. Once Yen heals him enough to get him fully upright, he and Jaskier begin to make their way to Emhyr’s stronghold. However, after managing to get the Nilfgaardian guards to let them through, Geralt takes exception to the family behind them being turned away.

The White Wolf heads back and kills nearly all the guards at the checkpoint, then deals a final blow to his neutrality by telling the one remaining guard to give Emhyr the message that he “will free Ciri” before he, Jaskier, and the elven archer Milva (who’d secretly followed them out of Brokilon to help) take some of the guards’ horses and continue on their way to Nilfgaard. 

So, what does this mean? This means that our last shot of Cavill as Geralt is him and his cohorts (and their horses) walking away from the camera. Which was…a definite choice that’s not quite the “strong” Cavill exit many were probably hoping for. Though, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich explained to Tudum that his battle with the soldiers and parting words for Emhyr are what matters most, and said:

We’ve been teased that it’s possible some multiverse-esque explanation will be given for Geralt looking completely different in The Witcher Season 4, but we now have a good wait ahead of us before we find out whether or not that comes to pass. If anything, we can certainly say that Geralt, Yen, and Ciri will, once again, face some new challenges whenever the fourth season finally rolls around.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains massive spoilers for Talk To Me. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

Danny and Michael Philippou's Talk To Me seems destined to become the next big fan-favorite horror movie. The movie has been building hype since its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and it has earned widespread acclaim for its unique premise and big time scares. The exciting A24 genre feature also features a conclusion that is both twisty and packs an emotional punch – and we’ve put together this guide to break it all down.

Sophie Wilde’s Mia faces a complicated fate at the end of Talk To Me, and if you are confused at all regarding what happens, you are in the right place. Before digging into the explanation, however, let’s first do a quick recap of the film’s final scenes.

What Happens At The End Of Talk To Me

After getting a glimpse into the hell in which Riley’s soul is trapped, being tricked by her dead mother into killing her father, and convinced that there are no other options available to her, a shell-shocked Mia does what she sees as the only end to everything. She calls Jade and lures her away from her brother’s hospital room, and when she sees her best friend drive away, Mia makes her move.

Mia goes to Riley’s unconscious body, but her plan is temporarily interrupted when Jade and Riley’s mom, Sue, appears in the doorway. She apologizes to the protagonist for her outburst and dismissal after Riley’s “accident,” and she tells Mia that she’s not just a friend, but family. They have an emotional moment of reconciliation, and Mia requests that she have a moment alone with Riley.

Parked outside Mia’s house, Jade honks her car horn and tries to call Mia and is frustrated when neither gets a response. She decides to go inside, and when she discovers what happened to Mia’s father, she understands that Riley is in extreme danger. She calls her mother to warn her, but by the time Sue gets back to the hospital room, they are both gone.

While Jade is figuring out what is going on, Mia tries to kill Riley, but she is unable to – despite horrible taunts from the spirit possessing him. She decides to take him out of the hospital, and she puts him in a wheelchair to get him outside and roll him toward the highway. With the support of her dead mother behind her and being told that she is doing the right thing, Mia prepares to push Riley into traffic… but Jade gets to them in the nick of time.

There is a massive car crash, and after a beat, Mia is in the street and gets up from a prone position. She appears scratched up but not severely injured, and all around her she can see people getting out of their vehicles and making phone calls. Nearby are Jade and Riley together on the side of the road. Suddenly, Mia is then back in the hospital wandering the halls. In a room she sees a healthy Riley with his mother and sister, and walking away from her appears to be her father. People start disappearing and lights start to go out. She looks in a mirror and sees no reflection – and her chase after her father ends as he gets on an elevator and she is left in total darkness.

As Mia stands in blackness, a candle is lit. She runs to the light, and when she gets there, she finds the candle on a table, and a hand comes out of the darkness. She takes the hand, and she sees that it belongs to a young man who is at a party with friends and is shocked to see her. He describes what he sees to his friends in Spanish, looks at her, and says, “I let you in.”

Where Is Mia At The End Of Talk To Me?

When Mia gets up off of the highway at the end of Talk To Me, she appears to be perfectly fine… but it’s a slow reveal that she definitely isn’t. It’s implied that Jade got to the side of the highway in time to save her brother, but the only way to actually to accomplish that task was to eliminate the threat to his life a.k.a. she pushes Mia into traffic before Mia can push Riley.

After standing up on the highway, Mia is dead, and one can interpret that her path slowly takes her away from the living world and into the netherworld. It appears that she can briefly still see across the planes of existence and that time flows differently – which is why she is able to first spot Jade and Riley on the side of the highway and then witness them being happy and healthy with their mother – but the final destination for her seems to be the darkness.

As far as Mia seeing her father goes, that raises its own questions. We can guess that she sees him because he died just shortly before her – but are we meant to determine from the elevator he gets on that he is going to a different afterlife than the one Mia is trapped in? That’s left up to the interpretation of the viewer.

So what happens at the very, very end? It’s simple: the ceramic-covered embalmed hand has somehow found its way into the possession of another group of people, and they are using it just as Mia and her friends were. Given everything we witness, it’s pretty hard to imagine that there is going to be a happy ending to their story.

Talk To Me is now playing in theaters everywhere. You can keep up to date with all of the exciting scary films on the way to cinemas and streaming in the coming months with our Upcoming Horror Movies guide, and our Upcoming A24 Movies feature has you covered regarding all of the titles coming from the indie studio, including a possible Talk to Me sequel.