Fascinating but ...

Your questions are very good ones and although I will obviously have to be brief here, analysis could yield many a page to answer even one.

The father did kill Rene. Why? Well that is harder to answer, why does anyone kill another? The father is a serial killer of young boys that is for sure. There is a sexual component, probably more along the lines that he gets some sexual gratification from the killings but not in so much that he rapes them. I leave this point there since it really requires much more analysis and moreover a structured technical answer. Give this movie to a good psychologist or psychiartrist and ask them(him preferrably :) ) the question after they view it.

Yes it was a wet dream. Apart from the fact that the substance on his hand seemed way to viscous to be urine, there was also the way he cleaned himself afterwards, as well as the fact that the bed was not wet enough as would be the case if he had wet the bed.

The question about what happened to the younger brother is a brilliant one! I was taken aback when I read it because I realised that I hadn't ask this question to myself. The answer I believe is that his dad also killed his brother. The story he told his son about the young boy being found behind a fence and being the vistim of organ trafficers was I believe a seed planted in the mind of his older son to help cover up at least or obscure the murderous nature of himself. The father told him to not tell anyone the story. This is because if anyone put the story and what happened in reality together MAJOR suspicions would be directed towards him(his dad).

I believe the boy saw his dad kill his brother and that this horrific vision and or growing realisation triggered a defense/coping mechanism that manifested itself in the dreamscapes we see during the movie. His dads fabrication/s also would of be woven into this, or even seeded, the form of these dreamscapes.

The scars are very interesting. They are i belive triggers for firstly the audience and secondly the boy himself. The first scars we see on his dad's arm are more for the audience's as they tell us that the dad has had a mental breakdown at some stage, why? A last ditched attempt to stop himself of what he can no longer stop himself from doing, of what he almost no longers wants to not want to do. The second set scar trigger is the one on the bum of the boy. This along with the argument by one of the other boys that you don't have appendix scars on your bum, triggers something deep in Nicolas. What exactly? A realisation of contradiction, another blinding fear response. My dad is the killer, My dad is a killer. Time for another dream sequence to help deal with this.

In the end Nicolas tells his best mate the same fabricated story, maybe hoping(knowing) like his father was as well that they will inevitably tell someone, that "there cry for help", in the doctor's words, will be heard and this nightmare can be over, or moreover that no other young boy will suffer a nightmare.


Suffice to say this movie was brilliant in my opinion. Any English Literature\Arts, psychology, media studies etc.. etc.., deparment could have a field day with the wealth of medium begging for disection, analysis and understanding.

Anyways I hope this comes someway in answering your questions and at the very least inspires you to watch it again and discover more for yourself. I know I will be.