I don't know what ending were you watching but from the one i watched i couldn't possibly say that everyone died at the end. Mother, son, daughter and then daughter's son were still alive just before the end.
Then there are three wierd scenes where the daughter and son escapes and boyfriend drives them off to a tunnel, and a scene when the boyfriend enters the house - this onen i don't understand. and then the movie stops.
the only person i think that dies is father.
bahh dont take my word for it cuz im just as confused about this movie as most everybody else whos watched it, but the mother died when she turned off the stove top and the light from the flame went out. u then proceeded to hear demon sounds and the mother scream, assuming she got "eaten" or wutever the hell the demons do. son (im assuming ur talking about paul with this) died at the very end when him and anna paquins character were tricked into going into the tunnel. *an interesting point about the "tunnel" that ive heard: they never really left the house, they just turned the lights off and the house (or demons or whoever) tricked the 2 into believing they left the house (yes, TRICKED THEM? WTF? was the darkness sending psychic images into their brains or wutever? just another reason why this movie sucked)*. i dunno who u mean when u say "daughters son" so i cant answer that one.
shareThey were tricked? So you are saying that the boyfriend was also a bad guy???
I guess that could make some sense, in the last scene where he steps through the door, but still not completely clear what that was supposed to mean. but would be a cheap repeating twist if you take notice that it had been already used on grandpa.
About peopole dying i realise now that it's not meant for us to know what happened to them after they were in darkness. The most logical explanation would be death since we do hear some screams from mother.
Still does anyone has any clues about the last scene when the boyfriend enters the house?
* with daughter's son i meant paul ''the son''
*an interesting point about the "tunnel" that ive heard: they never really left the house, they just turned the lights off and the house (or demons or whoever) tricked the 2 into believing they left the house (yes, TRICKED THEM? WTF? was the darkness sending psychic images into their brains or wutever? just another reason why this movie sucked)*.
okay that does make a bit of sense.
they are tricked into thinking they left the house when they didn't.
that makes perfect sense actually.
because the darkness has to keep to the shadows. so how would the darkness impersonate someone and then drive a car outside? it would have to be nighttime, which it isn't.
So, would it be possible at all that the body's of those who are taken by the darkness aren't impersonations but infact are the darkness possessing their bodys? whilst then the darkness can use that person's mind and make it think whatever the darkness wants?
I just thought of that, so yeah. =S
Could someone explain how the movie ends? I was watching it on sci-fi, but then it cut to a very long commercial and I fell asleep, missing the last 20 minutes. Last thing I saw was Regina (Anna Paquin) being tied up by her grandfather.
"Where did that come from?"
"I don't know, probably Bear Village."
I saw the ending, and I am just as lost as you are, my friend...I wish I had fallen asleep too!! LOL!
shareeveryone dies, the movie ends, the credits roll, and people start clapping not b/c it was a good movie, but b/c the big POS is finally over.
shareEveryone here needs to watch the unrated DVD version period!
At least many scene will make more sense that way for everyone watching.
Darkness is a great film its just destroyed by Miramax's poor editing and judgement. Thinking a film which includes ghost children and darkness in a scary old house is too much for North American audiences to take in. Yeah i know thats stupid studio thinking on their behalf, but thats what they do with movies these days and con you into getting the unrated DVD version even if the film better that way i.e. uncut!
Watch the unrated version than come back here and compare both versions. Although they all still die in the uncut version though. But the darkness is supposed to be far more explained in the longer version.
ST4
"He is one, we are three, it is the strength of three that will defeat him...together. General Zod"
to superturbo: hey, baby, I watched the unrated version you advertise here so vehemently, it doesn't add any explanation as to what happened to the characters at the end. just as I said in my review to the film, it is badly written, and while you do not really have to see everything that happens in the story, you, as a viewer, are REALLY supposed to have a feeling of satisfaction after seeing a film, which is not what you can expect from the people who made it. my guess they do not speak good english to write, do not have enough patience to develop a story properly. they just followed their inspiration and when it came to the realisation of the plot they were out of creative/technical breath.
shareEverybody has different intepretations of this movie- I dunno, this is what I got: This movie is rather despairing- The father dies- which was pretty much the prediction- if he didn't survive, the dark forces win. Well, he didn't survive. Everyone dies- Mom, kids, boyfriend. IT's that little bit of hope that you're going to get away, and that sinking feeling that you are not- that the nightmare is NOT over. Is what they were trying to convey. For some reason this movie seemed creepy to me- maybe cause it wasn't all out slasher film and I supplied my own creepiness- whatever. But if you watch it in mind that there probably will not be a sequel- the darkness won, dad died, end of story, the it's creepy.
shareThis is my understanding of the very end:
Regina and her brother escape the house and drive off with Regina's boyfriend. Only it's not really Regina's boyfriend - it's the "darkness" impersonating him. The "darkness" drives Regina and her brother into the scary dark tunnel. My best guess is that they die.
Moments later, Regina's real boyfriend shows up at the house. He walks inside, yells for Regina, is answered by the "darkness" (which is impersonating Regina), the door slams shut behind him. Again, I'm guesing he dies.
This is definitely one of those movies where everyone dies.
And I think everyone who watches it dies a little also.
God bless those pagans.share
lol, too true, but the above poster was right. the darkness was impersonating the boyfriend, which also impersonated the mother at one point, and the daughter and son.
awful movie though, and your comment made me chuckle ;)
This is what I saw and felt as well. FX calls it a rip off of the shinning.. I think they need to watch the shinning against because even in the shinning mommy and the boy get out... Everyone else dies. But I do believe that everyone died.
shareEveryone died at the end, the boyfriend that came first and took the kids was the evil one. When they drove into that tunnel I think daughter and son were killed by him. The second time the real boyfriend arrived at the house and got killed by the darkness when he entered and the fake Regina voice told him to go up the stairs.
Sad ending to be honest! ;)
i loved the ending. the movie was so-so. it did have a great dark vibe to it. but the ending (where the evil boyfriend takes the kids threw the tunnel) was great PLUS the old fashioned music came in abruptly. alot of people piss on this film. i think it should have had a disclaimer...."if you want shock, nudity, explosions, language and gore look elsewhere"
horror/thrillers that have a more dry drama/scares tend to get slammed by horror buffs.
hitchcock (mind you this was not even close) was a master at dry drama, however today some horror buffs think he is boring. if you can appreciate films with more substance over flash than you can truely appreciate this film.
I have to agree with this, I know exactly what you mean. And I gotta say that I liked this movie despite having read a ton of negative reviews on it.
More people should leave their preconceptions and expectations at the door when they go see horror/thrillers, and just sit back and try to enjoy a movie rather than pick out everything they think is wrong with it. If more people did that, they might find themselves more pleasantly surprised.
As for the ending - yeah, fake boyfriend tricked kids, they got killed, real boyfriend shows up, house kills him. It really not to confusing, you just gotta pay close attention and keep in mind things the house did earlier in the movie.
Just saw the "unrated" (soft "R"?) version last night (only one I've seen), and I gotta say... this was not a good horror film.
I love horror movies. I've seen more than anyone should EVER see, and happen to love both great ones (including Hitchcock's thrillers) and so-bad-they're-great flicks. This one was so bad it was terrible.
I like what the film tried to do- use more camera tricks than special effects- that's a great idea. Seriously. But the endless quick cuts plus "scream sound effect" used over and over and over (and over and over and over) wasn't scary- it was freakin' annoying!
This film had a lot of potential- nobody believes the little boy about things that happen in the dark, which can be very powerful psychologically when done correctly (see the beginning of "They"), but this movie manages to waste that and other ideas. Amazing...
Let's not even get into plot-holes here...
Man, people complicate things whene there's nothing complicated about it.
What happens in the end?
The ritual is completed. Darkness is given back its primal, uncontained powers.
Not the Darkness contained inside the house by the unfinished ritual, but Darkness everywhere it exists.
It's not a haunted house movie - it's an apocalypse movie. At the end - every larger shadow becomes almost certain death. And it can manifest in broad daylight as anything - like your friend driving you into a dark tunnel...
[deleted]
I saw the end of this film differently then those above.
Here is how I saw it:
The ritual is completed.
The mom is killed by the "demons" in the darkness.
The sister and brother never actually leave the house, they just think they do in their minds. The demon leads them to believe that they smashed the window, got out and left with the boyfriend, however it is just an illusion.
The demon kills them inside the darkness of the house but they see it in their minds as entering the darkness in the tunnel.
The boyfriend then arrives at the house after the whole family has been killed by the demon.
There are several reasons why I believe this to be what really happened. First, when the boyfriend asks the grandfather where Regina is, he says she is in her house, in hell. Like she would be there forever. When you see Regina and brother leaving the house, the window they smash doesn't look anything like the windows you saw previously in the movie. The window she smashes is blacked out and difficult to break. The real windows of the house were just clear glass (some stained glass) and would have broken easily. Then the two siblings have been told that the demon lies. When they are "in the car" getting away, the son says something like, "This is all a lie. Its fooling us." I think he realized that they weren't really getting away, they just thought they were. Nowhere in the movie did we see a demon exist out in the light. This also lead me to believe the escape attempt was all in their minds. The demon did have the ability to allow people to see things that were or were not there. Then in the end we do see the boyfriend arrive at the house for real. That is the reality, when he got there, they were still in the house where they had never left.
That was how I saw it happen. This movie was not perfect, but I did like it. I thought it was great how the end is not happy/resolved. The only thing I would have liked changed is that it is hard to understand the relevance of the ritual. What was the result of it? What actually happened because of it? Why did the grandfather feel compelled to do it? If that was explained, I missed it.
There isnt one hint of demons noted in the movie. It's literally about the darkness. The darkness can manifest itself as anything, your loved ones - demons - but it's still just a way to trick you to get someplace dark - to your doom.
-The grandfather directs the boyfrend to the house (to the Darkness), not to Regina.
-The stained glass is there just for dramatic purposes.
-And it really was a lie - it wasn't her boyfrend that took them away - it was the Darkness.
-You saw the manifestations (demons) in the light all the time after the completed ritual - they just cant harm you while they are in the light.
Again - stop thinking about one house and demons - just think what happens all over the Earth after night falls after the completed ritual...
as you can see, there may be too many interpretations of images shown in the ending. things aren't clear, what you writing here are just interpretations. while it's OK for a work of art to allow for different interpretations, only a weak film would boast an apocalyptic ending that has no emotional-visual effect on the viewer. this film is exactly like that.
shareWell, that's how it made me feel at the end - stunned at its boldness.
But I agree - The impact could have been far greater in a better movie.
I was very disapointed in this movie. The first time I watched it through, I kinda sat there, living in the moment of the movie, and thought it was decently done. But after the movie was over, I realized I had too many questions yet to be answered...and I saw the unrated version. I got the ending, but my biggest question that was never explained...WTF was up with that picture? WHO were they? (I'm assuming the spirits of other parents who were killing thier kids in the beginning?) And How/what caused them to leave the poster? This picture was never explained...just thrown in, so the viewers could see the picture kill ppl...awful idea.
**Your opinion doesn't matter. Neither does mine. Don't bother trying to change it.**
All this back-and-forth about whether they really left the house or not can simply be checked by continuity. If they only THOUGHT they left the house, they never in real life broke the window and escaped. We know the scene when the real boyfriend pulls up is outside in real life, and if you look, you can see the window HAS been broken when his car pulls up. So they must have really gotten out, but the Darkness was already there.
sharemnpack110 -
very interesting interpretation. I really enjoyed this movie and the 'everyone dies' ending. I didn't take it the same way as you, I thought that the two left the house but were tricked by the fake boyfriend - but you bring up a very good point.
How could DARKNESS be out in the light to bring them into the tunnel?
great job explaining your take on the ending
mljp85 - Darkness CAN go into the light because the ritual is complete and 'it' aquires its full power. The two are driven into the darkness of the tunel after escaping and are killed. When the 2nd and real boyfriend arrives there is broken glass, he enters, the door shuts and is killed too.
The grandad however I cannot figure out!
perfect! i hope more people read yours.
shareWhen I watched this movie I honestly enjoyed most of it but at the end atleast ten people including myself all just sat in awe and said what the *beep* at the same time
Here is the explanation to the ending:
Darkness can take many forms
Regina & her brother encountered darkness in the form of their mother telling them to turn off the light but regina became suspicious and didn't so they lived(for now)
The mother encountered darkness in the form of Regina & her brother telling her to turn off the light. She did. She died.
The kids found a way out, found the (really calm) boyfriend in the car and took off. Seems pretty normal. But then we see the (really anxious/more human) boyfriend enter the house, so we are supposed to understand that the guy in the car is a form of darkness.
Last scene: Empty road, tunnel ahead
What's in the tunnel?
DARKNESS
DEAD:
The Father--Regina stubs him in the neck
The Mother--Turns off lights, we see her blood all over the kitchen
Regina+Little Brother--Enter a tunnel full of darkness
Boyfriend--Enters house full of darkness
Personally, I liked the movie. Sure is full of plot holes and something I still don't get is why everyone speaks english if they are in Spain.
Taking many of the problems aside, the color of the movie while progressing keep getting darker and darker, coming to the climax and the end that comes faster than a speeding bullet to many, and didn't told us anything about what they were fighting, but tha was one the points of this movie, it won't show you or explain who or what the enemy is beside darkness, the unknown that hides in the shadows, no one in the film knew wht they were fighting, just pure evil that doesn't shows in the light, that is hidden.
And then you get out of the theater or end watching the dvd with the sensation that the forgot to explain something, when there was nothing to explain.
This is a good suspense movie, not a horror movie ( in that way lacks of many things), just a good movie about the end of everything ( in the end the darkness takes over when the ritual is finished during the eclipse, and everyone dies, EVERYONE), the darkness wins because of what you said it was what many don't liked the movie, it wins because nobody knew how really to beat it or how to stop it, nobody knew anything solid of how to fight it.
I was getting into this movie by the time they got around to explaining the broad premise (when the grandfather had kidnapped Reggie) because that kind of a premise- where you're presented with an absolutely unimaginable horror, namely little kids killed by their parents for some ritual- that's what's disturbing, not the cheap scares. That part of this is well done. The visual style I loved, even though it was slightly overused (at some point I wondered if I'd missed an epileptic fit warning at the beginning) but still distinct. Then you have this ending, while not inexplicable, (I kinda got that everyone died, darkness tricked Reggie and her brother and then the boyfriend) was not nearly as distinct and noteworthy as the rest of the movie. The rest of the movie makes sure to impress every aspect of itself on you, then the end comes along and it's like "and they died, the end." There's abrupt ending for effect, then there's abrupt ending by mistake. This was the latter. Skeleton Key was an 'unhappy' ending, and was relatively abrupt, but still left me satisfied, and felt like it belonged to the rest of the movie. This did not.
Sigh, and it had such promise.
And by the way, Anna Paquin irritates seven shades of snot out of me. She cannot act, why on earth do people keep casting her?
Joe, I can categorically say that you are not a bigger banana-head.