Who Uncle Eddie isn't -- -- SPOILER

I agree with you and i want to add that Stan was given a package with drawings of potraits leading to Clea Du Vals potrait when he went to the AA meeting right before the final scene which was left there from the killer. So if he had a split personality and was hes AA sponsor he gave it to this guy as the killer only to take it back as Stan and everyone else were acting normal?

From Phone Call:
I have a theory.

Uncle Eddie got scared and
stopped killing

because he knew
he would get caught.

Stan is Uncle Eddie.
Killer is the copy cat.

Look Deep:You can see books of arts and painters at Stan's House
plus flashback at the crime scene

You seem to be focusing on the fact the killer at the end existed, I doubt anyone is doubting that, but the theory is that he is just a copy cat.

Now I don't buy that as if that is what the film was meant to show it did an awful job of it. Imagine if (Fight Club Spoilers) Tyler had just been killed by whats his face at the end of FC with no flashbacks or anything to suggest they were the same person. I assumed the 'twist' would be his partner had been investigating him and he would turn out to be Uncle Eddie and not realise, bits of the film vaguely hinted at it. But then I got to the end and realised there was no twist, or unexpected turn, or real ending.

I was a sad bear :(

4. Some have pointed to the flashbacks showing him killing Crystal as proof that he was Uncle Eddie. But the flashback in which you see Crystal being stabbed is from the perspective of Stan viewing the crime not committing it. A photocopy of a news article featuring Stan was left at the scene. Did Stan leave that for himself? Crystal was Stan's friend. Stan admitted to Sandy that he should have warned her to stay off the docks that night. Isn't it more likely Uncle Eddie was taunting him and attacked his friend Crystal as a way of getting to him?


I agree that Stan isnt Uncle Eddie.

But what we see in the movie doesnt necessarily show that Uncle Eddie killed Crystal.

All the other victims had "DEAD" written on them in large red letters. All the other crime scenes were carefully laid out, with the dead bodies arranged in some way, and Uncle Eddie's trademark writing near by.

But neither of those features were present in Crystal's case. There was no "DEAD" written on her in red (although it was written in white on the ground). Her body was not posed, it was in the water.

Obviously one possibility is that Uncle Eddie messed up her killing. That he had already arranged the ropes, and the writing on the ground, but when he came to kill her, he couldnt stop her falling into the water.


But the other possibility is that someone else (and Stan would be the prime suspect) killed Crystal. He stabbed her and she went into the water. He quickly hit on the idea of putting something together that looked like an Uncle Eddie crime scene so as to deflect suspicion from himself.

You've misunderstood. The killer in this movie is not Uncle Eddie. The idea that Stan may have been Uncle Eddie is possible although there's nothing decisive in the film to back it up. Nobody is suggesting that Michael C is not real - he's just a copycat.


"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."

Well, I didn't really mind the redundancy...

It's just that you kept repeating yourself...



I have over 4000 films, many of them very rare and OOP. I LOVE to trade. PLEASE ASK!

Uncle Eddie IS Stan. Uncle Eddie is not the serial killer in the film. I think you are misunderstanding a couple things.

The copycat killer wanted to draw Stan/Uncle Eddie back out. He is not an artist. The film goes to great lengths to draw this comparison. His murders are replications as are his 'art' created from. He employs a lot of mechanical contrivance in his reproductions. He isn't trying to make any statement. He is paying homage to Uncle Eddie. Just as all the paintings are essentially tracings, so too are the crimes. He purposefully places the crimes and evidence in Stan's path...literally.

Stan IS Uncle Eddie, the anamorph killer. The film is pretty heavy-handed in this regard. Stan appears to have some sort of OCD, but it's not OCD. For instance, when he rearranges his furniture, he is trying to achieve an aesthetic known only to him from the original angle that inspired him to rearrange everything in the first place. This is the anamorph clue to Stan. He has several other 'OCD' habits, that take on a different light if you consider he is the original anamorph killer and it is not infact OCD at all.

So...previous to the events of the film, Stan was Uncle Eddie. We don't know exactly how all the pieces fit together, but we know enough. It's also the only explanation for the motivation of the copy-cat killer.

The film itself is something of an anamorph. It doesn't really make sense until you kinda think about what is actually going on. Look at it from another perspective. Then it all kinda falls into place, and ambiguity of the backstory isn't a problem, cause it's not actually necessary. Just like we can surmise WHY Stan stopped killing and the incongruity of the last Uncle Eddie crime and his resulting depression.

Edit: The anamorph nature of the film is heavy-handed as well. There is an entire expository scene between Dafoe and Stormare INSTRUCTING the audience to do exactly that concluding with: "You gotta go back and look at things from a different angle." This line doesn't actually make sense in reference to the anamorph pictures. It is a line delivered DIRECTLY to the audience.