MovieChat Forums > The Steam Experiment (2009) Discussion > Could someone please explain the ending ...

Could someone please explain the ending please....


Anyone??????????


Obviously SPOILERS will be ahead.










The patch on the doc's hand, as well as his comments to Kilmer, indicate that it did indeed happen. So, can anyone explain? Otherwise, this movie was totally ruined by a nonsensical ending.

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The main character, his psychiatrist and the wife of the psychiatrist were in a "game". Obviously, they have some psychopathic traits, because they need to torture and kill in order to feel anything. This was their thrill. The main character likes to play cat and mouse mindgames, and this particular night he got a police detective with whom, I am guessing, he wasn't really satisfied (not much of a challenge).

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So when did the steam room take place?

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SPOILERS

So the doctor and his wife were in on it then? And Roberts's character was right about them?

How did they arrange for the use of the steam room? Did the main character lock them all in? Or did the doctor & his wife have a way out that they weren't sharing with anyone else?

-From the desk of Ms Slim

"I make him an offer he no refuse"

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How did they arrange for the use of the steam room? Did the main character lock them all in? Or did the doctor & his wife have a way out that they weren't sharing with anyone else?


All very good questions. It's hard to give a definite answer, because the movie is ambiguous (as you could see for yourself). The "steamroom experiment" (what pretentious name for a simple slash thrill game) might have happened few hours earlier than what the main character made it to be. I do not think it happened weeks/months earlier, because the doc and his wife seem all still electrified by the experience (especially the doc). But of course, it's not unconceivable that it all happened 3 months earlier, and that they just let the main character out of the sanatorium for his own part of the game. But that seems strange in light of the little dialog he and his doctor had at the end.

The main character may have very well locked them all in, and kept the steamroom sealed and potential escapees "nailed". That would explain his knowledge of the details of what happened - it seems, the way the movie portrays it, more than just knowledge of something told to you, it seems visceral (1st person) experience.

Whether the doc and wife had a safe way out, the movie doesn't say. I am guessing they didn't, based purely on their psychology, but this is my personal interpretation.

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my personal opinion is that it happened a good few months prior to the night he met the detective - remember the scene when he took Eric Roberts to the hotel and said he'd bribed the manager to let them stay for the weekend as the converison to apartments was being started on the Monday, but when they went back and met the security guard plenty of work had already occured and he said the steam room was demolished "months ago".

I think he either escaped the institute or was let out of the institue by the doctor as an agreement/payment for carrying out the event. But he used the experience to try and get his work published as he was a discredited professor and in doing so inadverdantly let slip when they found the doctors business card and contacted him, then the doctor made up his symptons as "admitting to everything" just so the detective wouldn't think anymore about the case or take him seriously and the doc then get's him back in the institute, no harm done etc etc.

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Still, this movie is a huge piece of crap

If I wanna watch a movie to have questions to ask at the end, I watch rather a Lynch-movie or something

For once I hope it's not gonna be casted in the theatres back here in France

"Did you miss me ? I guess noooot !"

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the steam room definitely happened way before. They said at the end he was committed to the mental hospital 4 months ago from the ending. So the steam room would have had to happen more than 4 months ago (from the ending). Otherwise how would val kilmer know the details so well.

Theres no way of knowning was there "agreement" was about the steam room but they clearly purposely made the ending like that so people would question what happend. Personally I think the made the ending way to open for interpretation.

In Dexter We Trust.

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SPOILERS!




Okay, this is my take.

Those of you who are thinking the steamroom incident happened months before the delusional scientist takes his story to the press are being misled by the cop's dialog with him. The answer on when it happened is right in the very beginning of the movie after the credits, printed at the bottom of the screen as the camera pans in on the front of the state hospital. Three words are shown:

"Five Hours Later"

After you piece together the evidence provided, this is the logical conclusion:

The scientist *IS* an insane genius who (for whatever reason) has clearly lost his mind. Christopher is a high-ranking doctor at the state hospital and was likely assigned to the scientist's case. You can guess that Christopher and the scientist had many long and involved conversations during that time, and that Christopher (and his... wife?) already had some deep (likely insane) interests in something called "Human Chaos".

Its likely that the scientists belief about the world ending in the year 2012 due to global warming is his own personal delusion. He must have come up with his steamroom experiment during therapy and the doctor became fascinated with not only observing such an unethical experiment, but in EXPERIENCING it personally. Somehow, his wife got involved in this as well. You can tell that he deeply respects the scientist (calling him a genius and all).

So, he covertly helped create the experiment's setup including the dating website and the fake contest, the rental of some hotel (location is not REALLY important in this, it could have been a detailed false front) or other location to build the rigged steamroom, etc. Others may have been involved (like the nail gun guy) whose identity isnt important. Christopher, his wife, and the scientist are really the only important players.

The global warming stuff was all part of the scientists personal delusions. Christpher tells him "I'm disappointed, going to the press wasn't part of our agreement." Likely, Christopher agreed to fund and get involved in the experiment for his own wierd reasons, and took the scientist out of the hospital the previous day once everything was set up to execute it. The scientist was then unsupervised after they were all locked in, and took that opportunity to try take his own delusional end of the world story to the press. Not because global warming or 2012 has any true doom merit in this film, its just part of his psychosis.

The likely reason why the scientist knows when a certain event has happened in real-time (or that is likely to happen soon) is because many events were probably planned that way. It was likely planned to nailgun someone in the head, discover a camera, etc, at specified moments to help heighten the human "chaos". Of course, it may also be true that the experiment had JUST ended when the scientist ran to the press, maybe he opened the steamroom for the doctor and his wife and then took off while they were cleaning up the bodies.

What took me a moment to get was the line: "You don't control him anymore... he controls you. Kill him... and come home."

I think the explanation here is that the scientist knows about this highly illegal experiment, and know he has run to the press at least once to use it to gain credibility for his own agenda. This makes him dangerous as hell to the doctor and his wife who have just performed a very illegal and unethical experiment. The scientist could blackmail him or simply leak it. Killing him is necessary to prevent the truth from coming out.

Reminds me of a more insane version of the Stanford Prison Experiments back the 70s. (Goto http://www.prisonexp.org/ )

Hope that over analysis clears it all up!




_____ *^_^* _____
P R A N A K H A N

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WRONG. It is definitely not 5 hours after the steam experiment

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Well I think this makes a lot of sens, really thanks for clearing things up or at least thanks for making me satisfied for watching the movie, I was really waiting for the ending to be something great and well it is.

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To Hell with this. I'm going to watch Crank!!

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Also at the end when the doctor was talking to Val at his bedside he had a bandage on his hand from the nail gun shot....why would he still be bandaged 3 or four months later

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Spoilers!!!!


First I do believe the professor did come up with the whole experiment. He pulled those two books out and one of them said Chaos something. The deaths weren't not planned. He said at the end how people would react if there was a 130 degrees in December. People would either kill or be killed. Some would take their own lives. In the end its basically survival of the fittest or only the strong survive.

Yea I agree that the experiment happened weeks or months before. The hotel steam room was demolished at the time when they went to see it. I know he says that it never was the Grand. But I believe it was. He was working security there and most likely studying how the steam room would work. Plus I think the professor was let out of the hospital as his reward for helping with the plan. Also the professor was the one with the nail gun I think.

The only reason the detective knew he was a patient was because of the card. Even when they found out who he was nothing really showed up. The reason the hospital picked him up was so the doctor and his wife wouldn't get in trouble. They covered their tracks by saying he was admitting to all these murders. Plus they said he only escaped the day before. That the hospital has a 24 hour policy before it calls. The doctor and his wife just wanted the thrill and used the doctors idea. They knew that they would get out. They wanted to be there to be a part of the experiment and see what happens.

The only thing I don't understand was when the professor said he would say where the bodies were. But never really does tell him and then the detective just leaves after the orderlies come to get him. When did the detective decide to go from believing that the professor was a killer to he was crazy. Even when the detective was told that the professor was admitting to all the assassinations of people. He still believed that he was capable of committing the crime. He even was drawn back in when the professor said he would tell where the bodies were.

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Holy F if I wasnt already going to change the channel before.... I AM NOW!!!

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Guys this movie was bad plain and simple, they tried to hard to create a "twist" at the end, and they failed. The acting was poor, the writing was poor. Its was so bad that i actually thought that the steam room people were val kilmers split personalities fighting to survive, I.e. Identity with john cusack.

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It seems some of you have bits and parts right, but based off actual elements of the movie, this is what I think:

- Val Kilmer's character committed himself to the mental health hospital (as stated in the film) to attempt terrifying a doctor with these theories of global warming and twist him into going through with the chaos experiment. As stated, doctor/patient convos would be long and sufficient enough for this task. Luckily for him, this doctor was a good candidate, along with his wife.

- The doctor and/or his wife set up the dating website and Val Kilmer provided the venue (his former place of employment stated in the film).

- The doctor released Kilmer and had him assist with the experiment, playing the role of the website creator (notice he's wearing the same clothes when he's talking to Eric Robert's character as when he's talking to the detective).

- Kilmer completes the experiment, viewing it all from camera footage (found in the film), and assisting by nailing the open window and hooker waitresses' head. This explains why he knows everything that happened.

- Before the doctor and his wife leave the steam room, Kilmer takes off, takes a trip to the carnival (shown in film wearing the same clothes), and there hatches the idea to take it to the press as a current happening to ransom for a headline.

- The doctor puts out word that Kilmer is missing

- Kilmer goes to the press, the editor calls the police, Kilmer toys with them, then the dots are connected from the mental hospital where Kilmer is sent back to.

- Just hours after the experiment, Kilmer and the doctor have words (the doctor is still sweaty and bruised as he had to rush out to find Kilmer) and the doctor states he's unhappy with Kilmer for going to the press and that it 'wasn't part of the plan'.

- The wife states that Kilmer now 'controls you' to the doctor, meaning he exhibited such control and manipulation by going to the press and police, and that 'he has to kill him', obviously because he's a liability and could put them away for what they just did.


Any other thoughts?...

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That is what I thought, that the experiment was conducted during the 24 hours that Kilmer was out of the hospital.

One thing I wondered about: Why didn't any of the people in the steam room drink the water that was in there to keep hydrated? They would have lasted longer.

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The problem was not dehydration. It was simply that they were too hot. Humid, but hot.



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I suspected that they were his personalities for a while as well. Obviously not, at the end (or was that in his mind as well...?)

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I think this steam experiment never happened in reality. It was in Kilmer’s head. The doctor’s experiment was playing with Kilmer’s mind and convince him to go to the police and make police think that it’s happening right now.

They never showed how everything was organized and who was watching the sauna. Instead, they showed what was in Kilmer’s head (carousel, dying people, e.t.c)

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I thought the ending was sorta obvious.

"Jimmy" was actually the super smart writer Raymond something or other who had checked into a mental institute where he met the Doctor who, being a little wonky in the skull himself, worked up the "experiment" with the Doctor's wife. The three of them conducted the experiment, then, several months later, Jimmy escapes and runs his part of the drama in confessing the crime to the police.

This is made clear when the Doctor says to Jimmy that he enjoyed taking part in the experiment, but that he is mad at Jimmy for almost exposing them all.

The Doctor's wife then tells the Doctor that he needs to kill Jimmy, obviously to avoid the truth coming out.

Bam said the lady.

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This could all have been a real experiment by Kilmer, including the Doctor just truly being one of his victims. He and the woman who ended up as his mate were the survivors. When Kilmer was satisfied with his results and that the last two would show no more to him other than just dying together from heat and dehydration, they were released. After all, he didn't care about the deaths or the consequences to himself, it was all about the experiment. He then committed himself, and the Doc and the female survivor had bonded so much, they wound up together. The Doctor was fascinated by the experience of the experiment and became entranced by Kilmer's "genius." This is why at the end, she tells him that he no longer controls Kilmer (as his patient), and that he needs to kill him (indeed to protect the two of them from repercussions of their actions.)

Just another possible take. But I tend to agree with most here - it was a generally weak movie.

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The answer is actually quite simple. The whole steam room scene just never happened. It was only in Kimmer's mind.

The patch on the doc's hand actually proves nothing. Indeed, he might already have had it for every day reasons before Kimmer escaped the lunatic asylum (24 hours before), so this way the injury got into Kimmer's story.

The doctor's statement that "he did not want him not to make that experiment public" is just a psychatrist's way not to further upset his patient. He has most likely reacted in a simular matter when Kimmer confessed he had killed JFK and John Lennon.

The wife's comment to the doctor to "let go and come home" just means what she says. She fears that her husband is overworked and may lose his professional distance to his patient.

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