Yes, since it's supposedly not allowed in the forums, can someone pm me or email me at [email protected] a summary of the ending, including what's different between in and the comic, and if the reveal surrounding Veronica is the same and what happens to Matt.
Basically just spell out the whole ending if you can, there's little chance I'll be able to see this movie for a long time so I just really want to know the ending, spoilers and all.
Can someone please do the same for me? [email protected]
Maybe the dingo ate your baby
I was never aware they didn't allow it. My understanding is that these forums are expected to have them, so they make it hard to report people, even when they give spoilers in the title of threads that appear on the main film's page.
The ending:
Obvious spoilers...
Dr. Day and Veronica had planned for all the students to die in detention. They set them up to be there by triggering emotional outbursts through inkblots.
(I know, that doesn't make sense)
Veronica says their motivation is to sell the story and make a lot of money, while taking down the scum of the school. They know they will getaway with it because they have evidence of the four teens murdering a Native American man who still owned the property that the new library was meant to be built upon. It would seem that their parents had them pull off this murder, so that the donation (the Library) to the school could ensure all 4 graduate. It is unclear how they knew Craig would bring his video recorder with the murder video still on it to detention.
Even though neither of them killed Megan, Craig, Tarek, or Tricia, they somehow manipulated them into killing themselves/eachother, though that isn't clearly explained how. Veronica does say she thought Tricia would have killed Matt because she found out he was expelled, and wasn't supposed to be in detention in the first place. (Though just knowing someone was in juvee and expelled doesn't suggest they are the person who really killed people, like knocking them down the stairs as Tricia did to Craig. Tricia should have known that Matt could not be at fault for the manslaughter she committed.) Veronica was surprised Tricia instead killed herself, believing in their Scooby Doo type ghost hoax.
Apparently, Matt Clark was not as easily manipulated, and so Veronica puts the nail gun to his head while letting him know that he is who everyone will blame because he is poor, expelled and was in juvee. But just before she shoots Matt, Dr. Day puts the axe into her head, because she was only supposed to fake poison him, but instead he spent the afternoon puking all over the sidewalks, while messing with the lights/sound effects, catching Tarek before he could escape, and avoiding Max the janitor.
Dr. Day throws the bloody axe to Matt (to frame him), and Matt throws himself on Dr Day, as he pulls out Craig's gun and justifies himself to Matt. But during their struggle the library stacks, which don't seem to be attached to the ground, start to fall like dominoes, as the cord from the nail gun gets tugged and wraps itself around the statue, thus spinning it and then decapitating Dr Day, all by "accident."
Then the SWAT team busts in, seeing Matt, with the bloody axe and fresh bodies, tasers him, gags him and straps him to a gurney. While the police are talking to the Headmaster about how bad Matt is, the janitor wipes the blood from the statue.
The janitor reveals that the statue (titled: "Apache Kills the Snake") was made by a Native American that used to own this land, until a man with an army stole it away. The man he is referring to his Clark's ancestor, who used to be an army general. The Janitor is revealed to be that Native American's ancestor and he smirks as Matt is taken away.
Max picks up the video recorder with the murder evidence (somehow knowing that it is what he wants), and wipes it clean, and puts it in his pocket, once again tampering with the evidence (which the police don't notice again). He then delivers the device to the parents of the 4 murderous teens, and receives a suitcase for his silence, which he clutches to his chest. Tricia's mother sits in her town car, proudly remarking "and that's that."
------Other clues and hints to understand the ending-------
Earlier we had seen Max talking to Tricia's mom in the rain, which suggests that's when a deal was made. Max had shown up the night before to set up the statue, catching Veronica setting up the ghost scares, but Dr Day and Veronica had assumed Max was not smart enough to understand their plan.
As in films before this, the retarded janitor was never retarded, and somehow knew the statue would "accidentally" further the deaths and gain him control of the murder evidence as reparations to his ancestors, along with the briefcase of cash.
And the parents of the dead teens really didn't seem to care that their kids were dead. In the beginning of the film, Craig's father, Tarek's father, and Tricia's mother were cold to their kids as they dropped them off, and were all three seen in the end where the suitcase/recording device trade was made with Max.
Megan's father didn't appear to be seen, though a 4th person was with the other parents in the end, but we are told Megan's father is a lawyer who works with Tricia's mom like the other two parents, including in getting the library made and most likely helping to plan the murder the teens committed.
The swarms of cockroaches in the new state of the art library is never explained, but I had guessed they are the spirits of the Native Americans that were slaughtered on this land. Possibly they were partially to blame for the "accidents," though that is never shown to be the case. It's just that you'd have to assume the janitor and Veronica/Dr Day had supernatural powers in order to pull any of this off, which is never hinted to the audience either. It would seem that we would have to just accept that inkblots and plastic wrapped kids hanging on forklifts are just that terrifyingly manipulating.
Actually, supernatural powers weren't necessary for any of the "accidents" (except, possibly, the killing of the doctor- I think you're suppose to think that was either actually an accident, or that the spirits of the dead made it happen).
One thing to remember is that when they talk about the doc's sessions with them, Craig does an impression of him saying "relax your mind"- I'm betting that the initial incidents (the ones shown in flashback) were caused by showing inkblots that he knew were, in themselves, triggers for each student- but that he also reinforced those triggers. Some of what happened in the library could have been similarly influenced (although this is all supposition on my part- it's never made clear.
Here's how it went down-
Veronica stole Megan's inhaler (and put it in Tarek's bag, just to raise tensions). At some point, the stress was bound to be enough to give her an attack, and she wouldn't have her medicine, and would die- the fact that it happened right away was just chance.
Tarek was just straight-up killed by the Doctor (or at least knocked out, and then possibly killed by Clark with the nail gun)- the doc admits he was surprised to see him coming out of the air vent.
Craig is the hardest one to justify- except when you realize that the doc(and, by extension, Veronica), at the very least knew what buttons to push on each of them to make them a bit crazed. The plan seemed to be to get them to kill each other- and Veronica was probably, more than anything, suppose to make sure they died (if they hadn't done it themselves, she would- like she almost killed Tricia).
Tricia killed herself- probably something the doc knew was possible if tension got high enough.
You have to remember the plan wasn't going to go perfectly, because of the addition of Matt into the mix. If he hadn't had been there, we might have seen the plan work out as it originally was suppose to. Although I'm not sure who was suppose to be blamed- I suspect the doc always planned to kill Veronica, and she was going to be the scapegoat.
Also- Veronica and the doc's plan had nothing to do with the tape- he wants it at the end as insurance against the parents who might object to the book and movie deals the doc sees coming his way from the incident (his motive for the whole thing).
There are DEFINITE problems with the ending- how did the parents know about the tape, and just how frickin' incompetent are the police in this town- but I still enjoyed the movie. Not on my list of favorites, but at least it's legitimately funny- and trying to do something interesting.
Oh, and one other thing- there's no indication that the parents sent the kids to kill the indian- I think the kids did that all on their own.
shareThe element everyone seems to be missing is Max's involvement through the entire movie.
Notice that every time Matt gets in trouble Max is there? Matt bumps into Max's cart leaving the classroom which causes a series of events. Max adjusts the table next to Matt in the Cafeteria...causing the cockroach to fly off in a particular direction. Max raised the curtains which caused Matt to notice the attached string leading to the punch bowl. Max put the basketball cart right next to Matt in the gym and called his attention to it before walking off. Max also put the statue in that specific spot.
The way the Dr. was using inkblots to control the other students...Max was controlling Matts behavior.
There IS a spiritual element that everyone has missed as well. The cockroaches swarming Matt in the vents causing him to fall into the very room that had the video information on the rest of the students. The lightning bolt that caused the equipment to fall through the roof window, introducing the nail gun and the hose that ultimately swung the statue around to kill the Dr.
It's a spiritual Rube Goldberg device designed to eliminate the kids for the parents while getting revenge and setting Matt up as the patsy.
Basically Max was a genius and everything played into his hands with a little Native American mysticism mixed in.