Finally! Unlike Triangle, the ending is not predictable! *SPOILERS*

First, let me state that I am coming at this from a multiverse perspective. In multiverse theory, if someone travels in time from Time T2 back to time T1, then his original universe splits off at time T1 (there was the original universe where everything progressed to the point of T2 as it always had, but now there is a new universe where that time traveler is present at T1).

Okay, so simple multiverse setup: within this area, any living person who is in it at midnight (T2) gets zapped back in time to midnight the previous day.

Looking at it in multiverse theory perspective and with that time travel mechanism presupposed, your issues go away. For instance, why are there not an infinite number of bodies in the mine? Because when they go "back" they are at time T1 where there are no bodies in the mine yet. Why are there only two Michaels in the woods? Because that is how long Michael is surviving (two full days) in this loop, or at least Michael after three days doesn't huddle at the campfire. Can the loop be broken by someone walking out of the woods? Why not? There is nothing magical about the time loop, and such loops are inherently unstable. So what happens is that group is convinced to turn back - exactly what they need to do to avoid the loop phenomenon is unknown and the girl walking out of the woods definitely won't be able to tell them anything more than "just don't keep going down this road"? They turn back. No one goes back in time to fork off another multiverse. Does the girl who came back to warn them disappear or fade out Back to the Future style? No, don't be silly. The timeline that brought her there still exists in her universe. She gets to live the rest of her life alongside another version of herself who had all the exact same experiences up to T1, but who only lives that day between T1 and T2 once (so I guess technically she is a day older).

Who grabbed Rose's leg? Maybe no one did and she imagined it or it was a spirit (her spirit visions really get in the way of deciphering the story). This is a tendril which muddles the story, but Rose has some "psychic" thing going on where she is seeing "spirits" (remember she makes it clear that she sees spirits often enough, although she doesn't usually react to them this way, presumably because those spirits are herself and her friends). Also along this line, the recurring visions of the markings the previous group of her friends suffered on their current-group bodies (which again the movie makes clear are not "real" when it shifts from her perspective to other people's). Call this a plot hole or just a poorly-developed aspect of the story; it is clear it is a truly weak area of the script and should have been cut entirely. But then, you lose the "trailer moments" that story is clearly in here to produce, so ...blah.

Anyway, back to the ankle-grabber. The other possibility is that it is Claire from two iterations back. That is, not the Claire they find locked up in the closet, but the one before her. Claire's story has her ending up locked in the room, then the next day discovered by the subsequent group but locked back in again, then later on let out by Michael (offscreen, but we know she has been let loose because the iron door is open again) before the next iteration Claire is trapped. After she is out, we don't know where she went. But, we have noises in the mines, we have the Orobilis drawing that someone must have done at some point, and we have the hand grabbing Rose's ankle (which is later described as "the girl in the mine" even though there is no way in hell Rose would have known that was a female's hand grabbing her).

What do psychoses have to do with time travel? Apparently as much as Rose's psychic visions. Nothing at all. It is poor story telling to have so many "just so" bits in the story at once, but I think the psychosis is just an object in the story not the subject. So, we have (1) some mysterious time travel mechanism and the group that comes across it has (2) a psychic and (3) a psychotic in it. Seems like at least one too many strands. It would have made more sense without the Rose line, but as I said, trailer moments.

So, to make things concrete, I believe "T2" is when they see the "aurora borealis" display in the sky. When you hit that point in the story, you have just hit the "time travel" instant where everyone in the car and everyone still alive from the previous group goes back to the night before (forking the multiverse, etc). We know that the murder in the RV happens that night, not the night the horny couple expects their friends to arrive, because at the gas station we see a "newspaper headline" (actually large text printed on a poster board with "Washington Tribune" at the top ... who did props for this movie???) talking about a couple murdered in their RV. In the original group's timeline, they don't encounter anyone from an earlier group until they are driving down the road at night and the "yokel" is standing in the road.

These are the same issues I had with the film. If the cycles had just kept going on and on, wouldn't bodies and evidence just be piling up? There would be a ton of duplicate bodies and tons of Michaels. I was intrigued by the concept but it was handled in a lazy manner and not thought through. Not to mention there wasn't even the slightest attempt to explain what caused it or how the cycle was suddenly broken at the end.

At the end Lyla meets herself at the start of the story what else would you call that? The movie could be from his perspective if you forget about all the things he couldn't know about or was even apart of. His "friends" did the exact opposite of what you are supposed to do in the situation they were in. Who is "they"? No one said anything about what cycle the characters were on. That doesn't even make sense, who be aware of the loop? If there aren't more than one Micheal where did he get the idea to get rid of the pills. If the two Michael's at the fire are one person that is worse, that's not how mental illness works. That's not even the type of illness he had. I actually have family that think others are with them and it is not portrayed well or even artistically. One Micheal has to tell the other to burn the pills that's why there should be more evidence. If it is anything else the story makes even less sense. If Rose's scratch was just psychic ability what did she die from? If they are all dead how do you explain the last scene? This isn't some avant garde art horror film. It's a slasher with too many elements, it stops make sense a few minutes in. Nice try, though!



After throwing a machete through a guys chest, "Stick around!"- Dutch (Predator)