MovieChat Forums > Animal (2015) Discussion > Just no explanation about the beast?

Just no explanation about the beast?

posted 9 years ago by Tyler-A-Arse
10 replies | jump to latest

All they find is a military backpack. I guess that's a clue to it being an genetic experiment gone wrong? Escaped aliens? It would've taken the writers only a few seconds to give a explanation. Perhaps a glimpse into the backpack? I guess the writers assume no on cares.

Alissa getting jacked instead of Mandy really caught me off guard, and Mandy sitting there watching her being eaten instead of running had to rank as the dumbest thing I've seen in a movie in a long time. This beast has demonstrated it kills just to kill, instead of only when it's hungry. So she just sits there and waits her turn. But it was all good for her in the end anyways. (I was shocked she made it)

This movie ranks as "I've seen better, I've seen worse". Like other decent horror flicks it had it's shock moments and a few "why hell would he/she do that" moments, too. An okay flick.

[–] davannacarter 9 years ago

The movie put a lot of stuff out there that it wanted the audience to think about but then never explored it:

1. The gay guy's relationship with Mandy's boyfriend was put out there but it was never explored how it affected their past relationship or their future viewpoints of each other.
2. The possible origin of the creatures was put out there with the military backback and the talk about the possibility of deforestation pushing creatures closer to human society was put out there but never explored.
3. Who originally boarded up the cabin and when they did it was put out there but never explored.

And some other stuff.

I guess the director wanted to give this story more character depth and story development than the typical monster movie but he never knew how to pull it off.

[–] snakesrule97 9 years ago

Sometimes it is better to leave the origins a mystery. I guessed it's species had always been there, just not discovered until recently. Remember the deforestation discussion?

[–] davannacarter 9 years ago

But if it's a creature that's always been there then what does it eat? These creatures ate 7 people within a 24 hour time frame and were going for the 8th if she hadn't gotten away. In fact, one had already been eating something when the campers spotted it. So that must mean that these creatures like to kill a large number of people over a short period of time. If those creatures have been hiding for a while, then they would have depopulated whatever wildlife prey that lives in their area within a year. I can only imagine the deer population would be down by the thousands within a year of living in the same area as those creatures.

I'd say they were most likely some military experiment gone wrong, which explains the military backpack.

[–] marbleann 9 years ago

All they find is a military backpack. I guess that's a clue to it being an genetic experiment gone wrong?

I just saw your post. I think that is exactly what happened. The movie was very vague. The boyfriend confession came out of left field, so way out i want to rewatch it to see any hints.

[–] Zerose 9 years ago

The brother said the deforestation was forcing "animals in deeper parts of the forest" to move into the main forest. The sister told her boyfriend that she and her brother hadn't visited the forest since seven years ago. With those in mind, I'm guessing the monsters had been surviving in the deeper parts until they were forced to move into the main forest where they spent the next seven years.

The design of the monsters' fangs and jaws suggests they were underground animals. They probably burrow through whatever in the deepest part of the forest, and only emerge to kill wild life like bears.

I think the Marines backpack was meant to suggest that not even the Marines - a bunch of trained killing machines - can fight off those monsters.

[–] davannacarter 9 years ago

The reason why I dismiss the "they came from the forest because of deforestation" theory is based on the monsters' eating habits. They killed 7 people within a short period of time. They almost made it 8. They might have eaten all 8 within one hour if it weren't for the safety of the house. In addition, one monster was snacking on something when they first discovered it.

From this we can gather that the monsters feast on a large group of prey within a short period time. If they came from the forest then the forest would be depopulated of all the bears, moose, deer, elk, and other large mammals within a few years. The monsters ate the unknown creature the monster was snacking on when first spotted, 7 people, and almost ate the final girl within less than 1 day. That means they were hungry enough to eat 9 large mammals in less than 12 hours.

Judging by the monsters' appetite, more than a thousand bears, moose, deer, and elk would be eaten within half a year. All the monsters' regular animal prey would be eaten up or have migrated away within 3 years. As a result, the monsters would end up migrating into towns and cities even before deforestation.

That's why the monsters can't be originally from the forest. They'd eat all the other animals in the forest much too quickly for them to establish a habitat. That's why they more likely were some sort of government experiment.

[–] Zerose 9 years ago

From this we can gather that the monsters feast on a large group of prey within a short period time. If they came from the forest then the forest would be depopulated of all the bears, moose, deer, elk, and other large mammals within a few years.

It's one of the first things one character commented. The quietness. That prompted the brother's comment about animals migrating and the sister's comment about 'seven years'.

There was a decomposing bear, which the characters didn't spot during their hike, that suggests the monsters didn't completely wipe out the forest wild life.

The monsters ate the unknown creature the monster was snacking on when first spotted, 7 people, and almost ate the final girl within less than 1 day. That means they were hungry enough to eat 9 large mammals in less than 12 hours.

You're operating on an assumption that they only kill only for food. It could be either way - kill to eat and to eliminate anything that may be a threat to their existence - or both.

The fact they usually leave corpses (human and bear) mostly uneaten suggests it's both. I think they're predators first, and survivors second. They focus on killing the biggest threat, and feed on it later.

During this film the cabin were meant to be a food storage (why else did the monster herd them to the cabin?), but there were too many disturbances, which may force the monsters to kill them all.

As a result, the monsters would end up migrating into towns and cities even before deforestation.

I agree that the monsters were going to end up migrating into towns and cities. I think this is why the monsters herded people into a cabin. They seemed to be intelligent enough to learn from people's behaviour and reactions.

Remember that part where one studied the gay friend's abandoned walkie-talkie on the veranda? He had clearly figured out the people in the cabin were relying on their walkie-talkies heavily because he dragged the badly-injured boyfriend into the basement, and left his walkie-talkie to do its job as a bait for the people upstairs.

If they were a government experiment gone wrong, why didn't the military or government do anything about their existence?

In fact, if the Marine backpack suggested a group of Marines were killed in the forest, why didn't the USMC raise the alarm about the missing group? It might be a plot hole, but it's more fun to think that the backpack belonged to an off-duty Marine on a hike. :D

[–] davannacarter 9 years ago

I still don't buy it that the monsters are creatures from the forest. Whether they kill for food, sport, or survival, the fact remains that they kill a large quantity of mammals within a relatively short period of time. In order to be creatures of the forest, they'd have to live there for a long period of time. With their killing habits, there's no way they could even be living in that forest for even 3 years.

Secondly, you raise an interesting point about the monsters being intelligent. The monsters are aware of human technology like the walkie-talkies and understand human behavioral habits. If the monsters are creatures of the forest, how would they gain such extensive knowledge of human behavior? It would have to have been in close contact with human beings for a long period of time. Living in the forest wouldn't give it enough chances to learn about technology and human behavior.

However, if the creatures are gov't experiments, that explains why they'd have extensive knowledge of human technology and behavior. That explains why they've never been spotted before. It's most likely the creatures are top secret government experiments and the marines were only a select group of soldiers who have knowledge of the creature. The people in charge of the experiment haven't sent other marines because that would mean letting in unauthorized people in on the government secret. The people in charge of the experiment wouldn't tell other military or government officials because that would also mean letting unauthorized people in on the secret.

On the one hand, sending in more marines, other military branches, and government officials would provide useful help in capturing the creatures. On the other hand, all those people searching for the creature would compromise the existence of the secret experiment. What's the point of having a secret experiment if you tell everybody about it?

Therefore, the agency in charge of the monster experiment might not have enough manpower to properly seal off the place from people getting in and out of the area. If the agency does have enough manpower, sealing off the area would raise awareness that there's a problem going on and people would want to know about it.

That's why I say it's a top secret experiment. It kills too many other creatures over a few hours in order for it to be a forest creature; it would have depopulated the place in a few years. Plus, how would it learn about human behavior or technology to such a great extent by living in that forest?

[–] zmic12 8 years ago

I think you're giving the director way too much credit...while you have good poonts I seriously doubt he had any of this in mind while thinking of gory death scenes

[–] MrScary 9 years ago

Don't forget that when they killed their prey the basically burrowed into their chests, which I thought was pretty clever. Never seen anything like that before.

And I don't think the marine backpack was there to suggest genetic experiments; I think it was to show that even a marine didn't have a chance against these creatures.

The burrowing, the mentioning of deforestation, the way the monster sniffed the air (instead of using sight to hunt), the marine backpack; all subtle hints on what was really going on. I'd rather have that than have a director beating you over the head with too much exposition.