SOUTHBOUND (2015) Explained

[Music] hey how's it going folks welcome to foundflix on this explained vid we're looking at the excellent modern horror anthology southbound where interlocking tales of highway terror revolve around malevolent spirits at a truck stop a mysterious traveler a car accident and a home invasion i've always had a soft spot for horror anthologies but the problem a lot of times is that some segments are inevitably weaker than others and kind of ends up dragging the whole thing down i'd argue that's the case for a lot of them very hit or miss including the vhs series which i only mentioned because it came from the same producers as southbound don't get me wrong i do still like the vhs movies but why i think i like this one more overall is it feels more innovative with the anthology format via the interlocking storylines and builds something with a lot more depth it also just makes the movie feel more cohesive instead of being stitched together shorts of varying links another area that this stands out in is that while each segment does feel different and has its own flavor through each bit by bit we learn more details about the strange area of the highway it seems to be a kind of purgatory pocket dimension i'd wager including uncovering its demonic inhabitants and what our stories are truly all about you cannot outrun your sins and inevitably what happens when they come to find you there's actually a lot to kind of glean to really build the whole picture of what's going on with the story and i enjoyed that as well it is actually kind of subtle about how it does this and there's a consistent air of mystery as to how things unfold it became a bit more complex and developed mythology and lore wise than i anticipated so with all that in mind let's take a look at southbound breaking down the movie and how the world develops through each segment including how each story is really connected and their deeper meanings and explaining the ending we open on a dusty desert highway two guys barreling down the road mitch and jack both of their faces splattered in blood they keep looking back to something panicked the radio announcer laying out our kind of overall theme for the movie amends and atonement he says this one is for all the lost lonely souls racing down the road to redemption we're all on the same highway one that is never ending and hey tonight might be the night that we outrun our demons once and for all yeah not so fast not around these parts in the morning they're still driving mitch looks longingly at a picture of a young girl his daughter catherine and see more clearly just what it is that they're trying to escape from a creepy dark floating wispy apparition lingering in the sky that certainly resembles the grim reaper watching over everything which mitch sees but declines to tell his partner about for some reason they keep continuing on their eternal pilgrimage passing a sign that illustrates as much the highway number scratched out and obscured because this highway is more representative of purgatory and facing down our sins and demons like the dj mentioned they pull over at a gas station to clean up and on the tv we notice an old movie you know a lot of times when they include stuff like this it doesn't really mean that much just kind of a fun reference but in this case the movie that they're showing carnival of souls actually has a lot to do with the movie itself seeing his appearance she deadpan's long night and clearly not amused he grumbles back only yeah jack gets washed up and out front there's a sudden violent rumbling that shakes the table jack is distracted by his blood stains not noticing a creature right behind him in the mirror he goes to remove his shirt an invisible force wraps it tight around him yanking him back the vibrations continue mitch seeing another reaper outside waiting jack is ready to get back on the road and lickety-split too there does seem to be no escaping these specters jack screaming it's getting closer more flanking them on each side of the road and they suddenly find themselves pulling right back up to roy's the cashier out there smoking a cigarette what the [ __ ] he shouts in disbelief and they drive off only to pull up over and over growing increasingly baffled with each loop definitely no way out of this one boys jack refuses to give in feeling there has to be a way out and drives straight off the road into the desert mitch on the other hand has come to accept the futility of escaping his sins asking him to pull over he ponders what it is that they're running to home and then what jack argues that is the whole point to get back to normal reminding him that he wanted this and they did it for him and for catherine thinking that he's lost it he coldly waves to see around another reaper is floating ever closer he screams to it what do you want but mitch has figured out their role they are here to collect there's no way out we messed up jack still ain't having it confident that he's making it home just as a reaper flies at the door it shoves his long bony arm down his throat grotesquely snapping his jaw and flies away in a blur well collected indeed mitch looks to his friend's destroyed corpse and wanders to a nearby motel cautiously stepping past more floating figures hearing a knock from inside room 6255 he enters to a big splatter of blood on the wall and the door closes shut behind him he slowly makes his way through the empty room then here's a child giggling nearby the voice calls out dad seeing an apparition of catherine is there she runs and he follows after and keeps making chase when walking through a hall there's a kind of brief energy scene around him when passing through certainly tied to the kind of loop situation when it comes to reality here and appears to teleport into a home i would assume his own and based on the blood where his daughter was killed the girl asks him why won't you help me and he keeps following her to no effect he can't ever truly reach her that is the whole point causing him to lose his [ __ ] in frustration pulling outside a reaper is there and the maid passes by seeing what looks like bullet holes in the wall and door her casually placing a do not disturb sign on the knob meaning to me old mitch will be trapped in this endless pursuit for the rest of his days a few doors down are sadie ava and kim all part of the rock group the white tights complaining about being hung over as hell they pile into their old vw van the driver flips down the visor seeing a fourth girl in the pick which she places a tinder hand on before they pull away and hey at least they are able to leave roy's and uncoincidentally one of their tires blows out forcing them to pull over they try to pinpoint their location but the gps can't find them anywhere on the map and a call to aaa isn't much help either unable to find them despite them being on a major state highway more so it appears they pull out some brewskis to kill the time in the scorching sun as it's not like they're going anywhere anyway a car eventually approaches with kind of oddball couple dale and betty offering a ride to their place and they'll take them to the auto shop in the morning they're a bit hesitant especially sadie and there does seem to be something off about them they keep trying mentioning some neighbors of theirs have a similar van and can get them up and running in no time but they still ultimately turn them down suit yourself they smile but as they drive off kim yells out for them to wait as after all we're the weirdos here not them right there's another unsettling object sadie finds in their car an old bear trap which they say is for a local wildlife yeah what kind of local wildlife thought and look like there's a lot of wildlife out here but they ask how long they've lived out here since the war they say the girls whispering uh yeah which war exactly thing's definitely growing a bit awkward in the air as they arrive at their home betty appears warm enough offering the girls whatever they need and the kensingtons are coming for dinner chirping that she's happy to have some company she then strangely says that she's sorry about alex the fourth girl in the picture sadie asking to repeat what she said yet she completely sidesteps it only bringing up dinner and excuses herself well that's certainly strange and there's more evidence that something is definitely off of the couple noting that they don't seem old but act like they're from the 50s and the decor around the place isn't exactly screaming modern that's for sure they'll sit down for dinner with the kensingtons and their weird giant twin boys beaming about how lucky they are to have access to the old world recipes how old exactly are we talking here they inquire about the suns and rey explains that they're actually adopted calling it a long sad story but does not elaborate further as some quite odd and burnt looking food is doled out they join hands to give grace which is pretty over the top rey going on about offering ourselves to you for you are the master they're told the food is apparently a roast but that does not look like any roast that i've ever seen and luckily for sadie she doesn't eat meat they tell her it's okay she doesn't have to eat it meanwhile the other two are loving it scarfing it down and calling it delicious again bringing up there being four of them and avoid it again by slamming down on the table being told enough okay then i mean you guys keep bringing her up all i'm saying sadie continues voicing her concerns but cat tells her to stop complaining they have a roof over their head and free dinner asking what is the big deal she says that it's because they have a show tomorrow and that they are stuck at a house in the middle of nowhere by a row that apparently doesn't exist deeming that it doesn't exactly feel normal yeah i have to agree with you on that one kim eerily replies nothing is ever your fault lamenting that she misses alex making it clear that she was at least somehow involved in her death kim asked why did you let her leave that night you wanted to [ __ ] some nobody in a crummy club apparently she was just joking breaking into a cackle it's not funny she says it's messed up importantly sadie did not eat their mystery meat as both of her friends are suddenly stricken ill both vomiting up black stuff out of nowhere she informs the others and they too acknowledge that it must have been the meat the first time is always the worst but assures that they'll be fine as soon as they get some medicine pouring out some white liquid that i'm guessing is not milk the two are now donned in matching white dresses and thank the others as they're feeling much better now after downing the medicine she again pleads with him to leave but in a day's tone they say they're not going anywhere sadie is reaching her wit's end with how they're acting like nothing is wrong the other's wishing that alex was here but well she's dead and they also wish this sadie was a better friend like alex she camps out in the bathroom scrolling through pictures of all four of the girls getting teary-eyed at the memories so with no way to leave she settles in grabbing a knife that she found in the dresser and lays down next to the bed she has a kind of weird vision or fantasy thing but what i think is actually more like a memory there's a woman out of focus in the road alex's voice whispering i have more faith in you than that why did you leave me her eyes glowing white as we were starting to see there's a kind of pattern to the people that find themselves on the highway being responsible for someone's death in a way their respective sins as we'll continue to see when it comes to sadie's responsibility we don't know exactly what happened but we know she left her behind for a dude and somehow that decision must have led to her death and it looks like she must have been hit by a car sadie snaps awake seeing the girls are being escorted to a bonfire outside with the others in tow now donned in flowing ceremonial robes ken presumably the leader leads the group in a prayer let us rejoice they chant contentment you shall find through suffering the damned do not grow old living in the dark waters of the god they each cut their hands placing some blood into a cup he goes up to the girls and places blood in a triangle formation on their foreheads that dissolves into their skin their eyes then turning black right just to put all that together first there's been various clues about something being off about these locals here mentions of the old world weird outdated decor and then there are many weird prayers which are in fact for the dark lord not the god of the light as they say as far as their age they say here the damn don't age so who knows how old they actually are but they are definitely older than it appears and it looks like now ava and kat are the two latest to be brought into their way of life and kind via this blood ritual right here sadie stumbles into a bear trap catching their attention and tries to get herself free her now converted friends stalking towards her they tell her to not be a baby kicking one in the face and slashing at the other escaping to a barn they passed right by without noticing her but that's not her only problem alex's voice returning echoing you left me there to die now we can all be together her standing right next to her she flips her lid running frantically into the night but still hears cackling evil laughter she makes it out to her road seeing a pair of headlights flapping her arms to get their attention unfortunately for her she gets a little taste of poetic justice i suppose as lucas our driver is distracted on the phone with his wife helping her to select an outfit so yeah his eyes are not exactly on the road and he plows right into sadie at full speed her body crumpling into a heap on the hood he is shell-shocked trying to catch his breath and tells his wife he'll have to call her back he checks on sadie asking if she's okay and it's like uh dude does she look okay he dials number one and explains the situation and once again has trouble conveying his remote and desolate location but he is able to at least make out the lights of a city not too far away she explains that she's an emt asking for details on sadie's condition and he's no slouch as far as medical knowledge is concerned identifying head trauma broken bones and a compound fracture of the knee making me think that he is actually a doctor he heads south putting the pedal to the metal and assures her that he'll do everything that he can strangely the streets and roads in town are completely empty no one else in sight same goes for the hospital bringing her in to the emergency room and it looks like the place was abandoned in a hurry a coffee mug spilled over a phone off the hook he starts freaking out at the building being empty the woman on the phone encouraging him someone must be there although they are unable to ever find another soul and when checking on the girl her leg snaps painfully backwards shouting back uh she's not good she starts bleeding out much more to the point of him even slipping on it and it's looking like it's gonna be up to him to help her out as instructed over the phone he uses his belt as a tourniquet around her broken leg snapping it down the bones crunching she starts gurgling blood and the emt asks to hear the noises and determines they need to do an intubation he frantically searches for a kit and she guides him through the process starting with jamming his fingers down her throat urging he has to do it now he opens her mouth stuffing his hand inside all the way back past the tongue and now to enter the tube he starts feeding it down and sadie reactively bites down on his fingers a male voice chimes in that she must be close to death and weirdly the lights all flick on him explaining that he's a surgeon that's been listening the whole time and that he wants to save her life well he should have piped up a little earlier there doc he tells him to not take his fingers out as a tube isn't in yet it's the only thing keeping her alive but conversely is also killing her time is of the essence people they have to compress her lungs due to broken bones in her ribs they lead him through making the incision and now to simply reach in and find that dang lung he jams his hand in there and really starts kind of fishing around i got it he cries then compress it he's told he does so and she spits out blood on him almost instantly going limp he's quite upset at the outcome but they were supposed to help right perhaps not so much both on the line beginning to laugh hysterically he rips his earbuds out and goes for their front doors but they're all locked up bashing and kicking it to no effect focusing appropriately in on an exit sign because there ain't no exit around here his phone starts vibrating and it appears to be his wife but it's his new bodies instead he cries that he doesn't deserve this the man asking him to elaborate he confesses he did in fact kill a girl by hitting her as suspected but defending that she was in the middle of the road in the middle of nowhere both voices start overlapping repeating back his words and the doc tells him it's okay it doesn't have to be your fault go be with your wife he's taken aback i can just leave yeah sure but make sure to check out the locker room first there's a fresh shirt waiting for him and he cleans himself up trying to regain his composure now he is able to stroll right out the front door and even finds a key fob that works for another nearby not messed up ride he asks the voices does he need to worry about what happened here but they promised no he was never here telling him to hang up now he passes by a bar called the trap seeing the supposed emt he was speaking to is there on a pain phone wishing him good night so it seems like in this case it's not actually this guy's fault in a sense so they grant him a pardon sure seems like that sure in some ways you could construe what he did as being bad he should have been paying attention obviously but at least he tried everything that he could he didn't give up or just you know relinquish responsibility or anything like that and so it seems like the people in the town actually do let this guy leave and we soon learn a bit more about just what the locals are that inhabit the area the lady sandy takes a seat and asks for a drink but bartender owl has a problem she's left the door open as we will come to understand there is actually hidden doors in the town the ones that are not supposed to be seen by the average human thusly she has effectively left this open and this allows the gun-toting dany to bust inside in search of his long missing sister he shows them a picture of jessie expressing he knows that she's in this town and that he means them no harm danny notices a strange tattoo on al's hand asking where he got that seeing another patron is sporting some pretty gnarly claws he gores danny on the back and he blows his hand off in retaliation the man demonically growling danny isn't sure if he can kill him but he is positive that that at least had to hurt and it seems what we've got on our hands here is a town full of ancient demons out of the desert messing with people unlucky enough to enter their little zone he asked one more time about jesse and al admits that he saw her but at a place that he can't go he's undeterred dragging him along and al sends out a distress signal to the others getting shoved into the car he warns that they don't have much time until they get here and if he goes where he's asking he might not come back after such a foreboding introduction they strangely come to an ice cream joint driving around back to a nondescript alley seeing only a wall danny is confused how they'll get in al tells him to use the door which he does not like bashing him with the butt of his gun al laughs it off telling him it's okay danny as in every segment these locals seem to know everything about anyone in this area's limits he puts his hand with the tattoo on his eye telling danny he's screwed but he doesn't know it yet the eye blinks on the tattoo and danny is briefly in a blue-tinged environment they approach a door with a glowing border around it our hidden one they find themselves in a room with several lost souls sitting around and he's taken to a back area where he finally reunites with his sister in the middle of tattooing the same symbol much larger on some dude's back again indicating that the dark ones don't age dany is baffled by how young she still looks while she notes that he's gotten old saying that he's been searching for her for 13 years he's naturally here to save her but to his surprise she does not want to leave he's not listening the bartender is starting to laugh at him he laughs back mockingly and shoots him in the stomach al's eye's turning black and danny finishes him off blowing his head to smithereens he picks up his cysts tossing her over his shoulder to her annoyance and stuffs her into his car she calls him an [ __ ] for not listening but he's okay with that as long as he's able to get her out of here they're then stopped in their tracks by what looks like the road ending out of nowhere jesse poses him with a choice if he keeps going off the road it's on him as it's dangerous out there for humans his decision is clear screeching into gear across the dirt the view becoming completely obscured by a kind of green aura that turns red jesse then changes her tune now telling him that he can't stop or else he's done for but he's still resistant slamming on the brakes to catch his breath she reiterates that it's dangerous out here for him it's for people like her and spills the beans on a tragic family tale when they were children both of their parents were killed and asks him did he really never think that it was her fault he's confused telling her that she can't blame herself for what happened but she admits that she killed them because she wanted to and now she's here because she wants to be the place found her and she loves it here so again she did something bad people are dead but instead of trying to reconcile she just decides to stick with it i'll just be a demon sure the window shatters and a bunch of naked white-skinned dudes drag him out of the car she sighs he should have let her go him crying he just wanted to save her as she pulls away leaving the guys grabbing at him danny's screaming in terror well should've listened i guess as she drives off another creature is seen in the moonlight overseeing everything as usual back at the ice cream place jesse re-enters the seeker door witnessed by a young girl jim she and her family are off for one last weekend together before she is off to college and they sure picked one heck of a place to spend the night already seeing that they're being watched from a nearby car they pull over at some cabins mom groaning that it looked better in the pictures mom and dad discuss if jim is ready for college darryl concluding of course not but sometimes you gotta let him go but kat is still worried that she doesn't ever stand up for herself well hopefully she'll get a chance to in the next five minutes there's some bangs at the door that keep going and going the exact same knock heard by mitch earlier on the other side of the door at the motel and indeed they are in the same cabin number six two five five cyril tells mawla to call 9-1-1 but it will be an excruciating 30 minutes before the police can make it out here he then spot a guy outside wearing a mask and then another appears right at the window spooking daryl they keep knocking everyone now terrified dad leads them out the back door where another masked man is waiting with a baseball bat they immediately surrender asking what do they want but getting no response they are forced back inside mom fetches a knife for daryl just as the power cuts out the trio busts in and the family splits up jim hiding out of sight in the closet as the intruders search the room they get a hold of the parents pretty easily overpowering them daryl again pleads to know what it is that they want one gruffly telling him an apology and he profusely apologizes offering whatever they want cat seems to know what this is all about stammering you told me but then stops when one shoves a rag in her mouth suffocating her leaving daryl a blubbering mess crying that she's innocent a car alarm blares outside drawing one of the gang's attention finding a golf club jammed on the horn jim comes out of nowhere getting him with scissors in the back then takes the bat to his face she screams again asking what do they want but one only tells her to go giving her the choice to live she appears to take the opportunity and runs off daryl thanking them for letting jim go i don't know that's really should be thanking him at this point as the guy with the knife stabs him multiple times in the gut bringing up the picture of catherine now knowing exactly who our attackers are daryl getting weaker and fades away to make things abundantly clear they remove their masks and it's mitch and jack from our opening segment jim makes another surprise attack and gets jack with a kick to the face but her retaliation is short-lived seething we let you go and he starts choking her she jabs him with a corkscrew and comes out to the main room to both her parents dead this time mitch gets to jump on her and gets her with a knife and well that's it once again you were given the choice to flee and live and since you didn't this is her unfortunate fate it's not so easy for the guys either as the whole point was to get revenge for somehow the dad killing catherine but then they also ended up killing the mom and jim as well so they've got blood on their hands too sins everywhere man the guys don't feel great about it either lamenting what have we done the third guy hears rumbling and the earth starts to crack open jim's shirt starts poking to a point and a shadow creature emerges from her body followed by more spawning from her parents as well the sinkhole keeps getting bigger and is chock full of the reapers a sea of pointy tentacles reaching out one wraps around the third guy followed by several more and he is swallowed into the earth they leap over the holes to get to their truck and struggle to get it going as the road breaks away coming right towards them he's able to turn it over just in time to outrun the crumbling and a reaper launches itself at the hood mitch horrified asking what the [ __ ] is that thing it gets to its feet so to speak and jack slams right into it and keeps going for now at least again jack saying let's go home picking up back where we started in this whole crazy kind of loop thing going on here our final moments being them arriving at roy's and we all know where things went from there just to kind of tie everything together this particular town on a stretch of highway in the middle of nowhere seems to be a kind of pocket universe but it does also seem like a real place as dany is able to eventually track it down after years of searching like he came from the real world to the town once you enter the city limits though reality is no longer to be trusted as we saw in many various ways and it seems the entire point of the town is to judge anyone unlucky enough to enter they are forced to face their past sins and mistakes as we saw in each of our segments and the town knows everything about them and their histories it doesn't seem to be too easy to actually win this little journey of self-reflection that is except for lucas most otherwise end up trapped in an eternal loop of pain or you know just dead as for the locals they are all ancient demons that just kind of drift around and play parts in these roads to redemption you also can get enlisted like the girls and become a demon yourself however it really seems the reapers are the ones pulling the strings here as we saw with jim and her family when they were killed by another human this caused them to be reborn as reapers now collecting souls along with the others and playing their part in the whole grander scheme of what's going on here well that about wraps it up for this explained video for southbound and oddly enough for all you vhs fans out there there is a fourth entry currently in the works and it sounds like they might have learned a thing or two from southbound as it too is said to feature interlocking stories so that should be cool it'll at least be better than vhs3 i'm sure about that don't forget before we go you can send me requests for any movies or tv shows you'd like to see me explain by sending them my way on any of my social media accounts at foundflix what did you guys think of southbound and its ending what is your favorite horror anthology flick let me know your thoughts down in the comments below make sure to like subscribe and follow thanks for watching found flicks see you next time

Channel: FoundFlix

Views: 1,489,966

Rating: 4.9625134 out of 5

Keywords: southbound, southbound ending explained, ending explained, meaning, ending, explained, explanation, horror anthology, trailer, clip, final scene, end scene, reapers, monster explained, creature, foundflix ending explained, foundflix, bloody disgusting, vhs

Id: 8GMmXdzSr-I

Length: 24min 55sec (1495 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 22 2021