THE NIGHT HOUSE (2021) Explained

[Music] hey how's it going folks welcome to found flicks on today's explained video we're digging into the excellent the nighthouse where a woman is reeling from the unexpected death of her husband she soon finds herself bombarded with disturbing visions of a ghostly presence in the house beckoning to her against the advice of everyone else she begins digging into her husband's belongings and unravels a disturbing mystery that will change things forever first of all i freaking love this movie and at this point is by far my favorite horror film of the year it just works incredibly well on several levels there's a kind of hitchcockian mystery thriller coupled with a nice take on a haunted house but then on top of everything else it's very character driven and our protagonist definitely goes through a big arc across the film as everything is a parallel of beth and having to deal with her husband's death it's just really impressive to me when movies are just like firing on all cylinders and that is the case here it does have david bruckner at the helm and this guy knows how to structure a classy horror movie so that helps but the whole thing hinges on rebecca hall she is seriously so so good and the way she brings beth to life is very complex along with a lot of surprising character developments and it's truly a revelation there's also a good amount of creative scares the negative space ones in particular stuck with me but i think it's the script itself and how it unfolds that is the most impressive laying out a very complex and rich story full of emotion and intrigue yeah so i am definitely a fan of this one and for yet another reason is the way things play out here there is a lot to dissect you know a lot of meat on the bone for me to look at as you know that is kind of my jam the biggest lingering question perhaps with the ending is we're presented with a classic setup was everything we went through real and supernatural or is it all an elaborate figment of beth's grief-filled mind and you know drinking too much brandy certainly doesn't help in that regard you can interpret it one way or another but ultimately for me it really works both ways when we break things down there's a ton of stuff to look at with this one so let's dive deep into the nighthouse breaking down the story and it's complicated mystery the important character journey at the backbone of the film and explaining the bonkers ending and what it all means things appear quite serene and peaceful at a pretty sweet looking house overlooking a lake we focus on a photo of a man and then see tissues piled up by the bed a woman beth and another approach in a car and the other lady offers to call anytime beth nods that she'll be okay now alone she puts her hands out on the counter shakily breathing and looking a bit overwhelmed without hesitation she tosses what i'm assuming is a casserole right in the trash while we don't know specifically what happened at this point the clues are already there that beth recently lost her husband and at the moment seems to kind of not believe it yet or at the very least has yet to grasp the journey of grief that she will be forced through she listens to a folk rock song drinking some wine and fiddling with a note she chugs down the rest of the glass and goes downstairs she suddenly stops in her tracks at what must have been owen's workspace and then discovers a treasure trove of more booze she plays back their wedding tape and reminiscence and they appear to have been happy then what could have gone so wrong she struggles to fall asleep tossing and turning in bed and is startled by a strange thump she goes to look and no one is there at the door so she checks out the rest of the house the door down keeps swinging behind her whoa what the [ __ ] [Music] the door keeps swinging behind her and in it we see a faint black shadow in the glass try to say if she sees it but she slams the door closed she later wakes up in a strange place having passed out on the floor of his office outside she notices muddy footprints leading down towards the dock and they appear to actually be coming from the water a gunshot rings out causing her to gasp and her breath quickens before she tries to get herself together to everyone else's surprise she shows up at the school where she works everyone murmuring when she enters beth continues showing a kind of strange disconnect from what happened shrugging off to her bff claire that she had to come in because there were some more grades to enter she inquires how she's doing beth responding with a curt i'm fine she scrolls through real estate listings pondering selling their house and is drawn to a picture of the two of them as soon as she looks at it her eyes start getting heavy like she's going to pass out she's interrupted by a mother of her student coming in to complain about a grave the mother is a bit abrasive especially when beth excuses that she was out for personal reasons she explains to her what happened laid out specifically for the first time her husband shot himself in the head he took their boat out on the water using a handgun that she didn't know they had and pow right in the mouth she's even more blunt with the lady after that that she doesn't really care about hunter's elective speech presentation and cheerilee changes his grade to a b the lady is taken aback and gives a limp apology before leaving again not exactly the kind of behavior you'd see from her grieving widow but that's part of what makes her such an interesting character back to the picture she can't even bear to look at it and throws it in a drawer again illustrating the fact that she hasn't accepted that he's truly gone and at this point even refuses to believe so returning home she bumps into her friendly neighbor mel and reveals that she is thinking about selling he agrees that it is peaceful but lonely out here mel can relate to beth too because his wife of many years recently passed so he has been or was going through the same thing that she is just starting asking about the gunshot she assumes that it was for a snake or something but mel is adamant that it wasn't him but offers that if she hears it again to give him a shout so we heard it and he isn't lying meaning that it to me seems like it was beth herself remembering that shot that rang out when owen took his life it's also easy to see why so much of owen and his memory is hard to ignore in the house as he actually designed and built the entire thing himself utilizing his talents as an architect and he really wants to get his hands dirty when watching more old footage he is seen literally doing the entire construction single-handedly pretty impressive and you know definitely time-consuming beth at least gathers the strength to do the most basic first step of what to do with owen's personal belongings things like throwing out his toiletries and donating his clothes starting to come to terms with the fact that he is not coming back and maybe starting to move on that all goes right out the window when she is rummaging through his office and finds a book that was a present to her inside is a detailed blueprint of the house there's also some circles and other basic shapes amongst other designs but she sees notes in the liners from owen that seem to imply a greater specific reason behind the house's design another sketch is of intersecting halls all collapsing in on themselves and the strange word kadroya on another page is an overhead of the house along with another sheet laying over it showing an exact reverse copy of the original layout that's enough for beth and she closes the book appearing unsettled later the stereo kicks back on to the same folk song from earlier but it couldn't have been beth she was asleep in bed her cell phone oddly chimes and there's a message from owen to come down baffled she calls them wanting to know who it is a distorted male voice crackles her name then saying i know you can hear me and asked her to go to the window outside at the shore she sees owen there completely naked and he turns back eerily to her making us starting to believe that due to all these signs owen's spirit is somehow reaching out to her and is still here she shoots awake this time on the bathroom floor and grabs her phone but the odd messages aren't there so she decides to check his phone still in the evidence box in her car but after checking his two it matches their previous messages from a while back so no new ones from last night despite how everything appeared she then swipes through photos on his phone featuring many of the two of them together but one gives her pause it's a woman facing away in a bookstore and she really resembles beth even when zooming in yet no wedding ring is seen so that's odd claire 2 is confused assuming that it must just be a picture of her well her or someone that looks a heck of a lot like her beth goes on that she doesn't own a blouse like that but claire is more worried that she's digging too much into the past there are worse things to find than a fully clothed woman that looks just like her she asked her to consider giving him up he worshipped you besides he's not here to defend himself or explain don't be jumping to crazy conclusions you know she starts to wonder why she was going through his phone in the first place but quickly realizes that's insensitive to ask beth sighs that she didn't think they had any secrets but claire reminds her everyone does so don't let it weigh on you remember you're owen even if he was something else he was still that too she goes out with the department for some drinks to blow off some steam beth just kind of sitting there silently guzzling whiskey she then gets right into the matter at hand asking if anyone believes in ghosts to their befuddlement and beth spills that she feels like something is watching her and she's been having dreams that feel real unlike sleep paralysis where your mind is awake but the body is not this is the opposite so like sleepwalking right beth wondering if it's possibly contagious as owen supposedly used to sleepwalk claire again tries to excuse any strangeness it makes sense as they were married for 14 years that his presence will still be there even if he is not gary asks the question that would normally be crossing the line did they know anything was wrong but beth as usual is completely unbothered that's another aspect that confuses her as it was typically her that had dark thoughts and depression blaming herself for somehow spreading that to him the other lady asks if she left a note and apparently anything is on the table with this group but they're still taken aback that she is actually carrying it with her in her purse she then reads it out to the group you were right there is nothing nothing is after you you're safe now and that's it no love owen or anything beyond those cryptic words that we will understand later has more than one meaning claire takes her home and despite beth already being pretty loosey-goosey pours herself some more brandy it's worth noting too that we have already seen just how much she deals with the grief via drinking so of course this lends another layer of consideration to things that she's just totally hammered all the time and this could be why something she thinks is happening isn't actually happening that seed of doubt is definitely planet she missed declared that she lied about the note and not knowing what it means she knows exactly what it means back when beth was 17 she was in a severe car crash and was actually technically dead for four minutes her heart had stopped completely many after would ask what she saw in that moment between life and death and she hoped that she would have had a positive answer for them but the bleak reality is there is nothing there's no light at the end of the tunnel just tunnel however after she told this to owen he was never convinced and always wanted to believe in a better place and almost made her believe this too she reiterates from the note the final admission that she was right but after all the weirdness lately she's not so sure she starts fading away into sleep in claire's lap the peaceful moment is destroyed by the stereo blaring to life and claire has somehow completely vanished a male voice grumbles the door and she flings it open shouting into the darkness if you want to say something talk to me dang i kind of like that about her character too she doesn't run away from the nightmare she's like come and get it son she refuses to give up and goes outside and searches the perimeter shockingly seeing two girls that come running up they jump over the fence and then dive into oblivion another appears and beth is totally freaking she chases after her yelling to wait but is to no avail and she jumps off after the others this all leads her to another strange sight that of lights on at the other side of the lake the voice commands her to the boat where she finds it still in the aftermath of owen's death a bloody plastic tarp there and his belongings on the side she starts to turn away but stays strong there are more thumps and two fresh footprints appear at the edge of the dock she asks if it's owen here and she sees nothing but dark fog hanging in front of her she whispers if you want to show me show me and a breath blows her hair she puts up a hand to reach out to him and is pushed back almost like she's being carried by this invisible entity it places her in the boat and sets it off into the black waters seeing the full moon hanging high after drifting towards the other side the light and the moon suddenly turned to blood red her still passed out inside the thought of it hitting the ground wakes her up and she finds that she's at a house that exactly resembles her own she spins back and her house is still indeed there on the other side like a mirror reminding us of that concept drawn in owen's sketchbook she tries to convince herself it's all a dream as a woman that looks similar to her steps in then another appears on a higher level and owen joins her with a tender kiss on the cheek things suddenly turn violent as he smacks her rubbing his eyes looking distraught even the address we see is written in reverse as she goes to the front door grabbing a key from a nearby hiding spot as she swings open the door she's back in her house in the morning seeing herself asleep on the couch the her at the door is no longer there as the other one inside wakes up well that was definitely weird and has raised all kinds of new potentially disturbing questions about her husband so she pulls out his laptop to do some further snooping and matches the timeline of that picture from the bookstore she traces it back to a folder deep in the computer marked other there she uncovers a slew of more pictures including bookstore ladies face there's more and more women that resemble beth seeing that he's been spying on and interacting with a lot of women like her she sniffles at the new revelation staring out the window and is determined to see if that mirror house is for real she comes to mel on the trail explaining that she's looking for a house but according to him no one is allowed to build anything out here and mentions being worried that she's not doing well she should be with friends and family not tromping through the woods by herself he asked her to lunch at his place and she smiles maybe later before trudging off she stops at a tree noticing some particular markings on it and sets off into the deeper overgrown area off the trail there she does come to another structure but is still under construction covered in tarps not like the completed house that she saw in one room there's an odd urn of some kind and she pulls out a strange little doll it looks like a woman with bound legs and arm pulled back tight along with several poles jammed into various spots in her body hearing creaking footsteps on the wood she flees to mel and shows off what she found after pressing him a bit he reveals that he never saw a house but did see owen wandering around in the middle of the night every now and then she's shocked as he never told her and he admits that owen asks him not to he has more to say that he's concerned she can't handle but she laughs that she wants to know everything he says that he caught him once on that same route with another woman he thought it was her and called out but saw that it wasn't owen came by his house later in bad shape drunk and his clothes a mess he told mel that he had shameful urges that he was trying to shape but it says he found a way to keep them at bay she inquires what kind of urges but he says he didn't ask after that he never saw this happen again and everything seemed good after that they both seemed good so he didn't want to ruin it by telling her what he saw he then really gets to the heart of the matter he left a hole in her life and this thinking is in the way of filling it you don't need to fill it with something dark going on that this is the closest to death she's been beth smirks that's not exactly the case and goes back to furiously digging through owen's mini boxes of books dumping them out on the ground amongst them is a book entitled kadroya the same thing she saw in the blueprint book along with a cover that resembles the twisty walls in his house's design this specifically is a welsh turf maze the word itself meaning labyrinth and they were used in ancient rituals as for what kind seeing the first chapter is called intro to occult arts it's probably pretty spicy she flips to the subject of decoy and deception and pulls out a drawing that he made of the doll known as a louvre doll which is comparable to a voodoo doll the doll is given as a gift and a spell binds offerings to the artifact for delivery the next highlighted passage eliminates the purpose of the labyrinth simple mazes and reverse spaces can confuse or weaken dark forces by distorting the location of the subject spirits can be confused by false forms of sacrifice well that was a lot again and based on what she read it makes it sound like owen was convinced there was some kind of evil spirit around and those various girls were given as sacrifices to it pretty wild stuff going on here she finds this book amongst others we're all bought from the same store of books and melodies up in utica there's more footsteps behind her she grabs her bottle and chases after it to his workshop there's nothing there and she appears to stress that she's losing it the creaking resumes and she steps back quite chillingly in the negative space of the column it looks like a person is standing right there it turns its head to face her and she shrieks dropping the liquor she runs around the column seeing nothing there to her disappointment pleading for owen to come back even more convinced that it's him reaching out to her driving nearly three hours at the bookstore the clerk isn't much help yet something else catches her eye a woman amongst the shelves perhaps the girl from the picture beth is certainly convinced of this being very straightforward with her accusing her of knowing her husband marilyn is scared calling for jonah but beth assures her there's no need to worry the matter has been resolved as he's dead just in case you had any dates planned she snarkly remarks she stammers that it wasn't like that he came in a few times a year and over time things did get a bit flirty they had drinks once but that was it beth refuses to believe her demanding she take her hair down and again marilyn pleads that she didn't sleep with him and only really barely knew owen she discusses all this with claire and does at least believe that marilyn didn't sleep with her but for beth this actually makes things even more confusing if he wasn't [ __ ] them then just what was he up to she starts to detail her backwards house stream but claire puts a stop to that asking her to please stop going through his stuff it can't possibly help she reiterates that he had a secret life that's no big deal he said he agreed with her that there's nothing but he didn't ever believe that claire argues that beliefs do change i mean look at her she's the most skeptical person that she knows and now is going on about her house being haunted with things put that way it actually does sound like beth realizes this does sound a bit silly and she agrees with claire's suggestion of getting out of the house for at least a few days even though things aren't finished she might never know the full truth that's the way she goes back home to gather some belongings it again really does seem that she intends to leave calling out to the ghost that she's leaving tonight so if they have something to say say it now however a surprise visitor changes her course when madeline unexpectedly shows up beth asked how she even knew how to get here and she sheepishly admits that she's been here before well that calls for a brandy and maddie sits down to tell her about what drew her here she had a dream about her that she was you there was something chasing all around us did it get us beth chuckles but maddie doesn't know that's when she woke up this strange connection is what compelled her to come here to tell her everything about what happened she clarifies once more that she did not sleep with him but says she actually thought that they were going to she came by one afternoon after work for a day trip and she wouldn't normally have gone but found owen to be smart and sweet she felt safe with him you know beth coley mumbles back yeah i do they had a drink and he walked her to the other house and beth is dumbfounded he showed you the other house well yeah there wasn't much there to show maddie says which at least does sound like someone other than beth is confirming the existence of the mirror house we only saw her in it any other times up to this point she continues that he showed her a weird statue and asked her to hold it well that's not good based on its use that means maddie was marked as a sacrifice for this entity again trying to trick it into taking someone that it didn't actually want things started off romantic until owen's hands went for her neck yet when she asked him to stop he did do so without any incident his behavior after this continued to be more remorseful than homicidal telling maddie that he can't hold it back anymore and knows what he has to do end it for good her thinking it means his cheating right but we and beth are starting to know better that it must mean taking his life instead she stomps off in the pouring rain to the other house and demands for him to come out and talk she's not leaving until they do she stumbles and breaks a board revealing what looks like a wrapped up corpse peering down into the hole reveals several others hidden under the floorboards well guess he was at least a little violent after all maybe he couldn't do it anymore you know killing all those people to ward off the evil with maddie he finally drew the line beth freaks out and can't even say the words on the phone of what she saw to claire's voicemail it can't possibly be true right her refusing to believe her husband is some kind of serial killer taking a shower the same folk rock song kicks on but when she comes out it quickly turns off where are you she cries and not understanding is overcome with emotions i miss you so much she balls and when opening her eyes she's here written in the mirror which she wipes away she notices new footsteps and steps out into the other room reaching out unlike before it looks as though she is physically touching someone there yet they're invisible she caresses their face asking in disbelief if this is real she brings him in for a hug gasping and sighing at every touch to her skin it brings her back to the mirror and the male voice tells her he's here owen she asks and the voice responds no i'm not owen giving me goosebumps here especially after making outlets weird in anything she runs through the door and it slams shut back in the mirror she sees someone else in her reflection owen enters and attacks her smashing her head repeatedly into the glass the force starts choking bath and slams her head viciously as well the door is now open and in the bedroom notices the clock's time is backwards tying back into the mirror house or night house it was built again as a mirror reflection of the original so it makes sense that a mirror itself acts as the transportation between these realms or otherwise it seems to be that you go there in your dreams point is she is definitely in the mirror house and is flip sides so to speak a woman whispers to hide as another crawls under the bed owen comes in dragging another woman's body and wraps her hands and feet in the doll's style the black figure menacingly watching over the offering it turns his attention to her and bolts at her and she somehow winds up back in the same room now seeing owen making out with someone she sees the figure there in the negative space the entire house starting to bellow and creak more aggressively than ever down a hall it starts to extend even longer and the door at the very end swings open beth is then suddenly mirrored in position with the other victim and is knocked to the ground getting dragged down the long hall along the way in various rooms she sees owen committing murders staring in horror at the blood on his hands she's let go and has presented a kind of fantasy slash memory of the couple during a christmas owen is sitting there on the couch tinderly stroking her hair this facsimile of owen grumbles you left the night we met she accuses him of not being owen uh yeah and he clarifies that he is not owen he is what she felt when her heart stopped no i felt she starts and owen interrupts nothing asking if she remembers you saw me and i've been with you ever since she asked what it did to her husband and the imposter fills her in that he whispered in his ears over and over asking for beth back owen grabs at her throat but stops himself and kisses her forehead with tears in his eyes he can't kill her like the entity is trying to convince him to do so that's why he sent the others instead her realizing that her husband's work with the house and impostors did trick him for a while but not anymore so yeah this scene is a lot again and gives us a bit to chew on so basically this entity that's been haunting beth isn't owen as she suspected but is actually a kind of incarnation of death as she saw nothing when she was passed for that couple of minutes we know she briefly died and there was nothing there according to what she experienced since death felt kind of cheated in a way it's been after her ever since so it used owen as a way to get to beth and finally get what he wanted but owen couldn't do it and figured out all that stuff to trick it as long as he possibly could inevitably he couldn't hold it off for forever but hope that his death would put a final into things and now his note takes on that extra context nothing is after you nothing itself you know what i mean not a sign of safety but nothing more or less death itself wants her back for good she wakes up on the couch back at the regular house but the figure is still watching she gets to her feet but it tells her not to fight and pulls her arms back beth keeps struggling against the invisible force but is overpowered and starts choking the light changes to red indicating she's back in the night house she's lifted in the air her body bent back like the doll beth groaning in pain in the sky the regular and red moon hang together in union as though we are in between both worlds or they are currently existing together no doors between them at the moment beth's eyes start fluttering and she passes out in the morning claire visits the house and finds a place in quite a state liquor bottles turn around and a shattered bathroom mirror she screams for beth outside which mel hears for bath the two moons still linger in the sky her now out on owen's boat and obviously at the sight of his death he places a note on the shirt and grabs the gun she asks where he is and he responds gone but chuckles that she already knew that claire finds that the gun has been taken out of the evidence bag and then sees beth out the window in our world slumped out in the boat the phone callously taunts her you thought he could protect you but he was wrong and see that it's actually her holding the gun mel and claire come outside yelling at her the environment flipping between the night world and real world the voice reassures her as she thought there is nothing there is only me she starts turning the gun on herself the voice pleading for her to come back to me fortunately claire's voice breaks through the fog and the entity clues that it doesn't matter let go she turns the gun away and opens her eyes now fully back in the real world floating liciously and alone claire swims out to the boat and guides beth back to the dock mel asks if she's okay but there are no answers only questions they don't know what happened at least beth is finally present claire asking if she's here and she pants that she is claire takes her in her arms warmly promising that she'll always be here for her beth stares intently into the water and mel tries to make out anything but only sees nothing he says i know she resolutely responds making out a black figure there amongst the waves so the ending like much of the movie tows that line of uncertainty is this all in beth's mind brought on by her grief or did she stumble across this secret truth about her killer husband and a supernatural entity that wants her dead as i mentioned at the beginning it really does kind of work both ways if we look at it from the supernatural interpretation of things then all of owen's work and motivations did succeed at least for a while there was the nothing entity after beth for years and it's only thanks to his use of trickery and false sacrifices that he was able to protect her from dying again this is the spirit she sees throughout her story not her husband as she increasingly suspected and the nighthouse is really another realm of reality of sorts a mirror of our own world which it seems like is where this entity along with all of owen's victims reside in the climax the nothing was finally able to get beth and get one final attempt to bring her into his realm of death it appears to convince her that there is no reason to live anymore and so she should just take her own life it's thanks to claire's efforts that she snaps out of it and is saved from this tragic outcome yet as we see in the waves she didn't destroy the nothing is still out there and will always want her back at least she knows better now maybe if she moves that'll keep it for coming we don't really have any idea whatsoever regardless here we take things as more or less being face value but rather than it being something like it all in her head or whatever that's perhaps too simple for the other interpretation it's really a more symbolic situation with things representing her struggling with losing her husband and finally going through the painful journey of grief and the understanding that he has gone for good but nothing in this case still represents death but is also a kind of stand-in for her husband too the shadows and creaks are all signs of what claire try to point out to her you've lived with the guy for 14 years there's going to be some kind of feeling of him left behind even if he is still gone the spirit represents that lingering presence of him in the house especially as he built the whole thing from scratch apparently single-handedly as for the curious design of the house with its cadrya labyrinth layout this becomes a metaphor for best current mental state she's clearly struggling throughout and it only gets worse but that's more about her actually having to face down the nightmare of owen being gone this is actually terrifying for her to do so we see that represented in her increasingly fragile mental state as for all the occult serial killer stuff it again ties back to what her friend told her there is no use digging into his past as he isn't here to defend himself anymore so that's another struggle for beth that question of what if there is something i don't know about him well now i never will and that's what kind of pushes her towards all that weird murder stuff in the story something so unlikely and terrible that she has to confront herself with that idea what would she do she also has to accept the idea she will never have all the answers and the night house kind of represents all that horror of the unknown and again having to come to terms with her grief that leads to their final conversation back on the boat coming face to face with owen in some form she finally is accepting that he is gone for good but also of extreme importance she recognizes that she still has people that care about her in her life and that is something of value too as it's claire and mal there to literally lend a hand there in the end kind of bringing her back from that aforementioned dark path after a lot of pain and inter-reflection beth after all this has finally started making her way successfully through this difficult process so like i said it kind of works both ways and obviously the character journey interpretation is the most important well that about wraps it up for this explained video on the nighthouse and 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 the nighthouse and its ending what is your interpretation of what it all meant let me know your thoughts down in the comments below 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Channel: FoundFlix

Views: 1,541,675

Keywords: the night house, night house ending explained, ending explained, ending, explained, explanation, meaning, backstory, trailer, clip, final scene, end scene, review, spoiler, rebecca hall, caerdroia, night house, foundflix ending explained, foundflix

Id: FcBjoWhraic

Length: 30min 22sec (1822 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 14 2021