Malevolent: Ending Explained Review | Netflix Original Film

Malevolent is a 2018 Netflix Original Horror Movie. The film follows a group of charlatan psychics that find themselves on the wrong side of a paranormal investigation.

There is a lot to unpack from the film’s ending and throughout this video, I’ll be discussing the plot of Malevolent in full detail. There will be heavy spoilers so make sure you stop this video now if you want to go into the film with fresh eyes.

With that out the way, I’m Deffinition and I ruin the movie so you don’t have to.

Plot Synopsis

Set in 1986, the film follows a group of paranormal investigators that make a living from faking exorcisms and psychic occurrences. Lead by brother and sister duo Jackson and Angela, the group are persuaded to take a job outside of their comfort zone when Jackson gets in over his head with the wrong crowd and owes debts.

Traveling to a house far in the countryside where several murders and strange occurrences have taken place, the group soon discover that the location is actually haunted and the midsection of the movie is made up of them attempting to get to the bottom of the mystery that surrounds the estate.

Overseen by the enigmatic, Mrs. Green, the house becomes a character itself and throws a range of spectres and spirits the group’s way that paint out its rich and troubled history.

Whilst the group begin by faking their exorcisms, as the movie progresses Angela and Jackson discover that they are in fact psychic. These abilities have been passed on from their Grandmother and Mother and allow them to see visions of the spirits that inhabit the house. When traversing the house Angela sees visions of young girls with their mouths sewn shut and during a run with cameraman, Elliot, discovers a hidden room where the girls were kept and tortured.

After this event, Mrs. Green confronts Jackson and calls him out for being a psychic scammer. She also divulges that her son was the one who murdered the girls and that she found the act of sewing their mouths shut relatable as they were little monsters that wouldn’t be quiet.

Jackson immediately calls off the cleansing and attempts to leave, however, when his girlfriend, Beth, goes missing he calls for one final search of the house so that no one is left behind. Jackson finds Beth with her mouth sewn shut and the group attempt to leave in their car. Unfortunately, Jackson crashes it when he believes he sees a girl standing in the middle of the road. Beth is killed and Jackson is taken back to the house by Mrs. Green’s son.

With Elliot out of action, Angela returns to the mansion to get her brother back. With the help of the spirits of the young girls, she is able to track Jackson down. Angela is captured and wakes up to find herself bound to a chair. Jackson has been tortured by Mrs. Green and her son and has had his tongue cut out and mouth sewn together. It’s a horrifying scene to watch that really elevates this movie above your typical Netflix horror.

Elliot wakes up and returns to the house where he manages to kill Mrs. Green’s son before being brutally attacked by Mrs. Green herself. Angela, helpless to aid him, calls out to the spirits to help her friend and they scream out which gives Angela enough time to free herself and stab Mrs. Green, killing her once and for all.

Angela leaves the grounds to find Jackson walking along unharmed and looking for Beth. It’s at this point that we realise he has sadly passed away and is now a ghost. A passing car stops to help Angela and the film ends with Angela in hospital with Elliot who is on the road to recovery. We see Angela in the final scene on the phone to her Grandfather who says she can’t be alone at this point and Angela triumphantly states that she’s not alone as a comforting shadow passes over her. It’s never confirmed who this is but personally, I believe that it is Jackson who has returned as the two were twins.

Ending Explained

Whilst we never get the full reasoning of why Mrs. Green committed the acts, she hints at them disobeying her when all she tried to do was mother them. Because of this she sewed their mouths up and left them to starve. Mrs. Green is horrified when the group enters the east wing of the house as she knows that there is a high probability that they will discover the secret room where the murders took place.

Mrs. Green talks about the wolves at her door which is a clear allusion to the fact that the press hounded her son. Clearly, she made him take the fall and is very domineering. There’s a clear sign that she is passing on the qualities of her mother who abused her as a child.

It’s clear that the events are karmic to the group as they prayed on the weak and vulnerable for profit much in the same way that Mrs. Green prayed on the weak and defenseless. There is a clear collusion between the insanity of the mother Mrs. Green and the insanity of Jackson and Angela’s mother who took her own life after being unable to handle the visions. This is a film about how committing wicked acts leaves us to be haunted by them and the film definitely has a lot going on beneath the surface.