The Ending Of At The End Of Eight Explained
From "Straw Dogs" and "Funny Games" to "Panic Room" and "Them," there's something deeply unsettling about home invasion movies. Home, after all, is the one place we're meant to feel safe and secure; the thought of having dangerous people break into that bubble and threaten the lives of ourselves and those we love taps into a primal fear.
For better or worse, it's something everyone can relate to, and director Rankin Dean harnesses it to great effect with 2019's "At The End of Eight," albeit, with a twist. When three people break into a stranger's house as part of a social media game, the trespassers are the ones who become trapped; now, it's game on for the home's disturbed occupants, who relish the thrill of a hunt on their home turf.
It certainly isn't for all tastes — but considering this is a student-produced film, reportedly made for a few thousand dollars, it's a significant achievement that lacks in professionalism what it makes up in enthusiasm. Martin Scorsese said in a recent interview with GQ that when it comes to Hollywood, filmmakers need to "Go reinvent. Don't complain about it." That's what the team behind "End of Eight," has attempted here, and the result is a frantic, furious one hour and 16 minutes that is well worth the time of any genre fan. It all wraps up with a startling, thought-provoking ending, one that warrants deeper investigation.
The plot thus far
Darian (Corban Gililland), Allison (Alex Nichols), and Will (Jeremiah Taylor) are three strangers who volunteer to play "At The End Of Eight." An illegal game, it requires a trio of people to break into someone's house and hide inside for eight hours. Go undetected for the duration of this time, and you get a cash prize.
At first, all seems to be going to plan. There appears to be at least two male occupants in the house, as well as a possible female (later revealed to be an alter ego of one of the men). After settling down to hide for the night, Darian, the only one in the game who has played before, fixes himself a peanut butter sandwich and a whiskey. It turns out to be his last meal; he is subsequently stabbed to death by the house's resident psychopath, Brian "Macbeth" Michaels (Andrew Gililland).
After witnessing Darian butchered, Allison and Will frantically attempt to leave the house — but all locks have been bolted tight. The other two occupants turn the tables, as Allison and Will realize they are trapped by a psychotic murderer and vengeful cop, Pete (Rankin Dean), who has arranged with the game's organizers for the contestants to break into the house of a known killer, all so he can get revenge for the death of his four-year-old son, accidentally killed in a previous game.
In a moment of clarity, Pete sees the wrong in what he is doing, and Brian shoots him. Brian is then knocked out by Will, who flees alongside Allison.
What happens at the end of the film
Allison and Will survive the house of horrors, only to be approached by a mysterious man in the garden wearing a balaclava mask. One of the organizers of the game, he throws them a bag of money and congratulates them on winning. "Here is your prize, as promised," he says, pulling out a gun. "Unfortunately, this game didn't go as planned. You weren't supposed to survive." He shoots Allison without another word.
Will pleads, saying they didn't break any rules. "It's not about the rules. Not this time," the game master replies. "Rules can be changed. For the first time, the homeowners came to us wanting to host the game." In exchange, he explains that Pete ensured police would never get too close to the organizers, and the games would never end.
Before the game master can pull the trigger, Pete — who as it turns out wasn't killed by Brian after all — appears out of nowhere and hits the game master over the head. Pete is then shot by the game master, but before he dies he flashes back to a time when his son was still alive, and he pushes the game master into a shallow grave Brian had dug earlier. Will says, "I'll see you at the end of eight," before kicking a wheelbarrow of dirt over him.
What the ending of At The End Of Eight means
The final moments of "At The End Of Eight" appear to suggest that in an age governed by the faceless, indifferent dictates of social media, human life is secondary to vicarious entertainment. Darian, Allison, and Will are all set up by the organizers of the game and lured to their deaths, simply so the game can continue without any future investigations by the authorities.
It's a reminder of how real life viral trends and pranks started on social media can have gravely serious consequences ... and perhaps where all this is going. Pete the cop wouldn't have been hellbent on revenge if the game hadn't taken the life of his child; as a result, he plays into the hands of the organizers by offering them a quid pro quo.
None of the three — not even Darian, who has played the game twice before — know what they're getting into. When Brian appears, wielding a huge carving knife with peanut butter on it, it all becomes painfully clear that this is no game, but a nightmare without rules. When Brian halts his killing spree to consider launching a YouTube beauty channel in partnership with Will, this critique of social media usurping reality is underlined.
Another possible explanation for the ending
The depiction of Brian's alter-ego, Lady Macbeth, can sometimes come across as heavy-handed. But a scene towards the end suggests the film could be interpreted differently, as a commentary on how the suppression of someone's true identity (by peer pressure, family or social media) can lead to some pretty dark places.
In desperation, Will tries to stop Brian from strangling Allison to death by dressing up in some of Brian's feminine clothes. "Excuse me, dear," he says. "I hope you don't mind. I couldn't resist trying it on." In this scene, a switch appears to have been flicked in Brian's brain. He's at first confused, then appeased and even attracted by Will's new look. Will says he always wanted to look and feel pretty, but didn't have the courage; Brian is quick to reassure Will he doesn't look ridiculous, but pretty, and no one should tell him otherwise.
Ultimately, Brian fails to see through Will's ruse; being supportive of someone else's true self becomes paramount. He says, "you've taken the first step. You've found your true beauty and you want to show it." Naturally, it's a statement on gender identity; the scene posits that hiding behind false personas can create very real monsters, and it's all made more impactful by the overall film premise of people hiding in plain sight. With the At The End Of Eight game, a capitalist society rewards those who walk the line of accepted conventions.
Was Brian's Lady Macbeth alter ego influenced by Norman Bates?
Brian only makes a few appearances as his alter-ego Lady Macbeth in the film, and they're usually off-camera. It's never revealed if Macbeth is the woman he aspires to be or his dead mother. Pete tells Will and Allison that Brian has killed more than one person, and the audience knows one is the jogger at the beginning; there's a suggestion another was his overbearing mother.
Further evidence emerges when Brian is dressed as a woman and talking to an unconscious Pete, referring to himself in the third person. "It's nice of you to let him kill again," he says chillingly. "He's thankful for that even if he doesn't show it. He'll make it up to you. He knows this house better than anyone. He'll get them for you."
The scene is evocative of Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchock's 1960 classic "Psycho." Alongside the "Purge" franchise and "Don't Breathe," it seems to be a big influence on "At The End Of Eight."
In "Psycho," Bates kills his mother in a rage, mummifies her corpse, and keeps her alive by reinventing her as an alter-ego who eventually takes control of his mind. There's a lot of that in Lady Macbeth. Brian tellingly says his mother branded him a "freak," perhaps the root cause of his love/hate relationship with women.
What's the significance of the jogger at the start of the movie?
"At The End Of Eight" opens with an attention-grabbing scene where an anonymous jogger is running through the streets at some deserted hour and is suddenly chased by a masked man with a sledgehammer. Catching up with the lady on some abandoned road, he kills her with a blow to the head.
As opening scenes go, it leaves a lasting impression. It also seems removed from the rest of the film, until it is explained that the jogger was one of Brian's victims. He keeps a mannequin, in a twisted tribute to her, and just before killing Darian he points to where she's buried in the backyard and then indicates the spot where he'll bury him.
The true significance of the jogger, however, is in the role of unsuspecting victim. As she runs through the streets, listening to her headphones, the jogger has no idea a masked maniac with a murder weapon is hot on her heels. Her obliviousness to the dangers lurking at close hand is perhaps a metaphor, commenting on how social media and viral games can lull participants into a false sense of security — by the time the killer blow is delivered, it's too late to regret that lack of awareness.
Is Pete's struggle the real story?
If it wasn't for Pete getting in contact with the organizers of the game, hooking up with a killer in a bid to exact his revenge, there would be no story. His loss and pain are the driving force behind the events of the film. In his guilt and twisted desire for retribution, he loses his moral compass. But when Allison and Will discover that Pete's son was accidentally killed, and that's why he lured them into a known killer's house to exact his revenge, they offer him a shot at redemption.
On the verge of being butchered, Will asks Pete, "Is this what your son would have wanted? Would this make him proud of you?" A remorseful Pete has second thoughts and finally sees the error of his ways.
The movie opens with an excerpt from PSALM 57:1-3 that seems to be commenting on Pete's plight: "I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. I cry out to God most high, to God, who vindicated me. He sends from Heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me." Pete's final act before he's killed is to save Will and Allison from the game master, which is enough for him to seemingly go to his grave with some measure of peace.
What Rankin Dean said about At The End Of Eight
In 2019, director Rankin Dean published a YouTube video explaining how "At The End Of Eight" came to be. He cited 2016's "Don't Breathe" as an influence, because when he saw it he thought "I could make a movie like that."
"You don't need professionals to make a film," he explains, nevertheless dubbing it the hardest thing he's ever done. Dean's two best friends came on board as producers, and another scored the soundtrack. He stresses the whole project was only possible because of his experiences as an indy filmmaker.
That same year, Dean told The Optimist that with the cast and crew juggling their student commitments with making a movie, filming was complicated. "A few people backed out of crew positions due to scheduling conflicts and creative differences, so we were a very small team," he said. "We never had more than five crew members on set."
Despite such difficulties, Dean and his team finished the film, capping it off with an ending that never fails to trigger debate. "If someone were to ask me how this all came together," he says, I would probably laugh ... I still don't know how we managed to do it."