The Ending Of The Seventh Day Explained
As far as horror movie tropes go, there are few that are more tried and true than exorcism. "The Exorcist" may be the most famous example of this kind of story, but there are countless others scattered across the history of Hollywood, although many of them aren't quite as good as that film.
"The Seventh Day" combines the premise of stories like "The Exorcist" with the classic dynamic between a teacher and their pupil. The film follows Father Peter (Guy Pearce), an experienced and skilled exorcist who teams up with Father Daniel (Vadhir Derbez) to perform an exorcism on a young boy named Charlie (Brady Jenness) who has murdered his entire family. The early part of the movie follows the two of them as they perform tests to determine if Charlie is truly possessed, with the bulk of the focus on how much Daniel still has to learn from his mentor.
The film hit Netflix in March of 2021, and subscribers have slowly discovered it on the platform in the months since it was originally released. As it's been discovered across the platform, viewers have been looking for ways to reckon with the ending of "The Seventh Day," which completely blows up the entire premise.
Father Peter was possessed the whole time
As Father Peter and Father Daniel proceed with the exorcism of Charlie, they take him to a police station, where he goes on a killing spree. Eventually, Peter and Daniel manage to escape with Charlie without being killed, but Peter leaves the performance of the exorcism to Daniel. Daniel eventually realizes that Peter is actually the one who's been possessed, and he begins to perform an exorcism on his mentor.
Peter fights back in retaliation, but Daniel then stabs Peter in the neck with a pectoral cross. This killing meshes with the opening scene of the film, which is set 25 years earlier, and features a young Peter witnessing the murder of his own mentor by a possessed boy in a similar fashion. After Peter is stabbed, the demon that was residing inside of him tries to possess Daniel, but Daniel is ultimately able to resist the possession and escape.
In the film's closing moments, the archbishop (Stephen Lang) gives Peter's case files to Daniel. These make it clear that Peter was actually possessed by a demon back in 1995. Since then, every priest who has worked under Peter has been possessed by a demon, creating a network of demonic priests that is now quite sizable. Daniel was the first priest who was able to resist this possession.
Father Daniel ends the movie with a mission
At the end of "The Seventh Day," Father Daniel realizes that his task is not done yet. He has to perform exorcisms on all the priests who are in Father Peter's network and have been possessed by his demon. This ending leaves room for a sequel to the movie, and depending on the success of the first film on Netflix, it's possible that one could come.
Regardless of whether a sequel eventually happens or not, though, the ending suggests that the battle against evil is never truly won. Daniel may have stopped Peter from spreading the network further, but all the priests who were possessed by his demon can still spread their evils on to other priests who may come under their mentorship.
The movie ultimately tells us that Daniel's battle against evil may never be over, even if he scores plenty of victories along the way. The devil never rests, and that's why Daniel can't either.