I've really been non-stop thinking about this film since I saw it. To my luck the official discussion on Reddit must have just closed, there's posts less than a month old! Anyways I kind of wanted to address many of those posts from my take on the movie for discussing. Obviously spoilers abound freely.
One of the biggest complaints that comes up is the ending, which seemingly came out of nowhere. This is how I felt until my last viewing, though I liked the Phantom imagery whether it made sense or not. But honestly I think the ending fits perfectly. For example, another complaint is that the twist isn't even that twisty, as it's obvious the director is the Barron. This is upsetting if you went in like me expecting another Shutter Island, but in reality this is very much a movie in the vein of Dracula and Phantom of the Opera. Ask yourself, was there ever a time you thought Dracula or the Phantom were supposed to be heroes? Even Gerard Butler's romantic, attractive movie phantom was always known to be a negative presence in the tale, and that's how the Barron is treated here.
I originally agreed that the movie seemed to shift from a Shutter Island to a Phantom of the Opera, but I now think it was an old school horror from the start, as well as possibly the best Lovecraft movie ever. In fact, a user in the official discussion, /u/KentContrereas , came up with probably the best theory I've seen on the movie. I will link to this at the end. Basically the eels are not mindless animals, they are a deity or a force of nature, something with goal driven intelligence. It explains how the Barron could count on Lockhart's car accident - the eels were controlling the animal like what would have happened to the poor cow. The patients attack Lockhart like zombies because they are controlled by the eels and protecting their vessels from leaving. They work with the Barron because he provides them bodies. And Lockhart wasn't force fed eels simply for the shock, it makes perfect sense if the amount of eels is related to the level of control. He wasn't drinking as much water or going in the pools, they had to speed up the process before he got away.
Anyways, let the man speak for himself, he's a genius! Official Discussion: A Cure for Wellness [SPOILERS] • r/movies
Moving on from this, were the eels a hallucination? I don't think they were in any situation, absolutely none. They were in the isolation tank, they were in the cow, they were under the skin, and they were even in the toilet. Remember, these aren't dumb animals, but possibly highly intelligent and organized. It seems their simple presence in water has an effect on people as well, which is why they enter the isolation chamber. The cow drank eel water and they grew in her, same as the people. And they were in the toilet because they were attempting to drive Lockhart insane at that point.
But if the have a deal with the Barron, why eat him? Well for one he was dead and therefore useless to them. Yet I think there was more to in than that. As discussed in the above theory, if the eels are intelligent and comparable to an entity of weird fiction, perhaps the eels simply came to realize Lockhart was superior to the Barron and would be their new main incarnation. This explains the evil ending grin better than Lockhart simply being happy/crazy. And yes, btw his teeth come back because they were fake teeth put in while Lockhart was under control of the eels. Since people can obviously still break through the eel control (the several false endings, Pembroke agreeing to return to New York randomly), they need to keep the patients looking healthy so they don't question what's happing to them.
And finally, what about the Barron's obsession with his bloodline? Honestly if you're familiar with certain European ideologies you're aware that blood purity was simply something people obsessed about, culminating in some of the attrocities committed last century. But with all the other crazy stuff happening, it seems like there must be more to the bloodline than that. Honestly I'm not sure, but I'm starting to think the Barron was somehow more closely related to the eels than is let on. I mean the entire cult treats him in the way you'd expect a pope, a king, perhaps even pharaoh. Plus it's entirely possible that the eels were using the Barron rather than the other way around, getting bodies to inhabit, a rich source of fresh food, and perhaps it was them trying to create a new bloodline. In fact, this could be why the eels treat Hannah with almost a type of reverence in the pool.
Anyways I'll cut this here, I thought the movie was above and beyond fantastic. The twist of the whole thing was precisely that it was played up like Shutter Island, but was actually a monster movie of sci-fi immortality and Lovecraftian gods.
One of the biggest complaints that comes up is the ending, which seemingly came out of nowhere. This is how I felt until my last viewing, though I liked the Phantom imagery whether it made sense or not. But honestly I think the ending fits perfectly. For example, another complaint is that the twist isn't even that twisty, as it's obvious the director is the Barron. This is upsetting if you went in like me expecting another Shutter Island, but in reality this is very much a movie in the vein of Dracula and Phantom of the Opera. Ask yourself, was there ever a time you thought Dracula or the Phantom were supposed to be heroes? Even Gerard Butler's romantic, attractive movie phantom was always known to be a negative presence in the tale, and that's how the Barron is treated here.
I originally agreed that the movie seemed to shift from a Shutter Island to a Phantom of the Opera, but I now think it was an old school horror from the start, as well as possibly the best Lovecraft movie ever. In fact, a user in the official discussion, /u/KentContrereas , came up with probably the best theory I've seen on the movie. I will link to this at the end. Basically the eels are not mindless animals, they are a deity or a force of nature, something with goal driven intelligence. It explains how the Barron could count on Lockhart's car accident - the eels were controlling the animal like what would have happened to the poor cow. The patients attack Lockhart like zombies because they are controlled by the eels and protecting their vessels from leaving. They work with the Barron because he provides them bodies. And Lockhart wasn't force fed eels simply for the shock, it makes perfect sense if the amount of eels is related to the level of control. He wasn't drinking as much water or going in the pools, they had to speed up the process before he got away.
Anyways, let the man speak for himself, he's a genius! Official Discussion: A Cure for Wellness [SPOILERS] • r/movies
Moving on from this, were the eels a hallucination? I don't think they were in any situation, absolutely none. They were in the isolation tank, they were in the cow, they were under the skin, and they were even in the toilet. Remember, these aren't dumb animals, but possibly highly intelligent and organized. It seems their simple presence in water has an effect on people as well, which is why they enter the isolation chamber. The cow drank eel water and they grew in her, same as the people. And they were in the toilet because they were attempting to drive Lockhart insane at that point.
But if the have a deal with the Barron, why eat him? Well for one he was dead and therefore useless to them. Yet I think there was more to in than that. As discussed in the above theory, if the eels are intelligent and comparable to an entity of weird fiction, perhaps the eels simply came to realize Lockhart was superior to the Barron and would be their new main incarnation. This explains the evil ending grin better than Lockhart simply being happy/crazy. And yes, btw his teeth come back because they were fake teeth put in while Lockhart was under control of the eels. Since people can obviously still break through the eel control (the several false endings, Pembroke agreeing to return to New York randomly), they need to keep the patients looking healthy so they don't question what's happing to them.
And finally, what about the Barron's obsession with his bloodline? Honestly if you're familiar with certain European ideologies you're aware that blood purity was simply something people obsessed about, culminating in some of the attrocities committed last century. But with all the other crazy stuff happening, it seems like there must be more to the bloodline than that. Honestly I'm not sure, but I'm starting to think the Barron was somehow more closely related to the eels than is let on. I mean the entire cult treats him in the way you'd expect a pope, a king, perhaps even pharaoh. Plus it's entirely possible that the eels were using the Barron rather than the other way around, getting bodies to inhabit, a rich source of fresh food, and perhaps it was them trying to create a new bloodline. In fact, this could be why the eels treat Hannah with almost a type of reverence in the pool.
Anyways I'll cut this here, I thought the movie was above and beyond fantastic. The twist of the whole thing was precisely that it was played up like Shutter Island, but was actually a monster movie of sci-fi immortality and Lovecraftian gods.
