‘The Twin’ Ending Explained: Does Elliot survive?

The Twin Plot Synopsis

The Twin, a new psychological horror film streaming on Shudder, tells the story of Rachel, Anthony, and their young son Elliot, who move to a small Finnish town to begin life anew after Elliot’s twin brother Nathan is killed in a car accident. Unfortunately, life doesn’t get any easier for this grieving family. As soon as they arrive at their new home, weird things start to happen and for Rachel and co, there is the possibility of more tragedies to come.


Are the family coping with their grief?

Anthony seems to be holding things together but Rachel is clearly very fragile. As she has dark dreams about Nathan and his funeral, it is clear that all is not right within her head.

Still, it’s Elliot who seems to be struggling the most as he is worried that his parents have stopped loving him after the tragedy. He also begins to exhibit some very strange behaviours that could be attributed to his grief. He wants Rachel to move a second bed into his room, for example, as he wants it to be used by Nathan. He also starts speaking to his dead brother when playing games.

Anthony thinks the move to the town is a good thing for them all, however, and hopes that it will be a place for healing. Sadly, life gets worse shortly after they arrive.


Do the family enjoy their new town?

Anthony settles in well, which is unsurprising as this was the place where he was brought up. Rachel has less of an easy time with things. When the family attend a party, she gets to meet some of her neighbours, and they are from welcoming. The only person that is friendly toward her is Helen, an elderly lady who tells Rachel that she is an outsider too.

Unfortunately, Helen has other things to tell Rachel and none of it bodes well. After having dreams about Elliot, Helen gives Rachel a word of warning about her son and the terrible impact the town may have on him. Helen could easily be dismissed as a crackpot but it’s not long before Rachel starts to believe what she is saying.


What happens to Elliot?

It’s hard to say but after he makes a wish on a wishing stone, his behaviour starts to spiral downward. He becomes outwardly hostile to his mother, draws pictures of his family burning to death, and starts to believe that he is Nathan, and not Elliot.

Rachel takes Elliot to see a doctor but he is no use. He tells Rachel that Elliot is mirroring her fears but she knows that there is more going on than this. Things get worse when she almost chokes on a drink that contains something Elliot may have put inside it.

“You don’t want to hurt mommy, do you?” she asks her son.

Chances are, he does!


Has Elliot been possessed by Nathan?

Not according to Helen. She suggests an incubus has possessed Elliot and not his dead brother. This is concerning enough but when Helen tells Rachel about the town and its pagan nature, it becomes clear that the townsfolk are as much a threat to Elliot as the incubus is.


Surely Helen is just the town crackpot, right?

It’s hard to say at this point but lots of weird things start to happen. Not only does Elliot’s behaviour start to get worse but his image disappears after Rachel takes photos of him. Her husband then tells her that she is very sick and that the odd things she thinks are happening are just in her head.

Later on, Elliot disappears from the home and her husband arrives with the other townsfolk. They gather around Rachel and try to inject her with some kind of strange fluid. She loses consciousness but when she awakes, everything is normal again. Elliot and Anthony are playing in the kitchen and treat her kindly. Was she dreaming? It would appear not as she still has needle pains in her body.

She flees to Helen and asks for her help. Once again, the old woman is full of doom and gloom. She tells Rachel that Anthony sacrificed Nathan to the devil and that the car accident was part of some satanic plan. Not content with taking Nathan, the devil now wants Elliot and, according to Helen, is already part of his consciousness.


Is Helen telling the truth?

As unlikely as it all seems, Helen does seem to be telling the truth. Shortly after Rachel visits her, Elliot is abducted, placed in a coffin, and killed by one of the townsfolk wearing a white robe. Rachel witnesses all of this before being overcome by the chanting people around her. They smear her with Elliot’s blood and feed some of it to her. Her belly then starts to grow as if a child has taken root inside her.

Thankfully this is all a dream – phew – but the next day, it starts to spill over into reality. Rachel wakes up, only to discover her bedroom door has been barricaded shut. She escapes, looks for Elliot and finds him locked inside a casket. She frees him and they run into the woods behind their property only to come face to face with Anthony and the other townsfolk. Do they want to sacrifice Elliot?


Does Elliot survive?

Well…no!

It turns out that Elliot didn’t even exist. According to Anthony, Rachel invented him after the death of Nathan so he only existed in her imagination. Therefore, there was no possession by any incubus and no attempt at sacrifice by the townsfolk.

As Rachel suddenly finds herself alone with her husband, with no Elliot or any other people in sight, it becomes clear that everything she had been experiencing was an illusion. Presumably, Helen didn’t exist either or if she did, it’s likely that she was the town crackpot after all!


Does Rachel get better?

Sadly, no. After we see her smash her husband’s head in with a rock, we are given a glimpse of her future. We see Rachel standing at the graveside of Nathan and Anthony before getting into her car. She appears to be sane but it’s clear that this isn’t the case when her husband appears next to her and Nathan and Elliot appear in the back seat. It’s obvious that her delusions have gotten worse!

Thankfully, Helen doesn’t pop up with yet another story of demons and sacrifices to explain away what is happening!

 

Read More: The Twin Movie Review


Thanks for reading our Ending Explained article! What did you think of the ending? Have we missed anything? Did you predict the ending? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!


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11 thoughts on “‘The Twin’ Ending Explained: Does Elliot survive?”

  1. Perhaps Helen never existed and the idea of her was pushed by her husband to make Rachel believe she was still happy and normal. Maybe everyone was staring at Rachel and Helen talking in the beginning because Helen only exists in Rachel’s head

  2. I think that was one of the plot holes from the movie. On closer inspection, it didn’t make a lot of sense.

  3. Just one problem, if Elliot never existed, how come Helen came in the party and told her I had a dream about you, your son made a wish. Technical error !!!! Son doesn’t exist how comes makes a wish further more how did Helen get to know and say. Assuming Helen is a crackpot she wouldn’t be able to assume / foresee such thing. So thumbs downs

  4. I give a 4/10 to the movie, just because of the wonderful landscapes.
    Absolutely predictable for someone like me that has watched hundreds of these kind of films.

  5. As I can recall, Elliot never existed and there wasn’t a twin. She created Elliot in her mind to make up for the loss of Nathan who died in the car accident.

  6. If they had a twin and one died in the accident but Elliot doesn’t exit than where was the other twin ??

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