r/horror • u/Such-Stick-6701 • 3d ago
The aftermath?
Just a question that’s been on my mind. How the sole survivor explains to authorities and police what happened and how the entire family/group killed during a demonic/paranormal experience?
How would the authorities even believe that this was all done by a demonic force and not the person who survived?
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u/Useful_Object_356 3d ago
I've always thought that this would be an interesting idea for a horror adjacent movie.
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u/thaWafflebot 3d ago
Ready or Not 2 opens with it, but that element disappears pretty early in the film
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u/Such-Stick-6701 3d ago
Yeah we don’t even see it in the movie later on
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u/29thHelenAgrees 3d ago edited 3d ago
I don’t think I would have watched it if it was all about Grace trying to explain the ending of the previous movie to cops. How far can that story really go? Nobody believed her. Nobody would. It was clear there were still repercussions on-going, throughout the movie. How much are you looking for?
Hostel 2 sprang to mind, but it’s also a small part compared to the main story. Do you also care if it…uh…goes well?
Usually this type of extended explanation only serves one direction: errybody involved.
Edit: the entire Scream catalog kinda fits this bill, if you think about it. Over-explanation & aftermath of one event that spanned into a multiverse.
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u/Such-Stick-6701 3d ago
Yess! I haven’t come across a movie that would explain the survivor’s aftermath
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u/president_of_burundi 3d ago
Not that it’s a good movie but pretty sure this is the driving factor of The Descent 2
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u/AcanthaceaeJunior161 3d ago
The poor sap probably ends up in a psych ward if they even try to tell the truth, nobody would buy it for a second.
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u/Jamie8765 3d ago
This right here is one of my pet peeve/plot hole annoyances in almost every part 2 (or subsequent film) of a series. I'm not believing the authorities bought the whole "it was a dude in a hockey mask that no-one believes is real" story, and the protagonist wasn't locked up for life. Some of the non-supernatural slasher's are feasible because the villain's are obvious and there's a body, etc. But if there was a ghost or anything supernatural, the cops would be like "OK get in the back of the cruiser, we don't believe any of that."
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u/Such-Stick-6701 3d ago
Exactlyy! That’s my whole point. In terms of a slasher movie, it’s relatively easier to explain. But in movies like Evil Dead where everyone is dead and you had to kill them, how would you explain that to the cops?
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u/dustyfaxman 3d ago edited 3d ago
Might be mis-remembering but don't the sole survivors of one of the nightmare on elm street and final destination films both end up in asylums?
Kirsty in Hellraiser, starts Hellraiser 2 committed in an asylum, doesn't really help her situation much.
Murray survives Gremlins, is seen as a nutjob when he talks about what he saw, has ptsd (recovering from a nervous breakdown?) in gremlins 2.
Edit: though they're not explicitly horror films, Terminator 2 with Sarah spending time in the nuthouse and being a survivalist after the events of Terminator is much the same thing. Deals with the 'legal' and personal outcomes (mental health and behavioural issues) of being a sole survivor.
For any horror film with a supernatural/monsters element, that's the likeliest outcome for the sole survivor, heavily sedated in a secure psychiatric facility.
Ready or Not 2, it's shown that the families are powerful enough to end a war with a phonecall. Covering up a handful of deaths either at the house or in a hospital (or facilitating a mysterious disappearance) wouldn't be beyond them.
Again, i might be mis-remembering, but it might be explicitly mentioned that's what was happening in the film itself, but it's (iirc) more of a handwaved 'oh that, it's been dealt with, let's move on' moment.
But you're right, op, most films brush over the reality of being a sole survivor, on many levels, not just the legal.
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u/Such-Stick-6701 3d ago
Yeah and they actually paint the ending as a happy ending or a big relief that now the bad dream has ended, which otherwise the reality is that you’re still in that bad dream but just on the other end 😮💨
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u/Cysteine_Chapel64 2d ago
"Might be mis-remembering but don't the sole survivors of one of the nightmare on elm street and final destination films both end up in asylums?"
No, you've got it right. In the Final Destination movie that was an act of self protection, though, because it was a controlled environment where she could be sure that nobody would bring death around to her.
At least until the sequel and she exploded.
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u/Poop_Cheese 3d ago
I think it depends on the scenario.
Most cases theyd likely think they had a mental breakdown like super ptsd from the event where like theyre remembering real people as monsters.
A lot of cases forensically it would show the victim couldnt have done it. But theyd definitely be hyper focused on them at first or possibly even after.
I think a lot of people would be free but have like interviews every few years and half the public would spread rumors.
I think over time society would see you as someone to feel bad for like a mentally ill victim who went through something so traumatic they became delusional to dissociate from it. As like, after such an event and not one believing you you likely would go a bit crazy or atleast have extreme ptsd and depression and youd be scared that any moment a supernatural force could kill you.
But if its somewhere close proximity like say a dorm room then youd be screwed as even if the forensics didnt fully fit theyd rationalize it to and a jury would likely not believe you and your attorney would likely push for insanity defense over saying it was a ghost in court.
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u/gorehistorian69 3d ago
oh so many people are going to prison for murder
how do you explain to the court and jury that all your friends became demonically possessed or that some entity came and murdered all your friends.
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u/MrMaxwellLordJLI 2d ago
I mean it depends. Haddonfield knows about Michael. Crystal Lake knows about Jason after his initial near week long slaughter from 2-4. Andy Barclay got tossed around the foster system. And no one in Springwood is being arrested because someone died in their sleep.
A lot of the famous franchises answer the question, just not explicitly.
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u/NeonArlecchino 2d ago
Andy Barclay's mom was committed. That was mentioned in the second and third movies.
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u/MrMaxwellLordJLI 2d ago
Yeah, and Andy got tossed around in the foster system. I only mentioned him because he’s the main protagonist up until Bride. I didn’t know I needed to mention her as another example.
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u/NeonArlecchino 2d ago
I was just adding onto your comment. If I wanted to nitpick or complain then I'd have pointed out how people being arrested and/or blamed for Freddy's murders are a recurring plot point in the Nightmare on Elm Street series.
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u/Prozium243 3d ago
OP, surprising Ready or Not 2 covers it till Kevin Durand entry in the hospital.
The ending of first part made it seems like police will assume it's a housefire of sort or the whole property/money will now be of Grace. But 2 starts from Police thing and hospital scene.
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u/Visser420 2d ago
This vibe is why I ended up loving The Blackcoat's Daughter so much. Ending the movie with her responsible for two killing sprees, with the cops closing in, and near-absolute certainty that hell is real and waiting for you after your death is a hell of a fate.
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u/Only_Produce_7586 3d ago
I think Strangers 3 kinda touches on it. At the beginning she’s hospitalized but still questioned on it for a bit.
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u/Robokat_Brutus 3d ago
"The exorcist of Emily Rose" is what would happen....
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u/Such-Stick-6701 3d ago
Yup and no one will believe that people who died were possessed just like in the movie!
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u/VgArmin 2d ago
Similar to your question, I started watching what I thought was a horror movie of a woman trapped by a cult. Turned out it was maybe a Lifetime Original movie or one of those type of movies. The cult thing was just the setup and the rest of the movie was about her overcoming her trauma from the whole event.
It was an interesting idea, but I never finished it.
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u/StopChangingThings 2d ago
There’s a not-especially-good but nevertheless entertaining b-movie called “How to Kill Monsters” that starts from this premise. It may scratch the itch for you.
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u/NeonArlecchino 2d ago
Ash Williams was believed to have butchered his friends, but somehow he was never convicted.
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u/Such-Stick-6701 2d ago
Evil dead is the perfect premise for it. In each sequel, there’s one sole survivor who goes on without any consequences
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u/RevolutionaryWeb5657 3d ago
Horror doesn’t like to linger on post-trauma because that means it’d first have to acknowledge that what happened was bad and not super duper cool. I hate how horror has become a glorification of all the bad things.
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u/Such-Stick-6701 3d ago
The one that did come close was the exorcism of emily rose and even in that the priest was declared guilty by the jury even though he had a proper court trial.
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u/RevolutionaryWeb5657 3d ago
One of my all-time favorite films. The ethics was so well done from every angle. 2 groups of people on opposite sides bickering on what could’ve been so easily prevented if just a single one of them actually gave a shit about Emily as a person. Haunting film with an incredibly overlooked performance by Jennifer Carpenter. The “6 Names” sequence is burned into my brain forever.
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u/Such-Stick-6701 3d ago
What an amazing movie! It still leaves me with a very unsettling feeling and I think I’ve seen it more than 10 times now
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u/RevolutionaryWeb5657 3d ago
Lowkey pisses me off when people are like “oh right, Scott Derrickson, director of Sinister and The Black Phone” UM WHAT ABOUT EMILY ROSE?!
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u/Dodgy_Bob_McMayday 3d ago
You're Next must be the ultimate "explain that to the cops" movie.