Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Outwaters.

The Outwaters is an other-worldly Lovecraftian horror movie made on a tiny budget, using “found footage” camerawork to tell its gruesome story. But what can we make of its brutal ending that has viewers talking?

Four friends (Robbie, Scott, Angela, and Michelle) go deep into the Mojave to film a music video. They set up camp, but after night falls things take a disturbing turn when the friends hear a loud, discordant sound coming nearer and nearer the camp.

The friends decide that it must have been nothing and continue filming their video the next day. But the ominous sound returns that night. Robbie investigates but is pounced on by an axe-wielding figure who strikes him on the head.

While the premise seems simple enough, the film eventually turns into a disorientating kaleidoscope of images and scenes. Robbie slips through time and space, at one point even coming face with a tentacle with a Lovecraftian cosmic horror.

How does The Outwaters end?

The film’s end sees Robbie back in the camp, only to find his friends decapitated with their heads displayed on pikes. Using an animal tooth, Robbie proceeds to mutilate and disembowel himself horribly. As he dies, the film comes to an end.

The Outwaters ending explained

There are no clear signposts as to what is really going on here, with viewers providing very mixed reactions.

With there being no clear answer as to what the ending truly means, there have been many theories.

On the surface, it seems the ending is Robbie somehow traveling between dimensions. Delving deeper, it is likely Robbie has descended into madness and is the one responsible for brutally murdering his friends.

His final, violent self-mutilation is theorized to be an attempt to properly atone for the guilt of his crime. But in a wider sense, the film might be dealing with the insignificance of humanity and poses some serious questions about the value of human life in an infinite cosmos.

It also seems to be touching on the idea that the group’s doom was inevitable from the beginning. This might be serving as a comment on fate and how there is more going on in the universe than we can even begin to understand.

Or maybe The Outwaters is just trying to appeal to art film critics by being as intentionally indecipherable as possible. No matter what the ending is actually supposed to mean, it got viewers talking. And, at the end of the day, isn’t that what art is all about?

If you found the whole thing interesting, then give the original “found footage” horror movie, The Blair Witch Project, a try.

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