You’re probably here because the screen went black and you felt a sudden, sharp urge to throw your remote at the wall. It’s okay. That’s a pretty standard reaction to the John and the Hole ending.
Directed by Pascual Sisto and written by Nicolás Giacobone (who, notably, co-wrote Birdman), the film feels like a cold, clinical experiment. It doesn't give you the satisfaction of a traditional thriller. There’s no big police shootout. No tearful apology. No "why" that fits into a neat little box. Instead, we get a 13-year-old boy named John who decides to drug his parents and sister, drop them into an unfinished bunker in the woods, and then... just sort of goes about his day. He eats junk food. He drives the car. He invites a friend over to play a "game" of drowning each other in the pool.
And then, he lets them out.
The Reality of the John and the Hole Ending
When John finally decides to lower the ladder and let Anna, Brad, and Laurie out of that concrete pit, the movie shifts into a surreal, quiet territory that many viewers find harder to swallow than the kidnapping itself.
The family returns home. They bathe. They sit down for dinner. There is no screaming. There is no 911 call. They just sit there, eating in a silence so heavy it’s suffocating. John looks at them, and they look at—well, mostly away from—him. This isn't a "happy" resolution. It’s a terrifying look at a family dynamic so broken, or perhaps so desperate to maintain the facade of normalcy, that they choose to ignore the fact that their son tried to disappear them.
Honestly, the John and the Hole ending works because it refuses to explain John’s psychology. We want him to be a sociopath. We want him to have a "reason." But Sisto presents John more like a child playing with a magnifying glass over an ant hill. He’s curious about what happens when the "adult" world stops functioning. He isn't necessarily trying to kill them—he’s trying to see if he can exist without the boundaries they provide. When he realizes he can’t, or when the "game" simply loses its luster, he brings them back.
What’s Up With the Lily Subplot?
If you were confused by the cutaways to the little girl, Lily, and her mother, you aren't alone. This is the part that usually sends people to Reddit.
Throughout the movie, we see a parallel story of a mother telling her daughter, Lily, the "story" of John. At the very end, the mother tells Lily she is leaving and won't be back for a year. She leaves a pile of cash on the table and walks out. Lily is left alone in a massive, empty house, echoing John's isolation.
This meta-narrative suggests that the story of John is a fable or a cautionary tale within the world of the film. It highlights a theme of "parental abandonment," but in two different ways. John’s parents were physically present but emotionally distant or perhaps too "perfect" in a way that felt like a cage. Lily’s mother literally walks out. Both children are forced into a premature adulthood they aren't equipped for. The John and the Hole ending isn't just about John; it's about a generation of kids left to figure out the "rules" of life in a vacuum.
The "Game" and the Lack of Consequence
One of the most jarring things about the finale is the lack of traditional justice. We’ve been conditioned by Hollywood to expect a reckoning.
In real-life cases of parental abuse or child-on-parent crime, there is a paper trail. There are handcuffs. But John and the Hole is a fable. When John enters the dining room at the end, he is essentially re-entering the "social contract." The parents accept him back not because they love him unconditionally, but because acknowledging the truth is too much work. It would destroy the "perfection" of their upper-middle-class life.
Think about the pool scene earlier in the movie. John and his friend play a game to see how long they can hold their breath underwater. It’s a test of limits. The entire "hole" situation was just a larger version of that game. John wanted to see how long he could hold his family "underwater" before things turned fatal.
Why the Silence Matters
The dinner scene is the most important part of the John and the Hole ending. If they had yelled at him, the power dynamic would have shifted back to the parents. By staying silent, the power remains in this weird, stagnant middle ground.
- The Mother (Anna): She seems the most broken. Her silence is one of pure trauma.
- The Father (Brad): He tries to maintain a sense of "dad-ness," but it’s hollow.
- The Sister (Laurie): She is the most observant, likely the one who realizes that their life will never be the same, even if they pretend it is.
The film ends with John walking into the woods and standing still. He’s looking for the next thing. The "hole" is still there, literally and figuratively. He hasn't been "cured." He just finished one experiment and is waiting for the variables of the next one to appear.
Misconceptions About the Ending
Some people think John is a ghost or that the whole thing is a dream. While the film has a dreamlike, "slow cinema" quality, taking it literally is actually more disturbing.
There’s no evidence in the script or Sisto’s direction to suggest John isn't real. The horror comes from the mundane reality of it. He’s just a kid who had a weird idea and the means to execute it. The bunker wasn't a dungeon he built; it was an unfinished basement of a neighbor’s house. It was a crime of opportunity, not a mastermind plot.
Another common theory is that the parents died in the hole and John is imagining the final dinner. But the physical toll on the parents—their dirty clothes, their physical weakness—suggests they really are there. They are just choosing the path of least resistance: silence.
Actionable Insights for Viewers
If you’ve just finished the movie and are feeling unsettled, here is how to process what you just watched without losing your mind:
Reframe your expectations. Don't look at this as a "horror" movie or a "thriller." Look at it as a coming-of-age fable gone wrong. It’s more in line with the works of Michael Haneke (Funny Games) than it is with The Conjuring.
Watch the "Lily" scenes again. If you re-watch the movie, pay closer attention to the dialogue between Lily and her mom. It frames the entire movie as a story being told, which explains why some of the logic (like no one hearing the family scream) feels a bit "fairytale-ish."
Focus on the sound design. The silence in the John and the Hole ending is intentional. The film uses ambient noise and lack of music to make you feel as trapped as the parents were.
Research the source material. The film is based on a short story called El Pozo. Reading up on Nicolás Giacobone’s other work can help you understand his fascination with the "absurdity" of human behavior. He likes to put characters in impossible situations and then watch them do... nothing.
The ending doesn't give you a "win." It leaves you in the hole with the family, wondering if any of us really know the people we live with.
Observe the transition. Notice how John moves from childhood play to adult responsibility throughout the film. He tries to "be" his father—buying groceries, using the ATM, driving. The ending shows he failed at being an adult, but he also can no longer be a "child." He’s stuck in the middle, which is exactly where he stands in the final shot.