Vermin: how to interpret the ending of the French horror film?

Vermin: how to interpret the ending of the French horror film?



Parasitesa great French success

Parasites was the excellent surprise of the end of 2023. The French horror film is Sébastien Vaniček’s first feature film and a real success. However, on paper, do a survival with spiders invading a suburban building did not necessarily ensure quality work. This must be said first Parasites, “Spiders in the cinema” was rather a theme favorable to bad people. But Sébastien Vaniček approached it with intelligence and with the desire to offer a cinematic experience of true quality.

Parasites ©Tandem
Parasites ©Tandem

The director’s approach seems to have paid off. Because after notable appearances at festivals (in France and abroad), e good print overall (see our opinion), Parasites made a good start in French cinemas, with almost 100,000 entries for the first week (a solid soundtrack for a French genre film of this magnitude). To which we add the excellent average of 3.8/5 on Allociné based on 796 votes to date.

As Sébastien Vaniček explained to us in an interview, Parasites it can be received by viewers as simple entertainment. However, the director has a message to convey with this film. Because for him”the spider is used to do a parallel to the crime of dirty talk about the suburbs“. He then uses the fear that spiders arouse in the collective unconscious to say something about rejection among human beings. Like the people we would like to put in boxes, the spider is an animal that reflects a negative image and that ‘we don’t want to have in home: “Either we crush it, or we want it out, but not in our houseA metaphor of xenophobia therefore, which gives all its meaning to the ending of the film.

Let’s go back to the end of the film

In fact, Parasites ends with a massive spider attack directly on the police who defend themselves as best they can. Taking advantage of the environmental chaos, Kaleb and his sister Manon prepare escape by getting in the car. But just before reaching the exit, a huge spider the size of a bulldog forces them to stop. Kaleb then decides to go out and approach the animal. He and the creature observe each other without animosity. The spider finally lets them go without attacking them.

Parasites ©Tandem
Parasites ©Tandem

This scene is important for what Sébastien Vaniček wants to tell Parasites. The director insisted to us that “this spider was just snatched from its homeland without asking anyone. (…) And she will be attacked constantly“. The director therefore wanted to demonstrate with this last action that the spider is not naturally dangerous, and that it is he limited himself to defending himself. More, putting fear aside and in trying to understand what we have in front of us, things can be different.

This message is also understandable with the last shot of the film, when Kaleb finds a spider on his shoulder, he picks it up and puts it back into nature, where it belongs. An optimistic ending and different from certain horror productions, which sometimes show that the source of the danger is not dead to keep the door open for a possible sequel.

Our entire interview with Sébastien Vaniček can be found here.

Source: Cine Serie

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