Saagar Kote
Shudder’s ‘Other’ revolves around the happenings in the life of a woman named Alice. She works as a veterinary doctor and has a good relationship with her lover, Charlie. However, her life takes an unexpected turn when she receives news that her mother Elena has passed away. This leads her back to her childhood town in Minnesota, where she intends to pay her final respects to her mother. She is informed that her mother was probably mauled to death by an animal in the woods, which makes the autopsy a more complicated process. When she goes to her childhood home, she starts to feel strange, as it seems like an entity is stalking her.
While she adjusts to the house again, there seem to be greater mysteries around her that may be dangerous to her own life. As her car breaks down, and she finds no way to escape, she must push beyond her limits to ensure that she survives. As the narrative reaches the end, the protagonist finds herself in the middle of an unexpected situation, where she has to make a difficult decision in the face of danger threats. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Other Plot Synopsis
A mysterious masked boy walks through the woods while talking about and investigating the disappearance of a young boy named Tommy McGregor, whose disfigured body was found in a pond. A woman is killed and disfigured by a mysterious figure outside her own house. The individual disfigures her face, exactly like what happened to Tommy. Alice, the protagonist, hooks up with her lover Charlie and then heads over to a farm to take care of a violent dog. The veterinarian then gets a troubling call and heads to Minneapolis after learning that her mother died. The mother is revealed to be the same woman whose face was disfigured earlier. As she heads to her mother’s home, she sees a drone flying and signs that point at heavy security throughout the premises.
As she sits on the swing talking to Charlie, she is stalked by a strange entity. She loses her car key, which forces her to stay in the house for two more days. She is again stalked by an unknown entity making rapid noises. She suspects something and then notices the red lights blinking throughout the house and outside. She then lies in her bed, reminiscing about her prom queen past, and pulls out an old school jacket from a secret cellar above her room’s roof wall. The coat is said to belong to James Huston, someone from her past. She takes a look at her old photos and also finds an electronic pink diary of hers from the past. A strange human-like creature is revealed to be hidden behind the objects in the attic.
In old videotapes, her mother appears to be training her to be beautiful and be ready for the prom. When she pukes, she suspects she is pregnant and takes an old-school pregnancy test with baking soda and urine samples. She then talks to a fellow veterinary colleague of hers to ask him about the strange paw marks she found on the ground, but doesn’t get a proper answer. She then starts drinking and smoking, believing that the pregnancy is a false flag. She wears her “Miss Minnesota” beauty pageant dress from the past. She calls Charlie and tells him that she is pregnant, and also tells him that she used to hear sounds and voices in her past, which was not believed by her mother. This is why she left her home in the past.
She seemingly spots the creature and follows it, but when the red lights blink, she heads back into the house. She notices videos from her past playing, wherein her mother body shames her and asks her not to eat. In a fit of rage, she destroys the old tapes, and the creature steals her phone. She finds the videotapes arranged in a design. When she hears her stolen phone vibrating, she goes to the basement, where she spots the creature for the first time. The creature chases her, but Alice closes the door quickly and rushes to the car. The beast follows her to the car and causes the car alarm to go off.
She drives it forward and hits a tree, and runs towards the fence surrounding the house and tries to climb out. She sees the masked boy riding away on a bicycle, who warns the protagonist not to show her face. Alice is observed on a hunting camera in the woods, after which she sees the bike on the ground. She then spots a secret cabin door in the woods with a voice recording. When she enters the cabin, she is locked from above by the masked boy, who promises nothing will happen to her. She finds information regarding Tommy in the basement cabin and also clues related to his death.
Other Ending: Who is the Killer? Why was Elena Murdered?
The identity of the killer responsible for the deaths of Alice’s mother, Elena, the boy Tommy McGregor, and Elena’s cat is the central mystery of the narrative. The complex narrative builds layers of doubt in the viewers’ minds, while also building the suspense. Throughout the film, Alice is stalked by a human-like creature whose face is never clearly visible. The creature keeps running in the background, often being practically invisible. The danger only gets greater when Alice is trapped inside the secret cabin, locked by the masked boy. Alice sees Charlie arrive on the camera and starts worrying. The masked boy calls, offering keys to escape if she retrieves a camera recording events inside the house. The protagonist agrees, follows his arrow-marked trees, and re-enters the fenced area.
She finds Charlie mauled, like Tommy and her mother. The masked boy warns her not to show her face or use a flashlight. Alice uses a night vision camera, following a mysterious sound. A ladder to the attic opens, but she continues, growing scared as the camera battery dies. Unable to find an exit, she enters a destroyed bedroom, spots the creature again, and is attacked. The creature touches and smells her before leaving, just as the police arrive, saving her. Alice then hears the voices from her past and hears her mother telling her to finish what she started. The protagonist takes a videotape from the past and sees a video from 1999. Her mother tells her to keep her posture straight. Young Alice collapses on the floor, not able to follow the strict instructions of her mother.
In the video, her belly seemingly becomes expanded, revealing that Alice was pregnant in the past. Her mother used to tape her up and tie her tummy forcibly to hide the pregnancy. The mother delivers the baby and seemingly kills it before Alice can hold it. The creature follows Alice to the hospital, where she recovers from her trauma. The most important revelation in the film comes when Alice begins to wander around the hospital after there is a power outage. She walks into a bathroom after hearing a noise and finds her old electronic pink diary on the floor. The diary spells the word “OTHER,” and Alice sees the word ‘M’ being destroyed on the keypad. She realizes the word is supposed to be “MOTHER,” and drops the electronic diary.
The creature stands behind her and then unmasks. It is revealed that the creature is just a human boy and not a monster. Though it is not explicitly revealed in the narrative, it can be presumed that the boy is actually Alice’s son. Alice got pregnant at a young age, but her mother never let her see the baby. This explains the protagonist’s insecurity around getting pregnant, even though she has no memory of her teenage pregnancy. The child who was seemingly killed by Alice’s mother, Elena, actually lived. It can be presumed that the baby was hidden from Alice by her mother and was secretly raised by her after Alice left the house due to the trauma. The reason why the creature (Alice’s kid) murdered his grandmother remains mysterious.
But there are strong signs that point towards torture, malnutrition, and an isolated existence on the boy’s face. He never felt human due to the mistreatment, and practically lived like a beastly creature. He couldn’t stand to see the faces of people, which is why he ripped his victims’ faces off. His violent nature doesn’t arise from within him, but is a consequence of the events that happened around him, especially due to the way he was raised and underfed in a secret room. We can assume that once he reached his teenage years, he became slightly more able and was able to escape the room, which ultimately enabled him to kill Elena. He also killed Tommy due to the fact that he could not stand the faces of human beings.
Is Alice Dead or Alive? What does OTHER Actually Mean?
Alice looks at the person in front of her and expresses sympathy. She most likely realizes that it is her son standing in front of her. This is a complex moment in the film as it leads Alice towards one of the biggest secrets of her life. In an earlier scene, the doctor tells her that she has been oblivious to her pregnancy in the past, as her mind chose to forget it. Her mother’s controlling behavior and aggression caused her to delete many memories from her mind, which somehow unknowingly led her towards insecurity in her present pregnancy as well. The boy reveals his face to Alice, looks at her longingly, with seemingly no intent to kill her. It can be assumed that he was initially unaware of Alice’s identity when he was targeting her in the house, but maybe realized through tapes and other evidence that she is mostly his mother.
Despite him targeting her, he is now in a situation where he probably only seeks her love and care. His beastly existence can finally come to an end if Alice shows him care and affection, which have been missing in his life. Thus, it is almost impossible to imagine that the boy would want to kill or even harm Alice. The significance of the word “OTHER,” which appears on the electronic pink diary, is relevant to the message of the film. It also happens to be the title of the film, which reaffirms its importance in this context. While it has been established that Alice sees the word “OTHER,” and notices the word ‘M’ being destroyed on the keypad. She realizes the word is supposed to be “MOTHER,” and drops the electronic diary.
This is a rather straightforward explanation of the purpose of the word. However, there are important contexts that can help us understand the true significance of the word. “OTHER” in this case not only represents the separation of a mother and child, but it also represents how a mother shouldn’t be. In this case, since the boy was raised by his grandmother, who tortured him and underfed him, he has probably never known what a real mother is. So, the maternal figure throughout his life exhibits behavior that points to his othering. He is not treated like a human being, and this is why he has never known a mother’s love. So, the word “OTHER” becomes a sort of cry for help, which signifies that he may finally look to be a human being under the care of his real mother.
Who is the Masked Boy? Does He Solve the Mystery?
The masked boy is an enigmatic figure who keeps appearing in important moments of the film. His name or appearance is never revealed in the narrative. However, it is revealed that he is actually a YouTuber, obsessed with crime. It can be presumed that he is probably one of Tommy’s friends, who took an interest in the brutal face-ripping killings after Tommy was killed and found in the pond. The fact that the masked boy’s identity is not revealed makes his character more interesting. He also represents the crime-obsessed culture of many young people, who often host podcasts on YouTube channels to talk about murders. Not only does he want to talk about murder, but he also wants to solve it. However, the real mystery he solves is more significant. At the house, he goes to investigate the basement and prove that a crime took place.
He finds various faceless dolls arranged in a disturbing manner, and says that the faces were ripped off because the creature was afraid of its own reflection. He realizes that someone was locked in the basement throughout their life. The boy cleverly deduces that the creature wanted to rip off the faces of its victims because it couldn’t bear to see its own face. A life full of looking at his own face made Alice’s son very insecure, and he also hated the sight of his own face. The masked YouTuber was absolutely right in assuming that the killer only murdered when he saw faces. This is why he keeps telling Alice not to show her face. Ultimately, despite the masked boy’s identity not being revealed, his role in the narrative is extremely significant. It can be presumed that he will continue to investigate more murders and other dangerous cases in the future.
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