The *It Follows* ending explained becomes a necessary discussion for anyone who has watched David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 horror masterpiece and found themselves staring at the screen as the credits rolled, unsure of what they just witnessed. This modern horror classic subverts genre expectations at every turn, and its deliberately ambiguous finale has sparked countless debates among film enthusiasts, horror fans, and casual viewers alike.
Understanding the ending requires examining not just the final scenes but the entire thematic architecture Mitchell constructed throughout the film. By the end of this analysis, readers will understand the multiple interpretations of the film’s conclusion, the symbolic weight of its final images, the director’s stated intentions, and why this particular ending elevates *It Follows* from a standard genre exercise to a film that lingers in the mind long after viewing. The ambiguity is not a flaw but a feature, one that transforms the audience into active participants wrestling with mortality, sexuality, and the nature of love in the face of inevitable doom.
Table of Contents
- What Actually Happens at the End of It Follows?
- The Symbolic Meaning Behind It Follows’ Ambiguous Ending
- Director David Robert Mitchell’s Intentions for the Ending Explained
- How the Pool Scene Sets Up It Follows’ Final Moments
- Understanding the Curse’s Rules and Their Impact on the Ending
- How to Prepare
- How to Apply This
- Expert Tips
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Actually Happens at the End of It Follows?
The climax of *It Follows* takes place at a public swimming pool, where Jay and her friends attempt to destroy the entity using electrical appliances. The plan goes disastrously wrong. Paul, who has harbored feelings for Jay throughout the film, ends up shooting the entity in the head after it takes the form of Jay’s father and attacks her in the pool. The creature falls, blood clouds the water, but the entity’s actual destruction remains uncertain. Jay escapes the pool, and the immediate threat seems neutralized””but Mitchell provides no definitive confirmation that the entity has been killed. The film then cuts to Jay and Paul having sex, an act that transfers the curse from Jay to Paul, if the curse still exists at all.
This decision carries enormous weight: Paul accepts the burden of being followed, and Jay accepts the guilt of passing it to someone who loves her. The transaction is mutual, representing something closer to genuine sacrifice than the desperate self-preservation that initially spread the curse to Jay. Whether this is an act of love, shared doom, or foolish hope remains deliberately unclear. The final scene shows Jay and Paul walking hand-in-hand through their suburban neighborhood. Behind them, at a significant distance, a figure walks in their direction. The camera lingers on this figure, and the film ends without revealing whether this is: This ambiguity is the film’s final statement. Mitchell refuses to let audiences off the hook with a definitive answer, forcing them to sit with the same uncertainty his characters must live with forever.
- The entity, still pursuing them
- An ordinary person who happens to be walking the same direction
- A manifestation of their paranoia
The Symbolic Meaning Behind It Follows’ Ambiguous Ending
The ending of *It Follows* works on multiple symbolic levels simultaneously. Most obviously, the figure behind Jay and Paul represents the inescapability of death. Throughout the film, the entity functions as a memento mori””a constant reminder that mortality follows everyone, slowly but inevitably. The ending suggests that even if the immediate threat has been neutralized, the awareness of death never truly disappears. Jay and Paul will spend their lives looking over their shoulders, just as all humans carry the knowledge of their eventual end. On another level, the ending comments on relationships and commitment. Jay and Paul choose to face their potential doom together rather than alone.
Their handholding in the final scene represents solidarity in the face of existential threat. The film asks whether love means sharing burdens, even terrible ones, and whether it’s better to face an uncertain doom with a partner than to survive alone. Paul’s willingness to take on Jay’s curse represents the ultimate romantic gesture in the film’s logic””he would literally die for her, or at least with her. The suburban setting of the final scene also carries symbolic weight. Throughout *It Follows*, Mitchell uses the crumbling neighborhoods of Detroit to suggest decay lurking beneath american suburban promises of safety and prosperity. The final walk takes place in this same environment, where ordinary-looking streets hide extraordinary danger. The ending implies that horror is not confined to obvious places but exists wherever people exist. The familiar becomes threatening, and the threatening becomes familiar””a new normal Jay and Paul must learn to navigate.
Director David Robert Mitchell’s Intentions for the Ending Explained
David Robert Mitchell has discussed the ending of *It Follows* in various interviews, though he has deliberately avoided providing a single authoritative interpretation. He has stated that the ambiguity is intentional, designed to replicate the uncertainty his characters experience. Mitchell wanted audiences to leave the theater in the same psychological state as Jay””unsure whether the threat is real or imagined, unable to find safety in certainty. Mitchell has confirmed that the figure at the end could be interpreted either way. He intentionally filmed the scene so that viewers cannot determine whether the person behind Jay and Paul is the entity or simply a random pedestrian. This technical choice reinforces the film’s thematic concerns: the characters will never know with certainty when they are safe, and neither will we.
The director has noted that this mirrors how anxiety functions in real life””even when rational evidence suggests safety, the mind continues to generate threat signals. The director has also spoken about the ending as a comment on denial. Mitchell suggests that Jay and Paul’s hand-holding, their attempt at normalcy, represents how humans cope with existential threats by refusing to constantly dwell on them. They choose to live their lives despite the possibility that death walks behind them. This, Mitchell implies, is what everyone does every day. The ending is not pessimistic but realistic””a portrait of how people find ways to continue living even when they know the end is coming.
How the Pool Scene Sets Up It Follows’ Final Moments
The swimming pool sequence deserves careful analysis because it directly establishes the conditions of the ending. The plan to electrocute the entity fails spectacularly, suggesting that conventional approaches to destroying the threat do not work. The entity survives being shot multiple times, and while Paul’s final headshot seems to stop it, the film never confirms a kill. This failure is significant: it tells audiences that the entity may be unkillable, or at minimum that the characters cannot know whether they’ve succeeded. The pool scene also reveals that the entity can take the form of Jay’s father, suggesting psychological dimensions to its attacks.
The choice of this form indicates that the entity either possesses knowledge of its victims’ relationships or that Jay’s own subconscious shapes how she perceives it. Either interpretation adds layers to the ending: if the entity knows its victims intimately, the threat is even more personal and inescapable; if Jay’s psychology shapes the entity, then her trauma will color every encounter for the rest of her life. Water symbolism throughout the pool scene connects to themes of cleansing and baptism that run through the film. Jay submerges herself in water at several points, including the swimming pool where she first sees the entity after being cursed. The pool sequence could represent an attempt at purification””killing the entity in water to cleanse the curse. That this attempt fails suggests that no ritual can truly wash away the stain of mortality or sexual initiation that the curse represents.
Understanding the Curse’s Rules and Their Impact on the Ending
The mechanics of the curse in *It Follows* directly inform how audiences should interpret the ending. The rules, as explained by Hugh/Jeff early in the film, are deceptively simple: the entity follows the cursed person at walking pace, can look like anyone, can only be seen by those who have been cursed, and will kill upon contact. If it kills its current target, it moves backward through the chain to the previous person. The only escape is to pass it on through sex. These rules create a crucial ambiguity in the ending. If Paul successfully received the curse through sex with Jay, the entity should now be following him, not her. This would provide Jay with safety unless Paul is killed, at which point the entity returns to her. The figure walking behind them could therefore be following Paul specifically, meaning Jay faces no immediate threat but carries the burden of eventually inheriting the curse again if Paul dies. Alternatively, if the curse has somehow ended, neither faces supernatural danger, though they cannot know this for certain. The rules also raise questions about Paul’s actions after receiving the curse. The film briefly shows Paul driving past sex workers, suggesting he might be considering passing the curse along to create more distance between it and Jay. Whether he actually does this is never confirmed, but the possibility exists. If he did, the figure at the ending could be following an entirely different person, and Jay and Paul might both be temporarily safe.
The film provides enough information to support multiple interpretations while confirming none of them. ## The Philosophical and Thematic Layers of It Follows’ Conclusion Beyond its narrative ambiguities, the ending of *It Follows* engages with profound philosophical questions about existence, sexuality, and human connection. The film draws on existentialist ideas about confronting mortality and finding meaning despite death’s inevitability. Jean-Paul Sartre’s concept that humans are “condemned to be free” resonates throughout: Jay and her friends must make choices about how to handle the curse without any guaranteed outcomes. The ending shows Jay and Paul choosing connection over isolation, even though that choice guarantees nothing. The sexual transmission of the curse has led many critics to interpret the entity as representing sexually transmitted infections or the consequences of sexual awakening. The ending complicates simple readings, however. Jay and Paul’s sexual encounter is not presented as transgressive or punishable but as an act of mutual care and acceptance. Mitchell seems less interested in warning against sex than in exploring how physical intimacy creates bonds that include shared vulnerability. The ending suggests that truly loving someone means accepting the risks that come with that love. The final image also functions as a meditation on suburban American life and the anxieties that lurk beneath its surfaces. Mitchell grew up in Detroit and set the film in the decaying neighborhoods of that city specifically to evoke promises of prosperity that have given way to uncertainty and decline. The couple walking through these streets represents a generation inheriting problems they did not create, forced to navigate a landscape that offers no real safety. The ending is simultaneously personal and political, intimate and sociological.
How to Prepare
- Pay attention to every instance of following and pursuit throughout the film, not just the entity’s appearances. Mitchell establishes visual patterns of characters moving through spaces that culminate in the final shot. Notice how often the camera tracks behind characters, placing viewers in the perspective of the follower.
- Track the forms the entity takes and what they might mean. The creature appears as strangers, as Hugh/Jeff’s deceased family members, and as Jay’s father. These choices suggest the entity either knows its victims intimately or draws on their fears. This informs how you interpret the final figure””as a specific threat or a generalized anxiety.
- Observe the film’s treatment of sexuality and intimacy. Every sexual encounter in *It Follows* is complicated: Hugh/Jeff’s is deceptive, Greg’s is casual, and Paul’s is sacrificial. Understanding these gradations helps decode what the final coupling between Jay and Paul means and how it shapes the ending’s emotional register.
- Notice the film’s temporal and geographic ambiguities. Mitchell deliberately mixes technology from different decades and creates a Detroit that feels simultaneously contemporary and nostalgic. This dreamlike quality prepares viewers for an ending that resists easy interpretation.
- Watch the pool scene closely for evidence of the entity’s fate. Look at where the blood in the water comes from, whether the entity moves after being shot, and how the other characters react. The film provides clues about whether the creature survives, but they require active attention to notice.
How to Apply This
- Rewatch the opening sequence and compare it to the final scene. The film begins with a young woman running from something unseen and ends with two people walking while something unseen approaches. Consider how the different movements””running versus walking””reflect different approaches to confronting the threat.
- Discuss the ending with others who have seen the film and note the different interpretations that emerge. The ambiguity is designed to generate conversation, and comparing readings reveals the richness of Mitchell’s construction.
- Consider how your own relationship with mortality shapes your interpretation. Those who find the ending hopeful often focus on Jay and Paul’s connection; those who find it despairing often focus on the pursuing figure. What you see reveals something about how you process existential threat.
- Apply the film’s themes to your own experiences with inherited problems, shared burdens, and the choice between isolation and connection. The best horror films use their monsters to illuminate real human conditions, and *It Follows* offers ample material for personal reflection.
Expert Tips
- Watch the background of every scene, not just the foreground action. Mitchell hides the entity in crowds and distant spaces throughout the film, training attentive viewers to scan for threats. This habit pays off in the final scene, where the figure’s distance makes identification impossible.
- Listen to Disasterpeace’s score, particularly how it shifts from threatening to melancholic in the final scenes. The music provides emotional cues that the visuals deliberately withhold, suggesting how viewers might feel about the ending even if they cannot intellectually resolve its ambiguity.
- Research the real Detroit locations Mitchell used and how the city’s economic collapse informs the film’s themes. The ending takes place in a real neighborhood whose visible decay adds layers of meaning to Jay and Paul’s precarious walk.
- Compare *It Follows* to other ambiguous horror endings like those in *The Thing*, *The Shining*, and *Rosemary’s Baby*. Understanding how other filmmakers have used ambiguity helps clarify what makes Mitchell’s approach distinctive.
- Read Mitchell’s short film *Virgin* and his follow-up feature *Under the Silver Lake* for additional context on his thematic preoccupations. Patterns across his work illuminate choices that might seem random in isolation.
Conclusion
The *It Follows* ending explained is, ultimately, an ending that resists full explanation””and this resistance is precisely the point. David Robert Mitchell crafted a conclusion that mirrors the existential condition of his characters and, by extension, all viewers. Jay and Paul will never know with certainty whether the entity still pursues them, just as humans cannot know when or how death will arrive. The film’s genius lies in making audiences share this uncertainty rather than providing the cathartic resolution horror typically offers.
What elevates this ending beyond mere frustration is the emotional core Mitchell provides. Jay and Paul face their unknown future together, hand in hand, choosing connection over isolation. Whether they survive or not, whether the threat is real or imagined, they have made a choice about how to live with uncertainty. This is what the film offers viewers: not answers, but a model for confronting the unanswerable questions that define human existence. The ending of *It Follows* stays with audiences because it refuses to let them escape the very condition it depicts””the knowledge that something is always following, always approaching, and the choice of how to walk forward anyway.
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