Bad Things

Ruthie, Cal, Maddie, and Fran arrive at the deserted Comley Suite Hotel for what seems like a simple weekend getaway, but as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that their stay is haunted by the darker history of the place. The hotel, once a site of mysterious deaths and ghostly apparitions, begins to blur the lines between reality and hallucination. Ruthie, the protagonist, appears to be deeply affected by her troubled past, including her childhood abandonment by her mother, Ms. Auerbach, who was a real estate agent and had a complicated, possibly dysfunctional relationship with Ruthie. Throughout the film, Ruthie is shown watching a peculiar YouTube video where a woman, who turns out to be her mother, talks directly to her—highlighting her emotional connection and unresolved issues with her maternal figure.

As the characters experience increasingly terrifying and surreal incidents, it becomes uncertain whether the horrors are real or manifestations of Ruthie’s fragile mind. Ruthie’s own secrets—the secret affair with Fran, her emotional struggles, and her possible murder of her mother—suggest that her perception of reality is severely distorted. The climax reveals that the supposed murders of her friends—Cal, Maddie, and Fran—might all be hallucinations. Ruthie, driven to madness, kills them in a violent blackout, but the entire scene takes place in a setting where no one else witnesses it, and the surroundings seem eerily deserted, implying that Ruthie’s acts are likely figments of her disturbed mind.

The final scene shows Ruthie wandering the empty hallways of the haunted hotel, her mental state completely broken. It suggests that perhaps she was the only real person present all along, and that the terrible events and murders were hallucinations or memories distorted by her trauma. The reveal of suite 324, containing a decaying corpse and linked to her mother, underscores her traumatic childhood and the mental hauntedness that has consumed her. In the end, it’s left ambiguous whether Ruthie truly committed the murders or if they were all hallucinated, emphasizing the film’s central theme of how unresolved past trauma and loneliness can distort reality and lead to madness. Ultimately, Ruthie’s mental breakdown appears to be the true horror, leaving viewers questioning the nature of reality within the story.

Last Updated: June 25, 2025 at 08:59