Bad Things (2023) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Ruthie pushes Fran out the window because Cal attacks Fran, believing she is a threat after all the chaos in the hotel. In the confusion, Ruthie acts impulsively to protect herself and end the confrontation, sending Fran to her death into the empty pool below.

Foreshadowing: Fran's disturbing visions earlier in the film hint at her vulnerability and the hotel's effect on her mind.

• Ruthie
• Fran
• window
• death
• cal attack

Ms. Auerbach is revealed to be Ruthie's mother in disguise. She has been impersonating the hotel consultant throughout the story, having set up the buyer meeting and manipulating Ruthie from behind the scenes.

Foreshadowing: Brian's mention that Ruthie's estranged mother had been staying at the hotel foreshadows her hidden presence.

• Ms. Auerbach
• Ruthie's mother
• identity reveal
• disguise

Maddie discovers the body of Ruthie's mother, confirming that she is dead and that the woman calling herself Ms. Auerbach has been impersonating her.

Foreshadowing: Ruthie's insistence that the forbidden room remains sealed hints at the dark secret she knows lies within.

• Maddie
• forbidden room
• mother body
• discovery

Ruthie's mother impersonates Ms. Auerbach to maintain control over the hotel and its sale. She orchestrated the buyer meeting and guided Ruthie through the videos, using the alias to manipulate the situation while hiding her true identity and relationship to Ruthie.

Foreshadowing: The hotel management videos featuring Ms. Auerbach are revealed to be recordings of Ruthie's own mother.

• Ruthie's mother
• Ms. Auerbach
• impersonation
• hotel control

The chainsaw killer is revealed to be Ruthie herself. After being locked out and then breaking back into the hotel, Ruthie attacks Brian and later pursues Maddie and Cal with the chainsaw, murdering them in the strip mall parking lot.

Foreshadowing: Maddie's earlier suspicion that Ruthie was the attacker during the chainsaw incident proves to be correct.

• chainsaw
• Ruthie
• killer
• brian
• maddie murder

After being abandoned at the train station, Fran returns to the hotel to rescue Ruthie. However, her return leads to conflict with Cal, who attacks her, and ultimately results in Ruthie pushing her out the window to her death.

Foreshadowing: Fran's disturbing visions of former guests foreshadow her return and the hotel's hold on her.

• Fran
• train station
• return
• rescue
• death

Ruthie refuses to sell the hotel because Ms. Auerbach, who is actually her mother, encourages her to reject the buyer's offer. This decision aligns with Ruthie's desire to keep the family inheritance despite the mounting chaos around her.

Foreshadowing: Ruthie's earlier hesitation about selling and her emotional connection to the hotel set up her ultimate refusal.

• Ruthie
• hotel sale
• refuse
• buyer
• mother influence

The white liquid pouring from the ceiling appears during Ruthie's psychological breakdown, symbolizing the hotel's corruption and her descent into madness. It occurs as a surreal, possibly hallucinatory element during the night of extreme tension.

Foreshadowing: The hotel's eerie atmosphere and Ruthie's mental deterioration build toward this moment of visual horror.

• white liquid
• ceiling
• hallucination
• psychological breakdown

Cal and Maddie lock Ruthie outside after discovering videos showing Ruthie's affair with Fran. They believe Ruthie is dangerous and potentially responsible for the murders, especially after Maddie was attacked by the chainsaw-wielding figure they suspect is Ruthie.

Foreshadowing: The discovery of the affair videos confirms the growing distrust between the characters.

• Ruthie
• lock out
• Cal
• Maddie
• affair videos

In the ending, Ruthie pursues and murders both Cal and Maddie with a chainsaw in a strip mall parking lot while bystanders ignore the violence. She returns to the hotel and finds her mother with Brian's body in one of the rooms, but her mother shuts the door on her, leaving Ruthie alone in the haunted hotel to roam the silent corridors.

Foreshadowing: The film's slow build of tension and Ruthie's psychological collapse foreshadow this brutal, bleak conclusion.

• ending
• final scene
• Ruthie
• alone
• hotel