Butterfly Kisses (2017) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The legend states that if you stare down the Ilchester Tunnel at midnight for a full hour without blinking, you can summon Peeping Tom. Once summoned, he advances closer with each blink. When he gets close enough, he uses a fluttering eyelash gesture called 'butterfly kisses' to force the victim to blink, then kills them. The key twist in the film is that a camera can act as a stand-in for a human eye, turning the camera on and off simulates blinking and brings Peeping Tom closer.

Foreshadowing: Sophia and Feldman set up a camera specifically to test whether it could capture the creature, foreshadowing the idea that recording devices can summon or attract him.

• peeping tom legend
• ilchester tunnel
• blinking
• butterfly kisses
• urban legend
• supernatural monster

In the additional footage, Sophia discovers that Peeping Tom kills by forcing victims to blink. Believing she has summoned him and that he is right in front of her, she concludes that if she removes her eyelids, she can never blink again, allowing her to stare at him indefinitely and potentially defeat him. She shatters a glass picture frame and uses the shards to slice off her eyelids in a desperate attempt to become immune to the creature's power.

Foreshadowing: The legend's rule that Peeping Tom can only kill after forcing a blink sets up this horrifying solution, Sophia attempts to break the rule by eliminating her ability to blink entirely.

• sophia
• eyelids
• self-mutilation
• peeping tom
• blink
• horror twist

Gavin tells his crew to meet him outside the Ilchester Tunnel, where he plans to recreate the Peeping Tom ritual using a camera as his proxy. When the crew arrives, they hear sounds suggesting Gavin is running through the tunnel. They hurry to intervene but find he has vanished, taking the camera with him. Nine days later, Erik receives a package containing a DVCam film, and the crew discovers Gavin's corpse in a hotel bathtub, his fate remains mysterious, with the implication that Peeping Tom may have taken him.

Foreshadowing: Feldman's earlier murder establishes that anyone who successfully summons Peeping Tom becomes a target, foreshadowing Gavin's inevitable encounter.

• gavin
• ilchester tunnel
• disappearance
• death
• missing
• peeping tom

The film deliberately leaves the authenticity ambiguous. The crew discovers no verifiable records of Sophia or Feldman, and learns they previously won an award for a documentary that used an actor to portray a real person, suggesting they have a history of staging footage. However, Peeping Tom appears in the recordings, Feldman is murdered, and Sophia's horrifying self-mutilation is captured on film. The meta-question becomes whether the characters are investigating a real legend or if Gavin's obsession has led them all into manufactured horror.

Foreshadowing: Early hints about Sophia and Feldman's history of using actors plant seeds of doubt about whether any of the footage is genuine.

• tapes
• footage
• fake
• real
• sophia
• feldman
• documentary
• authenticity
• found footage

Feldman's grip on reality begins to unravel as Peeping Tom's presence appears to infest the camera they are using to document the legend. Under this psychological pressure and the mounting fear that the legend is real, Feldman's mental state deteriorates. He is eventually murdered by Peeping Tom, leaving Sophia to continue the documentary project alone.

Foreshadowing: The increasing visibility of Peeping Tom in their footage correlates directly with Feldman's mental breakdown, suggesting the more real the legend becomes, the more dangerous it is.

• feldman
• murder
• death
• peeping tom
• killed
• documentary
• sophia

After discovering Gavin's corpse in the hotel bathtub, the crew faces a critical decision. They choose not to involve the police, though the exact reasoning isn't explicitly stated. This choice likely stems from their involvement in the project, they were documenting Gavin's descent into obsession, had potentially witnessed or facilitated behavior that could incriminate them, and may have feared legal or professional consequences for their roles in encouraging his dangerous activities.

Foreshadowing: The earlier tension among the crew about whether to seek psychiatric help for Gavin hints at their awareness that they were complicit in his unraveling.

• police
• crew
• gavin
• body
• cover up
• crime
• hotel room

The legend's rules state that Peeping Tom advances with each blink. The film introduces the idea that a camera can act as a proxy for a human eye. When the filmmakers turn the camera on and off, it simulates blinking, and with each simulated blink, Peeping Tom appears to draw closer in the footage. This transforms the camera from a recording device into a conduit that can summon or attract the creature, blurring the line between observation and invocation.

Foreshadowing: Sophia and Feldman set up the camera specifically hoping it might act as a stand-in for a human eye, establishing this mechanic early in their investigation.

• camera
• blinking
• peeping tom
• conduit
• summon
• footage
• on off

In the mid-credits scene, Sophia appears in an insane asylum and seemingly caresses Peeping Tom's face, suggesting she has been institutionalized after removing her eyelids. The ambiguous moment leaves viewers uncertain whether Peeping Tom is actually there, if Sophia has fully succumbed to madness, or if the creature has become a hallucination she cannot escape. The scene reinforces the film's unresolved ending, has the legend been defeated, or has it consumed another victim?

Foreshadowing: Sophia's earlier claim that 'Peeping Tom is right in front of her' foreshadows this final encounter, where she may finally be facing the entity she summoned.

• mid-credits
• asylum
• sophia
• ending
• resolution
• peeping tom
• ambiguous

Gavin becomes obsessed with proving the Peeping Tom footage is real and using it as his breakthrough into legitimate filmmaking. His single-minded pursuit leads him to drain his son's college savings to fund the project, ignoring his family's financial security. This sacrifice highlights how his ambition and need for validation have consumed him, ultimately contributing to his wife's decision to leave him.

Foreshadowing: Gavin's desperation for a filmmaking breakthrough is established early when he sees potential in the tapes, setting the stage for his reckless financial decisions.

• gavin
• college savings
• money
• obsession
• wife
• family
• funding
• financial ruin

After Sophia slices off her own eyelids in an attempt to never blink again and defeat Peeping Tom, the film jumps to the mid-credits scene showing her in an insane asylum. She appears to have survived the self-mutilation but is now institutionalized. Whether her plan worked, failed, or simply drove her mad remains ambiguous as she seems to interact with Peeping Tom in her delusions.

Foreshadowing: Her earlier feverish resistance to blinking and declaration that 'Peeping Tom is right in front of her' set up this tragic outcome.

• sophia
• fate
• asylum
• eyelids
• survival
• institutionalized
• aftermath

After discovering Gavin's body in the hotel room, Erik and the crew debate what to do with the footage. Erik resolves to continue the project, but reframes it as the story of Gavin rather than of Peeping Tom, making it a documentary about a man consumed by obsession rather than a supernatural investigation. However, Erik notably refuses to say aloud whether he believes the legend is real, suggesting he may be following the same path of denial and obsession that consumed Gavin.

Foreshadowing: Erik's leadership role throughout the film and his willingness to push back against Gavin's escalation hint at his own determination to see the project through.

• erik
• continue
• project
• gavin
• documentary
• obsession
• reframed