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Ending Explained

Resurrection (2022) Ending Explained – Final Scene & Meaning

Release, runtime and language
2022 · 103 min · English
Echo score 65
JustWatch #11,706 9
Directed by
Andrew Semans
Starring
Tim Roth, Angela Wong Carbone, Bradley Lewis, Grace Kaufman, Jaime Zevallos, Josh Drennen

Margaret has built a structured and controlled life, but her carefully constructed world is thrown into turmoil with the sudden reappearance of David. His return forces her to confront the buried secrets of her past, blurring the lines between reality and memory. As she struggles to maintain control, her carefully planned future is threatened, and the darkness she thought she’d escaped resurfaces.

On this page (7)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 What happens at the end
  3. 3 Final events in order
  4. 4 Ending questions answered
  5. 5 Movie threads
  6. 6 Movies like Resurrection
  7. 7 Every angle

Where to watch

Where to Watch Resurrection (2022)

Where can you watch Resurrection? Stream, rent or buy it in the US, including on Philo, Shudder and Amazon Video: current JustWatch availability with up-to-date prices.

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Ending explained · contains spoilers

What Happens at the End of Resurrection?

How Resurrection (2022) ends, what the final scene means, which earlier moments set it up and how to read the ending if the film leaves it open. The full ending explained, with every spoiler.

In the closing scenes of Resurrection, Margaret’s mental state is left intentionally ambiguous, blurring the lines between reality and hallucination. As she prepares to confront David Moore one last time, she finds herself in his hotel room, where he has set a seemingly romantic dinner. Their conversation is intense, with David asking her to listen to her baby’s heartbeat—to forgive herself and accept that the baby lives inside him. Margaret then violently attacks David, stabbing him and finally ripping open his body to find her son Benjamin hidden beneath his organ. This act of violence ultimately leads to David’s death, but it appears to be a symbolic, cathartic moment of reclaiming her maternal agency after years of trauma.

After this brutal climax, the movie cuts to a scene where Abbie visits her mother and finds Margaret holding her baby brother, Benjamin. The environment appears serene and bright, suggesting a moment of peace or perhaps a hallucination. Margaret expresses her relief and gratitude, seemingly having saved her son in her mind—a final affirmation of her desire to rescue and protect her children.

However, the ending remains deliberately open to interpretation. The luminous, almost dreamlike quality of the final scenes hints that what we are witnessing might be a hallucination, a dream, or even a supernatural vision. The film suggests that Margaret’s perception of having saved Benjamin could be a product of her fractured mind, crafted by her trauma and the manipulations of David Moore’s disturbing influence. It leaves viewers questioning whether she truly rescued her son or whether her mind has filled in the gaps with a comforting illusion. In essence, the ending explores the idea that Margaret’s struggle for redemption and maternal salvation may be rooted in her psyche’s desperate attempt to find peace amidst her madness, leaving the true fate of Benjamin ambiguous and open to personal interpretation.

Last updated: June 25, 2025 at 08:59

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The last 4 events

How Resurrection Ends: The Final Events in Order

The last events of Resurrection (2022) in chronological order, the run-up to the ending explained above. The complete timeline has all 13 events, scene by scene.

Open the full timeline
  1. Psychological Torment and Confrontation Plan

    As the psychological torment escalates, Margaret becomes convinced that David is involved in Abbie's accident. Determined to confront him, she plans a meeting near a river, despite the concerns voiced by both Abbie and Peter.

  2. Desperate Attempt

    In a desperate move, Margaret tries to eliminate David, but her attempt fails, and he overpowers her. This moment marks a turning point in her struggle, revealing the extent of her exhaustion and confusion amidst her deteriorating mental state.

  3. Final Confrontation

    In a harrowing confrontation at a hotel, David forces Margaret to acknowledge his twisted claims about Gerald's existence. Consumed by rage and despair, she retaliates, leading to a brutal climax where she confronts him with knives and delves into a horrifying act of violence.

    Where
    Hotel Room
  4. Conclusion with Abbie

    The story concludes as Abbie prepares to embark on her college journey, filled with gratitude for her mother's protection. However, a moment of terror eclipses this farewell, leaving Margaret's fate uncertain as she gasps at the horrific reality she has faced.

Ending questions answered

Resurrection Ending: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask most about the ending of Resurrection (2022): what the final scene means, how the twist works, what happens to each character and how to read the ending. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Does Margaret actually kill David Moore at the end

Yes, Margaret kills David Moore in his hotel room. She stabs him repeatedly and then rips open his body cavity, discovering her son Benjamin hidden beneath his organ. This violent act marks the culmination of her confrontation with the man who has been manipulating and traumatizing her throughout the film.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes establish David's disturbing behavior and his claim that Margaret's baby lives inside him, building to this violent confrontation.

  • david moore death
  • margaret kills david
  • hotel room scene
  • benjamin rescue
Q2

Is Benjamin actually alive in the final scene or is it a hallucination

The film deliberately leaves this ambiguous. The final scene showing Margaret holding baby Benjamin in a serene, brightly lit room could represent either a genuine rescue or a hallucination born from her fractured mental state. The dreamlike quality of the cinematography suggests Margaret may have created this comforting illusion to cope with the trauma she has endured.

Foreshadowing: The film consistently blurs reality and perception throughout, with Margaret experiencing flashbacks and possible hallucinations.

  • benjamin fate
  • hallucination vs reality
  • baby alive
  • ambiguous ending
Q3

What does David mean when he says the baby lives inside him

David's claim that Margaret's baby lives inside him is a deeply disturbing manipulation tactic. It reflects his twisted psychological control over Margaret, suggesting he has co-opted her maternal trauma as part of his abuse. Whether Benjamin was literally hidden inside David's body or this is another manifestation of Margaret's trauma-distorted perception remains unclear, but the statement represents David's continued gaslighting and possession of her grief.

Foreshadowing: David's manipulation throughout the film suggests he uses Margaret's deepest pain, her lost child, as a weapon against her.

  • david manipulation
  • baby inside david
  • maternal trauma
  • psychological abuse
Q4

Is the ending of Resurrection real or all in Margaret's mind

The ending remains intentionally unresolved. The bright, peaceful scene where Margaret holds Benjamin could represent genuine rescue, a supernatural vision, or a complete hallucination. The film's ambiguous approach suggests the most important element is not whether the rescue happened literally, but how Margaret's mind processes her trauma and need for maternal redemption.

Foreshadowing: The entire film establishes Margaret's unstable mental state through flashbacks and moments where she struggles to distinguish past from present.

  • ambiguous ending
  • psychological thriller ending
  • reality vs hallucination
  • margaret mental state
Q5

Does Margaret achieve redemption at the end of Resurrection

Margaret appears to achieve a form of redemption within her own mind. By violently confronting David and "rescuing" Benjamin, she reclaims her maternal agency after years of abuse and trauma. Whether this redemption is real or imagined, the film suggests Margaret has finally addressed the source of her psychological torment, though the ambiguous ending leaves whether she has truly healed or simply retreated further into her own psyche.

Foreshadowing: Her entire journey has been building toward confronting both David and her own traumatic past.

  • margaret redemption
  • maternal agency
  • confronting trauma
  • psychological healing
Q6

What happens to Abbie in the ending of Resurrection

In the final scenes, Abbie visits her mother and finds Margaret holding what appears to be baby Benjamin. This suggests Abbie witnesses her mother's state after the confrontation with David, though the ambiguous nature of the ending makes it unclear whether Abbie sees the same serene scene or perceives something different. Her presence provides a brief moment of connection before the film's unresolved conclusion.

Foreshadowing: Abbie's relationship with Margaret has been strained throughout the film due to Margaret's psychological issues.

  • abbie fate
  • margaret daughter
  • family ending
Q7

Why does Margaret resort to such extreme violence against David

Margaret's extreme violence represents the culmination of years of psychological abuse and trauma. David has manipulated her, stolen her sense of reality, and used her maternal grief as a tool of control. The violent act becomes her way of physically reclaiming power and agency over her own body and her lost child. It is both a literal and symbolic destruction of her abuser.

Foreshadowing: David's repeated gaslighting and his claim about the baby being inside him push Margaret toward this breaking point.

  • margaret violence
  • david abuse
  • breaking point
  • psychological abuse resolution
Q8

Why does the final scene look so bright and peaceful if Margaret just committed murder

The bright, peaceful aesthetic of the final scene contrasts deliberately with the brutal violence that precedes it. This shift creates psychological dissonance and signals to viewers that they may be witnessing a mental transformation rather than objective reality. The serene quality suggests Margaret's mind has created a protective fantasy, filling in the traumatic gaps with a vision of maternal salvation and peace.

Foreshadowing: The film's visual language consistently uses lighting to distinguish between Margaret's traumatic memories and her present reality.

  • visual contrast
  • peaceful ending
  • hallucination aesthetic
  • film cinematography
Q9

What is the thematic meaning of the ending regarding maternal salvation

The ending explores how trauma survivors construct narratives of redemption to cope with unbearable pain. Margaret's need to "save" Benjamin represents her deep-seated guilt and maternal grief. Whether she actually saves him or simply imagines saving him, the film suggests her psyche's desperate attempt to find peace. The ambiguous ending implies that the desire for salvation can be as powerful as salvation itself, even when it exists only within a fractured mind.

Foreshadowing: Margaret's entire character arc centers on her unresolved grief over Benjamin's death and her inability to protect her children.

  • maternal salvation
  • trauma redemption
  • psychological meaning
  • thematic ending

Movie threads

More Movies Like Resurrection, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes Resurrection tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Movies about psychological unraveling like Resurrection

Stories where a character's sanity is systematically dismantled by a returning threat. If you liked Resurrection and its portrait of mental collapse, explore more movies like it. These psychological thrillers and dramas focus on characters whose carefully constructed realities are shattered by a manipulative and threatening presence from their past, creating a deeply unsettling viewing experience.

  • psychological
  • unsettling
  • claustrophobic
  • paranoid
  • oppressive
  • anxious
  • Tone: dark, tense, unsettling
  • Pacing: steady, escalating
Why these movies?

The story pattern: Stories in this thread typically follow a linear but escalating structure, where a menacing figure re-emerges to gaslight and torment the protagonist. The conflict is primarily internal and psychological, blurring the lines between memory and reality, and often leads to a violent or ambiguous climax that questions whether the threat was ever truly vanquished.

Why they belong together: These films are grouped by their shared focus on psychological decay, manipulative antagonists, and an oppressive, anxious mood. They prioritize emotional heaviness and high tension over physical action, creating a similar feeling of being trapped in a nightmare from which the character cannot wake.

Slow burn thrillers about past trauma like Resurrection

Films where a buried trauma slowly resurfaces to destroy the present. For viewers seeking more movies like Resurrection, this list highlights slow burn thrillers and dramas where a dark past returns to haunt the protagonist. These films share a steady pacing, a heavy emotional weight, and an ambiguous or bleak ending, perfect for fans of unsettling, character-driven horror.

  • slow burn
  • dread
  • oppressive
  • unsettling
  • dark
  • psychological
  • Tone: dark, bleak, melancholic
  • Pacing: steady, slow burn
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative pattern involves a protagonist attempting to outrun a traumatic history, only to have it resurface through memories, symbols, or a personification of their guilt. The pacing is deliberate, using atmospheric tension rather than jump scares, to create a feeling of inescapable fate, often culminating in an ending that suggests the past can never be fully reconciled.

Why they belong together: Movies are grouped here based on their shared mood of slow-burning dread, their focus on themes of grief and unresolved trauma, and their use of a steady, atmospheric pace to create an oppressive viewing experience. The emotional journey is consistently heavy and psychologically focused.

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Every angle

Resurrection (2022) Explained: Plot, Ending, Timeline & Characters

Everything about Resurrection in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning, the ending explained and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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