Netflix's Eli ending explained: The meaning of the shocking plot twist
19 October 2019, 19:05
Let's get to the bottom of the intense ending of Eli on Netflix, shall we? Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Netflix's Eli.
Netflix dropped their latest thriller Eli this week and it's not your average ghostly horror flick. From the producer of The Haunting of Hill House and Gerald's Game, Eli starts out as a medical conundrum turned terror-fest as a child with an auto-immune disorder (Charlie Shotwell) begins to distrust the medical professionals charged with curing him.
Charlie Shotwell, Kelly Reilly, Max Martini, Lili Taylor, and Stranger Things star Sadie Sink appear in the spooky thriller.
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When Eli's parents take the young boy to a "clean house" run by Dr Horne (Lili Taylor), the 10-year-old soon realises that something isn't quite right with his new dwellings. For the majority of the film, Eli plays out like a typical ghost story, however, the ending of Eli involves a pretty wild twist that you definitely did not see coming.
The end of Eli is a wild ride, so in case you were a bit thrown off, here is a brief explanation of the film's ending and a few answers to the film's more confusing plot points.
Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the Netflix film Eli.
Was Eli actually sick?
The line that Eli has been fed is that he is a desperately sick young man who is allergic to essentially everything and can't go outside without a hazmat suit.
We're told he has a genetic mutation but that Dr Horne has developed a solution and can "cure" him. In reality, Eli was never sick. As we learn later, Eli's true father is the devil and that's why his parents are so desperate to fix his "gene mutation".
Because of who his true father is, Eli's mum and dad feared that he could become evil, so they lied and isolated him from the world. Through his snooping, Eli discovers Dr Horne is actually a nun and that's when it becomes clear that the issue at hand may not actually be medical.
How is Eli's father the devil?
Well, the film didn't dive too deeply into the mechanics of how Eli was conceived. But Eli's mum Rose does hint at the fact that she and her husband had fertility problems.
Rose says she "prayed" for a child but that praying to God didn't work. So, instead, she prays to the devil. Are we talking supernatural IVF? Doubtful! A demonic one night stand? Perhaps! But if you want specifics, just know that the devil "gets around" according to Sadie Sink's character, Haley.
Is Eli evil?
Well, I guess that's complicated.
Eli's father is the devil, however, throughout most of the film he's just a kid who trusts that his parents have his best interests at heart. It's only at the end of the film, when it becomes clear that Dr Horne intends to kill him, that we see his "evil" side emerge.
After being lied to, restrained, plotted against and experimented on, I'd be lowkey pissed, too.
In the end, Eli kills his "dad", Dr Horne, and the medical assistants at the facility. He also burns the entire house down. You could say that's pretty evil. You could also call it self-defence.
How are Eli and Haley related?
At first Haley's presence is a mystery. Is she really a neighbour? Is she actually a ghost, herself? In the end, we finally learn that Haley is Eli's half-sister and she's been encouraging him to escape the entire time – though she is unable to physically assist him.
Eli and Haley are half brother and sister who have the same father – the devil.
After Eli escapes from the house, Haley and Eli get Rose to drive them off the property, though it's unclear where the three are headed. Maybe to pay dear old dad a visit? Who knows!
