The bird box

Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now, that the boy and girl are four, it is time to go. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. And something is following them. But is it man, animal, or monster?

Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey—a trip that takes her into an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her. Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motely group of strangers banded together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?

Bird Box is a doomsday thriller directed by Susanne Bier. The story of Bird Box is based on the book by the same name. The film stars Sandra Bullock in the lead role with a supporting cast that includes John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Trevante Rhodes, and rapper Machine Gun Kelly. Bird Box’s plot revolves around the uprising of supernatural creatures which surface the worst fears and regrets in the mind of people who make visual contact. That would explain why the blindfolds. Much comparison has been made with the film A Quiet Place. One movie where people can’t talk and the other where they can’t see. Let’s talk about some key elements in the Bird Box movie. Here’s the explanation of the plot and ending of Bird Box, spoilers ahead.

So, it’s doomsday. The end of the world. And it has come in the form of creatures who instill so much anguish and despair that it makes people commit suicide by merely looking at it. There is no rhyme or reason to the arrival of the creatures all over the world, but the wave of suicides begins in Russia and quickly sweeps the whole world. Most people die, and the survivors need to blindfold themselves so that they don’t end up killing themselves.

Bird Box Creatures: What are they?

While we are never directly shown what these creatures look like, there is a scene well into the film where we see drawings that could possibly indicate what the monsters are. Here are the illustrations:



We’ll get to how these drawing got made later on, but these look like various images of demons from hell. In this film, the apocalyptic end of humans (and perhaps animals) comes in the form of self-destruction. But it’s not indeed the end, which is what Bird Box is about.

We also have a conversation in the film:

They come in all different forms. You got the Aka Manah, the various Daevas from ancient Zoroastrian legend. You’ve got the Surgat from ancient Christian occult beliefs that made pregnant women encounter their unborn children as other creatures such as lobsters or spiders. You’ve got the Huli-jing from China. You’ve got the Puca from Celtic mythology. All different names, but the same thing. The end of us.

Bird Box: Do the creatures affect animals too?

Well, the film has no explicit mention. But, through the plot, we don’t see any animals. It’s a fair assumption to make that the animals, too, have had the same reaction to the creatures.

Bird Box Plot Synopsis

Malorie and Jessica

They are sisters. Malorie is expecting a baby and has been ditched by the guy she was with to have the baby all by herself. It doesn’t look like Malorie is too keen about the baby considering her situation. Jessica is her cheerful, supportive sister. They see the news about mass suicides in Romania and Russia. Jessica takes Malorie to the doctor for a regular check-up.

The Chaos Begins

At the hospital, one lady sees the creature and begins to bash her head violently on the glass pane. Malorie makes a run for it. She tells Jessica that whatever they saw in the news about Russia is also happening in their city. People start going crazy all around them, and they drive out.

Jessica dies

Just as Malorie turns behind to get the phone, Jessica sees the creature. She’s overcome with despair and crashes the car. She then steps out of the car and backs away into a moving bus as Malorie watches helplessly. She runs towards a house where a woman comes out to help. Malorie survives by happening to not look at the creature. The woman, however, glimpses the monster and hallucinates about her dead mother. She proceeds to enter a burning car which then explodes.

The Safe House

Inside the house, the woman’s husband, Douglas, watches on helplessly. Malorie gets taken into the house by Tom (who asks her to keep her eyes down) where she meets ...