How and Why Does Ben Make Bird Calls? Why Are His Teeth so Sharp?

With Baltasar Kormákur at the helm, Netflix’s ‘Apex’ tells the story of two experts of the wild who end up in an unusual predator-prey dynamic. Sasha, a skilled climber, chooses kayaking in Australia over mountain climbing, unaware of the dangers that await. On her second day of the trip, she wakes up to find her gear stolen, and the trail leads her to Ben, a man who knows the forest inside and out. Though he appears helpful at first, Sasha is taken by shock when she realizes it was he who stole her things, not for survival, but to lure her into his hunting ritual. Before she can process anything else, he declares her his prey and sets up a window where she can run away in the hopes of escaping. The rest of this action thriller survival movie follows Ben as he sheds the last bits of his humanity and begins the most exhilarating chase of his life. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Ben’s Peculiar Use of Bird Calls Comes From a Desire to Become Inhuman

What makes Ben a truly terrifying antagonist in ‘Apex’ is not just how good he is at hunting his targets down, but the finer details of his character design and means of expression. At the peak of his hunting sessions, Ben ceases to speak almost entirely, and instead vocalizes short, shrill bursts of what sounds like animal alarm calls. Traditionally, such calls are used by birds and other prey animals like deer and macaques in order to alert others of danger, but Ben makes that voice his own, often denoting a surge of excitement with every holler. This dissonance lends itself to a number of interpretations regarding how Ben learned these sounds, each more unsettling than the last.

While it is not uncommon for seasoned hunters to mimic wildlife alarm calls to lure their prey, that doesn’t quite work in Ben’s context, whose hunts are primarily of humans. A basic explanation for his strange appropriation of the calls is that he has grown up hearing other animals make that sound while escaping, and now associates it with the thrill of hunting down a target. Though it should be challenging for human vocal cords to create those sounds so consistently, the fact that Ben was essentially raised in the wilderness explains how he might have adapted to the constraints.

Another, more symbolically developed interpretation for Ben’s usage of animal calls is that it’s his desire to belong that emerges from the subconscious. From what we know, Ben was born in the UK, but shifted permanently to Australia as a child. Given this, he has had a lifelong yearning to feel one with his surroundings, especially when it’s all nature. His animalistic characteristics can be seen as an extension of that intent, which explains why he is specifically using calls used by animals that move in groups. However, with him choosing to hunt and kill humans, the calls lose their intended meaning and are left in their hollow, warped form.

Ben Possibly Shaved His Own Teeth to Feel More Like a Predator

Towards the end of the movie, Ben takes off his dentures and reveals his real, serrated teeth to Sasha, which look more like fangs than human teeth. While several predatory animals are known to have prominent canines and generally more pointed teeth, the complete absence of structures like incisors and molars places Ben closer to sharks in terms of his teeth. As such, this scene similarly lends itself to a number of interpretations, starting with whether the tooth design is natural or created, and if it’s the latter, who crafted them to get so sharp. If it’s Ben himself who did it, then this can be seen as another case of him romanticizing a life of wilderness and predation, which causes him to overstep, or outright misinterpret how nature works.

Another, grimmer interpretation of Ben’s teeth connects back to his past, specifically his love for his mother. As the only thing we know about her is that she was Ben’s first victim, it isn’t too far-fetched to propose that her life and death might have influenced his twisted tendencies. Though we don’t know whether it was her, Ben, or someone else who shaved the teeth, given their unnatural appearance, there’s most likely a gnarly backstory involved. Though such teeth allow him to bite and attack people more easily, they ultimately prove useless when he loses to Sasha and, ironically, becomes the hunted.

Read More: Is Apex a True Story? Is Ben Based on a Real Serial Killer?