Dhruv Trivedi
‘The Deep House’ is a horror mystery that follows a young couple down into a sinister house at the bottom of a lake. Ben and Tina decide to explore the underwater structure in the hopes of getting some hair-raising footage for their online following.
However, when they stumble upon what appears to be a ritualistic crime scene inside the house, the young couple realizes it’s more than they bargained for. By then, it’s too late, and the slow buildup spirals into a surreal and paranormal conclusion. If the frantic climax left you with a few questions, we’re here to clear them up! Let’s take another look at the ending of ‘The Deep House.’ SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Deep House Plot Synopsis
The film opens with Ben and Tina exploring a house in Ukraine that’s rumored to be haunted. Ben is adept at finding unexplored, positively creepy locations to film and shares videos of his finds online. Looking to raise their online following, the two plan a trip to France to explore a sunken village. We are then taken three months on, to the day of the planned expedition. Just before leaving, Tina struggles to hold her breath for more than a minute and a half in the bathtub. However, when Ben asks, she confidently replies she can hold it for three minutes.
Upon reaching the lake, the couple is disappointed to see it is a tourist trap. Ben, who has a habit of befriending strangers, finds a man named Pierre, who promises to take them to an unexplored part of the lake. On the way there, Pierre explains how the lake was formed by submerging an abandoned village. Upon arrival, Ben and Tina dive into a seemingly deserted corner of the lake and, as described by Pierre, find a perfectly preserved house.
Finding all the doors and windows barred except for one at the top of the submerged house, the young couple enters and finds themselves surrounded by ominous vintage relics. Missing-children posters and pictures of kids impaled on spikes soon make Tina panic, but Ben pushes on, hoping to get even more unsettling footage. After discovering two bodies suspended by chains in the basement, Ben finally agrees to leave. However, upon arriving back at the window they had initially entered through, the panicking couple is shocked to find it blocked by a brick wall.
The Deep House Ending: Are Ben and Tina Dead?
Seemingly trapped inside the house and running out of oxygen, Tina begins to panic while Ben tries to calm her down. They try the windows on the lower floors, but none of them budge. Thinking there might be a way out through the basement, they go back to the room with the two bodies and are shocked to see the corpses come alive. In an attempt to get away from them, Ben and Tina try to climb out of the chimney but are knocked unconscious by an avalanche of small rocks.
When they finally come to, Tina finds Ben in one of the bedrooms in a strange stupor. He leads her to a room where the lights mysteriously come on, and an old-fashioned projector starts up. The film shows how the house’s owners tortured children and were subsequently murdered by angry villagers. Tina, horrified by the scenes and out of oxygen, tries to pull Ben away, but he is stabbed by the ghost of a young girl. The panicking diver then tries to escape through a well and finally digs her way out of the house. However, just before breaking the water’s surface, Tina suffocates from a lack of oxygen and becomes still.
Hence, the film ends on an ominous note, with both protagonists very likely dead. Ben is seemingly possessed by one of the ghosts when he is separated from Tina and therefore drags his girlfriend deeper into the house despite their dwindling oxygen. He briefly recovers when Tina stabs him out of panic and he comes to his senses. However, moments later, he is stabbed by the spirit of the young girl. Even if he survives the knife wound, Ben would undoubtedly die from a lack of oxygen.
Tina gets a better shot at survival and is actually able to escape from the house. However, she is forced to discard her oxygen tank in the process and holds her breath while she tries to dig her way out. Since the house lies at a depth of about thirty meters, by the time Tina sees light from the surface, she is almost unconscious from a lack of air. For a few moments, it seems like her desperate kicking might help her break the surface.
Unfortunately, Tina stops moving while still underwater and, therefore, most likely dies as well. Even if she surfaces, she is miles from civilization and cannot expect help from their treacherous guide Pierre. In fact, considering Pierre purposely sent Ben and Tina down to the house, he might even be waiting for her on the shore to finish the job, just in case she survives.
Who is Pierre?
Ben befriends Pierre at the lake, where the latter is first seen sitting and drinking a beer. Pierre promises to show them a secluded part of the lake that contains a perfectly preserved submerged house. He turns out to be right because Ben and Tina soon find themselves in a pristine corner of the lake and dive down to find the eerily well-preserved house.
However, Pierre’s character is a lot darker than that of a mere guide. While looking at the family photographs of residents of the submerged house, Ben discovers that Pierre is the offspring of the house’s owners. Therefore, Pierre sends the adventurous couple down with the full knowledge that he is sending them into a haunted death trap.
The grizzled guide’s motives are confirmed when the mysterious film playing in the submerged house shows that Pierre helped his father abduct and torture the neighborhood children. When the angry neighbors attacked Pierre’s family and killed them, he was the only one able to escape alive. Now, as the last living member of the family, Pierre seemingly sends unsuspecting victims down into the house.
This also puts into sinister perspective the prayer he mumbles just before Tina and Ben dive into the lake, as the house turns out to be the site for ritualistic killings. Since the chained bodies in the basement are revealed to be those of the owners of the house, we can infer that they are the bodies of Pierre’s parents.
Why is the House Underwater?
En route to the house, Pierre explains that their valley suffered a massive flood fifty years ago. To avoid another similar catastrophe, it was decided to abandon one of the villages and voluntarily flood it. Thus, Frais Lake was created. The house that Ben and Tina explore is one of the houses in this submerged village.
Pierre seemingly lived with his family in the house before it was submerged. Because it was used to hold captive and violently torture children, the house was sealed before the village was flooded. The owners of the house, Mister and Madam Montégnac, were left behind, chained to the cellar, and seemingly continue to haunt the house.
Read More: Is The Deep House Based on a True Story?
