Directed by Gabriel Abrantes, the 2023 horror thriller “Amelia’s Children” initially captivates us with its fluent narrative in the first half. However, as the film approaches its climax, it begins to falter, culminating in an abrupt ending. The story revolves around Edward’s quest to find his biological parents, with his girlfriend Riley accompanying him into uncharted territory. Despite encountering warning signs urging them to turn back, Edward’s determination to uncover his identity compels Riley to remain by his side. While the film delivers an eerie and haunting experience initially, it gradually devolves into a messy witch-hunt narrative devoid of a satisfying conclusion.
Spoilers Ahead
Amelia’s Children (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The film starts with Amelia putting her two kids to sleep while two strangers, a man and a woman, silently break into her mansion. They follow Amelia quietly as they wait for the right moment to kidnap her children. When Amelia exits one room, leaving behind one of her children in bed, the woman enters and runs away with the child. Amelia later finds a car outside the mansion and as she turns back, she sees a man grabbing her another child and running away.
Amelia, helpless as she is, screams in agony at the man, and right after that, we see Amelia’s eyes going all-white. The woman who is waiting in the car with another of Amelia’s children sees Amelia running at the car, screaming. She starts the car and runs away, knowing that the man is not coming back. Amelia manages to save one of her children while the other is kidnapped. Amelia seems to have some special abilities, and she feeds her children something unusual.
How does Edward find out about Amelia?
Years later, Edward gets a call from Woodland Foster Homes that does not say much about his query about his biological parents. Edward does not know anything about his parents so he is looking out whether there is any hope remaining to find about them. That night, his girlfriend Riley gifts him a gene reader to celebrate his birthday. Edward puts his hand, and the app AnceStory starts checking on their database. Later that night, the app sends the evaluation result to Edward’s phone, from which he learns that the app has found his brother, Manuel Castro.
The following morning, after discussing with Riley, Edward finds out that Manuel himself has texted him, and then Edward calls him. When Manuel learns that Edward’s age is the same as his, he says that he is intrigued, knowing that whatever he has heard about Edward is true, that they are identical. Manuel asks Edward to come home as their mother is very excited to see him. Without any delay, Edward goes to Portugal with Riley. In the meantime, when Riley asks about the address of a local shop owner, they behave very awkwardly with them.
Later when Edward meets with Manuel, he finds out that they are indeed identical. Both Edward and Riley are intrigued to see such a huge property as they enter the mansion. Manuel comes in the middle of the night and asks Edward to meet with his mother, Amelia. Edward finally meets with Amelia whose appearance somehow shocks him as this is not what he is expecting. Later, he tells Riley that Amelia’s face is kind of haunting at first glance. Riley does not care much about this as she is happy to see Edward finally finding his mother and brother, the one thing he has craved for so long.
When does Riley start doubting Amelia’s intentions?
The following day, Riley sees Amelia for the first time, and they have a little chat. Later that night, when Riley is heading toward her room from the toilet, she hears Amelia and Manuel talking to each other behind the closed door. They are talking in Portuguese. Therefore, Riley opens up her translator from the phone and learns that Amelia is talking about Manuel having children and how he can become her chosen son. Amelia also talks about being young again, and then Riley learns that Amelia is telling Manuel that Riley is listening to their talk from outside.
Riley then tells Edward that there is something bizarre happening in the house, which is that his brother sleeps with his mother. Anyway, the following day, Riley finds some photographs from the past while talking to her friend Jay on the phone inside the meditation room. The man in the picture has a resemblance to Edward, and the woman looks like Amelia. Before Riley can find out more, Manuel calls her from outside, and she closes the trunk from where she has the pictures. At night, Riley has a bad dream where she sees Amelia going through their luggage. However, the following day, she does find out that their clothes are folded, which was not before.
What makes Riley leave Edward?
One morning, when Ryley is out talking to Jay about the nightmare, Edward ventures around the forest in search of her. There, he comes across a cottage-like place where he sees someone crawling in pain. He loses consciousness and later finds himself in the meditation room in front of Manuel. Manuel gives him tea and puts something in it (the exact liquid that Amelia used to give to her children before they fell asleep). Later we see Manuel exploring Edward’s nightmares through some sort of psychic power. Soon, Edward sees Riley in place of Manuel. However, her voice is exactly Manuel’s.
Edward returns to his room, and Riley tells him about leaving the place as the place makes her feel uncomfortable. Edward behaves awkwardly in the beginning, like he is trying to push his anger away. But soon, he calls Riley ‘bitch’, which is very surprising to Riley. Edward has a very calm and composed nature, and Riley knows that she has not said anything to get such a reaction from him. Riley is furious with such a conundrum and decides to leave Edward for good. She shouts at him even and later calls Jay, saying that she will leave Edward here as he is sort of obsessed with his family.
What does Riley learn about Amelia?
While talking to Jay, Riley finds out about the woman she had met earlier (the shop owner from before). Riley asks her about Amelia, and the woman brings her to her home. Sra. Vieira, the woman, shows Riley some of the pictures from the past where she finds the man she had seen earlier in the photographs. Also, the man and woman in the photograph are the ones who tried to kidnap Amelia’s daughter in the past. Anyway, Vieira tells her that Arthur, the man in the photograph, is the father of Edward, and the woman, Filha, is Vieira’s daughter. Filha used to tell Vieira that Arthur’s family has a history of black magic, as his mother was a witch.
She used to inbreed with her own sons to have more sons, and if she gave birth to a daughter, she would kill her in an instant. Arthur and Filha were in love together and decided to set themselves free from Amelia. However, Filha never returns home, and it is predicted that Arthur is still caged inside the house somewhere. This explains why the men in the photograph, Edward and Manuel, all look the same. The man Riley saw in the picture in the meditation room is perhaps the biological father to Arthur, Manuel and Edward. Knowing all of this, Riley runs to the mansion to explain everything to Edward.
Amelia’s Children (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
Is Riley able to save Edward from Amelia?
As soon as Riley enters the mansion, she finds out that Edward and Manuel are dancing with Amelia. Riley asks Edward to come and talk to her in private, to which Amelia reacts. She starts crying, blaming Riley that she is trying to take away her sons. Later, Riley finds out that Manuel has kept his car right in front of the garage so that she can not bring her car out. So, Riley walks to Vieira’s house along with Edward. She enters the house from the back and grabs the photographs from before. Vieira was not found inside the house.
Riley shows all the proofs to Edward and packs their bags. Edward, too, has made up his mind to go away for a few days. He still does not want to bid farewell to his bizarre family. But Riley gives him time to exchange goodbyes. Later, Riley finds out that AnceStory has sent a voice note in which they explain that in Edward’s DNA, they have found traces of inbreeding that definitely proves Vieria’s statement. In the meantime, two incidents start taking place simultaneously. Manuel has come to kill Riley, and Amelia has put Edward into some sort of hallucination.
While Riley is trying to find a way out, Amelia starts intercourse with Edward. Edward, on the other hand, being under the shackles of hallucination, sees Amelia as Riley and fails to understand the situation. Riley finds Vieira’s body before she sees Manuel coming to the garage with a knife. Later she sees an old man crawling in the basement of the garage who looks like Arthur. Later, Riley manages to come back to the mansion and sees Amelia having sex with Edward. When Amelia leaves the room, Riley takes Edward with her.
She hits Manuel as he falls from upstairs and injures himself badly. While Riley is trying to take Edward away from the house, Amelia comes at her with a knife. She even stabs her once on the shoulder. However, before she can do more damage, Arthur comes and grabs Amelia. Amelia continuously stabs Arthur, and he does not let her go. Riley takes advantage of the situation and leaves the mansion with Edward as soon as possible. Later we see Amelia alive, while Manuel is finding it very hard to breathe.
At the end of the film, we see young Amelia dancing with Manuel after she successfully puts her newborn baby to sleep. This signifies that her union with Manuel was fruitful, allowing Amelia to rejuvenate her younger self. In essence, Amelia relies on bearing children with her sons to maintain her youth, adhering to the ancient tradition of inbreeding associated with black magic. The fate of Riley and Edward remains uncertain. However, it appears unlikely that they will return to Portugal in the future.
