Disquiet (2023) Ending Explained: ‘Disquiet’ is a horror movie written and directed by Michael Winnick. It stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Garry Chalk, Rachelle Goulding, Elyse Levesque, Lochlyn Munro, and Trezzo Mahoro. Unfortunately, it’s an excruciatingly dull film, and it is shocking to see Meyers being part of a production like this. And it’s evident that the casting choice was to give it some respectability. It is difficult to understand whether his horrid performance is deliberate, to add to the camp, or if he really is just, like us, wondering how he ended up in this film. Chalk’s dignified performance as Virgil and a heavy literary allegory that runs throughout is hardly enough to make this even watchable.
Disquiet (2023) Plot Summary
Sam is the founder of a start-up and a workaholic. He is married to Sarah, and they are expecting a baby. He has cheated on her in the past, but the two got over that. The only trouble in their marriage at present is how obsessed with his work Sam is, leaving him with little time for his wife. One day, after dropping her off at her job, he gets into a brutal car accident with a small truck being driven by a drunk man. The latter dies on the spot while Sam is taken to a hospital. His wife’s declaration of her love for him is the last thing he remembers hearing as he is being wheeled into an operation theater.
When Sam wakes up, he finds himself in an uncannily quiet hospital room. He calls for help but to no avail. The comatose man next to him, who has seemingly been in that state for a while, suddenly attacks him. Sam fights this unnaturally agile man and ends up stabbing him with a scalpel. When a nurse arrives to answer his call, the comatose man is suddenly back in his bed and then disappears, along with the nurse.
Elsewhere in the hospital, a woman by the name of Monica is about to undergo breast enhancement surgery. Just as she gets anesthetized, she notices that the two surgeons have turned faceless. When she wakes up, she is attacked by a trio of blood-soaked, scantily bandaged women. Sam, after escaping from the clutches of the comatose man, hears Monica’s cries for help. He knocks down one of the three women, and the two escape.
Then, they run into a man, Carter, who is handcuffed to a bed. A racist police officer shot him for being the supposed partner of a robber. It so happens that the police officer who shot him is also in this hospital, and they are to meet him soon enough. He, too, is trying to find his way out like the rest of them. He was injured by a bullet from the robber’s gun.
The three decide to take the fire exit, but Sam stops in his tracks when he notices that there’s smoke rising from a fire at the bottom of the stairs. An imposing orderly pulls him out and appears to be a threat when a woman knocks him down, Dr. Lily. She stitches his wound up and leaves. On waking up, Sam meets a wheelchair-bound man named Virgil. He suggests that he head for the roof to survey what is happening and see if he can signal for help. Given that there’s no phone reception inside the hospital – the telephone lines are dead, there’s no WiFi, and darkness surrounds the hospital – that seems like Sam’s best bet. Yet when he runs into Dr. Lily again, she suggests that they head for the ground floor, as that’s where he stands the best chance of escaping.
Disquiet (2023 )Ending Explained
Who are the supernatural creatures?
This creepy, empty hospital in which Sam and the others have found themselves is in a state of limbo. Those who have died in the real world find themselves here. If one dies in this realm or chooses to remain in it, they become violent inhabitants of the place, attacking anyone they come across. That’s what these creatures are whom Sam, Monica, Carter, and the police officer keep running into.
Who are Virgil and Dr. Lily?
Virgil is a ‘guide,’ much like Dr. Lily is. The difference is that he guides the souls of the dead to heaven. He is benevolent, unlike Lily, who takes people to hell with her or keeps them trapped as monsters of limbo. During an encounter with Dr. Lily, Sam imagines her arm as that of a monster’s. Indeed, Dr. Lily is a malevolent being who tempts her targets to go to the ground floor, or hell, by lying to them about how the normal life that they left behind awaits them there.
The imposing orderly that Sam keeps running into is not someone who wishes to harm him but actually works for Virgil. Dr. Lily keeps attacking him to make it seem like she’s saving Sam and, by doing so, can convince him to go to the ground floor. Virgil’s name is itself a dead giveaway as it’s taken from Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy.’ In that epic, the ancient Roman poet Virgil guides Dante from the nine circles of Hell, through Purgatory, to Heaven in the end. In ‘Disquiet,’ Virgil and Dr. Lily’s natures are established as soon as they are introduced. Dr. Lily is hasty and judgemental, while Virgil is more considerate and patient as they discuss what fate awaits Sam. Both have their own agendas to fulfill in the limbo, i.e., the hospital.
At the end of the film, Sam runs into the child he had come across earlier, who was violently begging him for his help. The child’s face is half-burnt. Virgil asks Sam to listen to her instead of being afraid. She tells him that she is lost and wants to leave, but not with the ‘bad lady’ (Dr. Lily). As Sam is helping the little girl reach the roof with him, he has flashbacks to the final moments of his life. Virgil saves Sam from another attack and tells him that the lifeless ones, the not-zombies, want him to stay. But whether he does or not is entirely his choice.
Sam’s realization that the comatose man is an older version of himself gives us a clue to the fact that those who choose to stay in limbo remain at the actual hospital as comatose patients. He decides to head for the roof, from which sunlight emanates, unlike the bottom, which is a well of fire. Virgil tells Sam that he has to leave him now as he needs to guide Carter to make the right choice. Just as Sam goes to the roof with the little girl, Dr. Lily stops him and asks him to head down with her.
She informs him that Monica and the cop chose to stay behind. Sam says that he chooses the roof anyway, and the orderly pulls her away to let him escape. As he reaches the roof and is about to walk into the sunshine and enter heaven, he sees a message on his phone. It is from his wife, Sarah, telling him she loves him. He replies that so does he and enters the roof. The message reaches Sarah as Sam breathes his last in the real world.
Thus, the vain Monica and the racist, violent cop choose to remain in their limbo, raging. Sam, confused in his life but not lost, wisely guided by Virgil, decides to leave that place. One can hope that Virgil guides Carter, an innocent victim, similarly.
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Disquiet Movie Information
Disquiet External Link: Rotten Tomatoes
Rating: R (Language|Violence|Some Nudity)
Genre: Mystery & thriller
Original Language: English
Director: Michael Winnick
Producer: Steven Paul
Writer: Michael Winnick
Release Date (Theaters): , Limited
Runtime: Distributor: SP Media Group
Production Co: SP Media Group, Government Island
