In recent years, horror films have been taking big creative swings through their styles and presentations. Many of them don’t rely on cheap jump scares and have layers of subtext. At times, they are experiential mood pieces with minimal plots. Erlingur Óttar Thoroddsen’s “The Piper” (2023) on Tubi also has a thin plot and builds its horror through its audio-visual elements. It follows a young composer who decides to finish the concerto of her recently deceased mentor. During the process, she realizes something about the melody that affects her fate.
Spoilers Ahead
The Piper (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“The Piper,” written & directed by Erlingur Óttar Thoroddsen, follows a young female maestro who needs to take over the responsibility of a secret concerto composed by her late mentor. As she tries to learn its melodies, she realizes some horrifying truths that change her life for the worse.
What is ‘The Piper’ on Tubi about?
“The Piper” on Tubi begins with the death of Katharine (Louise Gold), a respected maestro, who dies under mysterious circumstances in her lavish mansion. Despite her death, Gustafson (Julian Sands) begins conducting a group of musicians under his guidance. After one of their sessions, he singles out Melanie ‘Mel’ Walker (Charlotte Hope), a young flutist. He believes she does not live up to his expectations and the level of his orchestra. Gustafson’s entitled behavior annoys pianist Nancy (Kate Nichols) and her young daughter, Zoe (Aoibhe O’Flanagan).
Mel and Nancy realize that Gustafson favors Franklin (Philipp Christopher) with the responsibility of the concerto instead of the female players because Franklin always stays on Gustafson’s good side and butters him up. Once Franklin leaves, Mel meets Gustafson in his office and asks for his permission to conduct Katharine’s concerto. Gustafson claims Mel isn’t ready for such a big responsibility. He reveals it was written while Katherine was studying abroad in Hanover, inspired by European folklore and myth. Despite his scorn, Mel is determined to conduct the concerto.
Why does Alice not want to share Katharine’s concerto?
Gustafson says Katherine’s concerto is dangerous. That’s why her sister Alice (Pippa Winslow) doesn’t allow him to have it. Since Mel is determined to conduct it, he tells her to get it from her. She arrives at Katharine’s mansion to meet Alice, who immediately realizes why she is there. Alice calls Mel a money-hungry opportunist who wants to earn from her sister’s genius while not even letting her have the time to mourn Katharine’s death. Mel says Katharine would have wanted her legacy to live on through her work. But Alice reveals a shocking truth: Katharine tried to set herself on fire and burn herself to death because of that same concerto. That’s why she refuses to give it to Mel or Gustafson.
Since Alice doesn’t give her the concerto, Alice drives away. Then, she walks through the woods toward the mansion and sneaks in. In a dark room, she plays a record. Once it starts pouring outside, she hears a window break when a bird bumps into it. Scared, she steals some material from Katharine’s storage. In the darkness of the house, she notices a figure, which gives her the creeps. Later, she hands over what she found to Gustafson, who wonders where the third movement is. Mel believes she can work with her expertise in Katharine’s work and build collective harmonies to finish the concerto.
What does Mel realise about Katharine’s melodies?
Alice begins to listen to Katharine’s tapes and reads her concerto. While doing so, she has strange, horrifying visions. She meets her friend and professor, Philip (Alexis Rodney), to discuss the compositions. He reveals his opinion on what can be in the third movement. Their discussion soon leads to how harmonies were once connected to demonic visions and hallucinations. Back home, Nancy’s son, Colin (Oliver Savell), hears a part of Katharine’s tapes and has similarly horrifying visions. Soon after, he goes missing.
The Piper (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
Does Mel survive the horror of the piper?
When Gustafson conducts the orchestra, Mel’s nose starts bleeding. Franklin collapses in the middle of his performance. Back home, she reads The Pied Piper of Hamelin to Zoe, which revolves around a sinister melody. Later, Zoe listens to the tapes by herself. Then, she begins to have strange hallucinations. Mel realizes Zoe is scared. So, she begins to teach her flute. But it doesn’t calm her down. At night, as Mel begins to write the remaining melodies, Zoe walks up to her table. She notices Mel’s face is turned into that of a monster. Once Zoe burns a page from the concerto, Mel returns to her normal state. So, Zoe tells her that working on a concerto isn’t good for her.
Later, Gustafson betrays Mel and gives the job back to Franklin even if it angers Mel. Then, under the influence, Nancy tries to kill herself. Mel figures out the concerto’s connection to the pied piper’s story. She heads to Katharine’s mansion, where Alice reveals Katharine’s traumatizing past and her connection to another world. Alice feels bad about what music did to her sister. As Philip continues researching this matter, an evil force takes over his body and forces him to injure his ears. While that happens, Gustafson continues with Katherine’s concerto, which leads everyone to a nightmarish reality. As the room turns dark, a ghoulish piper appears on the stage.
Through a portal, the creature leads kids from the audience to an alternate reality. Suddenly, everyone finds themselves in a snowscape. Mel notices them from a distance and tries to relieve them from their misery. Back in their world, Mel and Zoe begin playing harmony on their flutes, which affects the evil creature. It soon gets consumed by a pack of rats. Once it disappears, Mel has a sigh of relief. However, unlike her, no kid remembers the incident. In the end, we see the evil still in the world as it likely inhabits Zoe’s body.
The Piper (2023) Movie – Final Word:
Although more experiential, “The Piper” suffers not from its minimal plot but from its lack of subtext. It hopes we will be intrigued by its cinematic trickery while forgetting to write characters that we can be emotionally invested in.
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