In The Tall Grass ending explained: Here's how the time loop works

In The Tall Grass is a film in the supernatural horror genre, which was written and directed by Vincenzo Natali. The Canadian film is an adaptation of Stephen King and his son Joe Hill's 2012 namesake novella. It was produced by M. Riley, Steve Hoban, and Jimmy Miller and was released on Netflix on October 4, 2019, after a premiere at the Fantastic Fest.

Its official synopsis, as per Letterboxd, reads:

"After hearing a child screaming for help from the green depths of a vast field of tall grass, Becky, a pregnant woman, and Cal, her brother, park their car near a mysterious abandoned church and enter the field, discovering that they are not alone and, for some reason, they are unable to escape a completely inextricable vegetable labyrinth."

Let us look into the film's ending and the time loop that is woven into the plot.

How does In The Tall Grass end?

A still from In The Tall Grass | Image via Netflix YouTube

As In The Tall Grass reaches its end, we see Becky DeMuth (played by Laysla De Oliveira) stabbing Ross Humboldt (Patrick Wilson) and escaping the scene. However, a figure inside the grass drags her back as she suffers a miscarriage. This causes her to lose consciousness.

But when she wakes up, Cal DeMuth (Avery Whitted) is feeding her own foetus to her and calls it 'grass.' He is accompanied by Ross, who eventually attacks Travis. The two get into a fight where Becky stops Ross from forcing Tobin to touch a piece of rock.

Towards the end, Becky passes away due to the trauma she sustains from the miscarriage. Meanwhile, Travis k*lls Ross by by suffocating him with grass. A dying Travis decides to touch the rock and then uses it to bring Tobin back inside the church.

Here's how the time loop of In The Tall Grass functions

In In The Tall Grass, the time loop device runs throughout the story, but much of it is covered in mystery. Towards the end, Tobin shows up from the church during a time when Cal and Becky had just gone inside the grass. Tobin tries to warn them not to enter the grass and even shows Becky her necklace from the future.

Becky senses that something is not right and asks for Tobin to be taken to the police. As the story moves towards the end, Travis passes away due to the wound. The tall grass actually changes and manipulates space as characters keep circling back to one location and are unable to leave the field. Besides that, the spirit inside the field also changes over time.

All three characters get stuck inside a time loop and are then forced to follow the voices of each other. This means that all these people will keep on dying on a loop and will be murdered by Ross Humboldt. The only way out is if they touch the rock, which gives them the information on how to leave the field. But the spirit also ensures that the person inside doesn't want to leave.

What are your thoughts on the film's ending?