The New Daughter ending explained: John's attempt to kill mound-walkers was in vain

Horror isn't really a go-to genre for Kevin Costner, but he does a good job being a dad, be it John Dutton III in the 2018 TV series, Yellowstone, or John James in the 2009 movie, The New Daughter. The former is a banger. The latter? Not really. However, it does a good job of leaving the audiences confused after it ends.

The film did confirm one thing: The mound-walkers, the creatures lurking around the forest where they live, were in full swing despite John's attempt to kill them. This is confirmed in the final scene where his little son, Sam (Gattlin Griffith), is watching the explosion from a distance in horror.

As of this writing, the film holds a 40% critics' approval and 24% audience approval at Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the fact that it was panned, it's still a movie to watch for its cinematography and performances by the actors, especially Kevin Costner.

How did The New Daughter confirm the survival of mound-walkers?

Gattlin Griffith plays Sam James in The New Daughter. (Image via Gold Circle Films)

The ending of the film is dark and the tunnel scene where Costner's character is clearing out these mound-walkers could give some fans a sense of suffocation, much like the rat tunnels of Vietnam in Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010).

John is trying to save her daughter Louisa (Ivana Baquero), whom these mound-walkers have chosen as their new queen. She is inside the tunnel, covered in the mound and he walks in with a shotgun. As he tries to extract her from there, the creatures start attacking them.

He keeps them away and kills a few of them too, before successfully coming out of that tunnel. However, unbeknownst to them, one creature is already there waiting for them. They could have escaped that place if it wasn't for the creature who prompts John to burn him alive using the fuel spilled outside the tunnel.

He uses a flare sitting near the tunnel's entrance, which results in a large explosion that can be seen from a distance. His decision is influenced by another factor and not just this creature outside. John sees her daughter transforming into one of those mound-walkers. She is basically the new daughter now.

All this happens and Sam watches this explosion, thinking that his dad and sister are goners now. However, we can easily see a figure emerging from the burning forest in a picture frame he is holding.

And then in the background, creatures can be seen crawling over the house and one simply emerges behind Sam just before the film cuts to black, confirming the survival of mound-walkers in The New Daughter.

Mound-walkers' survival don't come as a surprise

Mound-walkers are all over the forest in The New Daughter. (Image via Gold Circle Films)

Survival of the mound-walkers in the film doesn't come as a surprise, as John wasn't clearing them but saving his daughter. However, he did try to get rid of that mound using a bulldozer but that doesn't guarantee the creatures' end for good.

The film makes it real clear that the creatures have been dwelling in the forest for a long time, which also means that they are all over the forest. The explosion happens near the tunnel, but the rest of the area remains clear, and the mound-walkers we saw as the film ends, they probably were the rest of them.