No One Gets Out Alive (2021) Ending Explained – Was Ambar Actually Evil?

Welcome to Knockout Horror and to another Horror Movie Ending Explained. Today I’ll be explaining the ending of No One Gets Out Alive. We quite enjoyed this movie. It’s very middle of the road but certainly not bad.

To be honest, No One Gets Out Alive has a pretty straight forward ending. There is a slight twist, however. I say twist but you might describe it more as a wink to the audience. It’s quite unexpected but does it set up the potential for a sequel?

For full disclosure. I have fully rewritten this article. I originally released it sometime in 2022. Reading back, I wasn’t happy with the article. I have redone it completely and explained events a lot more thoroughly. I have also republished it as a new article. Hope you enjoy!

Spoilers Ahead

I probably don’t need to say this but this article will contain spoilers. I assume you are reading this after watching the movie. You probably wrapped things up and thought “what the hell?” Picked up your phone and slapped “No One Gets Out Alive Ending Explained” into Google. Still, it is always worth me mentioning. Just in case you stumbled on this article thinking it was a review.

If you haven’t checked out our review of No One Gets Out Alive, you can do so at the link. See whether my view matches up with your own. If it doesn’t. Feel free to grumble under your breath about how much of a dunce I am.

No One Gets Out Alive – Events So Far

So during the events of No One Gets Out Alive. We see Red gathering up victims for his brother to sacrifice to a box. I say box but, more specifically, it’s a monster inside of a box.

The box, apparently, has an ability to heal ailments for the person who brings sacrifices to it. In turn, said person becomes obsessed with the box. Makes sense, it’s a symbiotic relationship. Mutually beneficial to both the box and the person who feeds the box. The box heals the person. The person becomes obsessed with it. In turn, they do whatever they can to please the box. In this case, bringing human victims to it.

No One Gets Out Alive – Red is Helping his Brother

If we recall, earlier in the movie. Red alludes to the fact that his brother is sick. Due to his brother protecting him as a child. It’s Red’s turn to repay the favour. It is likely that Red’s brother is terminally ill. He needs to sacrifice people to the box to keep himself alive and healthy. Without doing this, he will likely die.

Red’s way of repaying the favour to Becker is to help him find sacrifices for the box. Red rents out rooms at the converted house. Most of the residents are young, single, transient girls. Easy victims, if you will. The girls are taken to the basement, tied to a table, and consumed by the monster in the box.

As long as Becker sacrifices women to the box he will stay healthy. It’s made apparent from the various apparitions that Ambar encounters. That the brothers have sacrificed a lot of women over the years. This has, obviously, been going on for a long time.

No One Gets Out Alive – Ambar Fights Back

So everything leading up to the final scenes of the movie is pretty straight forward. Ambar realises what is happening and attempts to escape. Unfortunately, she needs her deposit back. This allows Red to lure her back to the house. This is where the final scenes begin to take place.

Most of the stuff that happens here is pretty obvious. The two Romanian ladies chat with Ambar. They tell her that they have been having dreams about a stone box. Ambar eventually falls asleep only to wake up to Red restraining the girls. Ambar attacks Red to try and stop him from harming them. Her efforts prove fruitless, however, as Becker fights her off. All of a sudden, Ambar’s cousin Beto arrives, looking for her.

No One Gets Out Alive – Beto is Murdered

Beto walks into the house and begins looking around for Ambar. He never makes it very far, though. Unfortunately, Beto is bludgeoned off screen by Becker. Becker then takes one of the women to the basement.

We get some exposition next about the box and how the brothers acquired it. It belonged to their father who brought it back from Mexico in the 60s. Red’s father became obsessed with the box. His wife and him then trapped and murdered women to sacrifice to it. This explains the huge number of female apparitions Ambar saw earlier. These are the ghosts of the women murdered by Becker, Red and their parents. Becker and Red ended up killing their father after he sacrificed their mother to the box. Red wanted to leave but Becker was now obsessed with the box as it was healing him.

No One Gets Out Alive – Ambar is Taken to the Basement

Ambar is taken to the basement by Becker. While down there, she spots a stone table in the middle of the room. The box sits on top of an alter, ominously. Becker ties Ambar to the stone pillar and leaves the room. As Ambar lies on the stone pillar. She appears to enter a dream like state of fantasy.

She sees her cousin Beto enter the room. He appears to untie her and the pair try to escape. She spots the decapitated corpses of women hung up. She then sees her ailing mother on her deathbed. As we have learned throughout the movie. Ambar’s mother’s death haunts her. In her fantasy, her mother begs her to stay. While this is going on, a monstrous creature emerges from the box.

No One Gets Out Alive – The Monster is an Aztec Goddess

The origin of this monster was hinted at earlier in the movie. An image shown in a book depicts the deity Itzpapalotl. Itzpapalotl was an Aztec goddess. There is some deep lore that goes into this. Suffice to say, the Itzpapalotl in No One Gets Out Alive is rather different. Instead of male hearts, Itzpapalotl here consumes female heads. Still, Itzpapalotl stands for rejuvenation through sacrifice. In this case, the healing of illness and bones through the sacrifice of humans. Becker has been sacrificing human women to Itzpapalotl. In return, Itzpapalotl has provided healing for his ailments.

Back in Ambar’s fantasy world. Her mother begins to strangle her while begging her to stay. In the real world, it is the monster placing its hands around her head. Preparing to decapitate Ambar. Ambar fights back, suffocating her mother. This causes the monster to recoil back into the box. Ambar wakes up to find herself standing by the alter, alive and unharmed. It can be inferred that Ambar’s cousin Beto was still dead. He didn’t actually come into the room and untie her. This was part of her fantasy. Beto’s corpse remained on the stairs in the exact position Becker left him in earlier in the movie. As we will see shortly.

No One Gets Out Alive – Ambar’s Revenge

Ambar can hear Becker and Red preparing the next sacrifice. She grabs a weapon (a Mexican Macuahuitl) and heads upstairs. Bursting into the room, she hits Red repeatedly knocking him out and wounding him. She then slices Becker’s stomach but he manages to wrestle the weapon away. He knocks her down and breaks her leg. Petra tries to escape but is grabbed by Becker. He viciously throws Petra over the stairs and she falls to her death.

Becker, once again, turns his attention to Ambar. He strangles her and pins her against the wall. Ambar had grabbed a piece of the Macuahuitl and slices Becker’s throat. Becker falls to the floor and dies.

Seeing what Becker did to Petra. Ambar seeks to take revenge on Red. She takes Red to the basement and straps him to the alter next to the box. I suppose we have to suspend disbelief for a minute or two here. A healthy average sized woman would have a hard time dragging around a full grown man. The impossibly difficult task it would be for one with a compound leg fracture. It doesn’t even bear mention. The monster comes out of the box and consumes Red’s head.

No One Gets Out Alive – A Little Plot Twist

This is where the twist comes in. As Ambar is walking away, about to leave the house, her leg suddenly heals. She turns around, seeming realising what has just happened. Butterflies, the symbol of the goddess Itzpapalotl fly around the house and land on her. Indicating that she feels the presence of the deity in the box. Ambar has a discomforting look on her face. She re-enters the house knowing full well that she is now obsessed with the box.

It is pretty clear from this ending that Ambar is the new chosen one. The monster in the box wants Ambar to be the next person to bring sacrifices to it. Ambar is healed, as is one of the benefits of the box. In turn, she immediately becomes obsessed with it. Ambar will now take the place of Red and Becker. She will entice people into her home and kidnap them. Bringing new victims to the box and continuing the cycle.

Does this set up a sequel? Probably not, it just seems like a little wink to the audience. Horror movies like to be a little cheesy and this seems to be the case here. Still, I would be fairly interested in the type of victims Ambar would entice. Would she attempt to feed evil men to the box? Perverts, rapists and the like? That would be seriously interesting. It would make for a nice contrast to the themes of this movie.

No One Gets Out Alive – Troubling Themes

One of my biggest issues was this movie’s depiction of violence towards women. The monster happily consumes Red at the end. It will clearly take victims of any kind. So why only women?

You could suggest that young women would make easier targets than full grown men. I don’t think it is this, however. I would actually suggest the creators thought it would be easier to present women as victims. When it comes to horror movies, female characters are worryingly disposable. Not to mention the added bonus that violence against women resonates with people more. This isn’t a positive thing. I feel as though No One Gets Out Alive over-indulges in its violence towards women. I doubt there is a message there. It is very gratuitous. It’s just an unfortunate way that some movies like to present things. A range of victims here would have been much better.

The scene with Petra being thrown off the staircase, for example, felt spiteful and needless. The only non-antagonist male killed in the movie is killed off screen with no graphic violence. There may be nothing behind this, of course. It may be purely coincidence. But when you line these things up together, it isn’t a good look. It’s also worth noting that said male was not fed to the monster for whatever reason? I guess they have to be alive.

Yes, I get it, this is a horror and it is kind of senseless to complain. But when a movie presents things in this way it starts to look a little strange. Especially when the female protagonist essentially becomes a villain in the final scene.

No One Gets Out Alive – And That is That

When all is said and done. This was a basic, by the numbers, horror movie with a basic, by the numbers, ending. Ambar escaped from the basement through sheer force of will. She killed Becker then knocked Red unconscious. Somehow she dragged him to the basement with a completely broken leg. Ambar fed him to the monster in the box. The monster, in turn, healed Ambar and Ambar became obsessed with the box. Ambar will now bring sacrifices to the box. Either setting up a sequel or just winking to the audience.

Thanks for reading. I have recently completely rewritten this article as my original version was pants. This one is a lot more comprehensive. If you enjoyed reading. Why not come back soon? We review horror movies, explain horror movie endings and make horror lists. I update nearly every day, sometimes multiple times a day. There’s new quality content all the time. Not just copy and paste horror news and 300 word reviews.