Relic (2020) Ending Explained

Welcome to Knockout Horror. If you are new here, we review horror movies, explain horror movie endings, and put out horror movie ranking lists. Today, we are explaining the ending to the horror movie Relic (2020).

I know, it is 2025 and I am explaining the ending to a movie from five years ago. Seems a bit strange but there is a good reason for that. This was, actually, a reader request so if it seems a little late, that’s why. Remember, you can request an ending explained at the bottom of this article. If I get enough requests or something takes my fancy, I may just put out an article.

Relic is an Aussie horror movie that, basically, puts a monstrous spin on the very real life trauma that comes from witnessing a relative suffer from dementia. It’s quite similar to The Babadook, in that respect as it uses a lot of horror tropes as allegories for real world situations.

As always, we will recap the plot and then get to answering some questions. Keep in mind, I am a fallible human so I may make mistakes or interpret things in a different way from you. Without further ado, let’s take a look. Oh, and remember that there will be spoilers. You can check out our review of Relic right here.

Let’s Recap The Film

Relic opens up with a scene depicting a bath overflowing and an elderly woman standing naked at the door of her home. This gives us a bit of a hint of what we are in for, here. We are introduced to Kay (Emily Mortimer) early on and we quickly learn that the elderly woman is Kay’s mother Edna (Robyn Nevin). Kay also has an adult daughter called Sam (Bella Heathcote).

Kay receives a phone call from a police officer who had a report from a concerned neighbour. Edna, has been missing from her rural home for several days. Naturally, quite concerned, Kay and Sam drive out to the house. It is hinted that the relationship between Kay and her mother is a little strained but, obviously, Kay still cares enough to head there straight away.

They arrive at Edna’s house which is in a state of disarray. Things are messy, the fruit is rotten, and post-it notes are stuck everywhere. Some are just simple reminders like “Turn off tap”, “Take Your Pills”, while others are slightly spooky ones. Have to be honest, this part actually had me pretty amped for the rest of the film as this was a suitably scary and ominous scenario. Especially some of the notes.

A strange, black, mould like substance is visible in patches on the walls hinting that the place is neglected. The black mould stuff will come into the plot a lot more, later on, acting as something of a metaphor for Dementia itself. The next door neighbour’s son, Jamie, appears while out patrolling during the night. He tells Sam that he hasn’t seen Edna for a long time as his dad told him not to go to the house anymore.

There’s a lot of hints at cyclical trauma and the hereditary nature of both psychological and physiological issues, here. All told through things like old photos, pieces of furniture, and clothing but we will get into that a little later in the article.

Edna’s Return

Kay and Sam, along with local police, search the surrounding woods for Edna, but find no trace of her. They also notice strange things about the house like creaking noises and the continuing spread of the mould. Kay relates to Sam that Edna had called her a few weeks before scared that someone was in her house.

That night, Kay has a disturbing dream of a blackened corpse inside a dilapidated old cabin on the property. Again, this is the movie’s way of blending together the metaphorical with the actual supernatural.

Suddenly, Edna reappears in the kitchen acting as if nothing ever happened. She is dishevelled and won’t talk about where she has been. Edna also has a large, dark, and unnatural looking bruise on her chest. She seems confused and irritated by Kay and Sam’s presence and slightly baffled by the fuss they are making over her.

Naturally, things aren’t looking too good, despite Edna’s return relatively unharmed and an all clear from the doctor. So Kay and Sam decide to stay and look after her. That will prove to be a smart move because Edna’s behaviour will soon become increasingly erratic.

Edna Suffers a Big Decline

When Kay confronts Edna, she acts as though her disappearance was no big deal. She just went out for a bit and would have stayed home if she knew it would have caused these problems. Kay is, obviously, troubled by the experience and shocked at Edna’s dismissal.

Later on, Sam and Kay chat and Sam asks Kay about some of the pictures she had drawn. Apparently they showed a cabin on the property that Kay absolutely hated. This cabin is the cabin that Kay dreams about repeatedly. It will come into play a little later on.

Apparently Kay’s grandfather suffered from Dementia and was extremely ill towards the end. He was locked away from everyone and not cared for. Kay believes that the lack of appropriate care for him didn’t help so she doesn’t want to do the same by her own mother. She wants to put her into a retirement home but Sam is reluctant.

That night, Kay wakes up and finds Edna roaming the halls and talking to a presence only she can see. Kay takes her back to bed where Edna suddenly believes there is something in the room. She asks Kay to check under the bed and she obliges. While under there, she sees the shadow of something breathing. Again, this is a metaphor that we discuss a little later in the article.

The next day, Kay visits the retirement home but is, clearly, very overcome by the reality of the situation. Sam and Edna share a nice moment dancing but it’s all spoiled when Sam offers to move in to help care for Edna.

Edna is offended and mistakes Sam for Kay before berating her for stealing the ring that was actually gifted to her earlier in the film. Sam will be left even more confused later when Edna shares a tender moment with her and asks her if she is sure about moving into the house to care for her. Again, reflecting the ever changing nature of Edna’s condition.

It Gets Worse

As the situation begins to grow more serious and Edna seems more violent, Sam heads to the neighbour’s house. She wants to know why Jamie isn’t allowed to come over, anymore. It turns out, Jamie was playing hide and seek when Edna locked him in his hiding place, completely forgetting he was there, all day. Obviously, this terrified the boy who has additional needs.

Meanwhile, Kay finds Edna in the garden tearing photos out of an album and attempting to bury it to keep it safe. Edna reacts violently to her attempting to help her before calming down and relating her dislike of the house and fear of losing everything. Kay asks her to move into her home in Melbourne and Edna agrees before becoming confused again.

Sam returns to the house while Kay and Edna are in the garden and discovers a hidden corridor. In this corridor she finds massive amounts of mould on the walls. Again, this is a metaphor that we will go into later. Sam eventually gets lost and can’t find her way out. Edna’s decline continues, she is now extremely distant and wetting herself. Her pee happens to look like the black mould on the walls, as well.

The dark bruise on Edna’s chest is now turning into rotting flesh which she scratches in the bath. As the bath water overflows, it hits an electric heater which trips the circuit breaker plunging the house into darkness.

The Actual Horror Starts

Kay retrieves a light and looks for her mum. When she finds her, she is acting violently, grunting, and throwing objects. It’s clear that she is no longer herself and has, seemingly, become a monster. The house around them is now physically beginning to rot and the mould grows even worse.

Sam, who is still trapped in the hidden part of the house, finds that the walls are physically closing in on her. The corridor narrows to the point where she has to crawl and use her phone for light.

Sam starts to break through a wall to escape but suddenly hears Kay. After the pair meet up, Kay relates that Edna isn’t who she used to be and that they need to run. The pair head into the passageway and try to escape. Edna appears suddenly, contorted and, frankly, looking pretty creepy. She crawls after the pair and tries to stop Kay escaping through the hole before breaking through the wall with them.

She attacks both Kay and Sam before Kay knocks her out with the pipe. As the pair go to leave the house, everything suddenly starts to return to normal. Edna calls Kay’s name, looking at a post-it-note that reads “I am Loved” while smiling. As they go to leave the house, Kay has a change of heart and locks Sam outside.

Kay carries her mother up to the bedroom and lays her on the bed. There, she peels off her rotting flesh to reveal the black figure that Kay ad been seeing in her dreams. She cuddles her mother before being joined by Sam. As they all lie together, Sam notices a black mark on Kay’s back and the movie ends. Okay, let’s explain some stuff and then answer some questions.

The Real Monster is Dementia

Everything that happens in Relic is a metaphor for grief and dementia. The mould, the hidden areas of the house, the peeling of Edna’s skin, Edna becoming a monster. It’s all a symbolic depiction of the way dementia afflicts both the person suffering from it and the people close to them.

We have both the literal and the metaphorical here so let’s go from the start. All of the stuff that happens to Edna, her disappearing, her forgetting names, her locking Jamie in his hiding place, her absent minded nature, that is all actual manifestations of dementia. All of these things are very common symptoms.

• Memory loss
• Difficulty concentrating
• Finding it hard to carry out familiar daily tasks, such as getting confused over the correct change when shopping
• Struggling to follow a conversation or find the right word
• Being confused about time and place
• Mood changes

Edna suffered all of these problems. She is leaving post-it-notes as a way to remember menial, everyday, things. She was confused about how long she had been missing; she lost track of conversations; and struggled to use the correct names or words. Edna was suffering all of the debilitating symptoms of late stage dementia.

This is why she thought Sam had stolen the ring; she simply forgot that she had given it to her. She locked Jamie in the room because she forgot he was even there.

So how about the metaphorical stuff? Well, the mould in the house is the big key, here. Notice how it spread all over the place and, at the same time, spread all over Edna? Well, there is a pretty interesting explanation for that.

The House and Edna Are One and The Same… Metaphorically

The house and Edna are actually connected in a metaphorical sense. The things that you see happening to the house are a larger representation of what is happening to Edna’s mind. The mould spreading throughout the house represents the dementia spreading through Edna herself. As it spreads, Edna gets worse and worse and loses more of herself.

The twisted, labyrinth-like passageways that Sam gets lost in represent the twisted and contorted inner workings of Edna’s mind now that the dementia is setting in. Notice how Sam finds scribbled down thoughts, empty rooms, and scattered possessions in the hallways? These reflect Edna’s memories, insecurities, fears, and twisted thought patterns. People with Dementia suffer from tremendous anxiety, particularly in moments of lucidity when they realise that they are unwell.

Edna’s mind is no longer a neatly organised house that she feels comfortable in. It is a messy, unrecognisable, labyrinth that scares her and leaves her feeling desperate and alone. This is why she buries the photo album. She feels as though something is stealing her memories and making her forget the people she loved so she tries to hide it from them.

When Edna locks away that one part of the house that Sam eventually enters, she is trying to lock away the inevitability of the condition. She is closing the door and locking up the part of her mind that has become fragile and twisted. It scares her but she ignores it. The only problem is, that never actually works when it comes to something like Dementia. It will always be there.

Was Edna Really a Monster?

Not in a literal sense. It’s difficult when explaining endings for horror movies to actually relate how certain things are metaphors or allegories. Some people simply don’t get it. Although we see Edna change into a monster, the intention is not to make a monster movie or a movie about demonic possession. Writer, director Natalie Erika James was making a movie about a person suffering from dementia and using a monster as a vehicle to depict that subject.

Edna becoming a monster was a symbolic way of demonstrating how Edna had become someone that her family don’t recognise anymore. Her rotting flesh represents the way dementia impacts her mind, changing her from someone they know and love into a complete stranger.

The violence, aggression, and distant nature of Edna in the late stages of the movie reflect late stage dementia. Symbolically, she is scary to the people around her because they just can’t accept what is happening. She is unrecognisable to them and, therefore, scary.

Just like Mister Babadook was actually a manifestation of the lead character’s depression and grief that she had to learn to live with (by putting it in the basement). Edna’s monster is a manifestation of her dementia. Though she is now unrecognisable and can be aggressive, she is still Edna.

Why Does Kay Peel Edna’s Flesh?

This is another symbolic way of representing the grieving process that comes with dementia. We spend a lot of time, during the movie, focusing on how both Edna and Kay are grieving but in different ways. People with dementia, as I mentioned earlier, do have moments of lucidity where they may become aware that they are unwell.

We see Edna actually engaging in hobbies early on. In certain moments, however, she becomes aware that something is wrong and that she is no longer well. In these moments, she is grieving for the past that she has lost, the family she is struggling to remember, and the mind that she used to have. This is a common part of dementia.

It is also something that carers and family experience. You will grieve for the person that the dementia sufferer used to be. As the condition progresses, they become less recognisable and less like themselves. Even though they are still there, you may grieve for them as if they are already gone because, in a lot of ways, the part of them that you knew has gone.

This is what is happening to Kay during the film. She can’t accept that her mother is ill and has changed. The peeling of Edna’s skin is symbolic of Kay finally accepting that her mother is no longer who she knew and she is frail, fragile, and unwell. Kay is accepting that her mother has dementia and she will have to care for her.

What Was The Spot On Kay’s Back and Who Was in Her Dream?

The spot on Kay’s back was, again, symbolic. Dementia is often seen as a hereditary condition and that seems to be the case, here. Kay’s great-grandfather suffered from dementia and wasn’t cared for properly. He was locked away to die alone. That illness passed down and now Edna has it.

The spot on Kay’s back is a symbolic representation of how the dementia will, eventually, afflict Kay, as well. In fact, it may have already begun and is already unavoidable. In the moment that Sam spots it, she realises that she will also go through the same thing with Kay, her mother, that they went through with Edna. Sam may even suffer from Dementia eventually, as well.

The black figure in Kay’s dream was her great-grandfather and the cabin was the cabin he died in. This hints at the hidden fear that the thing that afflicted him is now afflicting Edna and will soon afflict Kay, as well. Highlighting the hereditary nature of the condition and, even, of the trauma. Something which Relic is extremely focused on because…

Relic is a Story of Inherited Trauma and Illness

Everything in Relic leans, in one way or another, towards inherited traits, trauma, and conditions. For example, the stained glass from the window of the cabin that was then used in the home’s door is an example of how things are passed down. Be them objects or health conditions.

Notice how the black mould on the door is very prominent towards the end? That was the same black mould that filled the cabin where Kay’s great-grandfather died from dementia. Again, it is a symbolic representation of the hereditary nature of the condition.

The ring that Edna gives to Sam is another example. The photos that Edna rips up are covered in the black mould when Kay picks them up. This is another way of indicating the fact that dementia afflicted many members of the family and will continue to do so.

What About The Monster Under The Bed?

Again, this was symbolic. The monster under the bed is a metaphorical representation of how the condition is lying in wait. Members of the family know it is there but they try to ignore it. Eventually, however, it manifests and appears and you have to confront it. In this case, in the form of Kay realising that Edna is very ill and needs help.

This is something that is repeated quite often in the film. We see a lot of shadows throughout that, again, hint at how you can ignore the condition but it is always there. Sam sees something outside of the door when she is in the bath. This represents the fact that the monster of dementia will come for her, too. Even though she is young, it is waiting for her.

Thanks for Reading

It’s not all that satisfying to say that “this is a monster movie but the monster is dementia” but that’s the explanation here. I believe that has even been confirmed by the writer. Relic is full of symbolism and metaphor to illustrate the difficulties of living with such a horrifying condition and the hereditary nature of it. In a lot of ways, it is quite a powerful movie. Thanks for reading and spending your time at Knockout Horror.

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