Hold Your Breath ending explained: Who was really haunting Margaret and her family?

As a film enthusiast with a background in psychology, I found “Hold Your Breath” to be a gripping and thought-provoking tale that masterfully delved into the complexities of mental health. The ending was particularly poignant, offering a haunting yet hopeful resolution.

After a considerable absence, acclaimed Emmy Award winner Sarah Paulson has returned to the realm of horror with her latest role in the chilling psychological thriller “Hold Your Breath”. You can catch this spine-tingling film now by streaming it on Hulu.

1930s Oklahoma serves as the backdrop for “Hold Your Breath“, where Paulson portrays Margaret Bellum, a resilient young mother. As menacing dust storms engulf the city, Margaret tirelessly works to safeguard herself and her daughters Rose and Ollie from harm’s reach. For a prolonged period, she manages to protect them effectively. However, her life takes an ominous turn when she starts suspecting that a malevolent force is hidden within the dust storms, intent on endangering her family.

As I sat down to reflect on the chilling events that unfolded in Hold Your Breath, I couldn’t help but question my own sanity. Was it truly an otherworldly entity tormenting the Bellum family, or was it just Margaret’s overactive imagination? Here’s a rundown of how things ended:

Spoilers ahead from Hold Your Breath on Hulu!

Hold Your Breath ending explained: Who was really haunting Margaret and her family?

How does Hold Your Breath end?

Before diving into how the horror movie concludes, let me clarify the question at hand first. No, there wasn’t some evil entity lurking within dust storms tormenting Margaret and her kin. In reality, Margaret suffered from mental illness, and she perceived a malevolent spirit haunting them, when in truth, it was her own actions that were causing distress to her family.

Following Ada, Margaret’s youngest child, succumbing to Scarlet fever, a noticeable decline in Margaret’s mental wellbeing occurred. She developed sleepwalking tendencies and relied on medication to help her fall asleep. Overwhelmed by the thought of losing any more children, she became excessively protective. However, this overbearing concern for their safety eventually led to madness.

Following news about a tragic event where a vagrant intruded a home and took the lives of a mother and her children, Margaret grew increasingly vigilant in safeguarding Rose and Ollie. One day, she discovers an enigmatic individual in her barn who identifies himself as Wallace. He informs Margaret that he has acquaintance with her husband, Henry, having previously given him his coat. Furthermore, he presents himself as a minister who possesses the ability to heal through merely touching someone with his hand.

Margaret harbors doubts about him, viewing him as a transient or the enigmatic figure known as “The Grey Man”. In a story that Rose used to read to Ollie, The Grey Man is a fictional character. He was portrayed as an individual made of dust who could infiltrate homes through small openings. If someone were to inhale him, he’d compel them to commit evil deeds.

Suddenly, Rose’s nose starts bleeding, and Wallace manages to stop the bleeding after touching her with his hands. Since he helped her daughter, Margaret lets Wallace stay in the barn even though she doesn’t fully trust him. The following day, it rains for the first time in a long time. Thinking that the rain had something to do with Wallace’s arrival, Margaret starts to trust him more. At this point, she doesn’t think he’s the drifter or The Grey Man.

Initially, I trusted Wallace, but that trust was shattered when I got a missive from Henry revealing that Wallace isn’t the honest man he pretends to be. As per Henry’s note, Wallace is a swindler who swiped his belongings, including his jacket. In an instant, I reach for my shotgun, aiming it at Wallace. But before I can pull the trigger, he grabs Ollie as a shield. He demands the letter from me, explaining that if I don’t, he’ll face trouble. He knows the authorities will recognize him as a conman with the letter in hand.

Margaret resists giving up the letter and instead aims it towards Wallace, allowing Ollie to break free from his grip. Unfortunately, in the scuffle, Wallace manages to snatch the letter away from Rose. He then burns the letter as Margaret shouts at him to depart. Just before he exits, he warns her that neither he nor The Grey Man will stay away, and they’ll bring trouble to her and her family.

Hold Your Breath ending explained: Who was really haunting Margaret and her family?

This incident leaves Margaret feeling uneasy as she now suspects Wallace is indeed ‘The Grey Man’, a character from a fictional tale. It seems Margaret’s mental state has deteriorated to the point where she considers a figment of imagination as a tangible threat. We learn later that Rose had lent Wallace a book about The Grey Man one day. Given Margaret’s tendency towards paranoia, Wallace deliberately hinted to her that The Grey Man would return to harm her family, not to scare her but to keep her vigilant. However, it is crucial to note that The Grey Man does not exist in reality.

Margaret decides to discontinue her medication due to her anxiety about Wallace returning. However, without the medication, she finds herself growing increasingly suspicious and paranoid. She begins experiencing hallucinations and hearing strange noises around the house, which she attributes to Wallace trying to scare her. Additionally, there seem to be odd occurrences happening within their home, such as doors mysteriously locking and unlocking on their own, and an incident where Rose and Ollie’s bed suddenly catches fire without apparent cause. As a result, Margaret refuses to leave the house and forbids her children from going out, fearing that Wallace might harm them during the dust storms.

Margaret stays put in her house until her sister-in-law Esther visits and persuades her to join a dance. To avoid giving others the impression that she and her family are struggling, she agrees to attend the event. Moreover, she fears that if people perceive her as unwell, there’s a chance her children could be taken away from her – something she desperately wants to prevent.

As the trio of Margaret, Rose, and Ollie gear up for the dance, Margaret notices Rose gasping for breath and swiftly moves to assist her. In a panic, she begins tearing at the back of Rose’s dress, but Rose shouts for her to halt. Upon turning around, Rose queries Margaret about the issue. Margaret confesses that she was attempting to aid Rose in breathing by ripping her dress open, but Rose clarifies that she wasn’t choking; instead, she had been laughing all along.

At this juncture, it’s clear to Rose that something is amiss with her mother. Her suspicions deepen when she sees Margaret engaging in self-harm, using the blood from these wounds as blush on her cheeks. The situation deteriorates further at the dance, when Esther enters the church accompanied by the reverend. In a mix-up, Margaret perceives him to be Wallace. She shouts out to everyone present that an individual named Wallace has been harassing her family. Rose attempts to validate her statements, but things take a turn when Margaret begins likening Wallace to some supernatural entity. Unfortunately, no one else in the room believes her.

After coming back home, Rose observes that Margaret’s mental condition appears to be deteriorating further. This becomes evident when Margaret accidentally sews her own hand without realizing it. Later in the evening, Rose witnesses her mother hitting her head and using bloodied fingernails to scratch the wall while crying out for Ada. Upon hearing her name, Rose calls out, causing Margaret to halt her actions and exit the room. Following behind, Rose finds Margaret outside with a shotgun. Once more, Rose calls out her name, but when Margaret looks up, it’s not Rose she sees – it’s Wallace instead. It seems that Margaret is experiencing another hallucination.

In a moment of contemplation, it becomes clear to Rose that Wallace is not The Grey Man, and it’s actually Margaret who has been causing them distress. As Margaret continues to hold her gun aimed at Rose, Rose repeatedly begs Margaret not to shoot. It takes some time for Margaret to come out of her trance-like state. Once she does, Rose confronts her immediately. Rose reveals that it was Margaret, due to her neglecting her medication, who has been sleepwalking again. This explains the mysterious locking and unlocking of doors in their house, as well as the fire in Rose and Ollie’s bed.

Margaret stubbornly ignores Rose, however. In her disturbed mental condition, she thinks that all her actions up until now have been to shield her family. Rose rushes back inside the house to fetch Ollie so they can flee, but Ollie resists leaving with her. They struggle for a while, and eventually Ollie shoves Rose down. But rather than hitting the ground, she lands on a corpse – it’s Esther! It seems that Margaret had fatally struck her during one of her trances.

In a swift turn of events, Rose finds Margaret embracing Ollie. With Ollie in tow, Margaret retreats into the house, prompting Rose to pursue her, leveling accusations about Esther’s death. All of a sudden, a forceful knock echoes at the front door, and Rose attempts to call for aid, only to be silenced by Margaret covering her mouth. Rose gestures for Ollie to answer the door, and he obliges. To their surprise, it’s the sheriff! Guided by Ollie, the sheriff leads them inside, and Rose informs him of Margaret’s supposed illness. The sheriff then declares his intention to remove the children from the house for their safety until Henry returns.

Instead, Margaret determines not to stand idly by and instead attacks the sheriff, striking him in the abdomen repeatedly. Rose and Ollie bear witness to this unfolding scene. At the same time, a fierce sandstorm is brewing outside their front entrance. Rose instructs Ollie to remain near the door while she attends to something. Upon discovering the knife Margaret used, she enters the bedroom with the intention of killing Margaret. However, upon spotting Ollie standing by the door, she halts her actions.

In my gaming world, I confide in my ally, Rose, that for Ada, our family is whole only if we all unite, and I propose this unity through a shared slumber. She consents, but requests a peculiar method – to mix the sleeping solution into peaches. It seems she’s hiding something more. As I prepare the concoction by blending her pills with peaches, Rose suddenly shouts that our young one, Ollie, has bolted out into the raging dust storm. In a flash, I tie a rope to our front door and grab the other end, using it as a guide to quickly find and return Ollie while keeping our home within reach.

However, it’s not true that Ollie is outside. Instead, Rose deceitfully leads Margaret to believe that she had run away, all so Margaret would venture out during the fierce sandstorm. Rose severed the rope tied to the front door, trapping Margaret in the tempest. It wasn’t long before she understood what Rose had done, and as the dust filled her lungs, she began to choke. Collapsing onto the ground, Margaret breathes her last breaths. Just before she dies, she experiences a peaceful dream of being reunited with Rose, Ollie, and Ada. The final scene of the film captures Rose and Ollie boarding a train to meet their father once more.

Did you enjoy Hold Your Breath? What did you think about the ending?

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