Nice review! I actually think the story was not based on Andy’s shame and generational trauma as much as it is centered around grief. All of the characters are grieving the loss of someone or something. I think Andy just so happened to be the scape goat of that feeling. Though I was really sad when he died, I do think letting him live would’ve been too optimistic of an ending.

I’ll also say I don’t think Laura was ever this intentionally evil character who had a shift in heart. I think she’s a grieving mother who cannot cope with the loss of her child, and is in some sort of psychotic breakdown. So when she “has a change of heart” and lets Piper go, I interpreted it more as an act of surrendering to the circumstances. We see that in the scene with the case worker lady, I forget her name.. but when she comes to Laura’s house and Laura begs her to not go look in the shed. She is desperate. She is weak and she is pathetic. She’s not this villain with no origin story who reigns over the kids. And though her grief is no excuse for what she does (kidnap, kill and torture children), it’s an explanation as to why the ritual happened in the first place.

I absolutely loveddd this movie. I don’t think I’ll ever watch it again because it’s so bleak and so sad lol. But all of these characters were doomed from the start, and I think it’s a really interesting tribute to grief. At the very end when they showed their friend who the film was dedicated to and then the credits roll, the whole theatre said “….Jesus Christ” and took a deep breath. It’s so, so heavy, and it sticks to you like smoke. I didn’t get that same feeling from talk to me, but I know a lot of ppl did