Cobweb Ending Explained: What Happened to Sarah?

Cobweb is a horror movie about a troubled young boy who hears tapping in his walls and discovers his family might not be as innocent as they seem.

Summary

• Sarah's transformation: Sarah, Peter's sister, initially has the voice of a little girl, but is later revealed to be a monstrous creature with superhuman abilities, sharp teeth, and glowing eyes. Her appearance and behavior suggest she's a supernatural movie monster.
• Parents' abusive behavior: Peter's parents exhibit abusive characteristics, punishing him, locking him up, and gaslighting him. They also hid the body of a girl Sarah killed on Halloween, indicating their culpability. Sarah's manipulation doesn't excuse their abusive actions.
• Trauma and the ending: Miss Devine saves Peter from Sarah and locks her away, but the final scene depicts Peter still haunted by Sarah. This is seen as symbolic of the trauma he carries, rather than a confirmation of Sarah's presence. It is likely that Sarah will be taken somewhere safe by the police.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Cobweb.At the end of Cobweb, Peter is in a new home, but did he really escape Sarah, and how will he be impacted by killing his parents and other trauma he experienced? Cobweb is Samuel Bodin's directorial debut and features performances from Antony Starr, Lizzy Caplan, Cleopatra Coleman, and Woody Norman.

Cobweb is a horror movie about a troubled young boy, Peter (Woody Norman), who begins hearing scratching noises in his wall and discovers it's his sister, Sarah, whom he never knew about because his parents keep her locked in the attic. Peter's parents, Mark (Antony Starr) and Carol (Lizzy Caplan) become more strict and controlling of him as he gets more suspicious about them due to Sarah's warnings that they're evil people. Sarah convinces Peter to kill his parents and let her out, but it turns out she was a monster all along. Peter's teacher, Miss Devine (Cleopatra Coleman), rescues him, but did she truly save him from Sarah?

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What is Sarah?

When Sarah first starts talking to Peter through the wall, she has the voice of a little girl, but after she gets out, her voice changes and becomes more monstrous. Her body is shaped like a human, and she has long hair (full of spiders) from never being cut, but many aspects of her appearance and movements are very inhuman. Sarah scurries across the floor and walls like a spider and has superhuman strength and agility in addition to razor-sharp teeth and claws and glowing eyes. Sarah explicitly tells Peter she was "born this way," but when her face is revealed it's far more monstrous to be explained as a simple deformity.

While Sarah's behavior, speed, agility, flexibility, and appearance are all enough to suggest she's a supernatural movie monster, Cobweb's story doesn't give any explanation for what she is other than a twisted and abused human being. Peter has dreams about his parents also doing inhuman things, but outside of his own imagination, everything (other than Sarah) remains grounded and realistic. Sarah says her abilities are because she "learned how to climb and bite" during her confinement, so the best explanation is that she was born with a deformity, and years of training and abuse contributed to her other characteristics and abilities.

Were Peter's Parents Actually Evil?

Throughout the course of the movie, Peter's parents appear more evil and abusive until he kills them with rat poison, and it's revealed Sarah was the monster the whole time, but can every wicked thing Peter's parents did be chalked up to Peter's Sarah's manipulation and Peter's imagination and nightmares? Going back to their reaction to Sarah's birth, she says they screamed when she was born, put her in a pit, built a cage for her, and they've had her locked up in the attic for years. Additionally, they hid the body of the little girl Sarah killed on Halloween, so even in the best-case scenario they're still highly culpable.

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Outside of their treatment of Sarah, Mark and Carol exhibit numerous textbook red-flag characteristics of an abusive household. They punish Peter for asking for help from his teacher, they lock him up in the basement, and they gaslight Peter about the scratching he's hearing in the walls at night. Even if it's true that Sarah was born as an evil monster (and didn't become that way because of their abuse), keeping her locked away and secret from Peter instead of seeking outside help in taking care of her creates an unsafe environment. So, while Sarah may have manipulated Peter into killing them, it doesn't change the fact that they were highly abusive.

What Happened to the Girl Who Disappeared on Halloween?

Early in the movie, Peter's father says they don't let him Trick-or-Treat on Halloween because years ago a girl from a house down the street had disappeared on Halloween night. After hearing about the story, Miss Devine Googles the disappearance to learn 11-year-old Rebecca Holbrook had disappeared on Halloween night wearing a Princess Leia costume, so the story is partially true, although Peter's parents saying he can't Trick-or-Treat for his own protection is only a half-truth. They know what happened to Rebecca Holbrook, and keeping Peter at home on Halloween night is to protect themselves, not him.

When Sarah first starts telling Peter his parents are dangerous, she says they've already killed someone and buried them in the garden. When Peter digs in the backyard, he discovers a skull, seemingly confirming Sarah's claim, although, like his parents' story, it's another half-truth. It turns out Sarah was the one who killed Rebecca Holbrook when she showed up to Trick-or-Treat and the parents hid the body to protect Sarah (and themselves). Sarah confirms this when Peter's bully, Brian, and his cousins ring the doorbell and Sarah says "just like the girl in the garden."

What Happens at the End of Cobweb?

During Cobweb's ending, Miss Devine arrives in time to save Peter from Sarah, helping him lock her back in the basement pit, but Sarah tells Peter she'll haunt him for the rest of his life. A flash-forward shows Peter in a new house afraid of the dark, seeing Sarah in the shadows and hearing her in the walls. The very last shot shows Sarah rising up behind Peter and saying "we're family, Peter. I will always be with you." Given Peter's imagination and nightmares from the rest of the movie, should this scene be taken literally, or is it just the mental scars from his experiences?

Since Cobweb shows Sarah safely locked away in the basement in the previous scene, it's hard to imagine Miss Devine didn't call the police, in which case Sarah would likely be taken somewhere safe. Peter was already a troubled boy at the beginning of Cobweb, so after killing his parents and being further terrorized by Sarah, it's fair to say Peter has a lot of trauma. So the last shot (and Sarah's voiceover) should be seen as a representation of the trauma Peter will carry the rest of his life, and not as a literal confirmation that Sarah is actually in the room behind Peter at the end of Cobweb.