Holland falls in the well, dies.
Dad falls down the cellar steps, dies.
Fatty nephew jumps into a haystack the wrong way, lands on a pitchfork, dies
Mom falls down the stairs, becomes completely paralyzed
Split levels were not this family's friends.
The only 'accident' here was Holland's fall (maybe.)
The rest were all 'planned' accidents.
No fate but what we make. -Terminator II
I was thinking the same thing. The father hits his head and falls down some stairs, the nephew jumps and lands the wrong way on a pitchfork, the mother falls down some more stairs, and let's not forget about the old lady who had a heart attack when she saw the rat, the Russian lady tries to kill Niles, and did she trip? Who knows. Holland, he dies trying to throw a cat down an old well... ends up there himself (*the cat survived). It was a frail, accident-prone community. Maybe it was something in the water.
shareRE: the Russian lady tries to kill Niles, and did she trip?
***POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD***
No, she didn't trip. She is attempting a murder/suicide. If you read the book, which I don't understand why they left it out of the movie as it hints at a foreshadowing that what Ada was doing in the end was sacrifice. It finally sunk in that Niles, in his delusions was beyond help and the only fate resulting from the killing sprees would be institutionalization for him, perhaps ending what she blamed herself for was seen as a kinder fate compared to what was in store for him. In the novel following Russel's funeral, Ada finds Niles in the attic with Bruunhilde being played on the Victrola and inquires Ada as to why Bruunhilde rode into the fire, where Ada explained that it was known as "immolation," throwing oneself on the pyre of the beloved. This foreshadows what is to come later in the novel that Ada's actions at the end were a sacrifice for love.
***Possible spoilers?****
Her death is indeed self-immolation, an extension of her love for Niles and penance for not realizing just how disturbed her grandson(s) had become.
The sad thing (ironic) is that, because there was a family history of 'mental problems', her sacrifice is seen as the act of someone who had become unhinged.
No fate but what we make. -Terminator II
***spoilers ahead***
I know this is slightly off topic from the OP, but do you think attempting to murder Niles was necessarily the only solution, or do you think there were alternatives? Perhaps, like you have said before, Ada wasn't thinking rationally when the baby was discovered in the wine barrel, but I wonder if to her, death was a more merciful fate for Niles compared to an asylum? And committing a dual suicide/murder was both to absolve the insanity that she stoked in Niles and a means to protect anyone else from being harmed? Perhaps because of her love for Niles, she wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she attempted to destroy Niles while sparing herself, but as we know she blamed herself for teaching Niles the Game as he misused it. Had Ada been in her right mind, might have she sought out an alternative solution to Niles madness, as asking him to discontinue playing the Game obviously did no good? Obviously we know her sacrifice was in vain as Niles survives and according to the book, ends up in an institution where the Other has taken over Niles.
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