MovieChat Forums > Spiral (2007) Discussion > Questions about the movie. *spoilers*

Questions about the movie. spoilers

posted 15 years ago by natatat
2 replies | jump to latest

Honestly, I came on imdb before I finished watching the movie (it showed on TV) because it seemed interesting but it was kind of slow. Also, I had missed the beginning. So I saw all about how he kills Amber at the end even before I saw it.

I do have a few questions, though.

1. Were the other girls real? I know this is controversial but I missed the beginning and I saw somewhere on the boards that in the beginning Mason calls Berkeley saying something about "Should I call the police?" What exactly happened at that part? Was that when he killed the waitress, but Berkeley doesn't believe him like in the end? What does Mason tell Berkeley and what does Berkeley tell him in return?

2. When he goes to the cemetery and sees the little boy at the funeral is he really just there to see his mom's grave or is he there for the waitress's funeral and that was maybe her son or a relative? (I only thought of that because he was a little blonde boy, which I know is a stretch.)

3. I'm assuming that what Berkeley is referring to in the end about how he wishes that Mason's dad had been fried 20 years ago so Mason wouldn't have the open wound is that Mason's dad could have gotten the death penalty (or should've) but either it's not legal in the state they live in or he just got a life sentence instead? Or possibly that Mason's dad is one of those guys on death row for decades?
It also made me wonder if Mason's father SHOULD have been in jail but is not or at least not anymore, because wasn't it his father that Mason was referring to about the records, that he didn't want them, he would send them back? Is his father out of prison and doesn't want to have anything to do with him or was he sending the records to the prison? (Is that allowed?)

4. Was he really dumping a body when he was taking the heavy bag out in the rain or was he dumping the paintings of the waitress, which were gone later? That made me think he was just dumping the paintings because he knew he wanted to paint Amber. I only later thought that it was a body.

5. What was behind the door? I know we don't see it and we don't know but physically in terms of an apartment, was it the restroom or another bedroom? It must be one of those because Amber must have been in the room before, I'm sure she would have noticed if it was some torture/murder room. They just don't show it to the audience.

6. What do you think Mason meant by "I wanted you to be the one?" or whatever he said at the end? I'm torn between:
1. He had never actually killed any of the girls before, he never completed the paintings, and he wanted Amber to be the one he finally went all the way with the paintings with? But that would mean he planned on killing her, when it seemed like he didn't want to.
2. Did he want Amber to be the one who stopped him from killing? Is the movie trying to imply that all the women were the same, wanting to see the sketch of the poses, and so he ended up killing all of them? Was he hoping that Amber would be different and patient and just let him finish the poses, thus not killing her? Then once he was done maybe they could be together?

I'm beginning to think that Mason really did kill all the other girls but that since he never brought them around Berkeley (presumably because he didn't care for them as much as he did Amber, like he said, she was different), Berkeley started to think they didn't exist, especially since Mason was more than a little weird. But then when Berkeley finds out that Amber was real he realizes that the other girls were real too and that Mason is basically a serial killer - which he is, he follows a very strict pattern. Maybe he didn't want to kill Amber, like he did the others (or maybe he didn't want to kill the others either), but he was CRAZY. I think even if she hadn't peeked at the pose he still would have killed her, it just would have been later rather than at that moment. He didn't want to, but he couldn't help it.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jesse-riddle 15 years ago

My answers to your questions.

Q. Were the other girls real?

A. Like many suggested, I believe Amber was real and here is why. The statements made about never have painted a "real" girl makes me believe he would "watch" the girls from a distance and sketch/paint them from memory. Much like he was watching the waitress at the beginning of the movie. Not that the girls were not real in a sense they did not exist but they were never actually in his apartment to paint.

Q. Was he at the cemetery to see his mom, or was it the waitresses funeral.

A. I believe he was there to see his mother. There is a shot in the scene where they fill up at Mason, and in the foreground there is a mother(or mom I can't remember the word used) emblem attached to the grave marker. The boy I believe was there for the death of his own mother. I believe this due to the fact it was an "older" woman who came to get the boy and bring him back to the funeral group. This older women may have been the boys grandmother. At that moment I believe Mason saw himself in the boy.

Q. Masons father and is he in prison, or was and has now been executed.

A. Masons father had to have been in jail due to the fact Berkeley knows Masons mother was killed by his father. From the scene where Mason states to Amber that his father didn't want the records makes me believe when Mason was younger he sent those to his father while in prison. Now I believe his father had passed away in jail or been executed due to the wording used by Berkeley stating how they wish it had happened 20+ years ago.

Q. Was he dumping a body?

A. He was dumping the paintings. When it shows his apartment again you see that the paintings have been removed from the wall. I think he just had broke them up and stuffed them in a bag. That would account for the paint being all over him.

Q. What is behind the door?

A. That is his bathroom. He actually is in it at one point in the movie brushing his teeth (may have been the Kitchen sink though as well). The door only frightens him at night from what I saw. But due to the excessive amount of light would mean that the room his mostly White. Most apart bathrooms I would think would be white tile and just a lot of white altogether.

Q. What did Mason by "I wanted you to be the one."

A. I don't fully understand this one either. Because why could he not finish the other paintings if the other girls were not really at his house. What does his sketch pertain that she would find an sense of urgency to head for the door.

Again some of these answers only exist of the first girls weren't murdered. The only part that really makes me believe possibly that he did kill the girl before Amber is the beginning of the movie he stands to view his bathroom door and you see liquid drop from his hand. The consistency of it could NOT be paint unless it was watered down. It partially falls down to plot holes. Was he dreaming that he was viewing the waitress in the rain? The beginning is what throws everything for a SPIRAL. lol.