‘From Black’ Ending Explained: Does Core Manage to Bring Her Son Back?

Welcome to the Ending Explained for From Black, a new horror film coming to Shudder this week. Thomas Marchese directs the film, and Anna Camp, Jennifer LaFleur, John Ales, and Travis Hammer star in the film. Anna Camp is Core, a young mother who suffered the loss of her young son years before. Now, a destroyed and depressed Cora might have found a solution to her problem; a mysterious man assures her that she will be able to reunite with her son through unorthodox methods. However, the price might be too steep even for her.

From Black is a horror movie that tries to come up with a way to develop several themes and characters but fails to do so because it is so focused on trying to set up the twists that it forgets just everything else around it. The result is a movie with a glacial pacing. Nothing really happens, and the few plot points that appear in the movie don’t feel like a meaningful progression. Anna Camp is definitely the best thing about the film. However, her efforts feel fruitless as the movie doesn’t really allow for her character to work for itself.

The following paragraphs contain spoilers for From Black. Read at your own risk.

What Happened to Cora’s Son?

The film begins in media res with a policewoman entering an old house. The house has a police label on the door, so we immediately know something bad happened. This is Officer Bray, and as she enters the house, we follow the signs of a struggle. Blood is on the floor, and several vases and other things are broken on it. As she opens the doors to the main living room, we see a huge stain of blood. We immediately jump to the police station, where our main character, Cora, is introduced.

Cora and Bray share some history, we don’t know exactly what their relationship is at this point, but Cora seems to trust Bray. Apparently, Cora was found inside the old house, and she is indeed all bloody. She killed a person, says the police, but Bray cannot believe it. So, she asks Cora what happened. Cora is clearly shaken, and she has a hard time speaking. She makes an effort and says it all started with a man. There, we jump back in time to a moment before the incident and before everything goes down the drain.

We get introduced to Cora once more. The setting is a sort of support group. There she begins talking about her son and how it would be his birthday. Cora has lost her son in some strange incident, and she drains all her grief into the group. It is there that she meets Bray, who is also a member of the group. She also meets the man she was talking about before. This man is called Abel, and he is also a member of the group. Cora and Abel talk here and there. They are polite with each other, but not much more.

However, one day, Abel appears at the bowling court where Cora works. The place is empty, and Cora finds it a bit weird that this man from the support group has followed her there. They talk, and Abel seems normal, a bit creepy, but not as much as potentially dangerous. They share some small talk, but Abel reveals why he is there in the first place. He asks Cora one very important question. Would she do anything to be able to bring her son back from the dead? Cora says she would, but something like that is impossible, right?

Does Cora Manage to Bring Her Son Back?

Abel visits Cora once again, but this time at her house. It all becomes strange and even worse when Abel drops the bomb. He says that his dead daughter is actually alive. He has found a way to bring the dead back from the other side and wants to share the secret with Cora. At first, Cora is unsure about this, but she plays the game, just in case. She even puts some chains on the floor, per Abel’s instructions. It looks sketchy as an audience member, but Cora is grieving, which might cloud her judgment.

Abel is adamant that they need to do this. Abel ties one of the chains to Cora’s leg and recites a spell as she stands inside a magic circle. Until this point, everything that Abel has said has sounded like crazy talk, but when Cora gets possessed and starts floating, we see that this is real. Cora also feels it, so she becomes completely on board. This is the way she will have her son back with her. They need to keep performing the ritual until they can bring her son back.

They keep doing the ritual, and Cora is sometimes transported to visions where he sees a creature in the background. We learn that Cora’s son was kidnapped and killed, and in one of those journeys, it is revealed that Abel is not as good as she thought. The entire ritual consists of summoning a demon and making a contract with it. However, Abel has changed his mind about it and has chosen Cora to pass the demon to. It doesn’t work, and the demon kills Abel for trying it, and now the demon starts dealing with Cora directly. The demon promises he can bring her son back for a sacrifice.

Cora faces a moral dilemma, but she makes a quick decision when choosing to sacrifice her son’s father, who is a jerk and drunk. She hates it, making it easier for her to give him to the demon. However, the demon is offended by such an offer because the man is tainted and useless to him. Cora is purer. However, in the end, it is revealed that Cora has selected another person as her sacrifice. Bray is a person who has only been trying to help her. Cora lures Bray inside her house, and there, Bray is sacrificed. The movie ends with the shoes of a child exiting a closet. Showing that the demon has been true to his word.