Watching Mars Horodyski’s Deadbolt will make you wonder: Is this really a horror story? For most of the movie, it certainly seems that way. Amelia (Rebecca Liddiard), after breaking up with her toxic ex-boyfriend, moves into a new house with a bad reputation for being haunted. Strange things start happening—voices around the house, thick walls echoing weird sounds, rat infestations, and she hears stories about previous tenants going missing or insane. Amelia always feels like someone is watching her, breathing down her neck, and her roommate Melinda feels it too. Honestly, for a while, I thought maybe Melinda was behind all the creepy stuff that was trying to mess with Amelia’s mind. Or maybe it was Amelia herself, who is on anxiety medications to cope with the trauma from her ex-boyfriend, so it’s easy to think she might be hallucinating. But no, Melinda isn’t the culprit, and neither is there any problem with Amelia. Someone else is playing games with them, maybe trying to drive them away from the house. What happened to them? Did they survive, or did they ends up disappearing like the previous tenants as well? All those answers come out in the movie’s ending. If you’re curious to know the full story, you’ll need to check out an explainer of Deadbolt.
Spoilers Ahead
Why did Amelia move to the new house?
Amelia was a young girl who had been deeply in love with her ex-boyfriend, Colin. After moving into a new house, she quickly became friends with her roommate, Melinda. From their conversations about their ex-boyfriends, we learned about Amelia’s past. She had really high expectations when she started her relationship with Colin, and even her mother thought he was the perfect guy for her. She always liked shy guys who prioritized her, and Colin was exactly that at first. But things got worse as the days went by. What began as a healthy relationship soon turned toxic. Colin started arguing about small things, always making suggestions, and constantly pushing his opinions on Amelia’s life. Amelia was an aspiring artist, but Colin never supported her chosen career. He thought it was a waste of time and acted like he was her parent. Instead of giving her the support she needed, he would scream at her. One night, they were arguing in the car, and Colin started shouting so much that Amelia got frightened. She wanted to get away, but he became hostile and wouldn’t let her out. That was the last straw for Amelia. The incident made her feel so trapped and anxious that she started seeing a therapist. She made the tough but sane decision to break up with him because she couldn’t take it anymore. To make things worse, even her own mother sided with Colin because she thought he was good for her. Despite all this, Amelia realized she had to stand up for herself. She decided to cut all ties and start fresh. That’s why, haunted or not, she didn’t care and moved into the new house.
What happened to Melinda?
After her weird and insane relationship with Colin, Amelia kind of swore off relationships. We’ve all been through that phase, so it’s easy to relate. But it wasn’t just that—she quickly started thinking her new house might actually be haunted. Things kept disappearing from her cupboard, like her anxiety medicine, which she desperately needed to keep from going insane and hallucinating. She even felt like someone was following her whenever she was coming home. There was always this creepy feeling like someone else was in the house when Melinda wasn’t there. Melinda’s ex-boyfriend, Mark, didn’t help the situation either. He kept saying the house was haunted and that the previous tenant went crazy and disappeared. Amelia was terrified, especially when Mark overdosed on drugs and was taken away. Then, when Melinda used a face mask for skincare it made her break out so badly that her whole face developed rashes. It was horrifying. Eventually, even Melinda, who never believed in ghosts at first, started saying the house was haunted and that someone was in her room. Amelia couldn’t dismiss those feelings either. She felt the same way. She kept Googling about these things and found out that if there really were ghosts, things like this were common. The rash breakout, the anxiety medicine disappearing and then reappearing out of nowhere—it all started to make sense in a creepy way. Amelia decided to be there for Melinda. For a while, you might think Melinda was responsible for everything, maybe pretending to be friendly and playing with Amelia’s mind. But that wasn’t the case. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Melinda ended up dead and was found on the streets! This shocked Amelia and made her think the house was really haunted. Maybe a ghost killed Melinda. Or was it someone else? Could it have been her ex-boyfriend, Mark? After all, he was the last person who saw her and took her to the hospital to have her rashes treated. So Amelia called the police, and they arrested Mark. Before he left, Mark insisted he hadn’t seen Melinda for weeks. This made Amelia wonder: Did Melinda lie? Or did someone else send that message from her phone? Amelia pushed these questions aside, thinking Mark might be pretending not to know anything now that he was in custody for the murder.
Who was David?
In the midst of all the chaos and torment, David seemed like a breath of fresh air for Amelia. He was kind and sweet, and they had a lot in common, especially their interest in art. This was in stark contrast to her ex-boyfriend, who had criticized her art, but David praised it. David was the shy, good guy that Amelia had been hoping to meet. She first encountered him on the day she moved into the neighborhood when she saw him outside helping Bruno, a somewhat “insane” neighbor who blabbered and hallucinated. David’s kindness and helpful nature immediately caught her attention, and he continued to prove himself by being there for Amelia and her friends, doing things like making soup for Melinda when she was sick. His strong connection to the neighborhood, as he used to live there, means that he is the kind of guy who never forgets his roots. This old-school quality made him even more endearing. Most importantly, David was protective of Amelia. When she discovered that her ex-boyfriend was still stalking her, David immediately stepped in to help. He drove her ex away and showed genuine concern for her well-being. David truly seemed like one of the good guys, and Amelia was thrilled to have met him. They started seeing each other, and it felt like a perfect fit for Amelia. She deserved a chance at happiness, and David seemed like just the person to give it to her.
Why did Amelia start searching the house?
After Melinda’s death, Amelia was naturally scared. She noticed that the deadbolt on her door was broken, and she couldn’t figure out how it happened. Had someone tried to force their way in? Feeling desperate, she turned to her neighbor, Bruno, who wasn’t as creepy as she first thought, and his wife for help. To her surprise, they revealed crucial information about the house’s dark past. It used to belong to a couple whose relationship started out sweet but turned sour when the husband became insanely abusive to his wife and their young son. The boy would hide from his father, and he was terrified. One day, the husband snapped when the house was sold out from under them by the landlord without him knowing, and in a fit of rage, he killed his wife. They didn’t know what happened to the boy; maybe he ended up in foster care. Could the ghost of the wife still linger in the house? But that wasn’t the end of Amelia’s troubles. She ran into her ex, Colin, who mentioned seeing someone living in the attic while he was looking for her. Until now, Amelia thought it was just her and Melinda in the house. Now that Melinda is gone, who could this mysterious person be? Amelia started investigating and discovered a secret hideout in the attic and a discarded sodium bottle. Whoever was staying there might have had a motive to harm them. Could they have planned the rash on Melinda’s face to frighten her away by mixing this sodium in her face pack? Amelia also found Melinda’s purse there, which added to the mystery—maybe this person killed Melinda. By now, Amelia realized there was no ghost haunting them—it was the actions of a human being. This terrified her even more.
What happened to Colin?
As if Amelia wasn’t frightened enough, in the meantime, Colin forcefully entered her house. It seemed like he wanted to tell her something important, maybe a warning about the person living in the attic. But before he could say anything, David followed him and struck him on the head to save Amelia from him, which led to Colin’s death.
I think, by now, it has become clear who the real villain was. Do you know how sometimes people who seem perfect on paper turn out to be completely the opposite? That’s exactly what happened here. David, who Amelia thought was her savior, was actually behind everything. He was the one staying in the house, watching them, and causing all the problems. He had stolen Amelia’s anxiety medicine, pretended to be interested in art so that she would be interested in him, and done everything to keep an eye on her. And how did Amelia find out? When Amelia confronted David about the attic situation, she realized David knew about Melinda’s purse in the attic and even her anxiety attack experience in the car with her ex-boyfriend—things she hadn’t shared with him. It all became clear: David was the one tormenting them and listening to all the conversations she had with Melinda. And yes, he was the son who survived his father’s attack but lost his mother before him. David pretended that his actions were driven by his obsession with protecting Amelia. He felt that she was in danger, and he was determined to save her, especially since he couldn’t save his own mother earlier, and he had this guilt all along.
In Deadbolt‘s ending, Amelia, feeling betrayed and scared, tried to escape, but David wouldn’t let her go. His obsession with “protecting” her only made things worse. But in a dramatic turn of events, Amelia found the strength to fight back. She called the police and, in a moment of sheer determination, threw David out the window. The way he landed right in the dumpster below was almost comical—definitely where he belonged! In the end, we see Amelia move away from the house, ready to start a fresh life. She faced her biggest fear and fought through it. As for David, we hope he gets locked up for a long time. He was responsible for Melinda and Colin’s deaths, Mark’s arrest, and possibly the disappearances of previous tenants. It became clear that he had been trying to scare people away from the house because he didn’t want anyone living there except for him and his family. His actions were driven by a twisted sense of attachment to the house. But still, Amelia fights back and finally finds the courage to overcome her fear. Good for her!
