#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead star Jade Pettyjohn helped break down the ending of her latest horror film, which features a handful of consistent twists.
The story follows a group of friends and Pettyjohn's newcomer, Sarah, who are sidetracked on their way to a massive music festival and have to stay in an unplanned Airbnb. Once there, they slowly realize a masked killer is hunting them down due to a tragic past incident resulting in the death of Jojo Siwa's Collette.
All My Friends Are Dead wants audiences to believe that due to heavy bullying, which included a leaked explicit video, Collette killed herself. When her group of friends discovers her body and their names carved in the floor next to her, they burn the cabin down to hide the evidence.
However, the real twist centers around Sarah herself.
[ AMFAD: 'All My Friends Are Dead' Movie Director Talks Horror Influences & More (Exclusive) ]
Jade Pettyjohn on Sarah's Dark Twists in #AMFAD
In an exclusive interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim, Jade Pettyjohn delved into her characters' big twists and turns in the crazy ending of AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead.
In the movie's final 20 minutes, while Jennifer Ens' Mona fights for her life against the masked killer (who ends up being Michaela's Shaw, a police officer seen earlier), the truth about Sarah is revealed: she was in on the slaughter the whole time.
In fact, she is specifically enacting vengeance for what she claims Mona and her friends did to Colette.
It turns out that Sarah was incredibly close to Colette, which is why she took what happened to her so intensely.
Pettyjohn explained that "the only person that Sarah ever really loved was Colette" and that they intended that connection to be "from the vantage point of a real romantic love:"
"I think the only person Sarah ever really loved was Colette, and we wanted to make it subtle so that the audience could plug in whatever they wanted. But it was definitely when we were making it, from the vantage point of a real romantic love. And the thing that drove Sarah was that love and also an immense amount of guilt for how that happened. So, guilt and love motivate Sarah in the direction she goes. But it was definitely rooted in love. Since then, she has been going off in different directions."
The twists don't stop there, however.
While Sarah and Shaw may have been partners, Shaw is nothing but a loose end. But before trapping her in a spot to be shot down by the police, she reveals a key truth: the story of what happened to Collette is entirely different than what was spouted earlier.
What really happened is that Sarah was the one who shot Collette dead. It was an accident that occurred when Collette came rushing to try and stop Sarah from killing Mona out of retaliation for the bullying.
Sarah's reaction to this outcome was to frame the situation as if it were Mona and all her friends, guilting the group throughout the movie into believing that they were entirely at fault for Colette's fate.
But was Shaw always doomed from the start?
While Pettyjohn thinks there were "moments of authenticity" between the two, the actress notes that Shaw was "pretty doomed" from the get-go:
"I think there are moments of authenticity there, where there is a true care to a certain degree. But at that point, what Sarah experienced with Colette before and, killing her and bearing that weight, I think something really turned off in her head where she just wasn't able to see anything except for avenging Colette's death. Everything was being used as a way to facilitate that. I think Shaw was pretty doomed in the grand scheme of things. But there are moments where Shaw really did help in ways that Sarah wasn't necessarily expecting, which threw her off."
After Shaw is permanently dispatched, Sarah seems to be in the clear. In fact, she might have a new agent if she wants to utilize that.
However, in one final post-credits stinger, Sarah gets another phone call. This time, the voice is mysterious and declares itself the real Seven Deadly Sins Killer.
He's angry and warns her that he's coming after. The movie then smash cuts to a new title screen: Everybody I Know Is Dead.
But is that sequel tease a real thing? Pettyjohn wouldn't confirm for sure, but she did say any further installments would depend on how audiences respond to this first one.
"The twists were the thing that made me want to do the project," Pettyjohn explained, adding that she loves how the audience's understanding of what Sarah has been doing the whole movie changes entirely by the end:
"The twists were the thing that made me want to do this project. Originally reading this script, I was genuinely surprised, particularly in the third act, with my character, and that was just so exciting. It was a really interesting role to take on. I wanted to tell a story and represent a character who has so much innocence, quietness, and naivete in the beginning, and when all of his chaos ensues, you see a completely different side of her. But you could go back and watch the film again and see how that innocence is just being misunderstood, and it means something else.
At the end of the day, the actress admitted that she's "improved in a number of ways" thanks to her time on #AMFAD, including having "learned a lot about stamina and endurance:"
"I had improved in a number of ways. I think there was a lot to this character. The whole filming process was rather intense, and it was such a great experience. But you know, when you're making any films, time is a total resource. So, we're working very long hours, day in and day out, and pretty much everything that we shoot was really intense. So I learned a lot about stamina and endurance and what I need to give myself as an actor to be able to physically show up and do everything and mentally show up and be on my best game."
Continuing, the actress elaborated on how it also helped her have "an understanding" of certain types of people she may not have had before:
"And I think that was an incredible experience. And there are certain things that I learned about taking on a character as dark as this that really informed me about different people that I maybe didn't have an understanding of before taking on the role of Sarah."
#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead is now available to rent or own digitally.
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