Colin Minihan's thriller What Keeps You Alive (2018) features two major twists and a bizarre ending that perfectly captures a couple's growing tension in the Canadian wilderness. The film stars Brittany Allen as Jules and Hannah Emily Anderson as her wife, Jackie. They first appear as a happily married couple on a getaway at Jackie's family lake house, but it quickly turns into a nightmare when the past resurfaces. Both characters have their own twist that necessitates an explanation as well as an ending that leaves audiences with more questions than answers.
When Jackie and Jules initially arrive at the lake house, it appears as though there is nothing to be concerned about until Sarah, a childhood friend of Jackie's, reveals that her real name is Megan. This is the first sign of trouble that leads to the unveiling of her chain of murders and a plot to continue killing in order to survive. What Keeps You Alive resembles various horror films that feature a couple in distress over the exposure of a deeply kept secret, such as Antichrist (2009). It is not entirely uncommon for this situation to occur in the sub-genre of cabin in the woods horror, but their situation is unique due to the several twists that occur throughout, especially the two major ones that keep audiences guessing.
What Keeps You Alive is equal parts horror and thriller. It leaves various questions unanswered, introduces last-minute plot elements, and creates unexpected scenarios while Jackie hunts Jules. Neither of these characters will go down without a fight and, because of this, their two individual twists speak volumes about what the ending truly means.
Early in the film, Jackie already appears as a suspicious character who has lied about their name and past. Jules discovers that her name is Megan and, when she was younger, a friend named Jenny drowned in the lake nearby. Sarah explains that it is possible that Jackie never mentioned Jenny because she felt responsible for her death, despite it appearing as a complete accident. What follows this incident is the biggest twist in her story line. When she pushes Jules off of the cliff and begins mimicking calls of distress, the film immediately establishes that Jackie has an underlying motive leading her to kill.
Jackie's twist is simple, but also entirely complex in regards to her overall character. As the film progresses, she reveals that killing Jules would allow her to collect her wife's life insurance policy. This isn't the first time she has done this, as she proudly exclaims how easy it was to kill her previous wives. The core of her killings is due to the fact that Jackie believes this monetary gain will, in some way, keep her alive. Just as her father told her, "only kill what keeps you alive". Not only did she kill multiple women before Jules, she also murdered Jenny when she got a cramp in the lake and held onto her, which led to the young girl's death. This major twist in Jackie's story line ultimately defines the movie—killing to stay alive.
After succeeding in killing her wife, Jackie returns to the cabin and takes her insulin. When she opens up her laptop, it appears that Jules left her a video message. It is revealed that she mixed hydrogen peroxide with her insulin and, when it is injected into the veins, causes massive blood clots that lead to a stroke. Posthumously, Jules gets her revenge. This major twist refers back to the title of the film and the idea of killing in order to survive. Despite Jules's death, she ended up killing Jackie, who believed that she was injecting herself with what is meant to help keep her alive: insulin. Therefore, what was supposed to keep Jackie alive failed, and killing Jules didn't help either. All of her mayhem was for nothing.
As Jackie clings to trees and searches through the woods for help, she becomes disoriented and dies from a stroke, but not after seeing the bear she killed when she was younger. The bear symbolizes that she was unable to stay alive despite killing Jules, Jenny, and all of her other wives. When she initially killed the animal, it seems that she felt threatened. When she sees the bear in the midst of dying, the film reveals that the animal did not ever intend to cause her harm, and that Jackie killed it just do it. Her malevolent behavior has existed since childhood. The bear stands for everything wrong with Jackie, her senseless murders, and alludes to her impending death.
The ending of What Keeps You Alive is filled with symbolism and a very bizarre twist. As the camera pans away from Jules's presumably dead body, a gasp for air is heard off-screen. It is implied that Jules may have survived the fall. Whether or not she really did is up to the interpretation of the viewer. Due to the brutal injuries that cover her body as well as the, presumably, several broken bones, it is highly unlikely that she survived after gasping for air. It is highly improbable that anyone could survive that fall, so it's more likely that she died slowly. This references how the bear died when Jackie shot it. The animal suffered because her first shot did not kill it. Jules's ending means that she is suffering in the woods without anyone to do the humane thing of putting her out of her misery since she killed Jackie.
What Keeps You Alive has countless twists and each viewing reveals more. Without understanding the backstory of Jackie, most of the twists do not make much sense, and on top of that, her character is established as an unreliable narrator. Minihan's What Keeps You Alive is the perfect example of a thriller done correctly that keeps the audience at the edge of their seat and withholds information until the very last second.
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