Bird Box (film)

Official release poster

***Bird Box*** is a 2018 American post-apocalyptic horror thriller film directed by Susanne Bier and written by Eric Heisserer, based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Josh Malerman. The film follows the character Malorie Hayes, played by Sandra Bullock, as she tries to protect herself and two children from entities which cause people who look at them to kill themselves.

## Plot

In a post-apocalyptic world, Malorie Hayes informs two young children that they will go down a river in a rowboat. She sternly instructs them not to remove their blindfolds, or they will die.

Five years earlier, a pregnant Malorie is visited by her sister, Jessica. A news broadcast reports unexplained mass suicides spreading across Europe and Asia. After a prenatal checkup, Malorie witnesses a woman smashing her head repeatedly into the hospital window. Others start acting suicidal as well, causing panic and chaos. Afterward, Malorie hurries to leave the scene with Jessica. While steering away from the hospital, Jessica sees something inexplicable that drives her insane and she deliberately crashes her car. She then walks in front of a speeding truck and is killed.

As Malorie flees on foot, a woman invites her into a house for safety. The woman then sees the entity before going into a trance and sitting inside a burning car. A passerby, Tom, picks up Malorie from the street into the house, where six other people are taking shelter. One survivor, Charlie, says that humanity has been judged, and the appearance of demonic entities is a sign of the end times. He also mentions that those spiritual beings have different names in various cultures, such as Aka Manah, Surgat, Huli Jing, and Púca. Those in the house cover all the windows and blindfold themselves whenever they go out. Greg, the house's owner, commits suicide after volunteering to test if it is safe to observe them indirectly through surveillance cameras.

A new pregnant survivor, Olympia, arrives. Half of the group goes to the grocery store Charlie worked at to restock their dwindling food. They drive there in a car with covered windows using GPS navigation system. Malorie gets three pet birds along with their supplies. She notices the entities' presence agitates the birds. Later, Charlie's coworker attacks the group, attempting to force them to look at the creatures. However, Charlie sacrifices himself to save the others. They make it back to the house. Sometime after, Felix and Lucy steal the car and drive away.

Olympia lets a stranger named Gary into the house against Douglas's wishes. Cheryl knocks Douglas out, and the others lock him in the garage. As Olympia and Malorie go into labor simultaneously, Gary works on drawings of the creatures he has seen before. He knocks Tom unconscious and opens the garage door, exposing Douglas to the entities. Gary goes upstairs and rips all the windows' blinds. Olympia fails to look away, and after witnessing the creature, she dives out the window, killing herself. Malorie hides with both newborn babies under a cover while Gary forces Cheryl to look at the entities, causing her to stab herself in the neck with a pair of scissors. Douglas escapes the garage and blindly attempts to kill Gary with a shotgun, wounding him in the process, but Gary kills him with the scissors. Tom begins to recuperate shortly after, fighting Gary over the gun. After Malorie hears a few gunshots, Tom approaches her to say everything is fine.

Five years later, Tom and Malorie live together with the children, called "Boy" and "Girl". They receive transmissions from survivors informing them of a safe community hidden in the forest, accessible only by boat along the river. As they leave their house, a group of unblindfolded survivors attacks them. Tom distracts the assailants so Malorie and the children can flee. He uncovers his eyes and shoots all the attackers, but after seeing the entities, he kills himself.

Malorie and the children go blindfolded down the river on a boat, carrying the birds to warn them of the entities. They encounter several obstacles, including an unblindfolded survivor and river rapids. Soon after the three reach shore, they are separated when Malorie accidentally slides down a hill. The entities use Malorie's voice to trick the kids into taking off their blindfolds. Malorie regains consciousness and tells the children where to find her. They eventually reach the community, a former school for the blind. Malorie releases the birds and finally gives the children names, Tom and Olympia, admitting that she is their mother.

## Cast

* Sandra Bullock as Malorie Hayes
* Trevante Rhodes as Tom
* Jacki Weaver as Cheryl
* John Malkovich as Douglas
* Sarah Paulson as Jessica Hayes
* Rosa Salazar as Lucy
* Danielle Macdonald as Olympia
* Lil Rel Howery as Charlie
* Tom Hollander as Gary
* Machine Gun Kelly as Felix
* BD Wong as Greg
* Pruitt Taylor Vince as Rick
* Vivien Lyra Blair as Girl / Olympia
* Julian Edwards as Boy / Tom
* Parminder Nagra as Dr. Lapham
* Rebecca Pidgeon as Lydia
* Amy Gumenick as Samantha
* Taylor Handley as Jason
* Happy Anderson as River Man
* David Dastmalchian as Whistling Marauder