What Is The Twist Ending In 'El Monstruo Es Real!'?

I just finished 'El Monstruo es Real!' last night, and that ending hit me like a truck! The whole time, you think the monster is this creepy creature lurking in the woods, but the twist is that the 'monster' is actually the protagonist's repressed trauma from childhood. The physical form we see is just a manifestation of his guilt over his brother's death. In the final scene, when he finally confronts it, the monster dissolves into shadows, and you realize it was never real—just a symbol of his inability to move on. The way the director visually mirrors the monster’s features with flashbacks of his brother is genius. It’s one of those endings that makes you immediately want to rewatch for clues you missed earlier, like how the monster never interacts with anyone else. If you like psychological horror with emotional depth, this is a must-watch. Similar vibes to 'The Babadook' but with a more surreal approach.

The twist in 'El Monstruo es Real!' isn’t just clever—it recontextualizes the entire story. For most of the film, we follow Miguel, a grieving man convinced a monster is stalking his village. The creature’s design is terrifying: elongated limbs, hollow eyes, and this eerie clicking sound. But the reveal flips everything. The monster isn’t an external threat; it’s Miguel’s fractured psyche punishing him for surviving the accident that killed his family. The clues are subtle but there all along. The monster only appears during his panic attacks. Its lair is filled with relics from his past. Even its attacks mirror his self-harm tendencies.

The final act is where it all clicks. Miguel’s confrontation with the monster happens in his childhood home, now decayed. When he finally accepts responsibility for his survivor’s guilt, the creature transforms into his younger self, whispering, 'You let us die.' It’s heartbreaking. The film then cuts to reality—Miguel in a psychiatric ward, drawings of the monster covering his walls. The villagers never saw anything. It’s a masterclass in unreliable narration. If you enjoy films that blend horror with deep character studies, like 'Jacob’s Ladder' or 'Saint Maud,' this will wreck you in the best way.

What makes 'El Monstruo es Real!' stand out is how its twist plays with perception. The monster’s existence feels undeniable—characters die, townsfolk panic, and there’s even 'proof' like claw marks. But the finale reveals it’s all part of a collective delusion. The real monster is the town’s untreated grief after a mining disaster poisoned their water supply. The creature’s attacks? Hallucinations from neurotoxicity. The director hides the truth in plain sight: victims always disappear near the abandoned mine, and the monster’s veins glow the same toxic green as the contaminated river.

The brilliance is in the pacing. Early scenes focus on Miguel, but the twist widens to implicate everyone. In the last 10 minutes, a government cleanup crew arrives, exposing the pollution cover-up. The 'monster' is last seen dissolving into the river, implying it was never more than a shared nightmare. It’s a sharp commentary on how communities weaponize folklore to avoid facing hard truths. Fans of folk horror like 'The Wicker Man' or slow burns like 'The Others' will appreciate how the film balances scares with social critique. The ending stays with you—especially that final shot of the empty village, where the real horror was the silence all along.