SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!
A man with a mysterious past flees the country to escape his own personal hell, only to arrive somewhere much, much worse.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Bloody Hell Plot Summary and Synopsis
Rex (Ben O’Toole), a veteran and resident of Boise, Idaho visits a Boise bank to see a teller named Maddy that he has a crush on. He purposefully manipulates the bank’s line so that when Maddy is available he is able to speak with her. While Rex is flirting and asking Maddy out on a date, a group of armed robbers storm the bank and demand both the register tills and all of the customer’s purses and wallets. Rex instructs Maddy to run, and prepares to hand over his wallet. Another customer’s purse reveals a firearm which Rex debates using to defend himself as well as the bank customers and employees.
Flashback sequences reveal that Rex was able to successfully secure the bank by dispatching the armed robbers one at a time, however there was an innocent bystander killed in the process. The reception of Rex’s actions are split down the line believing him to either be a hero who saved the day or rogue vigilante who caused an unnecessary death. Rex goes back and forth with his attorney before his trial, where he can either take a plea deal and serve 8 years in prison or try and prove his innocence but serve 20 to life if he is found guilty. Rex takes the plea deal and serves 8 years in prison.
Upon being released, the media has a field day with Rex’s actions in the bank and follow him obsessively while he enjoys some small luxuries of freedom like grocery shopping and eating a burger. He then returns to the bar where he was previously employed and speaks with another bartender. They banter back and forth and Rex explains that he has made a calculated decision to get away to Finland. The calculated decisions turns out to be shooting a spitwad at a map in his cell, where the spitwad landed on Finland.
Rex is shown at the airport being adorned by an obnoxious fan who compares him to Batman. He is also uncomfortably stared at by an elderly Finnish couple who mention something in Finnish about capturing him. Brushing this off as coincidence, Rex boards his flight, realizing that the airport codes for Boise to Helsinki, Finland are Boi to Hel (Boy to Hell), but boards his flight anyways. Upon landing he quickly enters a town car and sleeping gas fills the back seat. Rex then awakens in a basement turned torture-chamber with one of his legs amputated at the knee and his hands bound to the ceiling. He works with his conscience, a physical manifestation of himself that only he can see and hear, to deduce as much information about his predicament as possible. Rex and his conscience quickly discern that Rex is being held captive by a family as there are lots of various toys around the room, however Rex is unable to escape his binds. The audience learns that Rex is in the basement of a large family estate in rural Finland.
A young boy from the family holding Rex captive is wandering around the house and enters the basement to find Rex being held hostage. Rex’s conscience tells him that he can hold the boy (we learn his name is Olaf) hostage as an insurance policy to be set free from the family. Olaf is wielding a small knife and debates freeing Rex, however Rex quickly incapacitates and traps Olaf between his legs despite being held captive. Olaf’s older sister Alia then goes searching for Olaf and she finds Rex holding Olaf captive. Rex negotiates with Alia to free him in exchange for not killing Olaf, however before any kind of deal can be negotiated, Rex loses his hold on Olaf and Alia is able to retreat with a wounded Olaf upstairs. The family then needs to take Olaf to the hospital to receive medical attention, as Olaf is completely unconscious. Alia then explains that Olaf was injured falling out of bed to protect Rex. She then fantasizes about a wedding to Rex and comes back downstairs to clean and dress his wound, professing her affection for Rex.
Alia explains that her family, particularly her eldest brother Pati, are cannibals who will eat Rex piece by piece (explaining his missing leg) until there is nothing left. A flashback shows that Pati has craved human flesh since birth and his family tried a number of other options but finally the family gave in and started killing American travelers and feeding them to Pati. Alia has always been an outcast from her family, perpetually disturbed by their murderous and cannibalistic behavior.
She tried to escape many times, once with her younger brother, however the attempts were always unsuccessful with her being captured and returned to the family. As punishment, Alia was forced to feed and tend to Pati, however she explains that she was constantly looking for an escape. Despite Alia’s fear of her family, she refuses to help Rex escape as she is confident that Rex cannot stop her family. Rex and Alia bond over their traumatic pasts and Alia leaves Rex with a small knife to cut his ropes.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family returns from the hospital, understanding that Alia lied about Olaf’s injury. Rex is unable to cut himself loose before being injected by the father of the family and loses consciousness. While he is unconscious, a flashback is shown recounting the events that took place during the bank robbery. When presented with the firearm in the bank, Rex is told by his conscience to ‘kill them all’ referring to the robbers. He quickly dispatches one robber with the handgun he has found then trades up for a shotgun and dispatches the other robbers. Simultaneously we are shown that the bank’s cameras were turned into YouTube videos with views that accumulate into the millions. Rex dispatches 3 of the 4 robbers when the final robber takes a hostage, however Rex is able to release all of the other hostages.
The flashback then shows the trial, explaining one opinion that Rex was reckless and led to the death of a bystander named Angela. However, Rex explains that the robbers were violent without provocation and likely would have hurt someone else. The flashback then shows Rex in a stand-off with the final robber who was holding his crush Maddy hostage. He negotiates for Maddy’s release and despite being free and clear, Rex shoots the final robber in the groin (per his conscience’s advice). The robber fires off a stray round which goes through a door, killing Angela, a bystander hiding behind the door. In another flashback, Maddy visits Rex in prison asking to be left alone so that she can recover from the trauma she experienced. Rex is then shown talking to his cellmate in prison who explains that he cannot outrun his problems. Rex is shown having actually shot 3 spitwads at the map when deciding where to live, each one landing on Finland.
Rex awakens to find Uncle sawing off his remaining leg, however Rex is able to unsheath the knife from Alia and stab Uncle in the head, killing him, before the operation is complete. Rex then is able to free himself and begins searching the basement for objects he can improvise into weapons, finding a flare gun, a large knife, and other various items he can improvise into weapons. Rex and his conscience debate whether to save Alia or not before escaping with Rex seeming reluctant to try and help another woman when it ended tragically last time. He approaches the front door of the house and the scene cuts away to the remainder of the family returning from the hospital.
The family debates fleeing should the authorities show up and ultimately explaining they will search for Rex and find him or he will die in the surrounding woods, mostly likely. While debating the course of action, Father and one of the older brothers are shot by an unseen Rex, quickly revealed to be hiding under a table. He is able to dispatch the entire family with the help of Alia, via the nail-gun, knives, and Alia strangling her mother.
However, Pati is still alive. He is revealed to be a grotesque giant that becomes enraged by the death of his family. Rex attempts to shoot Pati with the flare gun but is unsuccessful. In his battle with Pati, Rex finds his severed leg in the family’s refrigerator with the jagged leg bones still intact. While being grappled by Pati, Rex is able to jam the foot and sharp bone into Pati’s throat, killing him.
Alia explains they are now safe. Rex is praised by his conscience who ultimately realizes he is no longer needed and disappears. Alia and Rex discuss recovering Olaf from the hospital and are later shown as a couple back in the United States with Rex explaining how they met to his friends at a party. Alia turns out to be potentially psychotic when a woman at the party puts her hand on Rex’s arm and Alia imagines herself killing the woman with a meat cleaver.
Bloody Hell Ending
Olaf is later shown with a picture of his former family explaining it may be time for an “American banquet”.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).