If you thought the ocean was a scary place to be, then we suggest you steer clear of this movie. Directed by Matt Eskandari, 12 Feet Deep is a mystery thriller that follows the story of two girls trapped under the glass cover of a public swimming pool with no way out and very little space to breathe through.
We are sure that by the end of the movie, you will think twice before putting your feet in unknown waters. While the plot of the movie has a mysterious vibe to it, it also relies heavily on the drama between the two trapped girls and the night janitor who looks after the pool and is potentially their only way out.
The movie has a small cast that includes actress Alexandra Park in the role of Jonna, Nora-Jane Noone in the role of Bree, Tobin Bell in the role of McGradey, and finally, Diane Farr in the role of Clara. Released in 2017, the movie is about two sisters who find themselves trapped under the fiberglass of an Olympic-sized public pool.
As we go deeper into the night, the water turns extremely cold, forcing the sisters to somehow battle the cold and find a way to survive. Quick to realize the existence of a night janitor, the two do all that they can to get her attention, but very soon, we realize that the janitor herself seemed to have problems of her own, ones that she could solve through the two trapped sisters.
The movie is currently available on Prime Videos for those who might want to binge it after reading a detailed explanation of its plot here. We guarantee the movie will be a treat for those who wish for the thrill of a survival movie to be combined with the drama of complex characters with traumas and old wounds of their own.
It is surely more than just a survival movie, considering how it has managed to incorporate human stories in such a story in such a brief running time.
12 Feet Deep Ending Explained
The movie wastes no time in setting up the characters; instead, it chooses to jump into it directly. We are introduced to Bree, one of the two sisters, who decides to go for a swim at the Ketea Aquatic Center. She is joined by her cynical sister, Jonna, who is also in recovery from a drug addiction.
With a record of being clean for three months, the two sisters move to the pool for a swim. We are next introduced to Clara, a janitor who works for the center and happens to be an ex-convict out on parole. It is while we meet our leading characters, we see the owner of the pool place, McGradey, put up a sign that mentions that the pool will remain closed because of a public holiday.
While the girls seem to be enjoying their swim, Clara gets caught by McGradey for stealing from the lost and found properties. Of course, being an ex-convict does not help, and she is fired immediately and told to leave the place after cleaning it one last time before the pool closes over the weekend.
The Beginning of the Horror
McGradey moves to announce to the people by the pool that the place will be closing up soon, and soon enough, the place is left eerily quiet and empty. The two sisters also manage to get out of the pool, but while preparing to leave the building, Bree notices her engagement ring and her bag missing from her finger.
Worried that the ring would be lost forever, the two wasted no time turning the place upside down in hopes of finding it before, finally, Jonna spotted it resting on the bed of the pool. Bree dives in first to get it from the grate, and Jonna follows.
Unfortunately for them, the ring was at the deeper end of the pool, and just as the two went deep under the water, the owner decided to check the place one last time before closing up. Not noticing the two, McGradey pulls on the switch, and the cover starts to roll out.
By the time the two came up with the ring, the cover had already shut closed, and the owner had left for the weekend. Knowing that they could be stuck there for a very long time and even die in the pool, the two feel terrified and frantically start to find ways to escape.
The only saving grace in the entire situation was the fact that there was some space between the water and the cover, so the two could at least come up for a breather. Their attempts to break the air duct in the cover fail, though it does provide them with air space to breathe, and so does their attempt to somehow open the filter gate at the bottom of the pool to break the glass.
No Way Out
Frustrated, the two get into an argument, blaming each other, and eventually, the argument turns to Jonna confessing how she despised Bree for having a good life and a husband and for abandoning her in the rehabilitation center. Jonna also reveals that she was the one who had thrown the ring in the pool out of pure jealousy towards her more successful sister.
After multiple failed attempts at trying to get out, Bree reveals to Jonna that she is diabetic and that without an insulin shot, she could go into a coma. The two also end up discussing the toxic father, who used to abuse the two and eventually died in a fire.
Finally, Clara enters the pool area and spots the two sisters trapped under. Her first thought is to steal everything she can and grab whatever money Bree stuffed in her bag, her phone, and her card, and eventually blackmails them into telling her their bank details in return for her help.
She turns off the heater, and the girls are forced to tell her the PIN. Clara makes a quick visit to the machine to get the cash out, only to realize that Bree barely has anything on her. She comes back to threaten the two and leaves without helping them.
Clara & the Two Sisters
With Bree’s condition worsening, Jonna called out for Clara the next day, asking her to place her ear near the small air-open space in the pool cover. Jonna stabs Clara in the ear with a tile piece she got from the bottom of the pool, and in anger, Clara decides to turn on the pool cleaning system.
As the girls choke on the chlorine, Clara realizes that their death could get her into more trouble, so she turns the system off but still refuses to open the cover. Bree realizes that the only possible reason why Clara is doing what she is doing is because she has no control over her own life.
She was helpless in her own life and was torturing them to feel a twisted sense of superiority and control. Bree changes her tactics and, instead of screaming and threatening, chooses to plead for Clara’s humanity. She gives Clara a sense of power over them through her words and begs her to open the cover to let them out.
They stroke her ego, and Clara eventually agrees to open the cover, but the passcode for it does not seem to work. Frustrated, Clara decides to leave the pool and never come back, telling them they are on their own for this one.
She leaves the place after refusing to call for help, and slowly, the cold starts getting to Bree, who turns weak, seemingly giving up on life. She starts to faint, losing consciousness and gaining it back several times. While Bree seems to be barely holding on to life, she decides to finally open up about their father’s death.
The Ending Explained
Earlier, while pleading to Clara, Bree had mentioned how their abusive father had died in a fire and that Bree had not helped her father escape, that he was a monster she had prevented from escaping. She tells Jonna that the night of the fire, she had spotted him entering Jonna’s room to abuse her.
So when the fire took place, she had made sure that he could not leave the place, not caring if it burned her own hand in the process. Knowing that the abuse had affected Jonna enough to push her to try to take her own life and eventually turn to drugs, Bree had done what she could to save her sister.
She confesses having killed the monster that their father was, which became words of motivation for Jonna. With a newfound will, she gives up her fear of going under the water, towards the grate, to save her sister. Jonna managed to pull the grate out just in time and cracked the cover open, immediately coming out of the water and pulling Bree, who had lost consciousness, as well.
While Jonna gives her sister the insulin shot, Clara decides to end the lives of the two sisters with a gun, and so she comes back. It is understandable why Clara would have wanted to kill the two. Jonna, desperate to save her sister, begs her not to pull the trigger, finally convincing her to run away and escape before the paramedics arrive.
Bree, who is close to dying, manages to survive, and the two sisters get to go back to their lives, having come even closer after the incident. While the producers did not show Mus Clara’s end, it is likely she walked away without a scratch, considering she had turned the cameras off and Jonna had given her the chance to escape.
