Carbon Monoxide

The first item is the murder-suicide scene that occurs at the beginning of the movie. This is the event that sets off Dani’s spiral into madness. This frame shows Terri, Dani’s younger sister, with a mask taped onto her face. The mask is connected to a long yellow pipe, which connects directly to the exhaust pipe of her idle car in the garage. There are firefighters and other emergency relief personnel at the scene of the crime, whose search of the house draws the audience to the bodies. Terri had another long pipe that led the carbon monoxide into her parents’ bedroom as well. She duct-taped the gap under the door so that no air could circulate and so that her parents would die in their sleep. After the firefighters zip up the parents’ bodies, the audience is brought to Terri’s room. Shortly before panning to her body, we see her laptop with four messages from Dani, to whom she said goodbye minutes prior. Dani, believing the best-case scenario to be true, thinks this is yet another one of her sister’s dramatic episodes. She remains under this impression until she receives a phone call from the police. The purpose of this scene is to provide the audience with the context for Dani’s grief. Following this scene, Dani enters a severely depressive state, which is worsened by her deteriorating relationship with her boyfriend. His inability to be there for her shows the audience her vulnerability, which ultimately leads to her being the ideal new recruit for the Swedish cult.