Taylor, if you haven’t finished Gretel and Hansel yet, my suggestion is that you definitely do so! There are some very interesting design elements that I think you’ll get a kick out of, especially towards the end.

Okay, so, Fact: the book “The Lady in the Walls” is the story of Lily coming to the house and being haunted and eventually killed by Polly’s ghost. We know this because, as someone else in the comments pointed out, if you pause the movie when the first page is open, you can read that Lily is the main character and the start of the book = the start of the movie.

After Lily dies, she has the ability to move back in time, which we see when she visits the younger Iris Blum. Blum writes Lily’s story, which is published as “The Lady in the Walls”. However, the story has no ending, because Lily still doesn’t understand what happened and why. She doesn’t know where the ghost came from, what the mold spot is from, etc. How can she find out?

Actually, there IS a way she can find out. She can travel back in time to when the house is being built!! Imagine if she began to haunt Polly’s husband-to-be, trying to figure out why he would kill his wife and hide her body in the wall. As he works on the house, he is slowly driven insane by (Lily’s) obsession with this one unfinished part of the wall and thoughts of killing his wife. Maybe he even thinks Polly is causing these thoughts somehow and starts to fear and hate her, eventually deciding to kill her to make it stop, seal her up in the wall, and flee the country.

Innocent Polly had never been in the house before, therefore had no idea it was haunted. Completely surprised and confused by her death, she now haunts the house.

At some point Iris Blum moves in.

Somehow (doesn’t really matter how but you can imagine), Polly figures out that it was Ghost Lily’s fault she was murdered. So she bides her time until the future when Blum is an old woman and Lily moves in to help her. Then Polly deliberately causes Lily’s death by taking advantage of her fearful nature, using the house to slowly build up this dark/horror atmosphere, doing little things like flipping up the edge of the carpet and showing herself in reflections etc, leading up to the final scare she knows will give her a heart attack and kill her.

Ms Blum may not even have dementia – she could just be extremely confused by the time-traveling ghosts (who are also very confused themselves), and people may assume she is mistaking her own fictional characters for real people and vice versa. I think the secret Polly whispers in her ear is probably the fact that Lily’s ghost caused her murder and she’s about to get her revenge. Or maybe even an “I know you know” if that’s the case.

So… yeah. That’s my Donnie-Darko-level subtextual interpretation. I think it makes more sense than some theories here, even if it does involve a lot of reaching to connect the dots. What do you think?

The pique is my Mr. Hyde. And the rare sincerity is definitely my Dr. Jekyl. I am without a doubt a work in progress and should think twice more often than not before I hammer out most of my responses. But after 10 or 15 years of interacting with people on this blog… I’m sure you’ll find the good and bad sprinkled liberally throughout.

REGARDLESSSSSSSSS – yes, I’ve reviewed Blackcoat’s – you can find it right here: https://taylorholmes.com/2018/04/11/can-someone-please-explain-what-happened-in-the-blackcoats-daughter/

I have had my eye on Gretel – and have actually even started it. But something t-boned me, and I didn’t get back to it. If you say it’s worth the restart, I’ll put it back on the list to check out.

Now, on to my question: Have you seen “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” yet? It’s by the same director, Osgood Perkins, and it’s his masterpiece as far as I’m concerned. It came out just a year before IATPTTLITH, but it somehow manages to have more of everything that people appreciated about the latter film (the dread, the foreboding, the sense of inevitable doom), and less of what people don’t like about it (the overly long, slow passages).

As for his 2020 film, “Gretel and Hansel”… it operates on a very different level than either “Blackcoat” or “Pretty Thing”, but it’s visually stunning and is definitely worth a watch.

Perkins is someone who deserves every horror fan’s attention moving forward.

That is totally fair Deanna.
We all come to movies with different expectations and assumptions. Jump scares sort of make me giggle and laugh at their silliness. But maybe they work for you? For me, overbearing dread is way way more effective… that coupled with a slow build that piles on over time works way better for me.

Sorry if I recommended the movie and you watched it as a result. (Though I’m doubting that to be the case. Maybe you just came looking for a place to dump your anger? hahah. It’s fine, I’m happy to be that place.) Hopefully the next movie you find will be way better.

Take care,
Taylor

worst movie ever. its drawn out by lily moving like shes in slow motion. it literally took her 43 seconds to turn & look behind her. if i hear a sound, i practically get whiplash.
it was pointless & so so so so slow
how others say this scared them is beyond me. i guess im not as mature, refined, or whatever it takes to enjoy this terrible flik

A few years late, but I’m gonna add anyway!

I think that Lily was a reincarnation of Polly. I also think that Polly really didn’t remember what happened to her which is why Iris couldn’t write the ending of the novel. This would also explain why Iris insists on addressing Lily as Polly. In the movie, Lily says that “nothing that chains them to where their bodies have fallen. They are free to go. But still they confine themselves, held in place by their looking.” I think because Polly’s spirit (in Lily) meets Polly’s body finally. Polly leaves Iris or ignores her because she’s currently in Lily when she’s born.

Towards the end, Polly whispers something to Iris and that is the ending of book; how she died. Iris actually dies that night before Lily because she was only holding on for the ending. And because of Lily’s realization that she is Polly and the combination of seeing where her body is, Lily dies of fright.

Some questions I have or I can’t answer, were who moved the phone cord if Polly was Lily? Also why is Lily in Mass. if she lives in Pennsylvania, isn’t that quite a long ways away?! Thanks!