Sorority Row (2009) Movie Ending Explained [Spoiler]

Last updated on October 3rd, 2024 at 10:45 pm

Sorority Row (2009) is a horror slasher film directed by Stewart Hendler. The movie plot is very straight forward to watch but its screenplay is stylish. Let’s explain the movie.

Sorority Row Ending Explanation

* * * Spoiler Alert – If you haven’t seen the movie yet, turn back now! * * *

The “Pajama Party” at the Theta Pi sorority house during hazing serves as the first scene of the film. The housemother Mrs. Crenshaw and five of the senior class sisters are introduced as the camera pans through the gathering. Blonde, snarky Jessica is either the sorority’s president or its self-proclaimed monarch. Ellie is the expected awkward, less attractive sibling; she is intelligent and is studying medicine. Claire is attractive, Asian, and resembles a cross between Lucy Liu and Tila Tequila. The stereotypical drunken-slut sorority girl, or “Chugs,” is someone who drinks excessively and tells crude remarks. Finally, Cassidy is attractive and trustworthy and serves as our main character.

To commemorate their senior year, the girls gather in Jessica’s room for tequila shots. After toasting/roasting each other individually, they sit on her bed as she shows them “a future YouTube classic.”

We watch a live feed of Megan’s bedroom as she is in bed with Chugs’ brother Garrett on her laptop. Jessica and Chugs admit that they offered Garrett roofies in response to a girl’s remark that she appears to be in a coma. Initially shocked, the others gradually accept it because Megan and Garrett have an on-again, off-again relationship. The five rush over to the room as Megan begins to foam at the lips and Garrett begins to scream.

Megan does not move. When Jessica asks Garrett what the hell he has done while Garrett and Ellie are both freaking out, he replies that he merely gave her the pills. One would have been sufficient, they tell him. To get Megan to the hospital, Jessica hands him her car keys and instructs him to go retrieve them. He departs, and Jessica administers CPR. Megan pushes her away when he leaves and inquires as to whether or not she intends to use her tongue. The girls who aren’t in on the joke understand that Garrett cheating on Megan is the reason for this.

But the joke isn’t ended yet, so the others agree to participate. They cram Jessica’s SUV, but Claire operates the wheel. They inform Garrett that Megan isn’t breathing and is unquestionably dead before they arrive at the hospital. Claire claims that she made a false turn out of haste and stress. Garrett asks where they are heading as Jessica instructs her to keep driving.

They arrive at an abandoned mine by a lake. Megan is placed on Cass’s jacket. Garrett advises them to call anyone—the hospital, the police, etc. Megan laments that she can’t see anything with her eyes closed as he moves away to make a call. Megan places her phone next to Jessica and begins recording a video after Jessica orders her to stop talking.

When Garrett comes back, he claims he has no signal. Jessica makes a lecture outlining the need of disposing of the deceased. Jessica claims that if they turned themselves in, Garrett would be responsible and that they would all be considered complicit in the murder. She inquires as to whether they ought to try dismembering Megan or sinking her into the lake with weights. Garrett is still utterly terrified, and the other girls tensely go along with it.

Everyone is instructed to disperse and hunt for sharp pebbles to use to dismember the body by Jessica. She comments as everyone departs that they might need to puncture Megan’s lungs because if any air is still present, she would float. Jessica remarks that she is unsure whether Megan’s silicone-filled breasts will make her float. Megan is seen giving a middle finger from the perspective of the cellphone camera.

When Jessica is close enough, Cass and Claire ask her in a low voice how long they expect this prank to last. Once more, the view is from a cell phone. Everyone is shocked when Megan starts coughing up blood. Garrett, who is sobbing and claims he was poking her lungs, becomes alarmed when he realizes she is still alive. Everyone tries to contact 911, stop the bleeding, etc. Even after Megan passes away, no cell phone signals are received.

Similar to the first fictitious dispute, this one involves everyone this time. Some people want to call the police, but if they did, their group would be disbanded, their lives would be over, and their futures as well as those of their families, friends, coworkers, and romantic partners would be in danger. Jessica claims that the Theta Pi sisters are close. Cass responds with their sorority’s guiding principles, such as Trust, Honor, and Respect. Jessica informs her that she overlooked the final two, Solidarity and Secrecy.

Jessica responds that she is also thinking of her boyfriend Kyle and his senator father when Cass accuses her of being self-centered. She advises Cass to keep her boyfriend Andy in mind as well. Ellie wants to confess as well, but she realizes that, as a less fortunate person, she cannot afford to lose her scholarship, much less hire criminal defense attorneys. In the end, Jessica convinces the others to buy it because, if she were Megan, she wouldn’t want this to ruin the lives of the sorority sisters she cherishes. Cass turns around and leaves, saying she’ll keep going until she finds a signal. Police are being called by her.

The remaining girls throw Megan’s body, her phone, and the cross wrench down the mineshaft as Garrett collapses off-screen. Jessica reassures Claire that Cass will return because she can’t walk back, assuaging her concerns that this is wrong and that she would inform. When she does, she finds it unbelievable that they dumped the body. Jessica claims that they were merely assisting her and that they will keep Cass’s murder of Megan a secret because they are such excellent sisters.

Later, the others, including Ellie, take her lead. Cass expresses her shock about this. Jessica claims that they even laid Cassie’s bloody jacket—the only other piece of evidence—down for her. Having lost, Cass caves. The girls agree that they last saw Megan at the party and are unaware of her disappearance as they wash off in the lake before going back to the party to avoid being suspected.

The scene cuts to one months later. Andy, Cass’ boyfriend, is the valedictorian on graduation day. He concludes his statement by stating that he is proud to be among his classmates and that people judge you by the company you keep. Hats are thrown, a bottle of champagne is opened by Chugs, and Cass is shown standing aside. Cass does not respond to Jessica’s waves.

The following morning, we see Andy and Cass in their beds. Andy queries what transpired between Cass and the others after thumbing a Theta Pi invitation, noting their previous closeness. She refuses to discuss it and claims that the only reason they are attending the farewell luncheon is that she is related to a legacy family.

The sorority included her mother. Andy claims that after tonight, she won’t have to see any of the females ever again and that the next morning when they arrive at his parents’ holiday home, they may unwind. After lunch, they intend to leave by car. The couple is madly in love, and throughout the film, Cass utilizes a GPS app on their phones to track down Andy.

When Cass, her parents, and Andy arrive at the sorority home for the luncheon, Jessica welcomes them and remarks that it has been a long time since they have seen one another. In her farewell address, Jessica mentions the construction scaffolding for the east wing renovations and proposes a toast in memory of their missing sister. The other four believe they can make out Megan, alive and stunning in a dress, moving through the crowd. Ellie yells and collapses.

A short while later, Jessica is screaming at everyone in the kitchen: “The female was Megan’s biological sister.” Jessica advises everyone to maintain composure because it is their final night of college, they are required by custom to hold this final party, and then they can all go on. Maggie, Megan’s sister, enters to offer her condolences and announces that she will pledge Theta Pi when she enrolls as a freshman in the autumn. Ellie decides that this is too much and departs. Maggie requests permission to attend the party tonight.

Jessica argues that would be against rush regulations, but if Maggie were to “Facebook her,” she’d personally make sure she got a bid the following year. Maggie is weird, as the girls claim, but Cass argues that given the circumstances, she has every right to be.

One of the girls receives a snapshot through a text message after Maggie leaves. It’s a gloved hand wielding a cross wrench covered in blood. Despite everyone’s fears, they all conclude that Garrett is just making a cruel joke because he was never the same after the disaster. Chugs claims she will handle her brother.

Jessica’s boyfriend Kyle and Claire’s boyfriend Mickey interrupt by storming into the kitchen and demanding to know why they aren’t assisting with the party preparations. Since Chugs has an appointment with her psychiatrist, she interprets this as her cue to depart. Mickey, who is a douche, urges her to bribe the psychiatrist for more Oxycontin than she needs. She exits after saying that he’s more of an assman.

Since it is customary for the house mother to be away on the last night of the year, Mrs. Krenshaw continues by telling the girls how precious they are, how much she will miss them, to not litter too much, etc. She presents 22-link bracelets to each of them. After Krenshaw leaves, most of our other primary bitches throw them away after Cass puts her on. Silver-plated clothing is something Jessica would never dare wear. Cass runs into Andy and asks if they can attend the party since she volunteered to assist Ellie with the setup. Within the first 30 minutes, they consent to leave covertly.

Jessica is seen going out to dinner or happy hour with Kyle’s father. Kyle is nowhere to be found, but before he arrives, Kyle’s father makes a speech to his potential daughter-in-law about how he despises surprises and always reads the last page of a book first. He doesn’t want her to cause any issues for his family because he might obtain the vice-presidential nomination. She promises him that she wouldn’t.

Chugs finds Dr. Rosenberg chained to his bed after helping herself to a bottle of alcohol off a shelf at her shrink’s office. She agrees to have sex with him in exchange for his most recent sample of prescription medications after hearing that his previous appointment left him in this condition. He hears unusual noises as she gets ready and sees a Shadowy Figure moving closer.

After successfully removing the restraints, he is stabbed in the face by a flying cross wrench. Chugs approach the bathroom mirror and say, “Bottoms up, slut,” before attempting to rob the medicine cabinet. He then goes back to the bedroom. She wanders about the home stating she doesn’t have time for “hunt me, rape me,” then sits down on the therapist’s couch because the doctor’s body is missing. The Killer rams the bottle into her mouth and throat, wedged there, while she raises it to her lips again at a 180-degree angle. He slices Chugs’ throat, drenching the bottle in blood as she chugs for her life, both literally and figuratively.

The party is being planned back at Theta Pi in full force. Despite everyone around them, Claire persuades Mickey to have sex with her one last time in the hot tub. She sends him home to get ready for the party after that when he starts hitting on girls as she takes a shower. Cass tells Jessica that she is worried about Ellie since she appears to be rattled. Before leaving to take a shower, Jessica declares that now that they have graduated, Ellie’s health and consequently Jessica’s term papers are no longer her concerns.

When Claire has finished taking a shower, she is startled to see the curtain being opened. A younger sister who wasn’t aware that she was there is there. It’s a sizable communal shower area. Jessica approaches her from behind and chastises her for trying to enter the Senior Showers undetected. She forces the girl to return to her room without her towel as punishment. She does it with the implication that Jessica is envious of her “beautiful breasts.”

Another non-senior girl is seen pleading not to be discovered in another shower. An argument between Claire and Jessica concludes with Claire accusing Jessica of killing Megan. Jessica advises Claire to simply yell at her outside where everyone in the house can hear. She goes. Girl in Shower, startled by what she heard, spills her shampoo. Claire hears it, but she is so uneasy that she decides to leave as well. The Killer, who is now clearly wearing a hooded robe, stabs Shower Girl in the jaw as she tries to flee.

Ellie is seeking vodka in the dark, ominous basement below. She sends Kyle on his way after he surprises or frightens her and asks if she needs any help. Since the light is out, she turns to her cellphone for illumination, but instead of alcohol, she discovers Cass’s jacket, which is now ripped in half and still covered in blood. She yells. In this film, she yells more than everyone else.

In Jessica’s room, the girls gather once more for a sisterly discussion. Jessica is adamant that Garrett is to blame, who must have gone insane from guilt. When they attempt to call Chugs, her voicemail instructs them to leave a message and hangs up. Some people want to cancel the celebration, but Jessica argues that doing so would be against tradition and make it appear suspicious. If Chugs doesn’t look after Garrett, she promises to do it herself. According to Ellie, Megan either didn’t pass away or she rose from the grave and is now exacting the justice that they all deserve.

Together, Claire and Cassidy finish getting dressed, at which point Claire apologizes, acknowledges that they were wrong, and expresses her admiration for Cassidy for all of her charitable work and self-punishment. They’ve all just made a string of errors, according to Cass, since the accident.

As the party begins, we notice several hooded robes; according to tradition, each graduating fraternity or sorority member received one. A woman in a hood reveals herself to be a naked dancer. While they dance, Mickey keeps trying to get Claire, but she isn’t having it and eventually pushes him off and throws a necklace at him before storming off.

Ellie is sitting outside by herself when Mickey comes across her and attempts to console her after Claire dumped him and punched him. She threatens to murder him if he touches her again. He offers entrance wristbands to two freshmen in an attempt to trick them into flashing him after she leaves. They are cut off by The Killer. Before Mickey can start a fight, the females leave, and The Killer vanishes.

Ellie is observing from a window in the east wing when Mickey notices her and begs her not to tell Claire. She walks away from him while ignoring him. Running up there to make his case, he instead encounters The Killer, who smashes his ankle. Mickey tries to make his way out of the room through an open vent, but the wall is ripped through his throat. Ellie appears on the screen coming from the opposite direction after The Killer leaves. She may have seen a little amount, but it is obvious that she is not The Killer because she witnessed the body. She cries out as she dashes downstairs.

For another session, Jessica gathers her, Claire, and Cassidy in the kitchen. Ellie is hysterical and hyperventilating, so Jessica forces her to only demonstrate the problem as she is unable to utter a single word or syllable. While Claire and Ellie wait in the hallway, Jessica and Cass enter the room. Both Mickey’s corpse and the cross wrench are still present. Although they find it difficult to believe it is the same one, they do agree that it appears “pimped out.” Each of the four limbs now has elaborate, pointed weapons.

Garrett, who has transformed from insane to murderous, is the one, in Jessica’s opinion. On their mobile devices, they get another message. It was recorded on Megan’s phone the night she passed away. It was hidden from everyone else, but it has all of their voices and even some of them. There is a text message attached warning them to go meet her where she died or the cops will have the footage in 20 minutes.

Cass is instructed by Jessica to maintain composure, gather the other two, and head to the mineshaft without letting Ellie see the most recent text. They learn Ellie has seen it via an outside scream. Jessica informs Claire that Mickey has passed away as they leave the room. It’s impossible to tell if Claire is astonished or underwhelmed.

Downstairs Kyle is informed by Jessica that she needs to attend to something. Kyle calls after her to take care of whatever it is and makes suspicious and anxious facial expressions. Cassidy, in the meantime, instructs Andy to visit his parents alone. He resists, but she insists that if he truly loves her, he will fulfill this request. When she meets him there in the morning, she assures him that she loves him and will fully explain everything. She gives him a passionate kiss until impatient automobile horns signal that she needs to leave.

Jessica, who is flooring it, nearly runs over a girl who is standing on the road and two parked automobiles with her SUV as she is leaving. When she goes outside to yell, Maggie, Megan’s sister, who is now much creepier, is there. She claims that Jessica’s bogus haste rules are why she is attending the party. Additionally, according to her, Megan has always loathed Jessica and was aware that Jessica was the woman Garrett slept with. Jessica says she won’t deal with her right away because she doesn’t have time for it. Maggie advises her to take care of her hair first. Ellie comments that Maggie would make a fantastic Theta Pi as the girls leave in their car.

They search the SUV’s trunk for any flashlights or homemade weapons before entering the mineshaft. The flare gun is the only usable item they discover. Garrett is there to meet them when they arrive. He is holding the other half of the jacket while his hands are covered with blood. Claire commands him to remain back and points the flare gun at him as Jessica goes back into her car. He is inconsolable, yet he claims that just his blood is involved.

He approaches them while brandishing a sharp, shiny instrument and begins yelling at them. Jessica runs him over and murders him before he can reach them. When they examine the body, they discover that the bleeding is a result of him severing his wrists with a shattered piece of mirror.

They argue over whether or not he killed Mickey. Ellie continues to believe it is Megan’s retaliation, while Jessica stands by her opinions. They choose to investigate the mineshaft. Using an old chain, they lower Cassidy as Jessica illuminates the shaft with a piece of Garrett’s mirror. Cass stumbles when the chain breaks. Jessica drops the shard when Ellie screams again into her ear, narrowly missing Cass who is unharmed. Although the corpse is gone, she utilizes her phone as a light. The words “theta pi must die” are written in blood on the cave wall.

The party is over when they arrive at Jessica’s house, but the music is still playing, the exterior is covered with debris or foam, and there is an unceasing congested noise. Jessica argues that corpses don’t flee in their cars, contrary to Ellie’s belief that everyone is dead. On her way out, one sister informs them that everyone left for a fraternity after-party and that the broken hot tub is the source of the noise.

After she locates Matt, according to Jessica, they will decide what to do. Along with her, Cassidy and Ellie enter the room, but Claire goes to switch off the hot tub since she finds it annoying. She follows the power cord through the neck-high foam because the buttons aren’t functioning. Jessica is similarly irritated inside and is ejecting stragglers as well as unplugging the speakers. Ellie is silent. When Cass checks her phone, she discovers that Andy has already left the country. New texts, this time originating from Chugs’ phone, break the serene silence: “Jessica, Ellie, Cassidy, I’m not coming to the party. since I’m dead.

Jessica instantly inquires while Cass and Ellie exhale, “Why isn’t it addressed to – ” Screaming, Claire thumps on the French doors. Cassidy discovers an extension cord wrapped around Claire’s ankle as she begins to unlock the numerous locks. The Killer pulls her back into the foam as it gets tighter. The flare gun fires as Cass exits carrying a cane. As she moves toward the light and bats foam away, she discovers Claire dead with a flare burning away her face.

The remaining three girls search the house for Kyle and discover someone hiding in Jessica’s bed. It’s Maggie, and she says Kyle, who left when he saw Jessica’s car coming, slept with her. Until Cass and Ellie separate them, Jessica and Maggie are engaged in a catfight that spills into the hallway. When they hear footsteps, Jessica puts down the fire extinguisher and picks up a fire ax. As someone comes around the corner, she swings it. It’s Krenshaw, who dodges and swings her shotgun at Jessica in the face.

She claims to know what they did and is furious. Before Maggie can assault Jessica again, Krenshaw fires a shell into the ceiling, causing Cassidy to blurt out that she might have killed Megan. This sends Maggie into another tantrum. She instructs them to visit Jessica’s room and dial 911. The three sisters comply, but Maggie bolts away because she thinks her sister might still be alive. When they enter the room, they discover that each of them has misplaced their phones as a result of the night’s mischief, but the sounds of Krenshaw’s shotgun blasts reassure them.

When exploring each room below, Krenshaw comes across The Killer in the kitchen. She fires after he throws the cross wrench. Both of them fail. He crashes into her while she is reloading, impaling her on the cross wrench that is stuck behind her. Maggie and The Killer meet in a nearby room. When she inquires as to whether it is Megan, the response is a Molotov cocktail that sets the room on fire.

Jessica and Cass decide to search Mickey’s body upstairs for a cell phone so they may contact them for assistance. Inside the closet, Ellie hides. They discover Kyle in the east wing, unshod and wearing a Greek robe. Jessica interprets this to suggest that he genuinely slept with Maggie, whilst Cass interprets it to mean that he is The Killer. He attacks them with the fire ax. He is upset that Jessica allowed this to happen because he believes it would reflect poorly on him and, by extension, his father.

The girls discover Megan’s disintegrating body hanging in the shower as they rush to a bathroom that is undergoing repair. They discover the house is on fire as they attempt to flee through the window. Kyle throws the ax at Jessica as she checks the bathroom door, knocking her unconscious. After slicing open the door, he swings again and the ax becomes stuck in the doorpost, causing Cass to flee. As he is going to execute her after catching her, Andy stabs him in the side of the head.

Cass thanks Andy and kisses him. He responds that he just placed his phone on a Greyhound bus despite her claim that she has been tracking his whereabouts. He wished to look after her. He is the best thing in her life, she tells him. The cross wrench is then revealed to her in his pocket.

She finds it hard to accept that he is The Killer, but he says that he only intended to look after her. He wanted the other girls to leave her life—and his life—forever because he can’t believe what they’ve made her go through. Despite all the chances he gave her, he is disappointed that she never told him the truth. In a reiteration of what he said at the graduation, he claims that Cass’s circle consisted solely of bitches. After awakening, Jessica exits the restroom.

She asserts that they can just make up a new lie and that Andy is correct. He kills her and pins her to the wall by throwing the cross wrench directly into her mouth. Maybe they deserve to die but look at all those innocent people, argues Cass. Andy claims he has no desire to murder her. He wants to safeguard their shared future. However, he had to murder her old acquaintances in case they lost their minds or were intoxicated and told someone. They told him to kill everyone else as well.

Chugs informed her therapist, he said. Mickey heard from Claire. And Andy claims that even if she didn’t, everyone would concur that Mickey deserved to die nevertheless. Katie informed Kyle. Unintentionally telling a girl in the shower was Claire and Jessica. To Crenshaw, Cass spoke. Ellie then told him.

Until he states that all they have to do now is kill Ellie, Cass seems to concur with his reasoning. Ellie, she claims, is not a threat, but he claims she would eventually tell someone else if Ellie had told him. Ellie is supposedly hidden in the basement, but Cass feeds him a falsehood. She flees back to Jessica’s room as he leaves to find her. When Ellie inquires about safety, Cass responds that they must leave since it isn’t. Andy charges them in the hallway. Cass instructs Ellie to flee. After a brief pause, Andy decides to pursue Cassidy. She eventually uses the fire extinguisher to knock him out.

Maggie is surrounded by the flames in another room when she searches for Ellie. Maggie protests because the fire is too big and high even if she is instructed to jump over it. Andy walks in. He attaches a rope to the cross wrench, which he holds once more. He begins tossing it at the females while reeling in after each miss. Cass falls after the boards under her and gives in to the flames as a result of her dodge. Krenshaw’s gift bracelet snagging on a nail saves her life. The level underneath her is covered in flames.

After even dying for her, Andy says how sad he is that she would betray him as he stands above her, cutting her fingers with the cross wrench. He informs her that this is the end for them and that the Latin word vale dicere, which means to say, is the origin of the term valedictorian. Someone exclaims, “Goodbye, jerk.” Ellie, with Krenshaw’s shotgun, shoots Andy in the chest as they both glance up to see her.

He stumbles back, shatters the floor, and plummets into the hellish pit below. Maggie is instructed to wrap herself in the heavy curtains on the windows behind her by Ellie while she helps Cass stand up. By doing so, Maggie can run through the flames. Cassidy expresses her gratitude to Ellie for coming back to save her before they down the scaffolding to safety. “What are sisters for,” responds Ellie.

The scene cuts to one month later. With the reconstruction of the Theta Pi home, Greek life is once again humming along as students go amok along sorority row. While gardeners take care of the grounds, the new sisters, including Maggie, are singing a Theta Pi song. Garrett is seen as the camera focuses on a single gardener with slit wrists and a pointed instrument.