Blink Twice ending explained with spoilers: How does Frida get revenge?

Straddling the line between satire and horror, The Batman star has certainly established herself as a compelling auteur, with lead Naomi Ackie also delivering a terrific performance opposite Channing Tatum.

Originally titled P***y Island, Blink Twice sees waitress Frida (Ackie) and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) accept an invitation from tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) to lead a life of luxury on his private island.

But they soon discover things are perhaps not as luxurious as they seem, from having to hand over their phones when they first arrive, to the days all appearing to blend into one another. Cue a series of increasingly strange events that lead to some shattering revelations.

If you've seen the film and need a recap of what went down, read on to have the Blink Twice ending explained.

*Warning: full spoilers for Blink Twice.*

Blink Twice ending explained: What happened to Jess

Frida had already begun to suspect that something was not quite right on Slater's island – but things really come to a head when Jess appears to vanish without a trace. With her friend gone, Frida is no longer able to turn a blind eye.

What's especially worrying to Frida isn't so much the disappearance in itself – already cause for significant concern – but the fact that no one else seems to remember Jess having ever been there at all.

Slater and his pals deny her existence, the other women on the island claim no knowledge, and the room that Jess had until then been staying in has been transformed into a storage facility.

For a time, Frida appears to be acting completely alone, but eventually she finds an ally in Sarah (Adria Arjona), who discovers a lighter bearing Jess's name and has her memory re-jogged.

It turns out that, just like Frida, she has found various wounds on her body that she has no recollection of getting, and has also begun to feel that something is a little off about this whole thing.

Gradually, the pair begin to piece things together: during the hedonistic drug binges Slater has been overseeing, all the girls have been spiked using a flower endemic to the island that makes them lose their memories, and while they've been experiencing blackouts the men have carried out all manner of horrific sexual assaults. (The flower, crucially, has also been used in the perfume they've been provided with).

Jess had been on to them – not forgetting the ordeal as Slater had planned – and had subsequently been killed as a result.

Frida has realised that consuming the venom of a species of snake endemic to the island lets her remember the traumatic events (Jess has earlier been bitten by a snake, explaining how she had been able to remember), and together with Sarah concocts a plan for the rest of the women to consume some of the venom by mixing it with shots.

And so, the memory comes back for the rest of them, and a thoroughly justified revenge plan is set in motion.

Blink Twice ending explained: How does Frida get revenge?

Amongst all this, Frida also finds a stash of photographs that contain one of the most chilling pieces of information yet: she has been on the island before and has no recollection of it. This awakens another suppressed memory, and suddenly various things make a lot more sense.

For example, the reason one of the island's staff kept saying the words "red rabbit" to Frida is because she's trying to remind her – she had had red rabbits painted on her nails on the last visit.

Anyway, with the women now awake to their terrifying situation, they waste no time in mounting an attack, and soon several of the men (and Slater's assistant, played by Geena Davis) have met brutal – but very satisfying – ends; some stabbed, others having their heads bashed in with a rock.

Despite making some solid progress, it's not plain-sailing for the group, and it unfortunately looks like Slater has the upper hand when he corners Frida and is preparing to end things once and for all.

But then – just as he is preparing to strike – he appears to suddenly become very confused and completely forgets what is going on.

A close-up on a bottle of perfume reveals what has happened: Frida has quite literally given him a taste of his own medicine by – through his vape – administering the same substance to him that he had been using on all the women. And suddenly she is the one in control.

Before the film ends, Kravitz has one more twist for us. The film ends at a similar super-rich function as it had begun, and surprisingly we see that Slater is not only still alive, but also seemingly still in a position of power – and in a relationship with Frida.

Except, it's not quite what it seems: it's revealed that Frida is now controlling him using the substances and blackmail, and has used his wealth and influence to launch her own career as a mogul. And so her revenge is complete.

Kravitz recently weighed in on the twist ending during a recent chat with Vanity Fair. The director revealed that the film was originally meant to end a different way.

"The ending of Frida taking over and the cycle continuing, but now she’s in Slater’s position, was always the end," she told the publication. "Although there was a very, early version of the script where things went down in flames and he just died and that was the end.

"And Chan was just like, 'Slater can’t die. It’s too easy.' There was cannibalism in an earlier version of the script. That s**t was crazy. You think this is crazy?"

She added: "Frida doesn’t want Slater King, she wants to be Slater King," she told the publication. "Power is this thing that she’s so attracted to, and that’s the reason she goes to this island. To be told to be invisible, and then to be seen by the person that everybody looks at—that’s the thing that it’s about. That’s what she wants."

Blink Twice is now showing in UK cinemas.

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