8 Horror Movie Moments Nobody Understands
6. What Is The Doppleganger? - Annihilation
Annihilation is a truly underrated sci-fi horror from Alex Garland. A pretty dense flick, it follows a group of scientists as they venture into the Shimmer, an alien, environment-changing phenomenon that causes a break in reality itself. Inside the shimmer pretty much anything can happen, as the world mutates and births some terrifying creatures (one bear in particular will have you lying awake for weeks).
While there are concrete explanations for virtually everything in the novel the movie is based on, Garland decided to pretty much rip those details up for the movie, opting for a more metaphorical film rather than hard sci-fi.
As a result, the ending has left everyone who's seen it scratching their heads. The only scientist who hasn't succumbed to the Shimmer, Natalie Portman's Lena, encounters a shimmering(!) humanoid in a lighthouse. This being mimics every move Lena makes, before she ultimately manages to escape after hitting it with a grenade. Back at base, it's unclear what happened to Lena, who has taken on characteristics of the other scientists.
Exactly what the doppleganger was, and how Lena had been changed by her experiences, is never explained.