The 'Megan Is Missing' Ending Still Haunts People Years Later

There’s a stark difference between classic horror movies or psychological thrillers and the gradually disturbing plot in the 2011 found footage movie Megan Is Missing. In the movie, 14-year-old Megan goes missing after meeting up with a mysterious online boyfriend by the name of Josh. 

When her friend, Amy, sets out to figure out what happened to her and where she is, she uncovers the horrifying truth on her own. (Warning: major spoilers ahead!)

Amy finds Megan, but she also finds herself at the helm of an internet predator’s perverse torture. He had kept Megan captive in what appears to be a basement of some kind and although Amy sees her friend when she too is taken, it's a reunion that ends in both of their tragic deaths. And the last 20 minutes or so are some of the hardest to watch, even for avid horror movie fans.

FYI, if you haven’t seen it, Megan Is Missing contains disturbing scenes of violence and sexual assault.

During the entire movie, you get the sense that things will not end well for Megan. But when Amy is left to figure out what happened to her friend and tries to do it by recording a video diary in a spot where she and Megan used to spend time together, Amy’s own abduction is a surprise. 

She is kidnapped by the man who had pretended to be a shy teenage boy and had taken Megan a month before.

In the last 20 minutes of the movie or so, Amy is tortured, raped in a continuous scene, and forced to eat out of a dog bowl before the man eventually agrees to let her go. 

However, instead, he forces her into a barrel in which Amy sees Megan’s decomposing remains and he takes her to a wooded area to bury her alive inside of the barrel. As her cries from inside the barrel become more and more difficult to hear, he walks away.

It’s presumed in the movie that the authorities eventually find Amy’s video diary, but it’s not clear if everything that happened to her and Megan is on it. Megan Is Missing writer and director Michael Goi spoke about the movie’s sudden surge in popularity on TikTok and confirmed how disturbing the movie gets toward the end.

"I didn’t get to give you the customary warnings that I used to give people before they watched Megan Is Missing" he advised on TikTok. 

He explained his warnings are, "Do not watch the movie in the middle of the night, do not watch the movie alone, and if you see the words 'Photo Number one' pop up on your screen, you have about four seconds to shut off the movie if you’re already kind of freaking out before you start seeing things that maybe you don’t want to see."

Although Megan Is Missing was released in 2011, TikTok has introduced a new generation to the stomach-churning ending and cautionary tale that is the movie's plot. And, as to be expected, plenty of users are warning others not to watch it if they don't think they can handle it. 

They are also explaining their personal experiences with the movie and watching the prolonged ending scene.

The ending scenes in Megan Is Missing not only contain a drawn-out rape of a 14-year-old girl, but also the slowly muffled sounds of her crying for her captor to let her go as he rolls the barrel with her body in it into the ground and slowly covers it in dirt. 

The movie isn't a cinematic masterpiece, but it is one that will stay with you long after you’ve finished watching it and TikTok users feel that.

Megan Is Missing isn't based on a true story, but it does show the danger of kids meeting internet strangers in real life. It's a drastic interpretation to be sure, but in some ways, that’s sort of the point. 

Overall, it is as disturbing as it is informative and whether or not you’re a parent, the ending will leave you shook for days, weeks, or even months after.