12 Feet Deep Movie Ending Explained: Do Bree & Jonna Survive? (2024)

Reaching the 12 Feet Deep ending is a tense and claustrophobic experience, with there being no guarantees that sisters Jonna and Bree won't drown. The 2017 aquatic horror film by director Matt Eskandari tells the harrowing story of sisters Jonna (Alexandra Park) and Bree (Nora-Jane Noone) trapped under the cover of a public pool and seemingly stuck for the long weekend. The siblings have a taut relationship above the surface, and tensions unsurprisingly emerge once they're trapped in the pool.

Things look up for Jonna and Bree when they think they have a rescuer in Clara (Diane Farr), the building's janitor who discovers their dilemma, but she decides to torment them instead. Things go from bad to worse in the claustrophobic horror movie when Bree reveals she was diagnosed with diabetes while Jonna was at rehab. If Bree doesn't get her insulin shot promptly, she risks slipping into a diabetic coma. 12 Feet Deep's ending reveals the fate of both girls and what the experience means for their lives going forward.

Do Bree And Jonna Survive In 12 Feet Deep?

Jonna Finds A Way To Save Her Sister

When inspecting the fiberglass cover of the swimming pool for weak spots at the end of 12 Feet Deep, Bree and Jonna find a small hole. After Bree's engagement ring gets stuck in the pool grate, she realizes it is loose enough to pick up and ram through the hole, hopefully widening it so they can escape.

However, when Bree's health begins to rapidly decline as the ending of 12 Feet Deep approaches, Jonna musters up the courage to dive to the bottom of the pool and retrieve the grate. She's able to ram it through the cover's existing hole so that she can widen it and pull Bree and herself to safety.

How Does Bree's Diabetes Affect Her?

The Need For Insulin Shots Adds Considerable Tension To 12 Feet Deep

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Being trapped in a swimming pool isn't the only source of tension in 12 Feet Deep, as Bree's health adds an additional ticking clock that significantly ups the pressure for the sisters to find a way out. After a little badgering from her sister, Bree reveals she was diagnosed with diabetes a few years back. Trapped in the pool, her blood sugar is rapidly declining.

Without regularly taking her insulin shot, she'll fall into a diabetic coma, which ups the tension of the movie significantly as the ending of 12 Feet Deep approaches. In 12 Feet Deep's final act, Bree periodically begins to lose consciousness, until it appears she's fallen into a coma. That's when Jonna's heroism kicks in, and she retrieves the pool grate just in time. Bree receives medical attention at the end of 12 Feet Deep when they're free, though it was an incredibly close call.

What Happens To The Janitor In 12 Feet Deep?

Clara Almost Killed The Trapped Sisters

Every great horror movie needs a villain, and 12 Feet Deep manages to find one in the form of the janitor, Clara (Dianne Far), even though the main source of danger for Jonna and Bree is being trapped in the swimming pool. At the beginning of 12 Feet Deep, Clara the janitor is fired for attempting to steal from one of the swimmer's purses.

She sticks around after hours and discovers Bree and Jonna trapped under the pool's cover. Instead of immediately freeing them, she decides to mess with them. She turns the sisters against each other, then steals money and Bree's engagement ring from Bree. When Clara and Jonna face off after the girls are free at the end of 12 Feet Deep, Jonna gets everything back and lets Clara go, finally able to turn the other cheek.

The Real Meaning Of 12 Feet Deep's Ending

The Sisters Had To Kill Their Metaphorical Monsters

2 Feet Deep is an unorthodox take on the monster movie, as it is all about overcoming personal demons. The girls had an abusive father, which deeply affected their lives and relationships moving forward. Their conversations while trapped help them understand how much that truly impacted them. One revelation from the sisters' heart-to-heart is that Bree indirectly caused their father's death by saying she, "killed the monster."

In the film's final minutes, a shocked Bree asks Jonna how she got her engagement ring back, and Jonna echoes Bree's words, saying, "I killed the monster." This comment turns the statement on its head as she frees Clara from the guilt of what she did, setting her free. The sisters can begin healing now that they have killed the metaphorical monsters in their lives. It's a definitive ending, so audiences likely won't expect a sequel from 12 Feet Deep anytime soon.

How The 12 Feet Deep Ending Was Received

The Ending Didn't Make Or Break The Claustrophobic 2017 Thriller

2017's 12 Feet Deep mostly flew under the radar as far as critics as concerned, as evidenced by the fact that it doesn't have a review score on Rotten Tomatoes (though it has an audience rating of 87%). When it comes to audience responses to the film and its story, opinions were mixed but mostly positive. However, the ending of 12 Feet Deep rarely factored into responses. Viewers responded more to the tone and claustrophobic tension of the movie, rather than its climax, and its these aspects that are commented on more than the ending.

This is relatively unsurprising given that the ending of 12 Feet Deep doesn't really have any twists or shock moments to speak of. The ending was also only ever really going to go one of two ways - either Bree and Jonna managed to escape the pool, or they didn't. The only way the story could have concluded differently was if, for example, Bree's diabetes caused her to lapse into a coma and drown, leaving Jonna to escape and survive while her sister perished.

However, none of the comments and responses from viewers (or the handful of reviews from professional critics that exist) suggest that the end of 12 Feet Deep would have been better if this were the case. Nor were there any who seemed to suggest an ending where Bree and Jonna both drowned would have been more fitting. As far as the claustrophobic Lifetime movie goes, it was the premise and performance of cast members Alexandra Park and Nora-Jane Noone that determined whether viewers found it to be a good or bad film, and how the story concluded was relatively inconsequential.

How The 12 Feet Deep Ending Compares To Similar Movies

Fall & 47 Meters Down

While the movie is hugely different in scope, 12 Feet Deep presents a similar story to a pair of other survival movies in Fall and 47 Meters Down. In the vertigo-inducing 2022 movie Fall, the big difference is that the story isn't about being trapped underwater, where someone could die due to diabetes. Instead, the protagonists are two daredevils who climb a high tower and get trapped, where one wrong move will send them to their death. But both Fall and 12 Feet Deep are about two close-knit young women who are trapped and have to rely on each other for survival.

Both movies also have bad-acting characters who discover the trapped girls, and instead of helping, rob them and leave them to die. Finally, the films' entire core relationships are nearly ruined when the two trapped women learn that one of them was cheating with the other's partner. However, the endings differ greatly, as the girls in 12 Feet Down fight to save each other and even forgive their tormentor, whereas the protagonist in Fall is hurt and her friend sacrifices her own life to save her.

The 2017 survival horror movie 47 Meters Down is a little more similar to 12 Feet Deep, as it takes place underwater and is about two sisters who have a rough relationship. The biggest difference is the scope of the danger here, as in 12 Feet Deep, the girls are in a pool and one needs an insulin shot. In 47 Meters Down, they are in the ocean and are hunted by giant sharks. The 47 Meters Down ending is also drastically different as Lisa hallucinates saving her and her sister, and Kate has been dead most of the movie, a tragic end compared to 12 Feet Deep.

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12 Feet Deep

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12 Feet Deep is a thriller directed by Matt Eskandari, featuring sisters Bree and Jonna, played by Alexandra Park and Nora-Jane Noone, respectively. The storyline follows the two siblings as they become trapped beneath the fiberglass cover of an indoor public pool, leading to a harrowing fight for survival. The plot intensifies when a janitor with a troubled past discovers their predicament, further complicating their dire situation.

Director

Matt Eskandari

Release Date

June 20, 2017

Cast

Nora-Jane Noone , Alexandra Park , Diane Farr , Christian Kain Blackburn , Tobin Bell , Dogen Eyeler , Charles Duncan McGowan , Matthew Ryan Michaels

Runtime

85 Minutes