Ending Explained: Babybacks

💡 What does the ending really mean?

In the climax of Babybacks, Zoe learns the cannibalistic elders have been force-feeding Mateo his own roasted ribs for days. In a frenzy of rage and grief she axes the couple to death, only for the now-monstrous Mateo to smile with his mouth full of his own flesh and stab her in the gut. The ending is a savage self-critique of low-budget filmmaking: the movie literally consumes itself, betrays the audience that trusted it, and serves up its own rotting ribs as the final course. There is no catharsis, only a technical knockout in which the director admits he had nothing to offer but cheap, decomposing meat.