If You're Dying to Know What Happens at the End of 10 Cloverfield Lane, Here You Go

It all basically happens in one pivotal scene. Michelle and Emmett have come to the conclusion that Howard is a psychopath. They form an escape plan, but Howard's onto them. He confronts them over a barrel of actual acid and asks them to admit what they've been up to. Emmett takes the blame, making up a shoddy excuse about winning Michelle's respect. Howard shoots him in the face.

Michelle continues to plan her escape, and Howard quickly discovers what she's been up to. When he tries to stop her, she topples the barrel of acid over, and Howard slips and falls right into it, his skin hissing as it burns. Michelle grabs the makeshift hazmat suit she's been making all this time. Howard, enraged, proceeds to chase her through the bunker. She slips into the ventilation shaft, desperately crawling to the small room where she can escape.

Hooray! She does it! And the best part is, whatever Howard had told her about the air seems to be false. She takes off her gas mask and discovers that the air is clean, breathable, and not so deadly after all. The bunker also explodes — the acid had caught fire in all the madness and torched the whole damn place.

So, the good news is Michelle escapes. The bad news? The alien invasion and attack on Earth is very, very real. It is not some paranoid delusion of Howard. Michelle desperately tries to steal one of the cars outside the bunker, which belongs to a woman — Howard's neighbor — who dies trying to get in. Unfortunately, this sets off the alarm, drawing the attention of an alien critter in the area. Michelle scrambles into a nearby chicken coop while the creature checks out the blaring vehicle. She finds the car keys in the pocket of Howard's dead neighbor and turns off the alarm.

While the little critter is distracted by the now-silent car, Michelle takes off for the farmhouse in a dead run. Before she can reach it, though, a monstrous alien spacecraft appears and releases a noxious green gas. So this is what's causing people to die. Michelle scrambles back to the truck and hastily puts her gas mask back on. The smaller creature finally spots her and hurls itself at the truck, just as Michelle closes the door. As the creature desperately tries to maul her face — it takes off her gas mask in the process — the spacecraft blares its ghastly, loud horn. The creature, jolted by the sound, scrambles into the crops.

With the little guy out of the way, the gigantic ship straight up snatches the entire truck off the ground with a bunch of its long, alien tentacles. At this point, it becomes clear that the ship means to eat the whole truck with Michelle inside. She desperately looks through the truck for something to use, coming up with a lighter, a bottle of alcohol, and an old newpaper. Which, as luck would have it, are the three necessary ingredients for a Molotov cocktail. Michelle stuffs the paper in the top of the bottle, lights it on fire, and chucks it into the mouth of the beastly ship. The whole damn thing explodes.

Finally free of her assailants, Michelle makes a dash for the car of Howard's dead neighbor. It works! She speeds off with a triumphant screech of her tires. As she's frantically driving away, she catches an emergency broadcast message on a local radio station. She learns that the world is definitely under attack, and they need all the help they can get. Michelle slams the brakes at the highway's fork between Baton Rouge, LA, and Houston, TX. The radio tells her that safety awaits in Baton Rouge, but they desperately need individuals trained in medicine and combat over in Houston. Michelle hesitates, but ultimately takes a hard left towards Texas, because she's clearly a fighter. She disappears into the night.