The psychological horror film The Lie (2018) is currently streaming on Prime Video, and the movie takes viewers on a weird and unexpected rollercoaster that showcases how far parents will go to protect their children from the consequences of their mistakes. In this case, the protection backfires with a surprise twist that no one saw coming. Although slashers have been making a comeback in the horror genre over the last few years, The Lie provides a different type of unsettling feeling as the parents go through the grief and realistic horror of facing what they must do when their daughter accidentally kills her best friend.
Jay, the father, and Rebecca, the mother, are getting a divorce at the start of The Lie, and they're trying to balance co-parenting in a way that works for them. This presents an opportunity for Kayla to sometimes lie to one parent while having approval from the other. As he's driving Kayla home, Jay spots her best friend Britney waiting at a bus stop and decides to give her a ride. The girls claim they need to go pee so bad that they can't wait, so he pulls over and lets them out. While out on their pee break, there's sudden screaming, and Jay runs to see what happened. He finds Kayla alone, and she claims she pushed Britney off the bridge and into the water.
They search for Britney and can't find her body, so Jay takes Kayla home and doesn't know what to do. He confesses to Rebecca, hoping to have some guidance on what they should do next, but she doesn't know either. They decide to keep quiet about the event at first, but eventually, they decide to never tell anyone and protect Kayla, even though keeping a secret of this size would be close to impossible in such a small-town setting.
Kayla doesn't seem to understand why they would do this. She wants to confess to Britney's dad, who keeps showing up at the house and asking questions, but they lock her away so she can't expose herself. Jay and Rebecca go as far as killing Britney's dad so no one will ever know what happened. Once they return from their killing spree, there's a knock on the door. Britney is standing on the other side, having returned from a weekend away with her boyfriend. She and Kayla came up with the scheme so Britney could be with her boyfriend without her dad's permission.
At the end of The Lie, Jay and Rebecca are standing in their living room, staring at their daughter and realizing how far they went. Kayla begins crying and saying she did it because they were divorced, and she wanted their attention. She wanted them to get back together and felt that this situation was making them realize they loved each other again. They hold her tight while someone knocks harshly on their door, and police sirens can be heard in the background, implying they will either have to continue to lie or will go to prison for what they did.
Not only was this ending completely unexpected, but it also brought forth a lot of questions about what could happen in a situation like this. Parents going to great lengths to protect their children isn't a new concept, but their protection of Kayla ended up backfiring, as confessing would have launched a missing person's investigation, and Britney would have been discovered. The parents never would have had to kill, but they chose the wrong path.
Another important aspect to consider is Kayla's lack of understanding when it comes to consequences and complex adult relationships. She didn't grasp the reality of her lie as she saw her parents working together to protect her. She lacked the insight and maturity to understand the depth of what she was doing, and this ultimately ruined her family. Although many people might prefer a tidy ending to their horror movies, the shock of this revelation just moments before the ending credits left audiences with an upsetting tone that thrives in psychological horror, adding some credit to the otherwise slow-paced film.