Blood Machines Ending & Intergalactic Entities Explained

Directors Raphaël Hernandez and Savitri Joly-Gonfard, also known under the pseudonym Seth Ickerman debuted their 2019 film Blood Machines through the streaming service, Shudder. Blood Machines is a sci-fi horror mash-up of epic proportions. It is a visually appealing masterpiece that takes influence from 1980s imagery and music. The movie centers around the concept of intergalactic entities whose souls are held within machinery, and its ending leaves audiences to explore themes such as revenge, the patriarchy, and oppression.

The film follows two space hunters named Vascan (Anders Heinrichsen) and Lago (Christian Erickson) after they have shot down a ship that was attempting to free itself. When they are surrounded by a gang of women, a ghost woman pulls herself from its carcass. They begin chasing her across the galaxy in order to uncover who or what she truly is. Blood Machines is reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi film Blade Runner with its vibrant mechanical imagery and overarching theme of the unknown.

Once Vascan is trapped with the entity, more mythical women break out of the ships that have kept each of their souls captive. As they break free from the ties that bind them, they morph together to create a machine larger than any that has been seen before. It is in the shape of a naked woman and held within her is the soul of Vascan. The roles of man and machine are now reversed and the women who were kept as machines fight back against their oppressors.

Blood Machine’s Entities Explained

The ghost-like entities are the souls of women trapped within spaceships that are driven by men such as Vascan and Lago. They have no control over themselves until the original woman breaks free during the beginning of the film. Once one of them is set free, the rest follow, and their strength grows with their numbers. The ending is poetic, as it features commentary on the patriarchal structures that women are faced with in and out of the domestic sphere. These female entities have served as slaves to the male space hunters; their freedom and revenge is necessary for their survival. They are considered equal halves artificial intelligence and the souls of those once living.

Why Does Tracy Abandon The Ship?

Throughout the film, Tracy acts as a faithful servant to both Lago and Vascan. As the film progresses, Vascan’s brutal treatment of her is revealed through his actions and statements. He refers to her as unreliable, compares her to trash, and even openly states that he has taken advantage of her sexually. This would be enough for her to abandon ship but it goes even further. While Tracy shows a fondness for the elderly Lago, it is his death that leads her towards the path that will destroy the ship she has taken care of for years.

As the battle between the entities and space hunters begins to reach its climax, Lago and Vascan’s commander comes on screen and tells Tracy that he will need her help in defeating them. Once he yells at her to “obey” him, she immediately leaves the confines of the ship, and participates in the destruction of the others. Tracy ultimately left the spacecraft because she was treated poorly by nearly everyone. The commander’s remarks were the final straw that led her to join the resistance against the space hunters.

Who Is Corey?

In the beginning of the film, Corey is introduced with a group of women warriors who seek to set the souls of women trapped in the spacecrafts free. These warriors have the ability to call upon an unknown power that releases the original entity from her mechanical prison. In the aftermath, Corey is taken into custody by Vascan and kept as a prisoner until he forces her to confront the original entity. There is not a firm description as to who these warriors are but the ending of the film showcases what exactly they are capable of doing and how absolutely powerful they are.

Once all of the entities are in one place, Corey displays her ability to control them. Somehow, she has an unknown power that allows for her to manipulate what they can and cannot do, resulting in the demolition of every ship in the nearby vicinity. Corey’s powers showcase why the women warriors are feared by the space hunters and how they resonate with a higher power than anyone else in the galaxy. They are the epitome of power and have the capability to take over the universe with their strength. Corey appears to be the chosen one.

The Ending Of Blood Machines Explained

The film culminates to a complex ending that brings up more questions than it does answers. When the entities come together to form the massive woman shaped machine, Vascan is trapped inside. This would not seem unusual except for the fact that moments earlier, he was killed by Corey with his own laser gun. The only explanation for his existence within this machine is that it is his soul that is trapped within, which lends to the film’s theme of machinery trapping the souls of the living. As all of the entities have come together to destroy all that has held them captive, it reveals that the ending symbolizes the toxic relationship between man’s infatuation with machine and how it will only lead to their downfall.

Lago and Vascan are entirely reliant on their ship to exist in this dystopian universe as well as provide them with pleasure. Vascan has an overtly sexual relationship with Tracy, their spacecraft, and Lago needs her to ensure he does not die of heart problems. Ultimately, when she joins in the destruction of them both, it symbolizes that their end was predetermined by their over reliance on technology. Blood Machines’ ending speaks to the growing fear of technology taking over humankind and society’s own need for it to navigate day to day activities without fully acknowledging the dependency on it.

While the film envelops a multitude of themes that range from power and control to brutal revenge, the plot is a forward progression towards a complex and satisfying end. Blood Machines’ ending truly emphasizes that technology may not be our greatest asset and could be society’s downfall. Seth Ickerman’s Blood Machines released on Shudder on May 21, 2020, and sets the tone for future sci-fi horror films that could come after it by adding potent social commentary to the already popular sub-genre. The film is symbolic without being heavy-handed, but reveals enough for the audience to interpret it in ways that are individualistic to the viewer.

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