Warning: Spoilers for Trap.

Summary

Cooper’s dark secrets are exposed when he faces off with the FBI profiler pursuing him.
The twisted relationship with his deceased mother plays a key role in Cooper’s eventual downfall.
A shocking twist involving his wife’s actions leads to Cooper’s ultimate capture in
Trap
.

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, Trap, is now in theaters, and, true to form, plenty of surprising moments were littered throughout the film. Upon taking his daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue), to a Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) concert, Cooper (Josh Hartnett) realizes the arena is swarming with an alarming number of police officers. After inquiring with a merch employee, he discovers the officers are all there to capture the infamous local serial killer known as the Butcher, who the audience learns is, in fact, Cooper. Such a revelation shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, seeing as it was revealed in the film’s trailer. However, the real mystery involves figuring out how Cooper will manage to evade capture once the concert is over.

Given his savvy, it doesn’t take long for Cooper to initiate his various plans. After coyly snatching an employee’s swipe card and accessing the employee-only areas, he steals a police radio. As a result, he’s able to listen in on Dr. Josephine Grant’s (Hayley Mills) directives. An FBI profiler who’s been on his trail for a while, she proves to be a worthy adversary as Cooper does his best to leave the stadium without detection. He then weasels his way backstage with Riley before quietly threatening Lady Raven and forcing her to help him escape via her personal limo. However, she boldly interjects herself by suggesting the trio go directly to their home, a proposal that thrills Riley and prevents Cooper from remaining in complete control of the situation. Therein lies the catalyst for the film’s real twists, given the Butcher’s identity is no secret.

Cooper Continues to See His Dead Mother in Trap
Trap Release Date August 2, 2024 Cast Josh Hartnett , Hayley Mills , Marnie McPhail , Vanessa Smythe , Saleka Shyamalan , Malik Jubal , Jonathan Langdon , Peter D’Souza , Ty Pravong , Kaitlyn Dallan

As with many other serial killers, Cooper is riddled with “mommy issues.” However, viewers don’t necessarily realize it at the beginning of the film. Before audiences understand the extent of his insane hobby, he continues to see a woman, who appears to be a ghost, which initially suggests something deeper might be at play with the film’s narrative. However, only toward the end of the film do audiences realize the woman he’s been seeing is actually his mother, who abused and punished him after recognizing what he was capable of as a child. Unfortunately, her actions only allowed his deepest and darkest urges to fully take shape.

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A haunting and tortuous figure in his life, Cooper’s manifestation of her ultimately leads to his capture when he confuses his mother for Dr. Grant while inside his own home. As a result, he’s tased numerous times before succumbing to a handful of police officers just after gouging the eyes out of one of them. Arguably one of the most intense scenes in the film, his eventual arrest feels so shocking, given how many times he successfully evaded capture in the most claustrophobic of environments.

Cooper’s Wife Is the Reason Police Catch Him in Trap

Throughout the film, Cooper continues to maintain the upper hand in every situation he encounters. However, one of the film’s most surprising twists involves his wife and her role in his capture. Given how methodical Cooper is, it never made sense how he managed to leave behind a torn concert receipt at one of his crime scenes, which ultimately tipped off authorities to his future whereabouts. After his family discovers his true identity, Cooper flees, only to sneak back into his house and confront his wife, Rachel (Alison Pill). Subsequently, the audience learns she had suspicions about his behavior and follows him before leaving the receipt at the crime scene herself.

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Seeing as without Rachel’s actions, the police would have been none the wiser about Cooper’s concert attendance, he now plans to butcher her. A rather timid-looking woman, she once more surprises viewers by using Cooper’s methods against him and drugs him via a piece of their daughter’s pie. Delirious from the drugs, he’s unable to follow through with his plan as he stumbles through the house before encountering the vision of his mother, who’s actually Dr. Grant. Now just a sad little boy whose eyes are filled with tears, he approaches his “mother” just in time for a handful of police officers to bring him down with tasers before Dr. Grant delivers the final blow.

Cooper Always Has a Plan in Trap

After securing Cooper with handcuffs and chains, the police escort him from his house to their police van. However, upon seeing one of his children’s bikes lying on its side in his front yard, he bends down to prop it up on its kickstand. Because such a trait is attributed to his OCD, the police don’t think twice about it. Unfortunately for them, Cooper used the opportunity to remove a spoke from the bike’s wheel and slide it inside his long sleeve. In the film’s final twist, he pulls out the spoke, maneuvers it to unlock his shackles, and then maniacally laughs just before the movie cuts to black and the credits roll.

The film’s ultimate twist is that it’s set up for a possible sequel, which would actually be an interesting concept to explore. A film that appeared to be a one-and-done, its conclusion easily suggests otherwise. Given how savvy Cooper is throughout the film, watching him continue to evade the police and FBI would make for another entertaining game of cat and mouse. Because of how well Hartnett played such a terrifying and sociopathic character, it would be intriguing for him to continue Cooper’s story. Trap is currently in theaters.