What actually happens
One Sumatran rat-monkey, no quarantine
The movie opens in 1957 on Skull Island, where a zoo official named Stewart McAlden and his crew try to smuggle out a Sumatran rat-monkey. The creature is a hybrid with a very unpleasant origin story involving tree monkeys and plague-carrying rats. The island's warrior natives want it back, and while the crew flees from them, Stewart is bitten by the rat-monkey. His crew is afraid of what the bite will do, so they dismember and kill him. The rat-monkey is captured and sent to Wellington Zoo in Newtown.
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A mother who will not stay in the basement
Lionel Cosgrove lives in a Victorian mansion in Hataitai with his domineering mother Vera. He starts dating Paquita María Sánchez, the daughter of a Spanish Romani shopkeeper, and Vera disapproves. On a date at Wellington Zoo, Vera follows the couple, and the rat-monkey bites her. She whacks it with her heel. Over the next few days she gets sicker and dies, then comes back as a ravenous zombie. She eats Paquita's dog and kills the nurse attending her, Mrs. McTavish, who also comes back as a zombie. Lionel doesn't understand what is happening, but he sedates both of them with animal tranquilizers and locks them in the basement. He hides the mess when Paquita's grandmother visits, and she gives him a good luck pendant. Vera gets out of the basement and a tram runs her over.
Lionel visits a grave and gets the wrong reputation
Lionel organizes Vera's funeral and burial and keeps her sedated so the mourners are safe. He goes back to the graveyard later to give her more tranquilizer, and a group of hoodlums beats him up because they think he's a necrophiliac. Vera bursts out of her grave and attacks them. In the chaos, the gang leader, Void, and Father McGruder, the local priest, get bitten and turn into zombies, so Lionel locks them in the basement too. He then finds out that the nurse and the priest have had a zombie baby together. To keep Paquita safe, Lionel breaks up with her.
An uncle with a plan and a house to take
Lionel's uncle Les shows up to argue about Vera's estate. He goes down to the basement, sees the tranquilized zombies, assumes they are corpses, and uses that to blackmail Lionel into signing over the house and his inheritance. Lionel objects, but he still throws a housewarming party for his friends. At the party, Paquita arrives to make up with him, finds the zombies in the basement, and Lionel explains what has been going on. She talks him into poisoning them. Lionel gets it wrong and injects them with an animal stimulant instead.
A housewarming with a lawn mower
This is the stretch people dread, and it comes near the end, at the housewarming party. The stimulated zombies rush upstairs and infect the guests. Lionel pushes a lawn mower through the zombies while Paquita feeds the still-moving body parts into a blender, and it is played for laughs with a huge amount of blood. Meanwhile Les goes into the basement and is beheaded by Vera, who has grown to monstrous size. Vera comes up out of the basement and chases Lionel and Paquita to the roof as a burst gas pipe sets the house on fire.
The ending, explained
On the roof, Lionel tells Vera that he saw her drown his father and his father's mistress when he was a child, and that he isn't afraid of her anymore. Vera answers by stuffing him into her stomach and turning on Paquita. Lionel uses the good luck pendant to cut his way out of her, and Vera falls into the burning house. The fire brigade arrives to get Lionel and Paquita off the roof. They kiss and walk away together in victory.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits in Braindead.
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Questions people ask at 1am
Is Braindead scary?
Barely. Braindead is a 3 out of 10: an extremely bloody zombie comedy with jump scares and almost no dread, and most of the gore is played for laughs.
How does Braindead end?
Vera swells to monstrous size and swallows Lionel, and he cuts his way out with a good luck pendant. She falls into the burning house, and Lionel and Paquita leave the roof with the fire brigade.
Does the dog die in Braindead?
Yes, the dog dies in Braindead. Vera, who has turned into a zombie, eats Paquita's dog early in the story.
Is there a post-credits scene in Braindead?
Nobody has confirmed whether Braindead has a scene after the credits.
Who is Vera in Braindead?
Vera is Lionel Cosgrove's domineering mother. After the rat-monkey bites her in Braindead, she dies and comes back as a zombie, and by the end she has grown to monstrous size.
