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Hold Your Breath, a psychological thriller, premiered on Hulu on October 3, 2024. The movie, directed by Karrie Crouse and William Joines, is set in Oklahoma in the 1930s, during deadly dust storms that hit rural areas.
The story is about Margaret and her daughters, Rose and Ollie, as they try to get through dust storms. Margaret use to feel better when she thought about the chest-high crops that would grow around her house, but these happy memories are tainted by the worry that she would lose her two daughters in a sandstorm. The crops had died, leaving the land empty.
John Henry, her husband, gets a job in Philadelphia related to building a bridge. Margaret turns down his offer to join him. Margaret is too upset to leave her daughter Ada's grave after she died of scarlet fever. She thinks she must stay in the house they had built and watch over her daughters.
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Margaret grows increasingly scared of the Dust Bowl, which was happening in the 1930s and was destroying the environment. The movie's ending showed Margaret's tragic breakdown indicating that her paranoia may have made her a real threat to her family, rather than the dust storms.
The official synopsis of the movie states:
"In 1930s Oklahoma amid the region's horrific dust storms, a woman is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family."
The ending of Hold Your Breath: Margaret’s Breakdown
In the final moments of Hold Your Breath, Margaret dies in a dust storm. Rose and Ollie, her daughters, manage to get away. At the end of the movie, Rose realizes that her mother has become dangerous due to her declining mental health. When Rose and Ollie leave their home, they don't know what will happen next.
Unveiling the Grey Man's true nature
Wallace Grady, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, turns out to be the Grey Man in real life. Wallace first shows up as a preacher offering help, but Margaret starts to doubt him when she sees that he's wearing her missing husband's jacket.
One time, Ollie says that The Grey Man had hurt their cow in the barn one day. Margaret is surprised by Ollie's focus on this person, but she doesn't think much of it. Later she thinks that Ollie might have been right after all when she sees a man in her barn.
Margaret remembers hearing in church about a drifter who had killed a woman and her children not long ago. She is scared by the thought that the man in her barn might be the killer. When she points her shotgun at him, he finally comes out.
Margaret's husband had reportedly given him his jacket and asked him to check on her and the kids. He said his name was Wallace Grady and that he was a pastor spreading God's word. He also said that he didn't want to scare her by knocking on her door with his hurt leg. He planned to meet her when it was better.
Margaret wasn't sure about his story at first, but she changed her mind after he stopped Rose's nose bleeding from the dusty air. She believes him after the unexpected healing, especially since he said he would help their cow make more milk, which was their only source of food.
Margaret’s fate and her daughters' survival in Hold Your Breath
As the dust storm worsens, Margaret's delusional thoughts make her violent. Rose and Ollie run away from their crazy mother. At the end of Hold Your Breath, Margaret gives up because of the storm. The dust eats her up as she gasps for air. Her daughters, meanwhile, manage to escape and get on a train that's going to a better place.
In Hold Your Breath, it was a key moment when Rose finally understood that her mother was a threat to them. Rose knows that her mother can't be saved after seeing her kill Sheriff Bell. The daughters' escape is a sign of their chance at a fresh start.
The reason behind Margaret's actions against Esther and Sheriff Bell
When Margaret kills Esther and Sheriff Bell, she is on the edge of going insane. Margaret sees Wallace everywhere because she thinks he is still following her around. For some reason, she thinks Esther is Wallace during a dust storm, and she shoots Esther because she is so confused.
Later, she kills Sheriff Bell, who is hoping to keep Rose and Ollie safe from their mother. The fact that Margaret can't tell the difference between her hallucinations and reality shows how deeply the Grey Man, or her idea of him, has taken hold of her.
Was Wallace real or just a figment of Margaret’s imagination in Hold Your Breath?
Wallace's part in Hold Your Breath is still not clear. He might have been a real person at the beginning of the movie, but as Margaret's delusions get worse, he becomes a symbol of her deteriorating sensibilities.
Wallace keeps showing up in her dreams which supports the idea that he is a part of her mind. It's not clear if Wallace was ever really the Grey Man or just a con man.
Understanding the deeper message behind the ending of Hold Your Breath
At first, Wallace seems to be used by both Rose and Ollie, especially when he stops Rose's nosebleed. When Margaret begins reading Henry’s letter, Wallace realizes that she will discover his true identity. In a panic, he grabs Ollie, prompting Margaret to shoot in his direction.
While Ollie escapes to her mother, Wallace seizes the letter, reminding Margaret that he has healed Rose and deserves gratitude. He threatens to undo the healing, but Margaret sees him as a conman rather than an angel.
Wallace’s reference to The Grey Man, a figure from a book Rose owned, unsettles Margaret, convincing her he is unstoppable. She becomes consumed by fear, watching for him constantly and abandoning her sleep medication. As her paranoia worsens, strange events around the house—like small fires and doors unlocking—fuel her belief that Wallace is haunting them, driving her into a state of emotional collapse.
Hold Your Breath looks at how a mother's mental health breaks down as she deals with grief and being alone. In the end, Ollie and Rose are seen on a train going to see their dad again. Ollie likes seeing the green scenery, and Rose is glad to be out of the dust.
But any dust would make Rose think of home and the terrible things that happened there. She most likely would feel bad about killing her mother for the rest of her life. The dust that she couldn't avoid was a metaphor for the emotional weight she would continue to carry.
The ending of Hold Your Breath leaves viewers with an unsettling realization: the true horror was not the mythical Grey Man, but the psychological toll on Margaret.
Hold Your Breath got mixed reviews, and has a 42% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. It's currently available on Hulu.
