Unhinged (2020) ending explained: Rachel survives the most terrifying road rage experience 

Unhinged is an American action thriller film directed by Derrick Borte. It stars Russell Crowe, Caren Pistorius, and Gabriel Bateman in prominent roles. Carl Ellsworth presented a gripping narrative in a 90-minute screenplay that grabs the viewer's attention from the first scene to the last.

The film tells the story of Rachel, a single-working mother who has an altercation with a man while driving. The man turns out to be deeply disturbed and mentally unstable. He vows to teach her a lesson and is willing to go to any length to do so, even killing the people she loves.

In Unhinged, a man named Tom Cooper relentlessly pursues Rachel's car, stealing her phone and killing her friend and divorce lawyer, Andy, as well as her brother's girlfriend. He almost succeeds in killing her son, Kyle. However, a badly battered Rachel sticks a scissor in his eye, putting an end to the madness.

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Rachel's honking makes her a target of an unstable man in Unhinged

Unhinged stars Caren Pistorius as Rachel Flynn, a single mother dealing with a recent divorce. She is running late for her son's school and work. The traffic in New Orleans adds another layer of frustration, as it takes an hour to cover 8 miles on a workday with thousands of cars slithering in line. When a car in front of her doesn't move after the signal turns green, she honks at him twice and crosses him.

However, she has no idea that the car she just honked at is being driven by Tom, a mentally unstable man. The previous night, he killed two people, possibly his wife and her new partner. He follows Rachel, tries to school her about honking, and apologizes for zoning out while on the road. Tom then asks her to apologize back for her rude honking.

Rachel refuses to comply, which angers Tom. He threatens her, saying she will know what a bad day looks like very soon. Thus begins the most terrifying day of Rachel and her son Kyle's lives, as Tom would go to any length to make Rachel regret her honking and rudeness.

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Rachel saves Kyle from the psycho in Unhinged

Caren Pistorius and Gabriel Bateman as seen in Unhinged (Image via Netflix)

After the altercation with Tom, Rachel drops Kyle at his school. She stops at a gas station before a meeting with her friend and divorce lawyer, Andy, played by Jimmi Simpson. To her horror, she discovers that Tom has parked his car behind hers. A good samaritan walks her to her car and tries to scare off the psycho, but he ends up getting run over.

Rachel witnesses Tom's first act of terror of the day and immediately wants to call the cops, but her phone is missing. She finds another phone in her car, which Tom left to terrorize her. He then goes to the restaurant where Andy is waiting for her and kills him while she listens to the whole ordeal in horror.

Tom then makes her choose which recent contact in her dialer she wants him to kill. She chooses her client, who has just fired her, but Tom tricks her and goes to her brother's house.

Later, Rachel and Kyle are chased by Tom, who has now ditched his car and stolen Rachel's neighbor's minivan. They try to seek help from a cop who is on patrol, but Tom bumps into him, causing a massive multi-vehicle accident.

Rachel takes Kyle to his grandma's empty house and asks him to hide. Although Tom gets lost in the area for a while, he spots her car and enters the house. In the final sequence, Rachel is brutally assaulted by Tom, who forces her to witness as he strangles her son to death. However, she gathers all her strength and stabs him in the eye with a scissor.

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Rachel's brother survives the fire in Unhinged

Russell Crowe as seen in Unhinged (Image via Netflix)

After killing Tom, Rachel and her son are traumatized by the act of terrorism they endured. A cop tells Rachel that her brother, who was set on fire, has survived and is in the hospital.

In an earlier scene, Tom had broken into Rachel's house, where her brother Fred, and his fiance, Mary, were staying. Tom's murder of Andy was broadcast on the news, prompting Fred to recognize his van parked outside. He grabs a knife and calls for Mary, but she doesn't answer.

To his horror, Tom comes out with Mary, who is revealed to have been brutally beaten up. Fred tries to protect himself with the knife, but Tom pushes Mary onto it. After Mary dies, Tom ties Fred to a chair, calls Rachel, and sets him on fire. Fortunately, a cop arrives moments later and manages to shoot Tom and save Fred.

In the final scene of Unhinged, Rachel faces another rash and angry driver who says a few rude words. But this time, she doesn't respond and patiently waits for him to go his way. Kyle, who was in the back seat, tells her that she made the right choice.

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Unhinged is currently streaming on Netflix.