The Last Kiss Movie Ending Explained And Full Story

“The Last Kiss,” directed by Yoko Okumura, is surely an exciting addition to the slasher horror genre, even though its landing in the end is a tad underwhelming. What works in its favour is a spirited lead performance by Mckenna Grace, who has been around since forever, and a story that’s a heady mix of everything from teen drama to supernatural lore to regular slasher. I am gonna dissect “The Last Kiss” in this article, and discuss its ending in detail. 

Spoilers Ahead

What Happens In The Movie? 

Seventeen-year-old Laurel is really excited to have her first kiss, and the one she’s gonna do it with is this boy from her school, Leo, the son of the principal. The two seem to be really into each other, so it is safe to say that the “kiss” is just around the corner. Every other classmate of Laurel – namely Leo’s sister and her best friend Poppy, along with Evan, Tyler, Bree and Zolly have already done it, so it’s kind of a “the onus is on her” situation for Laurel. On an expedition trip, where Tyler’s overbearing mom and Ranger Pauline are also with the group – the latter is officially looking after the kids – Laurel and Leo get closer than ever. But then a freak accident happens on an unstable bridge, all thanks to Chuck being an idiot, and everyone falls straight into the water. Laurel survives and immediately checks up on everyone; she finds out one of Poppy’s legs is permanently damaged. Thankfully, when she finds Leo, he seems alive, and just startled by what happened. Happy and relieved, Laurel kisses Leo, but the minute she does it, he ends up dead. It’s obviously not her fault, as you see Leo got accidentally stabbed by a piece of wood. But at the end of the day, Laurel’s first kiss turns into the biggest nightmare of her life.

Is Laurel Cursed or Something?

A year after, Laurel is pretty much a loner, and still suffering from the trauma of what happened. She may have rejoined school after spending a considerable amount of time in Brookside, which is a mental asylum, but it doesn’t seem to have done her much good. In stark contrast, Poppy, despite almost losing one of her legs and her brother, has turned into an adventure junkie, and is now dating Tyler. Laurel and Poppy are no longer friends, as they’ve drifted apart. Poppy is not the only one who lost family; it is revealed that she has another brother, Noah, who is a bit obsessed with the church band.

Despite Laurel minding her own business and not giving any “good” vibes, Evan tries to woo her, and ends up confessing he likes her. After a considerable amount of hesitation, Laurel ends up hanging out with him, and just as they kiss, she gets this vision where Evan is getting stabbed. There’s more – someone with a pink cast on their hand with a heart drawn on it is also getting stabbed, and the killer is wearing black and white shoes. Laurel screams in horror, which is not something Evan was expecting. He apologizes to her the next day at school, but Laurel assures him it was just her freaking out, and requests him to take things slow. She then realizes that everyone in school actually wears the same black and white shoes, and Chuck has a pink cast on her hand. And what are the chances of someone drawing a heart on it in front of Laurel’s own eyes? Clearly, what she saw was not just vision, but a premonition, and Laurel is in “Final Destination” territory. However, when she takes that to principal Yang, he gets concerned, and so does Laurel’s mother. But Poppy pays Laurel a surprise visit, lets her know she misses her, and Laurel ends up sharing all about her visions. Since Poppy 2.0 has a “down for anything” philosophy, she immediately kisses Laurel, who witnesses another vision – of Poppy dying old and happy, while saying goodbye to (possibly) her daughter. She also says something that nobody else could have known, so Poppy now knows Laurel’s visions are true. That means Evan and Chuck are gonna die and someone from the school is going to be the killer. And how do they find out more? By making Laurel kiss Chuck.

Does Laurel Find The Killer? 

Kissing Chuck appears to be quite the task. Laurel has to go to a party at Tyler’s house, and then Poppy has to create an impossible situation for her best friend to do the deed. When Laurel finally does it, she witnesses Chuck’s death again, and this time around, she gets a view of the killer as well, who’s wearing a mask. After a little digging, Poppy and Laurel find out both Brie and Zolly have such masks. That makes these two the potential killers, and how does Laurel narrow it down from there? By kissing them, what else? So she throws a party at her home, plays spin the bottle, and kisses both. First, she does Zolly, who keeps munching on some weird black-colored snack, and he appears to die choking on it, then getting stabbed. However, when Laurel kisses him again, she sees him dying old. That has to mean Laurel possesses the power to change the future, but the story doesn’t explore this lore further, and I have to blame the writers for not making things clear. Bree, on the other hand, turns out to be another victim of the killer. Laurel is understably frustrated, and to make matters worse, Evan sees her kissing Bree and gets his heart broken. And when Laurel’s mother returns, she grounds her and temporarily bans Poppy from her daughter’s life. Not that anything can stop Laurel from investigating further. 

Bree and Zolly were not the only people she kissed during spin the bottle. She had to kiss Tyler as well – Poppy was absolutely chill about it – and he also appeared to be a victim. Most importantly, Laurel found out about this beautiful arch made of pink flowers in that vision. The only person Laurel knows who has a knack for flowers is Ranger Pauline. So, late at night, Laurel sneaks out and goes to visit Pauline. Unfortunately, the killer beats Laurel to the chase, and makes sure to kill Pauline by drugging her and then hanging her from the ceiling. By the time Laurel reaches, it’s too late already. She does get to know what happened by kissing Pauline, but this doesn’t solve anything, and seeing her daughter’s condition, Laurel’s mother starts considering sending her to Brookside again.

Is Laurel Able To Save Everyone From The Mystery Killer? 

The issue with this movie is that, while the premise is cooler than usual, and it sets up things really well, after a certain point, things get stagnant. Like this whole “who’s the real killer” plot starts getting on your nerves after a while as Laurel suspects literally everyone who’s (obviously) not the killer – it always has to be someone you don’t expect, right? So, in line with how these stories generally go, Laurel ends up suspecting both Principal Yang and Leo’s brother, Noah. In her defense, Yang did lose his son in an accident where everyone else survived, and Noah lost a brother. Noah also seemed a little off from the start, so it’s only fair to suspect him. However, neither the father nor the son is the killer. And by going after them, Laurel ends up in Brookside again, as her mother gets concerned and figures that’s the best thing for her. Laurel does figure out one thing though; the flower arch she saw when she kissed Tyler is actually from the Valentine’s Day dance that’s gonna take place in school. Despite trying her best to stop the dance, Laurel remains unsuccessful. Even Poppy starts doubting her, which is natural considering Laurel suspects her father. 

Going to Brookside does Laurel good though, as that’s where she’s finally able to figure out what’s really going on. The last person she was probably expecting to find there was Tyler’s mom. She was supposed to be in New York, but clearly the accident on the bridge made her go cuckoo and it took a toll on Tyler. But is that good enough motive for Tyler to kill all his friends and Ranger Pauline? The writers clearly think so. So for the climax, all we have is Laurel managing to escape from Brookside, returning to school, and saving everybody from Tyler. Well, not everybody, as Tyler does manage to kill Chuck and Bree, exactly like how Laurel saw. In the end though, he perishes, and Laurel gets to be a hero (with a mystical power). “The Last Kiss” ends with Laurel finally getting to be a happy teenager – sorry, young adult, as she’s already eighteen – and while some of you were probably expecting some kind of twist to take home, this movie chooses to refrain from that. That’s a smart thing to do, I would say!

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