1BR (2019) is a psychological, cult classic horror movie directed & written by David Marmor. Sarah moves to LA for a new start in her life and shifts into one bedroomed apartment. Her neighbors are incredibly kind but something unusual things start happening to her. In the end, it takes far too beyond what you imagine.

1BR movie plot story and ending explanation

* * * Spoiler Alert – If you haven’t seen the movie yet, turn back now! * * *

The lead character of the movie, a young lady named Sarah is a struggling fashion designer. She decides not to live with her family. She enters a part-time job and searches for a one-bedroom apartment for living.

She submits an application for a 1BR (or one-bedroom) apartment. There she meets some other residents of that building who are overly friendly.

Sarah receives a call from the manager of the building named Jerry that she is selected as a resident. Next she shifts to her new apartment. Although she knows it is forbidden to keep any pets in this building, she secretly brings her cat.

Sarah doesn’t sleep well at night because of some soft but strange words. One night she gets a note where the pet policy reminds her, specifically for the cat. She suspects Lester of this incident. Because every time she has seen him run away.

The other residents of the apartment are very friendly and helpful. Sarah starts liking a handsome guy named Brian.

One day Brain invites Sarah for an evening party. But that day her boss assigned some extra work that took the whole evening to complete. So, she misses the party.

Read similar suspense movie, Stephen King’s 1922 (2017).

That night a burning smell wakes Sarah up. She finds that someone burned her cat in the oven. At that time someone captured her back.

When the lights back, there is Brian and Jerry who captured her. They take her to a new room and give her a task where she will stand with her hands on the wall until the light is off. This task runs for several days and she denies continuing more.

Then Brian hammered a nail into Sarah’s hand to the wall and left her to continue the task.

After several days Sarah starts hallucinating and makes her hands free by pulling them out. Then all the members come to her and start congratulating her.

After that Brain and Jerry expose that they are a community where members follow only four principles. Next they invite Sarah to enter the community and after rejecting them several times she joined.

After becoming a community member Sarah finds that every member is monitored by CCTV cameras. She also notices that a CC camera is also monitoring in the control room. She asks Brian who monitors them but does not get any answer except silence.

Sarah’s friend Lisa was allowed to become a rent of the building, and she was also forced to become a member of the community. But Lisa says to Sarah that they washed Sarah’s brain in the wrong direction and now they are trying the same thing for Lisa.

This affects Sarah and finally realizes what is she doing. Then she tries to escape the building, but everything is messed up. Brian and Jerry become shot and Lester sacrifices his life so that Sarah can escape.

When Sarah comes down the street, she sees the same community logos in other buildings. Suddenly the alarm come off in every building on the street and the red light turned on.

Sarah laughs mysteriously and starts running.

The movie ends here.

What is the meaning of alarm & red lights in other buildings?

In the last scene of the movie when Sarah come down the street then all the building in the lane starts alarming and turns on emergency red lights.

This indicates that the higher authority of the cult noticed Sarah’s escape and notifies other branches to capture her.

Why does Sarah smile in the last scene of the movie 1BR (2019)?

This was unexpected for Sarah that every building is controlled by the cult members. Therefore, when she is alarmed by all of them then she felt ‘what the fuck’ and smiles.

Then she runs for escape.

Was Sarah able to escape?

The answer is ‘no one knows.’

As the cult tradition appears in the film, they are so straight to do anything for their community. They can kill people and sacrifice life for the community.

Therefore, Sarah will be hunted until she dies. Now it is completely unclear whether Sarah was able to escape or not.

Is the community bad?

The community is formed based on the famous psychologist written book The Power of Community. And there the four principles are oriented toward a happy & harmonious community.

In a general perspective, these four principles are very common for any society or individual life. But we noticed in the movie, that the members are very straight to establish those for everyone.

I think at the beginning era of the community there was no violence as we see in the present time. Over time the members and authorities become extremist and ultimately become a violent cult community.

Who is the founder of the community?

There is no direct clue in the movie about the founder of the community. But as the reference book introduced in the movie the writer may be the founder.

Who is observing through the control room CCTV camera?

A massive cult community is mobilized individually in a building. Hence, a more leading authority of the cult monitors every branch. The CCTV camera placed in the control room is for those higher authorities for monitoring the building.

What represent the four principles of the community?

The four principles of the cult community are followed by the book ‘The Power of Community’ which we first notice by Lester. The four principles are grasped from that book.