Elevation’s prologue initially revealed that the Reapers came from the sinkholes that appeared across the globe, suggesting that these monsters could be inhabitants of the Hollow Earth, like Godzilla and Kong, and have finally emerged to the surface to become the apex predator. [Spoiler Alert] However, Elevation’s end credits scene clears the mystery centering around these creatures’ origins and points out that these monsters are likely extraterrestrial beings that arrived on Earth inside meteorites. In the film’s ending, the lead protagonists, Will and Nina, saw three meteorites in the air about to hit the earth, which was most likely a new bunch of Reapers coming in to replace the ones that the humans had already destroyed. These three meteorites could also be hi-tech alien ships just like the Reapers themselves, which are nothing but killing bots with impenetrable armored skin. So yes, even though Nina Richmond, the physicist, had discovered a way to kill these creatures, the battle is far from over. Whoever is sending these creatures to the planet won’t stop until their human-killing machines have killed every single individual. But the question here is: who sent the Reapers, and why?
What Did The Reapers Want?
From the looks of it, it seems like an obvious case of alien invasion where the species, whoever designed and developed the Reapers, sent their exterminators to Earth to clear the ground so that the main players could repopulate the planet without any resistance. I won’t entertain the possibility that the planet of the Reapers’ masters has already been destroyed because they wouldn’t be sending a new batch of murderous bugs right after the previous ones had been destroyed by the humans. It could be possible that their planet is on the verge of extinction, which is why they are exploring suitable worlds, or it could simply be a case of expansion where our alien counterpart is pursuing some planetary conquest. These exterminating Reapers went on a killing spree the moment they arrived on Earth. They didn’t sleep or breathe and hunted humans down all across the globe, eradicating more than 95 percent of the human population. Also, it is quite interesting that the Reapers made a similar sound to A Quiet Place’s creature, the Death Angel. This Anthony Mackie starrer is from the makers of the same film, though the two films aren’t set in the same universe, or that’s what I believe.
How Did Nina Kill the Reapers?
Nina, who had been obsessed with killing the monsters who took her family and friends from her, theorized that these Reapers had electrically charged scales, which makes their body armor impermeable and immune to human attacks. This is how she came up with the idea of a “magic bullet” that could, for a moment, create a million-volt differential as soon as it came in contact with Reapers’ scales, leading to an uncontrollable internal combustion and exploding them in a matter of seconds. She first believed that a periclase (magnesium) coated bullet would do the trick, but in the end, it was cobalt that destroyed these creatures. It’s quite poetic, though. She and her team had made a breakthrough using cobalt to increase the flow of electrons in batteries, which eventually made them three times more efficient. And in the film’s ending, it was the same mineral that helped her to save humanity, implying that her sacrifice didn’t go in vain. So, what exactly seems to have happened when Nina’s magic bullets hit the Reapers’ scales? It seems like the cobalt strike increased the flow of electrons, making their electronic body armor unstable, which led to an explosion that killed these terror bugs.
But why 8000 feet?
The question that still remains is why the Reapers couldn’t cross the 8,000 feet mark. Maybe the answer lies somewhere in science, which isn’t exactly my forte, but I’ll try my best to explain. As far as I know (this sounds really bad), air pressure can have an indirect effect on closed electrical components of a machine. Well, my nose and ears get cranky too whenever I am on an airplane, so yes, some science there. I believe these aliens lived on a planet where the conditions drastically changed after the altitude of 8,000, and believing the situation might be similar on the human planet, they programmed their machines not to go trekking on higher altitudes.
It could be possible that the materials available on the Reapers’ planet couldn’t withstand “thin air” or less dense air, which is also one of the reasons why I believe that the three meteors that we saw in Elevation’s ending were specially designed spaceships to protect the Reapers from the altitude and the vacuum of space. For some reason, these creatures look eerily identical to cockroaches, and maybe even share their anatomy with those Earth-based insects. Their emergence from the sinkhole evokes a somewhat similar visual to cockroaches crawling out of the kitchen sink, and could also be seen as a nice commentary on how cockroaches will outlive humans.
Well, back to the Reapers’ anatomy, I guess, the material used to build these Reapers couldn’t survive the change in atmospheric pressure and the decrease in gravitational force, making their electronic components go bonkers. I am quite certain that Nina’s theory on Reapers’ scales and their programming for the 8,000 feet line are somehow connected. Maybe the increase in altitude caused a similar effect as the cobalt bullet, which was why their creators programmed their killing machines not to cross that threshold as it would lead to an explosion in their circuits the moment they crossed the mark. This might be one of the reasons why these Reapers were hiding underground when they first arrived on Earth, because they might have been assessing if they could bear the air pressure on the surface and when things seemed pretty perfect, they emerged from the sinkholes and started slaughtering the planet en masse.
The Reapers also had some sort of red bulb attached to the ends of their antennae, which they likely used to survey their surroundings. And if these machines were still connected to some sort of main server, then they could transmit these video feeds to their masters back home, giving them access to the creatures’ activities. This further implies that someone sitting behind a screen might still be controlling these creatures from afar, which makes them more dangerous than we previously imagined. They weren’t just mindless creatures, and could strategize an attack on the humans, even after they had developed a magic bullet.
With that said, I am quite sure that Elevation’s mid-credit scene is a nod to a potential sequel film, as a new horde of monsters is soon going to arrive on the surface to wipe out the planet. However, a sequel usually depends on the financial side of things and makers’ willingness to green-light another installment. Well, no official announcement yet, but fingers crossed.
