The Suffocator is a humanoid Monster kept in the Facility. He is not listed on the Whiteboard, and is briefly seen during the System Purge.
Physical Description and Attributes[]
The Suffocator appears as a large, muscular, bearded human male with no shirt and a crude cowl made from a torn plastic bag strapped to his neck via a leather choker. He uses a simple plastic bag with which he uses to suffocate his victims. Not much else is known about the Suffocator, but he does not appear outwardly supernatural in anyway, so he could be classified as a psychopath-type Monster, who are humans suffering from mental illness or murderous motives.
The Suffocator in his cube.
He is seen during the climax of the film on the lower-left corner of a security monitor, he is seen suffocating a man with a plastic bag, who then struggles to take the bag off. It is unknown what summons them; possibly a plastic bag. Since Drew Goddard mentions it along with man in transparent tarp, it is possible that both monsters are related in some way.
It's likely a plastic bag that is used to summon him from the cellar.
Appearances[]
The Suffocator can be briefly seen in his Cube Cell during the elevator scene, in between the Creeping Shadow and a Witch. The next time he is seen is on a CCTV monitor, when the film reveals the chaos of the System Purge, where he is seen suffocating a male Facility employee with his bag.
The Suffocator is also seen in the visual companion.
Inspiration[]
The Suffocator suffocating a Facility employee.
This might be one of the few cases of original creations for the film, but clearly inspired by real life methodical serial killers.
He was mentioned in a question and answer session by the movie's director/co-writer Drew Goddard on Reddit[1], in which he states that the Suffocator is the Monster that terrifies him the most and made him uncomfortable on set.
Considering the movie's criticism of the "torture porn" and "snuff film" aspects of modern horror, he may also be a reference to the video game Manhunt where your character is literally forced into making a violence-based snuff film. One of his major kill moves is yanking a plastic bag over another person's head to smother them. It also could be a reference to the Moaner/Billy from Black Christmas.