The ending goes down the way it does because the wrong person dies.
- When they visit Rose Wittlocke, it's implied that the death of the person who brought the Operator into her life is what freed her. Milo thinks he was this person to the others, because he dragged them into things after he started watching the tapes. If you really think about it, though, Charlie is the one who introduced the Operator into their lives. He wanted to pursue the story, he took the tapes from the home, he told Milo to watch them. Milo might have discovered the Operator's presence in the tapes, but Charlie is the one who planted the seed. Perhaps things would've ended differently if Charlie had died instead of Milo.
