What actually happens
A probationary house with peeling walls
Bol and Rial flee war-torn South Sudan with their daughter, Nyagak, on an overcrowded motorboat across the English Channel in stormy weather. The scene to brace for is this opening crossing: the couple survive, but Nyagak and many of the other passengers do not. Three months later Britain grants them probationary asylum and assigns them a house on the outskirts of London, with peeling walls and dismal furniture. They have strict conditions to follow or they could be deported. The neighbours in the building are openly racist. Their caseworker, Mark, meets them and says he hopes they turn out to be among the good ones.
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Utensils and an apeth
Bol tries hard to blend in. He sings football songs, changes the way he dresses, and asks Rial to eat with a fork instead of her hands, because he wants the government to see that they belong. Rial holds on to their culture, keeps Nyagak's necklace, wears bright clothes and sits on the floor to eat. Soon the house starts doing strange things, and both of them see Nyagak and a mysterious man, who each vanish into the walls. Rial works out that what lives in the house is an apeth, which she also calls a night witch. She tells Bol about a poor man in her village who unknowingly stole from an apeth by the river. After he built his home, the apeth moved in and haunted him. Rial believes one followed them here, and that if they repay what they owe, it will give Nyagak back.
A house inspection that goes badly
Nobody knows what the debt actually is. Bol sets fire to everything they brought along, which does not help, and the apeth keeps tormenting him while his marriage gets worse. He asks Mark for a different house, claiming rats, but Mark does not believe him. Bol then tears the house apart searching for the apeth, which puts their place in Britain at risk once Mark sees the damage. Rial wants to leave, but Bol locks her inside and summons the apeth by himself. It calls him a thief and says he took a life that was not his. It then offers him a trade, his life for Nyagak's. He turns it down, and the apeth leaves him catatonic.
A classroom that should not exist
Rial gets out of the house and ends up, somehow, back in a familiar classroom in South Sudan, where she is reunited with old friends. A flashback shows that those friends were killed in a massacre and that Rial survived by hiding. Bol finds her, and they run as the violence spreads. They need to board a bus, but it will only take people with children. Bol spots Nyagak in the crowd, grabs her, and falsely says she is theirs. The couple get on the bus, and Nyagak's real mother is left behind as gunfire breaks out. Later, during the sea crossing, Nyagak and others fall overboard, and neither Bol nor Rial gets to her in time.
The ending, explained
Once they have both faced what they did, Bol decides to pay the apeth back and tells Rial. He starts letting the apeth into his skin, and Nyagak walks into the room and goes back to Rial. Rial chooses to save Bol over staying in that version of events, and she cuts the apeth's throat. Later, Mark visits to inspect the house and finds it repaired. Bol and Rial say they have chosen to stay and call it home. They tell him Rial killed the witch behind the haunting, and Mark thinks that is a joke. Bol adds that the ghosts from their past in South Sudan are staying too, Nyagak among them.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is His House scary?
Yes, His House is a 6 out of 10 with a high dread level. It has loud jump scares and a witch in the walls, but most of what stays with you afterward is the grief.
How does His House end?
Rial cuts the apeth's throat to save Bol, and the haunting ends. Mark finds the house repaired, and Bol and Rial decide to stay and live with the ghosts of their past, Nyagak included.
Does the dog die in His House?
No dog dies in His House, and no other animal dies either. The only animals in it are the rats Bol invents to get a new house.
Is there a post-credits scene in His House?
No. His House has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
What is the apeth in His House?
In His House, an apeth is a night witch from Rial's village. In her story, a poor man stole from one by a river and it moved into his new home. Rial believes one followed her and Bol to Britain and wants a debt repaid.
