Yes, 6 out of 10. It's a slow gothic mansion story with jump scares and a lot of stuffed animals.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
6 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
You will think about the stuffed animals for a night or two.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: It is a creepy, strange mansion story, so watch it with the lights on and skip the basement.
Livid runs ninety-two minutes and sends three young people into a remote mansion on Halloween night to look for gold. The house is full of stuffed animals and a retired ballet teacher in a coma, which should have been enough warning.
The premise, briefly
A trainee at-home nurse hears about gold hidden in a bedridden ballet teacher's mansion and brings her boyfriend and his brother to look for it on Halloween night.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Ben and Will die in the house. Lucy and Anna swap bodies through a ritual, throw Mrs. Jessel off a balcony and escape to a cliff, where Lucy floats away into the sky.
The scene you're dreading
Early in the break-in, Ben ends up alone in a surgical room that has no door, and veiled ballerinas appear out of nowhere and kill him.
The dog
No dog dies in Livid. The animals in the house are stuffed.
Livid is a slow, odd gothic horror with jump scares and several killings, and it is easier once you know who survives.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A treasure rumor in a house full of taxidermy
Lucy begins training as an at-home nurse under an older woman, Mrs. Wilson. Their last patient lives in a remote mansion crowded with stuffed animals: Mrs. Jessel, who used to be a famous ballet teacher and now lies in bed in a coma. Rumor has it that she has hidden gold and jewels somewhere on the property. Lucy tells her boyfriend William about it, and she, Will and Will's brother Ben decide to look for it on Halloween night. They climb into the basement through a window and find a room where stuffed animals sit around a tea table, with a single locked door. Lucy guesses that the key Jessel wears opens it. Inside is a sheet over what looks like a stuffed girl in a ballerina outfit. Lucy thinks it is Jessel's mute daughter Anna, still standing on a pedestal. She turns a key on the pedestal and the figure spins slowly while music plays, like a music box.
The three hear noises upstairs and try to leave, but the window they used now has iron bars on it. They split up while hunting for another way out. Ben ends up in a surgical room that has no door, with no idea how he got in. This is the scene people dread most, and it comes early: veiled ballerinas appear out of nowhere and kill him. Lucy then sees Mrs. Jessel sitting at what used to be Anna's tea table. A flashback shows how strict a ballet teacher Jessel was. A girl leaves the class, and Jessel later finds her dead in Anna's room with Anna bent over her, drinking her blood. The Jessels, the movie tells us, are vampires.
Swapping bodies with a moth
Ben comes back as a vampire and attacks Will. Will stabs him with scissors, and then Mrs. Jessel kills Will. Lucy discovers Anna is not dead, and Anna tries to drink Lucy's blood until Lucy pushes her off. Mrs. Wilson arrives and sedates Lucy. While Wilson watches, Jessel implants moth pupae in the throats of Lucy and Anna in a ritual meant to swap their souls. It seems to work: Anna wakes with a different eye color in a different body. Jessel tells her to dance and gets no reaction. Wilson moves to punish her, and Anna stabs Wilson with the scissors and then turns on Jessel. They fall to the floor, and Jessel, bleeding heavily, still tries to bite Anna. Lucy whips Jessel until she lets go, and the two girls throw her off a third-floor balcony.
The ending, explained
Anna and Lucy leave the mansion and walk along a cliff by the sea, holding hands. Lucy, who is now in Anna's body, leans over the edge. She doesn't fall. She rises into the sky instead, her scars disappear, and Anna, now in Lucy's body, watches her float away. Ben and Will died in the house, Mrs. Jessel went off the balcony, and Mrs. Wilson was stabbed by Anna.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there's a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Livid scary?
Livid is a 6 out of 10 with medium dread. It is a slow, strange gothic story with jump scares and several killings, and a house full of stuffed animals.
How does Livid end?
Lucy and Anna swap bodies, throw Mrs. Jessel off a balcony and escape to a seaside cliff. Lucy, in Anna's body, floats into the sky while Anna watches from Lucy's body. Ben and Will do not survive.
Does the dog die in Livid?
No dog dies in Livid. The house is full of stuffed animals, but no dog dies in the story.
Is there a post-credits scene in Livid?
Nobody has confirmed whether Livid has a scene after the credits, so it is safest to wait for them to finish.
What is going on with the Jessels in Livid?
Mrs. Jessel and her daughter Anna are vampires. In Livid, Jessel uses a ritual with moth pupae to swap Anna's soul with Lucy's.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Livid is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
Livid is ninety-two minutes in a mansion that should have been left alone. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur horror before you see it, so you can read the plot from outside.
