Is Malevolent Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Somewhat, 4 out of 10. Jump scares start early, and the second half gets nasty.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
4 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
It should be gone by the time you turn the lights off.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: It is a decent haunted-house story, and the fake hauntings stop being fake once they reach the mansion.
Malevolent runs 89 minutes in 1986 Scotland, where an American brother and sister fake hauntings for money. Their business has one flaw: the sister sometimes sees people who are not there, as their late mother did.
The premise, briefly
An American brother and sister who fake hauntings in 1986 Scotland take a job at a mansion where the owner reports ghost girls screaming, and this haunting is real.
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
Angela kills Mrs. Greene and ends up in a hospital with Elliot. Jackson and his girlfriend Beth are dead, and Jackson's ghost is still looking for her. A dark shadow passes over Angela as she talks to her grandfather.
The scene you're dreading
Near the end, Mrs. Greene mutilates Jackson's face and sews his mouth shut, then starts sewing Angela's mouth too. Angela gets free when the ghost girls scream and distract Mrs. Greene.
The dog
No dog dies in Malevolent. A dead fish is seen as a display piece in the house.
It is a ghost story with early jump scares and a grim final stretch, and knowing the plot makes the ending easier to take.
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 family business built on fake ghosts
Angela and Jackson are American siblings working in 1986 Scotland with a small team, and their job is to run scams on people who believe their houses are haunted. They sell Angela as a medium using the reputation of their late mother. Jackson uses much of the money to pay off loan sharks. Odd things happen during some of the scams, and nearly everyone misses them. Angela does notice. She experiences hallucinations and identifies with their mother, who used to hear voices and see people nobody else could, and who eventually killed herself.
A client with ghost girls and a rule about the East Wing
A new client named Mrs. Greene phones in about ghost girls screaming in her house. Angela researches the place and finds out that fifteen years earlier the owner's foster children turned up dead with their mouths sewn closed, and Mrs. Greene's son Herman was blamed. Angela turns the job down. Jackson badly needs cash for the loan sharks and takes it anyway. The team plans a con, and Mrs. Greene orders them to stay out of the East Wing. Elliot, the cameraman, films Angela walking through the mansion, and she spots the murdered girls' spirits and trails them into the East Wing. The floor there collapses under Elliot. Jackson and Angela go to help him and find a stone cell where the girls were kept. Angela says she really can see spirits, and Jackson thinks she and Elliot are running a scheme of their own.
A girlfriend in the attic and a tree in the road
The ghost hunters have now seen Mrs. Greene's crimes, so she calls them scam artists and tells them to leave. It also comes out that Jackson has their mother's abilities and keeps them in check using drugs and loud music, which is a poor way to run a haunted house business. He quits after Mrs. Greene suggests the girls deserved to be murdered. Then Jackson finds his girlfriend Beth unconscious in the attic with her mouth sewn shut. They try to escape with the others, and Jackson wrecks the car against a tree by accident, and Beth is killed.
Ghosts who finally scream at the right person
This is the scene to brace for, and it comes near the end. Herman reaches the car and knocks both Jackson and Elliot out cold. He hauls Jackson back inside, and there Mrs. Greene cuts up his face and stitches his mouth closed. She orders Herman to take Jackson to the shed and finish him. Angela intervenes and gets captured herself. As Mrs. Greene starts sewing Angela's mouth, Elliot kills Herman, and Mrs. Greene turns on Elliot, wielding a bone saw. Then the dead girls' spirits show up and Angela begs them for help. They scream, which distracts Mrs. Greene enough for Angela to free herself and kill her. Angela tells Elliot to wait while she goes for medical help.
The ending, explained
Angela limps away from the house and sees Jackson's ghost looking for Beth. She breaks down crying on the road and a passing car picks up her and Elliot, and they go to a hospital. From there she phones her grandfather, who worries that she has the same illness as her mother and offers to come and join her. A dark shadow, presumably a ghost, passes over Angela as she tells him she is not alone. Beth and Jackson are dead, Herman and Mrs. Greene are dead, and Angela and Elliot survive.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether Malevolent has a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Malevolent scary?
Somewhat. Malevolent is a 4 out of 10, with jump scares that start early and a nasty second half, and the dread fades quickly once it is over.
How does Malevolent end?
Angela kills Mrs. Greene, and she and Elliot end up in a hospital, while Jackson and Beth are dead. A shadow passes over Angela as she tells her grandfather that she is not alone.
Does the dog die in Malevolent?
No, no dog dies in Malevolent. A dead fish is seen as a display piece in the house.
Is there a post-credits scene in Malevolent?
Nobody has confirmed whether Malevolent has a scene after the credits.
Does Angela really see ghosts in Malevolent?
Yes. In Malevolent Angela sees the spirits of the murdered girls, and Jackson has the same ability as their mother but keeps it down with drugs and loud music.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Malevolent is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't have to take a job at Mrs. Greene's mansion to find out how Malevolent goes. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur horror before you see it.
