Is Annabelle Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Yes, 5 out of 10. It's mostly jump scares, delivered by a doll that is clearly up to something.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
5 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
Expect to glance at any shelf with a doll on it for a night or two.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: Watch it in daylight, because the scares are loud and there are a lot of them.
Annabelle runs 99 minutes and is built around a porcelain doll that a husband gives his pregnant wife as a gift. The nursery gets decorated around it, which is the first decision anyone regrets.
The premise, briefly
In 1967, a young couple expecting their first child is attacked by cultists next door, and afterward the porcelain doll in the nursery seems to be bringing something with it.
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
A demon wants Mia's soul and takes her baby to get it. Evelyn gives up her own life in Mia's place, and the demon and the doll vanish. Mia, John and baby Leah are fine, and the doll ends up in the Warrens' locked artifact room.
The scene you're dreading
Near the end, the demon takes baby Leah, and Mia tries to jump from a window with the doll to spare her. John and Evelyn arrive in time, and Evelyn gives her own life instead and ends up dead on the road.
The dog
No dog dies in Annabelle.
It is a jump-scare movie with a demon at the center, and the worst of it is aimed at a mother and her baby.
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 gift that arrives with a prior owner
In 1967 in Santa Monica, medical student John Form gives his pregnant wife Mia a rare porcelain doll for the nursery. That night they watch news coverage of the Tate murders and the Manson Family. Soon after, they hear their neighbors, the Higginses, being murdered next door. Mia calls the police, and she and John are attacked by the killers. Police shoot the male attacker dead. The woman slits her own throat in the nursery while holding the doll. Reports later name the attackers as Annabelle, the neighbors' estranged daughter, and her boyfriend, both cult members. It is a bad first night with a new doll.
Over the next few days strange things happen around the couple's home. Mia gives birth to a healthy girl and they name her Leah, then move to an apartment in Pasadena. John had thrown the doll out after the attack, but Mia finds it in one of the moving boxes, and a new round of strange events begins for her and the baby. Mia contacts the detective who worked the original case, who tells her the cult had meant to summon a demonic spirit. A bookseller named Evelyn, who lives in their building, helps Mia piece it together. The cult worshipped the devil and the demon they summoned followed the family to the apartment because it wants a soul.
A priest takes the doll to church and never arrives
When Mia and Leah get home, the demon attacks them and shows itself while moving the doll around. Mia and John call in their parish priest, Father Perez. He explains that demons sometimes attach themselves to objects, and that a human soul has to be offered for the demon's purposes. He cannot perform an exorcism himself, so he takes the doll to ask the Warrens for help. Before he can walk into the church, the demon appears as Annabelle's spirit, attacks him and snatches the doll away. Mia and John are left with a demon, no doll to deal with it, and a priest who is about to end up in the hospital.
The window, and who goes through it
Father Perez is in the hospital when John visits, and he warns John that the demon wants Mia's soul in particular. That night Evelyn is visiting Mia when the demon takes the priest's form to get into the apartment and carries off Leah, to trade for her mother's soul. Mia grabs the doll and tries to jump out of the window to save her daughter. This is the scene to brace for, and it comes near the end. John and Evelyn get there in time to stop her. Evelyn then decides to give her own life in Mia's place, as penance for a car accident years ago that killed her daughter, Ruby. Evelyn lies dead on the road. Then the demon and the doll vanish, and Leah turns up unharmed in her crib.
The ending, explained
With Evelyn's death the demon is gone, and the doll goes with it. Mia and John never see the doll again, and baby Leah is unharmed in her crib. Months afterward, a nursing student named Debbie receives the doll from her mother, who found it in an antique shop. The Warrens end up with it behind glass in their artifact room.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Annabelle scary?
Yes. Annabelle is a 5 out of 10 with medium dread. It has many jump scares and a creepy doll, with little gore, and the worst of it is a baby in danger.
How does Annabelle end?
Evelyn gives up her life in Mia's place, and the demon and the doll disappear. Mia, John and Leah are safe, and the doll is later locked in the Warrens' artifact room.
Does the dog die in Annabelle?
No. No dog dies in Annabelle.
Is there a post-credits scene in Annabelle?
Nobody has confirmed whether Annabelle has a scene after the credits.
Who is Annabelle in Annabelle?
Annabelle is the name of the Higginses' estranged daughter, a cult member who dies in the couple's nursery holding the doll. The demon later impersonates her spirit.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Annabelle is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You can skip 99 minutes with Annabelle and still know what the doll does. Install Scaredy Cat and it blurs horror before you see it.
