‘The Surprise Visit’ Ending Explained: Did Annabelle Kill Hugh? (2024)

‘The Surprise Visit’ is a 2022 mystery-thriller directed by Nick Lyon that revolves around a failed robbery that forces two young drug addicts to face a tough choice. The film, written by Stephen Meier and produced by Serah Henesey and Nick Lyon, has received mostly negative reviews due to being an objectively bad movie. It was obvious that the budget was low, quality writing was non-existent, and the plot of the movie could be summarized in a few sentences. Due to ‘The Surprise Visit” having many plot holes and non-sensical scenes, plenty of viewers are left confused by the ending of the movie – this was not intentional and, once again, is a product of bad scripting in the first place. We decided to rewatch the movie – so you don’t have to, so let’s see what truly happened at the end of ‘The Surprise Visit.’

Annabelle and Casey are having a baby despite being drug addicts

The first two characters that we meet are Annabelle (Jacqueline Vené) and Casey (Rob Riordan). Both suffer from overacting, and both are crackheads living in a rundown trailer. Belle sees that her pregnancy test is positive, and instead of being extremely worried for some reason, Belle and Casey are elated and eager to bring new life into this world.

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Casey promises that he will get cleaned up, he won’t do drugs again, and he will find a job. Casey also decides to try his luck regarding a new job with his father, who works for Mrs. Dixon (Tricial Hawn). Mrs. Dixon is apparently very rich and lives in a secluded mansion in the middle of the forest. Casey’s dad, Hugh (Eric Roberts), is working there as a gardener, and when approached by Casey, he tells him off, telling him that he won’t help him and he won’t recommend him for a job until he gets cleaned up.

Somewhere down the line, we also learn that Casey started using drugs following his mother’s death, and there is a lot of blame between father and son. Casey blames his dad for not being there while his wife was dying, and Hugh retorts that his mother would be ashamed to see her son in such a state. Casey gets really insulted by this remark and decides to leave, but not before telling his father that he is having a baby.

This softens ol’ Hugh just enough that he really asks Mrs. Dixon for a job for Casey and she accepts, but Casey is not there to witness it, he already left the estate extremely angry.

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Daniel and Juliette are planning a surprise visit to her mom

The second two characters that we meet are Juliette and her husband, Daniel. They plan a surprise visit to her mom (Mrs. Dixon), and despite Daniel telling Juliette that she should let her mother know that they are coming, Juliette never does; when they arrive at the estate, they learn that Mrs. Dixon has just left to visit her sister and won’t be back until Monday.

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Juliette and Daniel decide to stay at the estate for the weekend, it’s a really nice location and they can just pretend that they are on the vacation they both need until her mother returns.

Casey wants to rob Mrs. Dixon and escape to Mexico

Casey returns to the trailer, and he is using drugs again, but it’s okay since he has a plan. Since he saw that Mrs. Dixon was leaving for the weekend, he figured, if my dad doesn’t hook me up with a job, I might as well rob the old bat.

He presents the plan to Belle, and she doesn’t want to do it at first; however, Casey is persistent. He sells her that ideal fantasy that stealing just a few jewels will set them up for life; they will escape to Mexico and drink cocktails at the beach, and their “little girl” won’t want anything. Hearing those fantasies, Belle agrees to take part in the plan.

They expect no one to be at home at the Dixon estate, and it’s basically free money and victimless crime. Belle and Casey gain access to the house relatively easily. This is the first thing that really bothered me about the movie.

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You’re telling me that an old rich lady living in the middle of nowhere doesn’t have security or some kind of alarm? I mean, the writers did take this into account, and Casey explains that Dixon residence doesn’t have the alarm because the estate organized fox hunts in the past, and the house is armed to the teeth.

You know, having weapons doesn’t automatically make you immune to robberies…especially if someone really really wants to break in while you’re not in the house. In any case, Belle and Casey are unaware that Juliette and Daniel are in the house, and this is where things rapidly go wrong.

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Casey accidentally kills Daniel

Casey and Belle are in the house, and Juliette and Daniel hear some stirring downstairs as someone has just broken the window. Juliette also explained that all the weapons are in the hunting house further in the forest.

Juliette and Daniel see Belle and Casey, and the fight breaks out; Belle and Casey are “armed” with a fire poker, and Casey accidentally smacks Daniel in the head with a flashlight. Daniel falls down dead to the floor. Juliette is panicking, Belle is also panicking, Casey is thinking about what to do with Juliette.

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Casey knows that he will have to kill her to stop her from talking to the cops, but Belle doesn’t really want to do it. Since Casey is the mastermind behind the plan, they go with his “plan,” and Juliette is tied in the attic awaiting her execution while Casey goes to get some “fresh air.” In the meantime, they find some jewelry in the house thinking that it will set them up for life.

Juliette, seeing their haul, explains to Belle that this is not real jewelry. It’s costume jewelry her mother would never spend money on real things. Belle half believes it, but Juliette is persistent. Juliette is a lawyer and explains to Belle that if she helps her now, she won’t be an accessory to a crime; the judge and the jury will side with her due to having a baby and not having any prior arrests or crimes committed.

Juliette also explains that there is still time for her to walk away from here since she is not the one to kill Daniel. Belle breaks under the pressure and unties Juliette.

Soon after, Casey shows up. He is on drugs clearly, and he starts raging at Belle for letting Juliette go. Belle explains about jewelry being fake and Casey accuses her of being incredibly stupid. Belle breaks his meth pipe and slaps him, but Casey manages to compose himself. He talks Belle into helping him once again, chanting, “No witnesses,” and they both start chasing after Juliette.

Juliette makes several mistakes during her escape

Dawn has already started breaking outside, and Juliette is on the run in the forest in her sleeping robe and slippers. She is basically playing hide and seek with Casey and Belle, and this is probably the worst sequence in the movie. For some reason, Casey and Belle don’t hear all the noise that Juliette is making while running away, and Juliette, for some reason, decides to continue running in her slippers. But in any case, at some point, Juliette hides in the shed. Casey runs after her, and she smacks him in the face with a shovel – she smacks him instead of going for the kill, and she runs away once again.

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Casey recovers pretty quickly from the injury, and they are chasing each other once again through the forest. The sun is already up, and Casey can hear his father coming to the estate in his ATV. Casey repeats, “No witnesses,” and Belle is shocked that he is ready to kill his father as well.

Hugh first enters the shed, where the fight has played out just a few moments prior; he sees the dropped shovel and a little bit of blood on the floor. He goes to inspect the house and finds Daniel dead in the kitchen. He inspects the whole house and finds the broke meth pipe on the floor, as things are starting to make sense in his head he calls 911 and goes further into the forest to look for Juliette.

Juliette is now armed but incredibly incompetent

At some point, Juliette fell to the ground, and one of the branches lodged itself deep within her thigh. She screamed while she was taking it out, and Belle and Casey hadn’t heard a thing, imagine that. She eventually reaches the hunting lodge and a rifle.

Seeing the lodge, Casey and Belle are ready to burst inside to end it all, but Juliette shoots at them from the entrance. Casey is now willing to negotiate, and he and Belle are hiding. Casey develops a different plan. Belle is supposed to walk away from their hiding spot first, and Juliette will sympathize with her while he sneaks up on her from behind.

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Juliette is aiming directly at the spot where Belle and Casey are hiding, and Belle storms out with her hands up, begging her not to shoot. Casey successfully sneaks up on Juliette and now has the gun. I mean, really? Really?

Casey proceeds to shoot Juliette in the stomach, and she falls to the ground dead. Belle gets angry with Casey for killing Juliette. I mean what did she think why they were chasing her for the last 2 hours?

Juliette still has the fire poker and smacks Casey in the head with it. Casey falls to the ground, dead. Now, Belle is the killer as well.

Anabelle wants to leave no witnesses

Hugh eventually locates the crime scene; he sees both Casey and Juliette lying dead on the ground, with Belle looking over them, holding the murder weapon. His first reaction at seeing his son and his boss’ daughter dead is, “Oh, mama.” Yes, this is the level of writing we are talking about, “Oh, mama.”

Hugh tells Belle to run away and that he will clean up the place and buy her some time; the emergency services are on the way. Hugh tells Belle to run away as far as she can and to never ever look back, but she should take care of his grandkid since it’s the only family he has left, and family is everything we have in this life. (This is why he refused to help his son and let his killer go, folks!)

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Belle is just about to leave, and as soon as she positions herself behind Hugh, she says, no witnesses. The next scene is a beach, presumably in Mexico, and we can see a grown woman and a small girl frolicking on the beach, enjoying the sun.

So what was that ending about? Really it’s not that deep. Despite not being shown on screen, it is heavily implied that Belle killed Hugh and ran away to Mexico, where she continued to hide from the authorities and raised her daughter.

All the misunderstandings around the ending aren’t purposeful; it’s all bad writing. The movie failed to deliver any kind of significant message.

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‘The Surprise Visit’ Ending Explained: Did Annabelle Kill Hugh? (2024)

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