Don’t Listen (2020) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Eric drowns in the pool after being manipulated by the malevolent spirit haunting the house. The final drawings reveal that Daniel, while possessed, actually drowned Eric in the pool. The ghost used the family's vulnerability and the house's dark energy to orchestrate the tragedy, ultimately turning Daniel against his own son.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Eric's walkie-talkie delivers messages that sound like his father expressing hatred toward him, planting the seeds of the family's destruction.

• eric drowning
• pool death
• don't listen ending
• daniel kills eric

The psychologist dies in a car crash caused by supernatural intervention. While driving home after treating Eric, she is harassed by a supernatural fly that enters her car and attacks her, causing her to lose control and crash into a tree. A branch then appears to deliver the fatal impact, making it clear the entity was actively targeting her.

Foreshadowing: Eric had just presented a bloody branch to his parents shortly before the psychologist's visit, signaling the malignant presence at work.

• psychologist death
• car crash
• supernatural fly
• beatriz arjona

Daniel commits suicide after discovering the truth about what he was manipulated into doing. In Eric's room, he sees the disturbing drawings that depict him possessed and drowning his own son in the pool. Overwhelmed by guilt and realizing he has been controlled by the malevolent force throughout the film, he takes his gun to the pool and kills himself, effectively surrendering to the ghosts of his wife and son who beg him to join them.

Foreshadowing: The walkie-talkie messages throughout the film establish that the entity could manipulate Daniel's voice and communications, hinting at his ultimate possession.

• daniel suicide
• don't listen ending
• pool suicide
• possessed drowning eric

Eric's drawings are prophetic visions forced upon him by the house's malevolent spirit. They depict upcoming paranormal events and deaths that will afflict the family, including the drawings that ultimately reveal Daniel drowning Eric and shooting himself. The drawings serve as both a warning and a tool of psychological torment, showing the family their tragic fates before they unfold.

Foreshadowing: Eric begins drawing immediately after hearing voices, and his first drawing of a bloody branch appears shortly before the psychologist's death.

• eric drawings
• prophecy drawings
• foreshadowing drawings
• bloody branch

The pear of anguish is a medieval torture device used during the Spanish Inquisition. In the film, Daniel discovers a caged skeleton of a woman in the basement who was subjected to this device. The Inquisitors used it to crush her body and prevent her from cursing them, but she was instead immured alive in the dungeon. Her spirit became the source of the house's evil, with the flies symbolizing her torment and the curse she spoke while dying.

Foreshadowing: The house is built on the grounds of a courthouse used for Spanish Inquisition trials, establishing the historical connection early in the investigation.

• pear of anguish
• inquisition
• torture device
• skeleton basement
• spanish inquisition

Sofia's ghost appears to Ruth in the house and possesses her after Ruth refuses to approach her. Sofia transforms into a demonic wraith form and takes body, making her attack Germán with a knife control of Ruth's. The possession is only broken when Daniel burns the skeleton of the tortured woman in the basement, which frees the trapped spirits and releases Ruth from Sofia's grip.

Foreshadowing: Sofia's ghost had previously appeared to Germán, knifing his arm and telling him he would join her, establishing her as a dangerous, possessive spirit.

• ruth possession
• sofia ghost
• demonic wraith
• stabs german

The flies are spiritual manifestations tied to the tortured woman immured in the basement dungeon. Throughout the film, Daniel struggles to eliminate a persistent fly infestation, which ultimately leads him to discover the source of the haunting. The flies originate from the skeletal remains of the woman who was sealed alive by the Inquisitors, her body decomposed but her spirit remaining trapped, creating the swarming presence that haunts the house.

Foreshadowing: The supernatural fly that kills the psychologist appears early, establishing the flies as more than a natural infestation.

• flies
• infestation
• basement dungeon
• tortured woman spirit

Sara hangs herself after witnessing the horrifying truth about the house. She sees Eric's ghost playing with his toy robot in his bedroom, then encounters a corpse-like witch figure. These visions, combined with the grief of losing her son and the overwhelming malevolent presence, drive her to commit suicide. Her body is later found hanging outside the house after crashing through a window.

Foreshadowing: Sara receives a desperate phone call from Eric, who begs for help against Germán, suggesting the entity was actively manipulating her return.

• sara suicide
• hanged
• witch ghost
• eric ghost room

The house targets any family that moves in due to the trapped spirits seeking release, but this family becomes especially vulnerable because of their instability. Eric's insomnia and psychological disturbance make him receptive to the voices, while the family is new to the house and emotionally vulnerable. The entity exploits their weaknesses: Eric's sensitivity, Daniel's determination to fix the house, and Sara's grief. The malevolent force uses them as pawns to achieve its goal of freedom through their deaths.

Foreshadowing: The psychologist notes that Eric's issues stem from a lack of stability, which the house then exploits.

• family targeted
• haunted house
• why this family
• vulnerability

The walkie-talkie becomes a conduit for the malevolent spirit to manipulate the family. Because Eric's bedroom is far from his parents' room, they rely on walkie-talkies to stay in contact. The entity uses this to send confusing messages, Eric hears what sounds like his father expressing hatred, while Daniel later hears Eric crying for help when replaying a voice message. The spirit weaponizes their only means of communication, turning it into a tool of psychological warfare.

Foreshadowing: The walkie-talkie delivers messages that sow discord between father and son long before the physical violence occurs.

• walkie-talkie
• messages
• possession communication
• daniel voice eric

The house sits on the grounds of a courthouse used for Spanish Inquisition trials. In the basement, the family discovers a dungeon where prisoners were immured, sealed alive in walls. One of these prisoners was a woman who was tortured with the pear of anguish and left to die. Her curse and suffering created the malevolent spirit that haunts the house, using the flies as a physical manifestation of her trapped soul seeking vengeance.

Foreshadowing: Ruth mentions the Inquisition connection after investigating the house's history, providing context before the basement discovery.

• spanish inquisition
• house history
• courthouse trials
• dungeon immured

The post-credits scene shows Germán and Ruth watching footage of an exorcism, suggesting that the battle against the malevolent spirits continues beyond the film's events. The ending implies that burning the skeleton freed some spirits but may not have completely vanquished the evil, leaving the possibility that the haunting persists or that Germán's earlier joke about attending an exorcism becomes relevant.

Foreshadowing: Germán jokes during the climax that he's looking forward to an exorcism his priest friend invited him to, foreshadowing this continuation.

• post credits
• exorcism
• german ruth
• ending scene