Pyewacket (2018) Plot Summary Explained

Leah summons Pyewacket during a heated argument with her mother after their move to the remote woodland house. Overwhelmed by grief over her father's death and resentment toward her mother for uprooting her life, Leah wishes her mother dead and performs a dark ritual from one of her occult books to call forth the demon.

Foreshadowing: Leah's fascination with black magic and the occult books she reads establish her willingness to pursue dangerous supernatural means.

• leah
• pyewacket
• summoning
• ritual
• argument
• mother

Pyewacket is a dangerous demon from dark folklore that Leah summons using an occult ritual. It is described as a devious shapeshifter by paranormalist Rowan Dove, capable of taking different forms, including appearing as Leah's mother, to deceive and manipulate its victims.

• pyewacket
• demon
• shapeshifter
• supernatural

After Janice agrees to stay overnight to help lift the curse, she becomes terrified by something unseen. The next morning, Leah and her mother find Janice cowering in the car, too frightened to speak or explain what happened to her during the night.

• janice
• car
• terror
• curse

During Leah's attempt to perform the reverse ritual, she sees her mother lying dead in the forest clearing. However, the confusion stems from Pyewacket's shapeshifting abilities, the mother Leah sees may have been an illusion, as the demon later appears in the house in the mother's form.

Foreshadowing: Rowan Dove warned that Pyewacket is a devious shapeshifter and Leah must not trust anyone while the curse is active.

• mother
• dead
• forest
• pyewacket
• shapeshifter
• illusion

Believing the entity that returned home is actually Pyewacket in disguise, Leah convinced herself she is burning the demon to protect herself and her mother. She douses what she thinks is the demon with gasoline and sets it on fire, not realizing she is actually killing her real mother.

Foreshadowing: Rowan Dove's warning about Pyewacket being a shapeshifter plants the seeds of Leah's tragic misunderstanding.

• leah
• mother
• fire
• gasoline
• burning
• pyewacket
• mistake

Leah made a 911 call claiming her mother's body was in the woods where she found her. However, the police reveal the only body recovered is a burned one found in the ruins of the house. This confirms Leah actually killed her mother in the house fire, not in the forest where she saw the illusion.

Foreshadowing: Leah's panic and confusion after seeing her mother's body in the woods set up the discrepancy between her 911 call and the actual events.

• body
• burned
• house
• woods
• police
• 911 call
• twist ending

The film implies Pyewacket killed the real mother, likely during the night when the demon dragged Leah into the forest and she woke covered in blood. The mother found dead in the woods was the actual victim, while the entity returning to the house was Pyewacket impersonating her.

Foreshadowing: The timeline shows the real mother was killed while Leah was missing and dragged into the forest by the demon.

• mother
• death
• pyewacket
• killed
• real mother

Paranormalist Rowan Dove instructs Leah to perform the same summoning ritual in the same forest location, but in reverse, to undo the curse. However, Leah stops the ritual prematurely when she sees her mother's body, failing to complete the reversal and leaving the demon active.

• reverse ritual
• rowan dove
• curse
• undo
• forest

The mother who returns is not the real mother, it is Pyewacket in disguise. The shapeshifting demon uses this deception to get close to Leah, ultimately leading to the tragic confrontation where Leah mistakenly kills her actual mother.

Foreshadowing: Rowan Dove explicitly warns Leah that Pyewacket is a shapeshifter who can mimic people's appearances.

• mother
• returns
• pyewacket
• shapeshifter
• impersonation

Yes, Leah regrets her actions almost immediately. Shortly after performing the ritual, she reconciles with her mother and begins bonding with her again. She then desperately seeks to undo the curse, contacting Rowan Dove and attempting the reverse ritual.

Foreshadowing: The timeline explicitly shows Leah's regret occurring shortly after the ritual, when she and her mother begin reconnecting.

• leah
• regret
• mother
• bond
• reverse ritual