The Man in the White Van ending, explained: Does Annie escape her captor?

The Man in the White Van is now showing in theaters, and it's worth checking out if you're into true-crime thrillers. It's based on the actual events of the real-life serial killer Billy Mansfield Jr., who was responsible for the murders of five women and girls spanning from 1975 to 1980. However, he is suspected of having committed many more murders.

In the movie, which takes place in 1975 Florida, we follow a teen girl named Annie, who is somewhat like the black sheep of her family. Unlike her older sister Margaret, who enjoys traditionally feminine activities, Annie prefers more rugged outdoor activities. She doesn't mind getting dirty and enjoys spending her free time riding her horse, Rebel.

But Annie's world is upended when she becomes the target of a menacing white van that begins following her every move. Desperate, she tries to alert her family, but they dismiss her cries for help. As the threat intensifies, Annie is forced to confront a terrifying ordeal, becoming the latest prey of the man in the white van.

What's Annie's fate in the end? Does she outsmart her captor and find freedom? If you're curious about how this new thriller wraps up, all you need to do is keep reading because we broke down those heart-pounding final moments down below.

Spoilers from The Man in the White Van ahead!

Annie escapes the clutches of her tormentor in The Man in the White Van

After being relentlessly stalked by a white van, everything comes to a head on the night of Halloween. As Annie and her best friend Patty return home on their horses from a classmate's Halloween party, the white van follows them. They make a run for it, each going their separate ways. But while Patty actually makes it safely to her house, Annie is thrown off of Rebel onto the ground. She runs and hides, but the white van follows her. The man in the white van gets out of his vehicle and looks around.

Just as he gets to the place where Annie is hiding, she's nowhere to be found. Somehow, she quickly moved to hide under his van. After looking everywhere and not finding Annie, the man hops back into his van and drives away. Annie gets up off the ground and makes her way to her family's barn. Meanwhile, Patty is at her house, calling Annie's house over and over to get help. However, she's unable to reach anyone because Margaret is on the phone with her boyfriend.

Back at the barn, Annie is putting Rebel back in his stall when the man in the white van suddenly grabs her and chokes her. He throws her to the ground and starts tying her hands and feet with rope. Knowing that Rebel gets easily frightened if someone gets behind him, Annie waits until the man gets behind Rebel so that she can startle him. Rebel kicks the man with his back legs, and the man goes flying across the barn.

While the man is passed out on the ground, Annie finds a sharp object to untie the ropes around her feet. However, she's unable to untie her hands because the man starts waking up. She tries to run away but doesn't get very far because the man catches up to her and starts strangling her with a rope. She goes unconscious, and the man throws her in the back of his van.

After a short period of time, Annie wakes up to find herself in the back of the van. She looks around and finds an object to hit him with. Just as the man starts driving, Annie starts hitting him in the head with the object. She then pushes open the passenger door and jumps out of the van.

Surprisingly, she jumped out of the van right when they were about to pass her house. She bangs on the front door, yelling for Margaret to open it, but Margaret doesn't hear her at first. As the man approaches Annie, Margaret finally opens the door and pulls her in before closing and locking it. The man beats on the door as he tries to get in. Annie and Margaret run to a room to hide.

The man makes his way inside the house and then finds where Annie and Margaret are hiding. As he tries to get into the room, Annie discovers a way to escape. She opens the window, and she and Margaret go through it. The man bursts through the door and grabs Annie's foot as she tries to escape. However, she manages to break free from his hold, and she and Margaret fall to the ground.

They find the man's van and hop inside to get away, but the man chases after them. He even almost snatches Margaret out of the vehicle, but Annie puts the van in reverse, forcing him to let go. Annie ends up backing into a bush, which makes the van stop. As the man approaches the vehicle, Annie puts the van in drive and runs him over at full speed. The man lies on the ground in front of the car.

Thanks to Patty, a cop arrives on the scene. Annie and Margaret point to where the man should be lying on the ground, but as the cop looks around, the man is nowhere to be found. The movie then cuts to a month later. Annie and her family look to have put that traumatic event behind them. They have dinner together, and Annie and Margaret invite their crushes over. After dinner, Annie goes to the barn. However, Rebel is no longer there. It looks like she either gave him away or he was sold.

What happened to the man in the white van?

Unfortunately, he gets away. He purchases a new white van and continues stalking and murdering young girls. There's a mid-credits scene that shows a family having a camping trip. While the daughter goes around picking up branches to use for a campfire, she stops when she comes across a white van.

Since authorities have found the remains of the man's previous victims, the whole world knows of him and his white van. That's why when the girl sees the van, she immediately drops the branches she's holding. However, we don't find out the girl's fate since the movie then cuts to the credits.