Best horror movie ending....?

[LouCipherr]

So, I was reading a thread on another forum on this topic and I thought I'd bring it up here to see what you guys think.

What horror movie do you think has the best ending?

I'll give three of 'em out there for now (i have a few more ideas, which I'll throw out there later):

Seven - What a screwed up ending. Although, could this be considered "horror"? It deals with horrific elements, but I dunno, does it match what we consider a "horror" movie? Regardless, I'll just leave this one here. :D

Sleepaway Camp - while not the greatest movie, you can't deny the ending was pretty screwed up and shocking.

Saw - no one saw that coming. And it was the only good one of the entire series.

So what are your votes?

[bassman]

The Fly. Brundle-Fly's head blown off with a shot gun, his lover cries, ROLL CREDITS! :lol:

[MinionZombie]

I agree on all three examples there Lou ... Se7en was and is one hell of a movie ... Sleepaway Camp, well, the entire point of seeing that movie is to see the ending, haha ... and SAW, heck yes, that movie was and still is a great addition to the horror genre (shame about the endless procession of sequels that lost more and more sight of what was great about the original in terms of plot and execution).

I'd also agree with Bassman's example of Cronenberg's The Fly - that ending is so brutally blunt, but great. :D

Other ones that spring to mind:

The Thing - is one of them infected, are they both, are neither of them, and what the fuck are they going to do now they've blown up the entire camp and it's more than a little nippy out?!

Friday the 13th - I love the music that plays, and then Jason pops up for a hello ... now, that bit didn't scare me personally, but I have a fond memory of watching the movie with a group of friends when we were all 17 and we'd just had a house party and one of the girls (who never watched horror movies) was scared shitless ... so me and another guy snuck up behind her chair and when Jason leapt out of the water we burst up out from behind her chair screaming and she practically hit the ceiling. :elol:

Halloween (1978) - that music, revisiting locations from the movie, Michael's vanished, and all we can hear is him breathing down our necks getting closer and closer.

Halloween II (the Rob Zombie version) - I'll wait for Lou to pick himself up off the floor after suffering a fit of rage, and while yes, H2 is a mess, there are many parts of it that I really dug (in the Director's Cut version), one of which was the ending. The Nan Vernon cover of "Love Hurts" and that dreamy, fucked up ending, really stuck with me ... gotta be honest ... it really did. No point in getting into another back-and-forth about RZ's Halloween flicks mind ... they're like cigarettes, each arguement takes 5 minutes off your life. :lol:

Eden Lake - it's so goddamned bleak ... it's really rather chilling and defeatist and quite scary.

The Exorcist - a priest gets flung down some hellishly hard steps, 'nuff said.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Sally, laughing hysterically, having gone batshit crazy after her ordeal, then cut (hehe) to Leatherface swinging his chainsaw around in a manner that all Health & Safety Officers would have kittens over, before cutting to black in such a jarring way.

Psycho - it's always the quiet ones.

[bassman]

Saw - no one saw that coming. And it was the only good one of the entire series.


I'm glad i'm not the only one that thinks so. The sequels can f*ck off, but the original is great. Unfortunately most people lump it in with the rest.


Just thought of another: The Devil's Rejects

I can't recall a film that made me sympathize with the antagonists more than this one. Toward the middle of the film i'm thinking "Why the f*ck am I rooting for these assholes?!?". Then the ending with Freebird was perfect. I doubt the song will ever be used again to that kind of perfection.

[Neil]

Would Dawn(78) have been in here if it'd had the alternative ending? Fran pushes her head up into the rotor blade... roll credits... helicopter splutters and runs out of fuel...

-- -------- Post added at 08:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:26 AM ----------


The Exorcist - a priest gets flung down some hellishly hard steps, 'nuff said.

He throws himself!?

[MinionZombie]

He throws himself!?

Well I guess it could be viewed as him throwing himself out the window, or the Devil throwing him out of the window, or a mixture of both ... I never really thought of it as one way or the other.

Bassman - oh hell yeah, The Devil's Rejects - that ending was damn good. You don't really see it coming, or certainly not in that way. I can never hear that song and not think of that Butch & Sundance style ending.

[krisvds]

The Shining: zooming in on that photo, seeing the date, great!

Evil Dead 2: Hail to the king!

Night of the living dead: no comment.

[Danny]

night of the living dead is the first that springs to mind. you have no idea its coming and it was the first film i saw where the whole cast dies- not for some 8's cliche "i'll be back!" promise of another future cash in but human error in a way that didnt feel like a 'gotcha!" moment. it was brilliant and still decades on you look at someones face when they see the ending for the first time and they are always shocked.

[blind2d]

Mm, I remember watching it with a friend the first time... so great.
I'd like to just repeat what everyone else has said, because they're full on right on.
Also... Um... Pff... Shoot, I don't know... Blair Witch Project?

[MikePizzoff]

I can't believe nobody has said my choice, yet. I'd say hands down, the best ending to a horror movie is in April Fool's Day!

The look on Nikki's face when she opens the door to see everyone just sitting there hanging out, then turns back around to Muffy (Buffy), in sheer confusion is great. Along with Rob, still in the closet, screaming and crying for Nikki to run. Once the closet door opens and he takes off running - hilarious!

[JDFP]

Someone is going to throw a sharp object at me for saying it, but...

Frank Darabont's "The Mist". I can't recall the last time I laughed so hard at the end of a film from there actually being a semi-realistic ending as opposed to a "they all lived happily ever after" nonsense. Of course, I"m a sick bastard. I LOVED the ending.

"Signs". I'm not going to lie, I had tears in my eyes. Of course, as a person of faith myself it always moves me to see someone regain their faith again.

Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal". Death walking up the hill with the characters all doing the dance of the dead behind him truly disturbs me. I was at my local redneck bar and it was on television (AMC I think) and I was watching it glued to the tube and when I turned around I noticed about six other guys sitting at the bar with me all glued to it as well not saying anything and looking all somber like me. That was an experience.

"Carrie". The hand jerking out of the ground just freaks me out.

I also agree with others here who have mentioned "Sleepaway Camp" (Angela!) and "NOTLD".

j.p.

[Neil]

Frank Darabont's "The Mist". I can't recall the last time I laughed so hard at the end of a film from there actually being a semi-realistic ending as opposed to a "they all lived happily ever after" nonsense. Of course, I"m a sick bastard. I LOVED the ending.
Too contrived and hammy for my liking...

[JDFP]

Too contrived and hammy for my liking...

Oh, I thought it was a bit silly myself regarding the: "Well, we drove til we ran out of gas, guess we'll just all have to kill ourselves now." I kept saying: "WHAT?!" to this. Then again, this alternative as opposed to being ripped to shreds (or worse) by Cthulhu and his friends may not be a bad alternative -- especially for a child. That was more of a mercy killing situation.

j.p.

[shootemindehead]

'REC' had me on the edge of my seat when I first saw it. That skinny bitch at the end freaked me out. There aren't many horror films that do that these days.

'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', where Sally is left both mentally and physically destroyed and Leatherface is left swinging his McCulloch in the air in frustration. While it's an incredibly over-rated film in general, the ending is brilliant.

[krisvds]

Wait! How could I have forgotten? This is my favourite; Fulci's The Beyond.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk4PTNDFcUk

[JDFP]

Wait! How could I have forgotten? This is my favourite; Fulci's The Beyond.



Yes, you have to love it! With Fulci throw out all logic and common sense for a "WTF?!" surprise. It's a shame he's not around to make films for us any longer so we can have a good laugh at the nonsense he did.

j.p.

[LouCipherr]

I'm glad i'm not the only one that thinks so. The sequels can f*ck off, but the original is great. Unfortunately most people lump it in with the rest.

Hell no man, I'm right there with ya - the first Saw was great. I can't believe they continued with all the sequels as the first one is a classic and should've been left as a stand alone flick. Had they done that, yeah, instant classic. That was an ending no one saw coming, and if they say they did, they were lying.


Just thought of another: The Devil's Rejects

I can't recall a film that made me sympathize with the antagonists more than this one. Toward the middle of the film i'm thinking "Why the f*ck am I rooting for these assholes?!?". Then the ending with Freebird was perfect. I doubt the song will ever be used again to that kind of perfection.

Oh, HELL YES! I forgot about this one. What a weird movie, that ends up making you root for the evil bastards in the flick. Kinda twisted, but that's why I love that movie (and probably the only RZ movie I really dig other than El Superbeasto. :lol:). I still say that was the best use of Free Bird in any film ever.


I can't believe nobody has said my choice, yet. I'd say hands down, the best ending to a horror movie is in April Fool's Day!

YES! Double yes! I can't believe I forgot about this one too, considering April Fool's Day is one of those movies I watch over and over and over again. Love this flick!! A guilty pleasure of mine. I've owned like 5 copies of this on DVD as I keep lending it out and never getting it back! :lol:

MZ - I'll leave you alone about the RZ's Halloween....this time. *snicker* but great call on Carpenter's The Thing. It has an ambiguous ending, you don't know who is what, but I think that's what makes it great. It's that "unresolved" ending that kinda makes it.... uncomfortable. :D

How about the first Nightmare on Elm Street? It wasn't exactly "shocking" but it certainly was an "interesting" ending.

I still have to give it to Seven though - that was probably the one flick that left me completely, 100% speechless afterwards and through most of the credits. My wife and I just sat there, and after a few minutes I turned to her and said, "no way.. they did not just do that, did they?!?!"

Yup. They did. :evil:

[Mike70]

the end of "rosemary's baby." in my opinion, the best movie ending ever.

[Mr.G]

Well I guess it could be viewed as him throwing himself out the window, or the Devil throwing him out of the window, or a mixture of both ... I never really thought of it as one way or the other.


I always viewed it as the priest jumping himself by having a couple of seconds of clarity before the devil takes complete control...

[LouCipherr]

I always viewed it as the priest jumping himself by having a couple of seconds of clarity before the devil takes complete control...

That's what I always thought too, but I guess they leave it ambiguous enough to leave it open to interpretation.

[bassman]

Not much room for interpretation, imo. He starts to turn into the demon and goes to strangle Regan. Before he gets close enough to strangle her his face turns back to normal for a split second and he screams "NOOOO" while jumping out the window. Fatehr Karras jumped himself to keep the demon from causing anymore harm.

[Andy]

It wouldnt really make sense for the demon, trying to possess a human, would leave regans body and enter father karras only to kill him?

[paranoid101]

Race with the Devil

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073600/

It was a roller coaster ride and just when you think they made, ring of fire.

Edit also The Thing great ending.

[Tricky]

I thought the ending on "the descent" was good, you think she's made it out & is almost a happy ending, then she wakes up still trapped underground with those things!

[acealive1]

halloween 3....... that ending made u wonder badly.


also maximum overdrive. i love the happy ending intead of gloom and doom all the time



worst ending? "they"


that fuckin movie pissed me off

[Doc Foster]

"The Blair Witch Project". You have to pay attention at the beginning of the film to get the ending, of course.

[rightwing401]

Off the top of my head, the two best werewolf movies, in my humble opinion, ever made had awsome endings.

First, 'An American Werewolf in London'. Thinking of how they made the ending, it has the old movie feel of subtle images going a long, long way. After Alex breaks through the police barricade and rushes down the dark alley where David, now a fully transformed werewolf, is cornered and the cops are taking aim at him, she confesses that she loves him despite what he is. If you look real hard, you can see the harsh animalistic straining around his yellow eyes give way ever so slightly, a hint that there is still just enough of David left in the monster to recognize Alex. Then, just as she begins to become emotional at this realization, the harsh animal gaze returns and the beast lunges at her, only to be riddled with high powered rifle fire. It's only then that Alex realizes that there was nothing that she could have done to save David, that he was indeeded damned the moment he surived his attack earlier in the movie from the werewolf on the moors.

The second, 'The Howling'. Of course I'm talking about the orgininal one, all the others after that are pure crap. You have Karen, who has just survived a horrific nightmare against a colony of werewolves, having to shoot her husband in the head when he became one---and then you see her halfway through her nightly news begin to transform live on tv to warn the viewers that werewolves are indeed real. And when it becomes obvious what she's becoming, her friend Chris who saved her from the werewolves, is forced to blow her brains out on the air. The most depressing part of that whole movie is when the producer frantically switches the feed to a pre-recorded commercial, two men who just watched Karen's subsequent transformation and shooting look at each other, and one of them says 'Hell of a thing they can do with special effects these days'. That one line sums up everything about this last part of the movie, meaning that Karen's final ordeal and sacrifice was meaningless in that people still refused to believe the impossible, even though they saw it with their very eyes.

[krisvds]

Ok, guys, get your 'Muldooooons' ready for this;
Say what you will about Diary and Survival of the dead but I think both had pretty great, sarcastic, bleak endings.

And Argento's Phenomena ended in such a surreal frenzy of nightmare imagery that it also deserves a mention.

[MinionZombie]

Ok, guys, get your 'Muldooooons' ready for this;
Say what you will about Diary and Survival of the dead but I think both had pretty great, sarcastic, bleak endings.

And Argento's Phenomena ended in such a surreal frenzy of nightmare imagery that it also deserves a mention.

To be honest, I did rather like the ending of Survival of the Dead - I dug that 'endless duel' shot big style. :cool:

[MikePizzoff]

And Argento's Phenomena ended in such a surreal frenzy of nightmare imagery that it also deserves a mention.

Bleck. Very recently saw Phenomena after badly wanting to see it for a while. Thought it was a slow-moving, boring piece of crap with extremely misplaced songs from Motorhead and Iron Maiden. It's very rare that I'm into any of that Italian giallo/horror stuff, though.