While Nope was one of the most talked about horror movies of the year, its ending is still debated by fans. The final moments of a horror movie can make all the difference for an audience’s experience. It can leave them with a suitably haunted feeling, a sense of exhilaration, or severely disappointed.
Fans on Reddit have highlighted some of the most promising horror movies that dropped the ball with their final scenes. Given what these movies had delivered up until then, these endings were a disappointment for horror fans.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Following the found-footage monster movie Cloverfield, the franchise is kept alive with 10 Cloverfield Lane. Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars as a young woman who wakes up from a car accident to find herself trapped in a bunker as a man claims there is an alien invasion outside.
The movie is packed with psychological horror as the threat within the bunker is weighed against what might be outside. In the end, Winstead kills her captive and escapes only to find that there really are aliens. One Redditor suggested the tension of the movie was broken by the ending and that they “should have ended the film 20 minutes earlier and left you wondering.”
Life (2017)
The sci-fi horror movie Life follows a group of astronauts who discover an alien life form that suddenly turns hostile and threatens to take over everything. It becomes the heroes’ mission to stop it from getting to Earth.
In the end, Jake Gyllenhaal decides to travel out into space with the alien while Rebecca Ferguson returns to Earth. However, the opposite ends up happening with Gyllenhaal’s pod arriving on Earth with the alien inside. Redditor UpstairsBox8992 complained that they “just wanted the ending to make up for all their dumb choices” only for them to make an even worse mistake.
Army Of The Dead (2021)
Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead follows a group of mercenaries who carry out a Las Vegas heist while the city is overrun with zombies. The wild action leads to a twist about what the heist was really about and the deaths of just about every likable character.
With Snyder returning to the zombie genre and a fun premise, Army of the Dead should have been a good movie, but it was a letdown thanks largely to the weak conclusion. One Redditor even suggested the “ending was so bad that I won’t rewatch it ever again.”
Hereditary (2018)
Many fans felt Hereditary was one of the most unsettling horror movies in recent memory but a lot of that comes from its more grounded elements. It follows a family undone by a tragedy when they begin to be haunted by some force.
The ending finds the family confronted with the evil spirit leading to the death of the parents and the son becoming a vessel for the demon. However, Redditor Legitimate_Car_5184 preferred the family conflict and “almost would have liked the movie more if there was nothing supernatural at all.”
Friday The 13th (2009)
While horror remakes have a bad reputation, there are many fans who feel the latest Friday the 13th was a worthy return for the iconic masked horror movie killer, Jason Vorhees. The movie unsurprisingly follows a group of young people who become targeted by Jason at Camp Crystal Lake.
The climax features some shocking deaths, including the supposed final girl. As the two main characters appear to have made it to safety, Jason suddenly appears and grabs them before the credits roll. Redditor MacGyver_1138 pointed out that seeing everything the characters went through to escape, it “felt weak to have them get the jump scare/cut to black treatment.”
The Last Broadcast (1998)
Just before The Blair Witch Project helped popularize the found footage genre a very similar horror movie called The Last Broadcast. The movie follows a documentary exploring the mysterious deaths of a group investigating the myth of the Jersey Devil.
The movie was an intriguing story that made good use of its unique format for much of the movie. However, Redditor etbiludecalcinha that “they threw the whole narrative out the window” in the end in order to reveal the killer was actually the documentary filmmaker all along.
Sinister (2012)
Scott Derrickson’s Sinister was a fun play on the found-footage idea with Ethan Hawke playing a family man who discovers grisly and disturbing home movies in his new home. However, the movie lost some viewers with the supernatural ending.
While the creepy vignettes were seen by many as the best part, many felt that introducing the monster Bughuul who is responsible for the horror was uncalled for. And Redditor Dragons_Malk felt the last image when “Bughuul popped out in front of the camera” was a particularly bad note to end on.
Shadow In The Cloud (2020)
As a rare WWII horror movie, Shadow in the Cloud follows a flight officer who transports a sensitive package while on board a bomber. However, her mission is put in danger when a winged monster attacks the plane.
Fans enjoyed the tense and entertaining movie for most of its runtime but felt that it was undone by its action-oriented climax where things get a little ridiculous. Redditor BSGamer felt that it was “like they decided to make a different movie half way through.”
Identity (2003)
The setup for Identity follows a group of strangers trapped at a roadside motel during a storm with each one of them being killed off by some unknown threat. The initial twist revealed that these people were actually all multiple identities inside one man’s head with the most violent of them looking to take over.
However, there was a final twist that was less effective as it is revealed the young boy in the ensemble is the real killer. While there have been some iconic killer kids in horror movies, Redditor All_Tree_All_Shade called it “such a silly and unintimidating last second killer.”
The Village (2004)
The horror movie genre is responsible for some of the scariest movie plot twists of all time. However, The Village didn’t manage to pull off its final surprise. The movie takes place in a small colonial village where monsters lurk in the nearby forests.
Despite the eerie tone and fantastic performances from the cast, the reveal that the movie takes place in modern times and the monsters were just a trick to keep villagers from discovering the outside world didn’t sit well with fans. Redditor enfanta described that “I felt like someone had been taunting me the whole movie.”
High Tension (2003)
The French horror movie High Tension follows two young women on a road trip who narrowly escape a sadistic killer during a home invasion. They then become targeted by the killer who stalks them while leaving a bloody trail.
The movie was seen as a gripping, bloody, and pulse-pounding ride for much of the movie. However, the twist then reveals that one of the girls has been the killer the whole time. Many pointed out the plot holes this twist creates and Redditor Crankylosaurus called it “a twist for the sake of a twist.”
