Top 20 Movies Ruined By Disturbing Endings
#20: “Glass” (2019)
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We so wanted the concluding chapter in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable” trilogy to live up to its crossover potential. And while some of the interactions between the superhuman characters have their moments, fans were largely left scratching their heads following a rather anticlimactic finale. Subverting the notion that a superhero movie has to lead up to an epic set piece, “Glass” instead has its three leads die in unceremonious fashion. Perhaps none more so than David Dunn, who’s literally drowned in a puddle of water. The movie tries to end on an optimistic note as the existence of superheroes is made public, but we can’t help but feel it’s undercut by its underwhelming and rather dour climax.
#19: “47 Meters Down” (2017)
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The simple setup of divers having to survive a pack of hungry sharks after their cage plummets them to the bottom ocean has the makings for a brisk creature feature. But unfortunately “47 Meters Down” tries to throw in too many narrative curveballs when it matters most. After numerous close calls, it seems like sisters Lisa and Kate have finally made it back to the boat. After a thrilling ascension, it turns out Lisa has been hallucinating, and is still at the bottom of the ocean. Not only that, but she realizes Kate had been killed by the sharks a while ago. Just as quickly as it took to explain this, Lisa is rescued by the Coast Guard, making us question this whole narrative back-and-forth.
#18: “Serenity” (2019)
No, not the movie adaptation of “Firefly.” This one is way, way worse. Before being thrown out the window by a ludicrous twist, “Serenity” does at least have some atmosphere and intrigue about it. The bulk of the plot sees Matthew McConaughey’s fishing boat captain contemplate murdering his ex-wife’s cruel new husband Frank. But as the walls of his reality begin to crumble, Baker Dill eventually realizes that he’s merely part of a computer simulation created by his son Patrick in the real world. Baker going through with killing Frank is the motivation Patrick needs to kill his abusive stepfather in the real world. Patrick is charged with murder, and we’re left asking, “What the heck did we just watch?”
#17: “Truth or Dare” (2018)
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“Truth or Dare” is about as convincing as you’d expect from a horror movie based on the titular game. But the ending still manages to sink to new lows. The basic premise is this: a group of college kids get roped into playing a supernatural game of truth or dare, whereby you have to either tell horrible truths, commit dangerous dares, or die. Because the evil game is twisted - apparently - it leads to their deaths eventually. But players can extend the time between their turns by inviting other players to join. Rather than roll the dice again, Olivia instead ends the movie by uploading a video whereby she invites potentially the whole world to play. This feels edgy for edginess’ sake.
#16: “The Son” (2022)
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This film, tangentially related to Florian Zeller’s previous film, “The Father,” tackles some very serious issues. However, it’s been criticized for doing so through melodrama. At the heart of the story is Peter and his son Nicholas, the latter of whom struggles greatly with depression. Eventually, Nicholas is placed in an in-patient treatment facility for his own safety, and makes an impassioned plea for release toward the end of the film. His parents relent even against doctor wishes, and as soon they return home, Nicholas tragically takes his own life. It’s far from the most tactful presentation for sensitive viewers, and the final scene where the film briefly tricks us into thinking Nicholas survived doesn’t help matters.
#15: “The Entity” (1982)
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This horror film supposedly based on true events distinguishes itself by going further than most in the genre would. Trouble is, the ending manages to go too far. After being plagued by a malicious, supernatural force, Carla is finally able to prove her sanity and the existence of the invisible entity. Only the person with the ability to officially validate her claims goes into denial. The film ends with Carla moving away with her family, but not before the entity greets her by saying, “Welcome home,” followed by a weirdly vulgar British slang word; we think you know what it is. It’s a decidedly dour downbeat to end on, with the entity’s colorful language eliciting little more than confusion.
#14: “The Number 23” (2007)
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Now here’s a movie that makes the wrong call at every turn, with its twist being at the center of it all. Jim Carrey stars as Walter Sparrow, a man who becomes obsessed with a book that may hold the secrets to a murder. Wrapped up in this mystery is the number twenty-three, which Walter can’t help but see everywhere. At no point is the film less convincing than the third act, wherein Walter overcomes his amnesia and remembers that he wrote the book and committed the murder. “The Number 23” takes the well-worn trope of an unreliable protagonist and stretches it beyond its very limits. If it was less concerned with simply being dark, it might’ve offered a halfway satisfying solution. #13: “The Box” (2009) The financially desperate Norma and Arthur are presented with an option by a mysterious man: if they press a button, they’ll receive $1 million, but a stranger will die. Rather than lean into the psychological angle of the plot, the movie eventually takes a turn into the realm of science-fiction. In the end, the mysterious man reveals his assistants have blinded and deafened their son, and offers them another choice: keep the money and live with their son’s condition, or Arthur can kill Norma and their son’s senses will be restored. We get the latter, but we feel like the movie should’ve taken Option C, that is, if Option C is “anything else.”
#12: “The Woman in Black” (2012)
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For what it’s worth, “The Woman in Black” is actually a creepy, little haunting film, with plenty of atmosphere to spare. But we’re still not sold on the dour ending. Throughout the film, lawyer Arthur Kipps handles an estate that turns out to be haunted by the spirit of a woman who lost her young son. The titular woman in black gets her revenge by taking the lives of the children in the nearby village. Realizing she’s going after his son Joseph next, Arthur attempts to save him. However, after Joseph wanders onto train tracks, both he and Arthur are killed. While Arthur is reunited with his deceased wife in the afterlife, we can’t help but wish things had turned out better in the end.
#11: “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” (2008)
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This one is incredibly heavy, so get ready. The film is set in Nazi-occupied Poland and follows the friendship between two boys. Bruno is the son of an SS officer, and Shmuel is a Jewish prisoner at a nearby extermination camp. The boys’ ignorance of the real horrors going on reaches a critical point at the end when Bruno is mistaken for a prisoner and rounded up with the rest of them. Bruno, Shmuel and countless others are tragically executed, and the film ends with Bruno’s family utterly devastated. While the film has garnered mixed reactions, detractors of the ending have criticized it for being contrived and sympathizing with Nazis. Either way, it’s definitely a gut punch we wish we could forget.
#10: “Secret Window” (2004)
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Certain endings are so cliché, their inclusion nearly always detracts from the rest of the story. A tired twist in murder mysteries is revealing the protagonist to be the killer, usually with multiple personalities being thrown-in for good measure. In “Secret Window,” Johnny Depp plays Mort, a writer who suffers a mental break after learning about his wife’s affair. Throughout the film, Mort is tormented by a person named Shooter, before the third act reveals the two to be one and the same. “Secret Window” is arguably superior to something like “The Number 23,” but the contrived ending sucks the intrigue right out of the story.
#9: “Sucker Punch” (2011)
Zack Synder’s film is a grim psychological drama about abuse that also loves to drop its attractive cast in video game scenarios devoid of consequence. Despite being set in a horrifying mental institute fond of lobotomizing its patients, Babydoll’s explosive dream sequences are pure escapism; as a result, “Sucker Punch’s” tone is all over the place. Ultimately, Babydoll is lobotomized to allow one of the other captives to escape. It’s an ending that may have actually worked had “Sucker Punch” focused more on the psychological storyline, rather than constantly stopping dead to show glorified music videos.
#8: “Knock Knock” (2015)
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Starring Keanu Reeves, “Knock Knock’s” married protagonist engages in a touch of infidelity before the two determined women torture him as punishment for succumbing to temptation. For the most part, “Knock Knock” plays it relatively straight, but the over-the-top ending jumps right over satire into parody territory, including a “no” moment capable of making Anakin Skywalker blush. After the protagonist accidentally likes his own assault video on Facebook, the girls gleefully escape to presumably torture another day. At the very least, the move that inspired “Knock Knock” had the decency to hit the villains with a truck.
#7: “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” (2015)
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The sixth entry in the franchise, “The Ghost Dimension” finally answers a couple of long-standing questions. As it so happens, some things are better left a mystery. Long story short, a cult needs the blood of a girl named Leila to revive a demon called Toby, and the villains succeed while killing the rest of the child’s family. Since most entries in the series conclude with a win for the bad guys, “The Ghost Dimension’s” shocking ending happens to be the most predictable outcome possible. Along with an absence of scares, “The Ghost Dimension’s” theatrical ending represents a franchise that never should have been running out of steam.
#6: “The Descent Part 2” (2009)
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Following six women who enter a cave occupied by cannibalistic humans, 2005’s “The Descent” is a fantastic horror movie with a seemingly happy ending that winds up being the exact opposite. Despite obviously lacking the element of surprise key in making the original film’s climax so effective, the sequel could not resist closing with another switcheroo. “The Descent’s” protagonist sacrifices themselves to allow another woman to escape the cave; unfortunately, a rarely seen minor character shows up to ensure nobody survives. It is almost like the film suddenly remembers it needs a crushing ending and opts for the flimsiest solution possible.
#5: “Remember Me” (2010)
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In the hands of the right director and writer, any subject matter can work. That being said, adopting a real-life tragedy to artificially bloat a story’s self-importance is a recipe for disaster. For approximately 95% of its run-time, “Remember Me” is a meandering drama about pretty people grieving over senseless acts of violence. Then, the 9/11 attacks happen while the protagonist is in the World Trade Center. For some reason, “Remember Me” turns one of America’s worst moments into a poorly timed twist ending that no one asked for.
#4: “Splice” (2009)
Strange, twisted, and often great, “Splice” sees a pair of scientists fusing human and animal DNA to create a female hybrid called Dren. As Elsa’s own DNA is used, the engineer is basically Dren’s mother; meanwhile, the other scientist begins to sleep with the hybrid creature. Following a thoughtful exploration of this unorthodox love triangle, “Splice” forgoes atmosphere in favor of a purely insane climax. After becoming male, Dren forcibly impregnates Elsa, who opts to keep the baby for money. Anything interesting “Splice”says about genetic engineering is overshadowed by the overly grotesque third act.
#3: “High Tension” (2003)
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Starting out as a relatively grounded slasher film about Marie, a teenager desperate to protect her friend from a deranged serial killer, “High Tension” ultimately exposes the protagonist as a psychopath suffering from dissociative identity disorder. Framed as Marie recounting her version of events while in a mental institute, “High Tension” asks audiences to believe all these violent murders were committed by a petite teenager rather than a brawny guy. Even if the ending’s inconsistencies can be waved away as the ravings of an unreliable narrator, this does not mean logic can be thrown out of the window. Otherwise, everything prior to the twist is rendered irrelevant.
#2: “The Life of David Gale” (2003)
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Focusing on a philosophy professor sentenced to death after being wrongly convicted of murder and assault, “The Life of David Gale’s” twist ending is hardly to blame for all of the film’s problems. That being said, it definitely does not help. In an attempt to discredit capital punishment, David Gale frames himself for the murder of a close personal friend who actually took their own life, with a video of the real death surfacing after the protagonist is executed. Consequently, “The Life of David Gale” takes the criminal justice system, Kate Winslet’s investigative reporter, and audiences on a wild and profoundly ill-advised ride.
#1: “Pay It Forward” (2000)
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Seeking to make the world a better place, a young boy named Trevor creates a “Pay It Forward” system where favors are reimbursed by the benefactor helping out three other people. Despite touching upon serious themes, “Pay It Forward” is an uplifting family drama that highlights the good inside most humans, but the film cannot help delivering one final and unnecessary gut punch. Trevor shockingly dies while defending a friend from a group of mean kids; an ending so out of nowhere and blatantly manipulative, it cheapens the rest of the movie.
