I watched a movie yesterday that was pretty good throughout and held my interest, but then the ending was just a huge downer. I’ve seen movies with unhappy endings before, but this was just… hard to explain why I found it so offensive. It’s like the tension was building the entire time between the protagonists and these people they met, which were gradually revealed to be creepier and creepier, and then when all was revealed near the end, the antagonists just did exactly what they planned and killed off the protagonists, and that was the end! No twist or even a glimmer of hope that it was going to go any other way. I mean, I guess there was a glimmer as they were trying to drive off to safety, but that ended very badly in a ditch on the side of the road.
That’s a horror movie, right? It’s not uncommon for horror movies (or novels) to end with the protagonist(s) dying, or everybody dying, or the end of the world, or something dark like that.
Yeah but typically that is done after some hope or some victory by the protagonist. Like you think they’ve defeated the monster but NO it jumps out and kills them at the very end or something. This was just like if they were running from the monster the whole movie and then the ending was it caught and ate them. Roll credits.
Spellbinder and The Wicker Man both fall into this category for me. Protagonist tries to save the girl, who turns out to be a villain in the end. All his efforts only led him deeper into the trap. He gets killed. The End. Blech!
But tragedy is a very specific sort of ending. It’s not “suddenly, everyone got run over by a truck.” That’s a futile ending. I’ve also seen it referred to at as “truck ending.” City of Angels is a literal example.
A tragic ending is when the person dies in the end due to their own flaws and actions. Othello, for instance, dies because of his own jealousy. More recently, in Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring, Caesar destroys himself in his desire to have a son to take over his lands. White Heat has Cagney trying to get to the top of the world. McTeague/Greed has people destroying themselves by greed.
What about movies that aren’t horror and have bummer endings?
Ten Little Indians they all die in the book, leaving no clue to others what happened; the movie had a happy ending.
The Coca Cola Kid The film ends with this text: “A week later . . . while cherries blossomed in Japan the next World War began.” And in 1985, that pretty much meant nukular war. We all die. Yeah?
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry(1974), in which the three protagonists spend the movie being pursued by law enforcement, figure out a way to finally outwit said law enforcement via a convoluted chase scene, get away scot free, and
Summary
get hit by a freight train in the last scene of the movie.
I was going to ask which version but the 1965, 1974 and 1989 versions all changed (and ruined IMHO) the ending from the book, as does the 1945 version (under the title And Then There Were None). I recommend the 2015 BBC miniseries which expands the character backstories but doesn’t change the plot.
That said, given what those backstories are, I’m not sure the book ending constitutes a “bummer”.
The Mist had a pretty brutal ending. The protagonists make it to a car and drive away but run out of gas in the middle of nowhere before they can reach help. With four of them in the car and only three bullets, and hearing things approaching, the main protagonist shoots his three companions, including his own child, then waits for the monsters to come for him, but instead the military emerges from the mist. They had been driving away from help the whole time. The end.
But at least that’s an interesting twist! (referring to The Mist ending) – what if as they were driving away, one of the giant monsters simply crushed their car into pulp. The End. That would have been the kind of pointless downer I am talking about.
That’s due to the classic Flaw of the Imperiled Victim, who injures or renders unconscious the Evil Protagonist, but instead of administering the coup de grâce, runs off in a panic, allowing the EP to revive and renew the pursuit.
Folk Horror? I haven’t seen the film so I don’t know if it qualifies as actual Folk Horror.
Films that also conclude similarly are On the Beach, The Rapture, …its not ‘a 70’s ending’ cause those usually make you think the good guy will win and then pull the rug.
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry and Run From the Devil are 70’s endings. Same with Electra Glide in Blue.
So its an ending where you keep waiting for the good guys to win annnnnd…nope. Roll credits, pull jaw off floor.
Agatha Christie adapted her own novel as a stage play, with a happier ending. So I don’t think it’s necessary for screen versions to have the same ending as the book.