# Most horrifying movie finale you have ever seen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [June 27, 2023, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155 "2023-06-27T03:18:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/21 "2023-06-27T08:49:48Z")
Kent State. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/22 "2023-06-27T09:31:02Z")
I’d say “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover”. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/23 "2023-06-27T09:36:27Z")
Yea, The Mist was the first thing to come to my mind, too. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/24 "2023-06-27T10:11:31Z")
_A Nightmare on Elm Street_. Nancy defeats Freddy, who has killed all her friends and her mother, by telling him he has no power over her, and he ain’t shit. He disappears. She’s back with her friends, and the whole thing was a nightmare and never really happened… or _did it?_ Suddenly her mother is pulled through the glass of her door, and her car speeds away with Nancy and her friends inside… ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/25 "2023-06-27T10:20:29Z")
**Mulholland Drive**. Once you start to piece together the story and rewatch the film, Naomi Watts’ portrayal of her real-life character is creepy beyond words. And, of course, there’s that horrifying cadaver in the bungalow. All kinds of unspeakable horror in that film. One of the last times I revisited it, I thought I’d be laughing at the job-interview scene. I was at first, because it _is_ really weird, but by the time they’d left the diner and were approaching the area behind it, the undercurrent of horror welled up again. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/26 "2023-06-27T11:10:20Z")
I can’t believe I was ninja’ed on The Last American Virgin. 40 years since I’ve seen it and that’s the first thing I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/27 "2023-06-27T11:44:22Z")
**Very Bad Things** ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/28 "2023-06-27T11:56:03Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > I’d say “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover”. But that wasn’t so much “the ending” as it was, “the entire second half of the movie”. I will say, though, they did actually give you a fair warning that you should leave. The main character doesn’t actually speak for quite some time at the beginning of the movie, and then, when he finally starts to speak, tells a story about a movie where the main character does the same thing, and comments that he lost all interest in the film and walked out. When he tells you to walk out, you should. My contribution is “Arlington Road”. A classic paranoid thriller set in the period of mid-90s “militia” groups plotting the overthrow of the US government. The protagonist, after spending the whole movie piecing together the villains’ plan, thinks that he’s won, and is about to stop a terrorist attack, only to discover that he was a part of their plan all along, as the patsy. He realizes this at literally the last second as he sees the bomb in his car just as it is about to detonate. The villains essentially drive off into the sunset, free and clear to do it all over again at their next target. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/29 "2023-06-27T11:56:28Z")
I know it has been mocked and ridiculed to death by this point but the ending of _Soylent Green_ is pretty horrific. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/30 "2023-06-27T12:00:36Z")
Lost in the humor of the film the ending of _Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb_ is pretty horrifying as well. The doomsday device is triggered -which will result in nuclear fallout engulfing the Earth for 93 years, rendering the Earth’s surface uninhabitable. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/31 "2023-06-27T12:16:21Z")
“Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry” has an ending that certainly slaps you in the face, same for “Bonnie and Clyde”. Both of those films I watched aged around 11 and I found them very disturbing at the time in their bleak and violent nature. Wasn’t something I’d much experienced up to that point. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/32 "2023-06-27T12:24:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > For me, it was _The Mist_, even more so having first read the story. Yes, this is what I immediately thought of as well, also because I had read the story and was well familiar with the Stephen King ending. King himself has said the movie version is a better ending than his. > **[How Stephen King Feels About The Mist's Wild Movie Ending](https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1700429/how-stephen-king-feels-about-the-mists-wild-movie-ending)** > > Frank Darabont's The Mist has a very different ending than the original Stephen King novella. Now, the author explains what he really thinks of the changes in the 2007 big screen adaptation. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/33 "2023-06-27T12:31:00Z")
AI. David is willing to destroy his mother’s soul, just to spend one more day with her. And this is a world that’s now populated entirely by robots based on David’s programming. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/34 "2023-06-27T14:20:38Z")
“WHAT’S IN THE BOX???” Se7en ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/35 "2023-06-27T14:24:00Z")
I’ve always found the ending of **An American Werewolf in London** to be a bummer. The tone throughout the horror-comedy seems to suggest that there might be a “way out” for the protagonist. The ending is quick, and made significantly more emotional by the abrupt cut to _Blue Moon_. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/36 "2023-06-27T14:37:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > For me, it was _The Mist_, even more so having first read the story. This is mine, as well. Shocking and heartbreaking. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/37 "2023-06-27T14:37:36Z")
I went to see _The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc_ with a friend many years ago. She thought the ending was like this - because she’d never heard the story of Joan of Arc. Caught her completely unawares. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/38 "2023-06-27T14:43:14Z")
[_Johnny Got His Gun_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun_(film)) (1971). > Joe Bonham (Bottoms), a young American soldier during [World War I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I), awakens in a hospital bed after being hit by an [artillery shell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artillery_shell). He has lost his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and limbs, but remains conscious and able to reason, rendering him a [prisoner in his own body](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locked-in_syndrome). As he drifts between reality and fantasy, he remembers his old life with his family and his girlfriend Kareen ([Kathy Fields](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Fields)). He also forms a bond of sorts with a young nurse ([Diane Varsi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Varsi)) who senses his plight. The rest of the plot and the ending are spoilered, in case someone hasn’t seen it. Eventually, Joe tries to communicate with his doctors by banging his head against his pillow in [Morse code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code), spelling out “help”. He requests for the [Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army) to put him in a glass coffin in a [freak show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freak_show) as a demonstration of the horrors of war. When told that this is against regulations, he responds by repeatedly begging to be [euthanized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia). He ultimately realizes that the Army cannot grant either wish, and will leave him in a state of living death. His sympathetic nurse attempts to euthanize him by clamping his [breathing tube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracheostomy), but her supervisor stops her before Joe can succumb. Joe realizes that he will be forced to live out the rest of his natural life in his state of entrapment and is left alone, weakly chanting, “[S.O.S.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS) Help me.” ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/39 "2023-06-27T14:48:06Z")
In addition to several already mentioned, I’d nominate the original _Night of the Living Dead_. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155/40 "2023-06-27T14:54:41Z")
[Frances](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_(film)) (1982). The story of the actress Frances Farmer. The last scene is her meeting her only true friend in the street, late at night. As he talks to her, you (and he) realize: After the “treatment” she’s undergone, she’s gone. She’ walking and talking, but there’s no trace of the person she was. The person her friend knew is dead. By the way, Jessica Lange is brilliant in this role. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-horrifying-movie-finale-you-have-ever-seen/986155.md?page=3)