Fans of horror movies are enjoying the fourth season of Stranger Things, which has taken some themes from classic films like A Nightmare on Elm Street. These kinds of callbacks in modern shows and movies fill horror fans with nostalgia. It can remind them of their first encounters with slashers like Freddy Krueger who always come back to life in the final moments of the movie.
There are a number of horror movies that have become unforgettable due to their shocking ending. Whether it’s because of a surprising twist ending or the stunning return of the presumed dead killer. These horror movies continue to stand the test of time thanks to their fantastic endings that dropped more than a few jaws to the floor.
10 Night Of The Living Dead Shocked Viewers With An All Too Real Ending
George A. Romero became the grandfather of zombies with his iconic 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. The black-and-white indie movie was filmed on a limited budget with a small cast, but it has become an important film in horror history. It not only introduced the modern rules for zombies that are still followed today, but it tackled important and still relevant social issues.
The movie followed a small group of people stuck in a farmhouse dealing with some of the scariest movie zombies. Their struggle to survive explored racial issues in a changing American landscape. Fans were shocked by the depressingly accurate ending that saw their struggle all for naught. The militia that moved in carelessly shot the last survivor while they cleared out zombies.
9 Carrie’s Shocking Jumpscare Ending Teased An Attack From Beyond The Grave
One of Stephen King's adaptations that didn't need a reboot was 1976's Carrie. The hit adaptation followed the titular high school girl as she began to develop powerful telekinetic abilities. After dealing with the paranoid delusions of her overly religious mother and the harsh bullies at school, Carrie finally snapped.
Carrie’s telekinetic destruction of her school’s prom took the lives of her classmates who tormented her. She also killed her mother and herself when she destroyed her home. Carrie stuck back with a final jumpscare for viewers in the final moments of the film. The lone survivor of the prom massacre experienced a nightmare at Carrie’s grave when her arm burst up from the ground.
8 Friday The 13th Kept The Fear Rolling With The Iconic Horror Dream Ending
The nightmare ending from Carrie would become a lasting trope in the horror genre. It would later be perfected by movies like Friday the 13th. After surviving the first massacre at Camp Crystal Lake and killing Pamela Voorhees, camp counselor Alice escaped to the lake. She fell asleep inside a canoe while waiting for daylight.
Viewers were shocked in the final moments to see the rotting corpse of the young Jason Voorhees rise out of the lake to attack Alice and drag her down into the depths with him. Alice then awoke in the hospital bed, leaving fans to wonder until the second film if that appearance of Jason really happened or not.
7 Saw Terrified Viewers With A Dark Twist That Built The Legacy Of Jigsaw
2004’s Saw launched a gruesome fan-favorite franchise about a killer named Jigsaw. He kidnapped his victims and forced them to face their darkest truths in order to survive his deadly traps. The first movie built up the mystery of the killer as two men were locked in a room with a dead body. They were forced to uncover secrets about each other and themselves in order to escape.
The climactic ending of the movie left fans horrified and surprised. The dead body that had remained in the center of the locked room all day began to move. Jigsaw had been in the room the entire time. This only served to further hype the new breed of horror movie villain that inspired the successful franchise.
6 The Thing’s Frustratingly Ambiguous Ending Has Left Fans Debating For Years
John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi horror The Thing may not have initially hit big with fans on its theatrical release. However, it has become a beloved favorite in the genre. The Thing’s elevated status with fans is due to the sci-fi movie's incredible practical special effects to bring the shapeshifting alien invader to terrifying life.
However, The Thing also kept fans talking long after the credits rolled due to the ambiguous ending. Only two men are left alive in the remote Arctic outpost, and no one knows if the other is the alien hiding in human form. It’s a question that has plagued movie fans for years which has made the ambiguous ending one of the best in horror movie history.
5 The Shining’s Final Shot Furthered The Mystery Of The Stephen King Adaptation
Legendary director Stanley Kubrick went to extreme measures when it came to getting the performance he desired out of his cast for the 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s surprisingly poorly-reviewed The Shining. While his treatment of the actors was questionable, the end result produced a powerful atmospheric horror that has won over new fans of each generation.
Jack Torrance and his family are threatened by the evil energy of the hotel they are caretaking for the winter. The movie played with the Overlook Hotel’s relationship with the people it managed to possess. The final shot of The Shining focused on a picture from the Overlook’s past that now featured Jack Torrance. This left fans wondering if he was trapped or if he had always been there.
4 Funny Games Tormented Viewers With A Hopeless Look At Their Love Of Horror
Fans of horror movies have become increasingly harder to shock and surprise over the years, thanks to frequent twist endings and seemingly unpredictable killer reveals. Writer/Director Michael Haneke played on society’s love of horror movies and the use of truly awful violence for entertainment with his twisted but incredible 1997 horror Funny Games.
The movie followed a home invasion by a pair of bored young men who brutalize a family and play with the rules of movie reality. The dark ending offers little resolution as the pair simply move on to the next house to do it all over again. Haneke remade the film as Funny Games US for American audiences in 2007, which tormented the audience with another hopeless ending.
3 The Sixth Sense’s Memorable Twist Ending Launched M. Night Shyamalan’s Career
Director M. Night Shyamalan broke into the scene with 1999’s The Sixth Sense, which starred Bruce Willis as a child psychologist. His latest patient is a young boy dealing with the trauma of being able to see nightmarish ghosts. Willis’ character does his best to help his young patient deal with his supernatural ability while also learning a dark truth about himself.
One of Shyamalan's best twist endings shocked fans with the final revelation of The Sixth Sense. The child psychologist was revealed to have been killed during a violent altercation with a former patient a year earlier. He was a ghost himself, and his young patient was helping him come to that realization just as much as he was helping the child.
2 The Final Shot Of Norman Bates In The Original Psycho Left A Mark On Cinema
Alfred Hitchock’s bizarre but incredibly well-acted 1960 hit Psycho introduced fans to the character of Norman Bates, played originally by Anthony Perkins. Bates runs a roadside motel and has an interest in taxidermy, though he also has an unusual relationship with his mother that drove him to murder.
After the unforgettable murder of Marion Crane in the shower teased a female killer, all signs pointed to Bates’ mother. However, the movie’s twist revealed that Bates’ mother was a mummified corpse, and he dressed up in her clothes to kill. The final shot of the movie slowly zoomed in on Bates as his mother’s persona took over, and he delivered a final terrifying smile.
1 The Mist Features One Of Horror’s Most Shocking And Gut-Wrenching Twists
While The Mist was another adaptation of a Stephen King story, the unforgettable ending of the movie was unique and created by director Frank Darabont. The Mist followed a father and his son as they find themselves trapped in a supermarket while thick mists filled with supernatural monsters covered the town.
When religious chaos overtook the supermarket, they managed to escape along with a few other people. Yet when the gas ran out and all hope was lost, they chose to end their lives. Only the father was left when the gun jammed. The ending then saw the mists clear as the military rolled in to save the day. His final anguished scream rang in viewers' ears long after the movie ended.