Horror is a storytelling genre that’s able to terrify audiences, provoke imaginations, and carefully hold up a mirror to society. Horror has the versatility to tell a wide range of stories that can explore broader slasher antics, giant creature features, or more psychological fears that come from within.
A frightening villain, compelling characters, and smart storytelling are essential ingredients in horror, but there’s also a tremendous amount of stock that’s put in a movie’s ending. Some horror movies allow their heroes to triumphantly ride out in the sunset. However, plenty of horror films love to punish their characters and conclude on the darkest note possible.
10 The Mist Pushes Its Desperate Characters Past The Brink
Release Date: November 21, 2007
Stephen King adaptations have become commonplace, but Frank Darabont has consistently proven himself to be one of the most capable filmmakers to helm King's works. The Mist embraces the terrors of the unknown as a mysterious fog consumes a sleepy town and pushes its residents to hide out in a grocery store to avoid the supernatural creatures that reside within the mist.
The ending for The Mist movie diverges from King's original novella, but the author actually prefers Darabont's nihilistic finale. Thomas Jane's protagonist commits a traumatic act of mercy to save his son from a more horrific fate, only to ultimately learn that this sacrifice was unnecessary.
9 Sinister Presents Horror In Unexpected Places That Can’t Be Overcome
Release Date: October 12, 2012
Scott Derrickson’s Sinister helped put the visionary director on the map long before he’d go on to helm Marvel’s first Dr. Strange feature film. Ethan Hawke, a frequent collaborator with Derrickson, stars as Ellison Oswald, a conflicted true-crime writer who becomes progressively obsessed over a series of snuff films that he discovers in his new home.
These disturbing "home movies" are Sinister's secret weapon, but the film's final act dips its toe into more supernatural territory through the reveal of the demon Bughuul. Ellison's discoveries over these family slayings are horrific, but he too becomes another victim of this demon's abilities.
8 Martyrs Is A Torturous Treaty On Pain & Enlightenment
Release Date: September 3, 2008
The 2000s marked an exciting time for intense French horror movies, often referred to as New French Extremity. Pascal Laugier's Martyrs is one of the heightened genre's most torturous experiences. Two grown women, who were abused as children, attempt to get revenge on the callous captors and mysterious organization that kept them hostage.
There's a cathartic release as these pained women reclaim their power, but they once again find themselves at the receiving end of abuse. Finally, it's revealed that this organization's graphic torture is all a process that's intended to achieve enlightenment. Martyrs goes out on a bloody finish where no one receives fulfillment.
7 The Vanishing Allows Evil To Reign In Its Nihilistic Depiction Of The World
Release Date: October 27, 1988
1988's The Vanishing is a Dutch thriller that's one of the most brutal and hopeless depictions of a kidnapping. Rex and Saskia stop at a rest stop only for Saskia to never return to the car. Years pass and Rex is still obsessed with finding Saskia or at least the truth behind her disappearance. Rex's pursuit is juxtaposed with Raymond, Saskia's kidnapper, as he practices his crimes.
Rex finally meets Raymond, but the experience doesn't give him any closure. Rex becomes another one of Raymond's victims and this monster gets to go on living with his family as if everything is normal. It's a melancholic ending where darkness triumphs.
6 [REC]’s Ruthless Protagonist Can’t Escape The Many Undead Dangers
Release Date: October 17, 2008
![Angela gets dragged away at the end of [REC]](https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/rec-angela-ending.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5)
[REC] is a Spanish horror movie that reinvents both the found-footage and zombie genres through its claustrophobic portrayal of an apartment complex that’s in the throes of infection. A local reporter struggles to survive and escape her new prison, but the movie's haunting ending indicates that Angela perishes and that the growing zombie epidemic is only going to worsen.
Admittedly, the fourth and final installment in the [REC] franchise, [REC] 4: Apocalypse, does reveal that Angela survived the events of the first movie. However, Angela's lot in life isn't any easier in Apocalypse, nor does it detract from the original [REC]'s gut-punch of a conclusion.
5 The Wicker Man Embraces Hopelessness As A Humble Hero Becomes A Sacrifice
Release Date: December 6, 1973
1973's The Wicker Man has become a prototypical folk horror film that's a clear influence on modern movies about cults, like Midsommar. Sergeant Howie arrives on the isolated Scottish island of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a child. Howie's pursuit exposes him to the island's pagan population, where his "outsider" ways become increasingly apparent.
Arguably, The Wicker Man's most famous scene comes from the horror movie's downer ending where Sergeant Howie doesn't just become Lord Summerisle's latest ritual sacrifice, but he perishes in a particularly painful fashion. 2006's Wicker Man remake is an inferior film, but this brutal finale brought to life by Nicolas Cage is still incredibly powerful.
4 Paranormal Activity Allows Its Demonic Forces To Get The Win
Release Date: September 25, 2009
Paranormal Activity was a reliable found-footage franchise during the late 2000s and 2010s. A complex narrative is crafted across the non-linear franchise, which ultimately comes down to a coven of Midwives who want to give a demon corporeal form and possess an army of children.
The original Paranormal Activity takes a minimalist approach to its poltergeist premise, but one of the reasons that it hits as hard as it does is because of its ending. Katie, fully possessed by this demonic entity, murders her partner, Micah, and disappears, leaving her final fate unknown. The subsequent films fill in these gaps, but they don't point toward a happy ending for Katie.
3 The Descent Teases Freedom Only To Snatch It Away
Release Date: August 4, 2006
The Descent follows six female friends who go on a spelunking expedition in a cave to help heal old wounds. The women learn that they're not alone and they become prey for a cannibalistic subterranean creature. These friends suffer losses while they search for an escape and only one of them, Sarah, appears to make it out alive.
This traumatic escape is revealed to be a hallucination, and Sarah is eventually overtaken. The Descent Part 2 chooses to ignore this ultra-bleak ending so that Sarah is still alive for the sequel, but even there, she's put through depressing trials and more pain that's hard to view as a satisfying existence.
2 The Thing Creates Endless Doubt & Paranoia That’s Its Own Death Sentence
Release Date: June 25, 1982
John Carpenter is an iconic filmmaker who truly had an impressive run of movies during the 1980s. Carpenter's The Thing is praised as a triumph of practical effects and one of the strongest sci-fi/horror hybrids, which makes the movie's maligned reception during its initial release truly hard to believe.
A shape-shifting extraterrestrial causes dissent among a small team of researchers who are stuck in a tiny cabin in the Antarctic wilderness. The Thing's ending is open to interpretation, but the idea that the two remaining researchers will never be able to trust the other and are locked in this depressing stalemate is incredibly effective.
1 Drag Me To Hell Delivers On Its Title’s Promise
Release Date: May 29, 2009
Sam Raimi has had an enviable career as both a groundbreaking name in horror as well as a foundational voice in superhero cinema. 2009’s Drag Me to Hell brings Raimi back to his gory horror roots, and the pulpy genre film doesn’t hold back, despite its PG-13 rating.
Alison Lohman’s Christine spends the bulk of Drag Me to Hell trying to cancel out a fatal curse that’s been placed on her courtesy of an old woman who she’s wronged. Christine does everything in her power to save her soul, and it looks like she succeeds, only for the film’s abrupt finale to prove that some curses can’t be broken.