Whenever a movie introduces an outlandish premise or a plot device, the expectation is that the characters and story would eventually make sense of these mysteries. This isn't the case for some films, which introduced intriguing ideas and then left them unexplained. Surprisingly, fans loved these movies even more for doing so.
These unsolved mysteries weren't plot holes that ruined the movie. They were just baffling details or occurrences that were never explained after they called a lot of attention to themselves. It could even be argued that these mysteries' lack of answers enhanced their movies, since they made rewatches and the ensuing discussions more fun.
10 What Was Up With The Watermelon?
The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension
One of the ways that The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension parodied the old-school superhero serials was to add nods to previous adventures that never happened. Case in point, when New Jersey asked why there was a watermelon stuck in a contraption, Reno casually told him he'd explain it later.
Buckaroo Banzai never got around to the watermelon's backstory, and its purpose remained a mystery for decades. The movie's cast and crew gave different explanations, and they all contradicted each other. Fans loved the watermelon because it was a silly yet clever way to make Buckaroo Banzai's world feel more lived-in.
9 How Did The Three Seashells Work?
Demolition Man
Demolition Man's satirically puritanical future is a favorite among sci-fi fans. The one bit of world-building fans really loved was the three seashells that apparently replaced toilet paper. John Spartan was ridiculed after he asked about the three seashells. Meanwhile, fans still bring up the seashells' mystery.
In hindsight, the three seashells were one of the few Demolition Man jokes that actually aged well. At best, Demolition Man's jokes were reactionary jabs aimed at whatever was "politically correct" in the early '90s. Meanwhile, the three seashells were so absurd and random that they were impossible to forget.
8 What Really Happened During The Missing Reel?
Planet Terror
The severely underrated Planet Terror was a near-perfect recreation of watching a schlocky movie in a grindhouse theater during the '70s. The cherry on top was the film reel "burning up" in the middle of a love scene. For added hilarity, Planet Terror got back on track only after the second act's most important parts were burned.
Some of the missing scenes included the zombies breaching The Bone Shack's defenses and El Wray revealing his mysterious past and ties to Lt. Muldoon to the other characters, not the audience. Fans still want to know what exactly happened, but they were so in tune with Planet Terror's sense of humor that they didn't mind the missing reel.
7 What Caused The Time Loop?
Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day's title is now synonymous with the premise of a single day repeating forever, but the movie actually never gave a reason behind the phenomenon. Some of screenwriter Danny Rubin's scrapped causes included Phil Connors' bitter ex-lover casting a hex on him, and a scientist losing control of their time machine.
Groundhog Day eschewed every chance it had to explain its central mystery. This was a good thing, as audiences weren't distracted from Phil's character development. Groundhog Day was copied many times, but its imitators unwisely spent too much time justifying their time loops instead of focusing on the human element.
6 What Caused The Zombie Apocalypse?
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Night of the Living Dead single-handedly created the zombie subgenre, and it codified almost all of its tropes. One of the mainstays it established was the zombie apocalypse's lack of an origin. The closest to an explanation the characters and viewers got was scientists guessing that a space probe's radiation reanimated the recently deceased.
Whatever created Night of the Living Dead's zombies was irrelevant, since the movie was more interested in the survivors' crumbling humanity and civilization's farce. The zombies' lack of a cause or motive only made Night of the Living Dead - and all zombie stories, by extension - more nihilistic, and fans loved this bleakness.
5 What Was At The Top Of The Pagoda?
Game Of Death (1972)
In Game of Death's original form, Hai Tien (Bruce Lee) was forced to fight his way to the top of a pagoda and retrieve a mysterious item being guarded by martial arts masters. After defeating the fifth master, Hai Tien left the pagoda empty-handed. Because Lee died before finishing Game of Death, nobody knew what he was trying to get.
None of Game of Death's original filmmakers or leftover materials revealed what was in the pagoda. What's more, Game of Death's 1978 version rewrote the movie and repurposed the pagoda fights into a restaurant's interior. Lee's fans didn't pay attention to the pagoda's prize because they prioritized his amazing fights.
4 What Happened To The Joker?
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises wrapped up everything in The Dark Knight trilogy, except for anything to do with The Joker. Despite his reign of terror in The Dark Knight and how much he affected Batman and Commissioner Gordon, The Joker was treated like he never existed. This was because he was written out after his actor, Heath Ledger, died.
The Joker's unexplained absence was understandable. It was still hard to ignore the fact The Joker was unceremoniously erased even when part of The Dark Knight Rises explicitly dealt with The Dark Knight's fallout. Fans didn't mind this out of respect for Ledger, and because The Dark Knight trilogy's imperfect finale was still good.
3 Who Was Sophie's Real Father?
Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia's! crux rested on Sophie's desire to know who her father was. When Sophie's mother, Donna, was younger, she had brief but passionate affairs with Bill, Harry, and Sam at roughly the same time. Sophie invited the men to her wedding but instead of choosing just one, she decided that having three dads wasn't such a bad idea.
Mamma Mia! never gave clues to the identity of Sophie's father, and the sequel Here We Go Again doubled down on the mystery. Fans liked this because both Mamma Mia! musicals were fun feel-good movies that didn't need the drama. Additionally, the past being left as is aligned with the movie's themes of enjoying the moment.
2 Was Rick Deckard A Human Or A Replicant?
Blade Runner
Blade Runner owes part of its longevity to the mystery behind Deckard's nature. The watershed cyberpunk movie Blade Runner hinted that Deckard may be a Replicant, but nothing was confirmed or denied. The cast and crew had their own differing takes, and the movie fundamentally changed depending on the viewer's interpretation.
Fans loved the ambiguity because it enhanced Blade Runner's themes of how artificial life and humans had more in common than they wanted to admit. Blade Runner 2049 deliberately made the mystery even more unsolvable by positing that Deckard's real nature never mattered; his actions and choices did.
1 Who Really Killed The Samurai And Why?
Rashomon
Akira Kurosawa's murder mystery, Rashomon, is influential and often copied. However, many people forget that the movie never gave a clear answer. Rashomon presented four credible but varying accounts of the same samurai's murder, and it's left up to the audience to decide who was telling the truth or not.
Rashomon's unsolved mystery wasn't bad because it gave the movie infinite repeat value. Fans also loved how Rashomon's writing and filmmaking changed completely depending on whose recollection of events was currently being told. Rashomon was the rare mystery movie that arguably got better the less logical sense it made.