The entertainment industry continues to grow more rabid and competitive as different forms of media compete for the audience’s attention, which has given movies and the film industry an extra level of power. Cinematic experiences can often affect audiences in a more substantial way than disposable television, with the horror genre particularly successful at getting under an audience’s collective skin.
The experience of getting frightened is hard to top and some horror movies are especially grueling when it comes to a depressing ending that reinforces nihilistic themes. There are lots of modern horror movies where good triumphs over evil, but darkness reigning supreme can often leave a greater impact.
10 Hereditary Is An Emotional Assault From Start To Finish
Ari Aster is quickly making a name for himself as one of the most bleak and provocative directors who’s currently working in the horror genre. Hereditary, Aster’s debut feature film, is a horror story about possession and manipulative pagan cults, but it’s able to hit as hard as it does because of the raw, fearless performances from its cast, particularly Toni Collette. Hereditary is an exercise in creeping dread, which only becomes more oppressive until the film’s final act, where everything gets swallowed up by darkness. The whole movie is depressing, but the end pulls no punches.
9 Halloween Kills Allows Its Boogeyman To Get The Last Laugh
David Gordon Green’s 2018 legacy sequel to John Carpenter’s slasher classic, Halloween, got the franchise back on track with its return to not only Michael Myers, but also Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode. The success of the project has led to two sequels, and the middle installment, Halloween Kills, is a blood endeavor. Halloween Kills pits all of Haddonfield against The Shape, yet the cold-blooded killer remains victorious. It’s very possible that the concluding chapter, Halloween Ends, will go out with a happy finish, but the coda for Halloween Kills depicts the heroes at their most helpless.
8 Sinister’s Malevolent Children Cultivate A Creepy Conclusion
Blumhouse has become the new leading name in horror and they’re responsible for countless classics from the past two decades. Blumhouse has been able to successfully launch a number of horror franchises, with Sinister being one of their more promising early efforts.
Sinister is full of highly disturbing imagery in the form of Super 8 home movies that depict children murdering their families. Sinister slightly loses its way when it heads into the supernatural, but it at least doesn’t shy away from a powerful conclusion. Bughuul succeeds in his evil plan and it comes as a serious shock.
7 Drag Me To Hell Carries Out Its Bleak Promise To The Audience
Sam Raimi has had an incredibly eclectic career as a filmmaker, but the director’s roots go back to schlocky horror films. Raimi has gone on to helm huge blockbusters, but Drag Me to Hell brings him back to his horror origins with a very effective riff on curses, revenge, and demonic entities. Raimi embraces B-movie impulses for Drag Me to Hell, but it works in the film’s favor. There’s an engaging story ar play, but Drag Me to Hell transcends to another level due to its grim conclusion. Alison Lohman’s Christine Brown learns that some hellish curses just can’t be conquered.
6 Suspiria Descends Into Madness And Can’t Pull Itself Out
Dario Argento's original Suspiria is a revered horror classic, which caused Luca Guadagnino's 2018 remake to face early skepticism, but the end result is a bewildering horror experience that truly takes over the audience. Guadagnino's reinterpretation of Suspiria is full of brutal, bone-breaking imagery, but its blood-soaked conclusion is easily the movie’s centerpiece. Dakota Johnson's Susie ascends into Mother Suspiriorum, which results in a literal bloodbath of those who challenge her power. It's possible to interpret Susie's transformation as empowering and uplifting, but it's a turn that's steeped in darkness.
5 Paranormal Activity 4 Allows The Darkness To Win
The Paranormal Activity franchise has recently come back to life with Next of Kin, the seventh entry in the series, which distances itself from the increasingly convoluted mythology of the original movies. The Paranormal Activity series are incredibly influential for their use of found footage storytelling, but they’re also respected for how nearly every entry in the franchise goes out with a downer ending where darkness reigns.
Most Paranormal Activity movies would fit here, but the conclusion in Paranormal Activity 4 hits especially hard and leaves zero hope for survival.
4 Us Presents A Chilling Vision Of A Fractured Future
Jordan Peele has made huge waves in the horror genre and while Get Out often gets more attention than his follow-up film, Us, the latter is the more disturbing of the two stories. The idea of vengeful doppelgangers entering the world to reclaim what they believe is theirs is absolutely chilling. The conclusion to Us is so powerful because it allows the audience to fill in the blanks over what happens next. Us exits on a depressing note that paints the future as a time where everyone’s doubles will get their chance to thrive above ground.
3 Final Destination 5 Proves That Death Cannot Be Escaped
The Final Destination franchise is surprisingly consistent and there’s an intricate mythology established throughout the five movie franchise. The central premise involves death trying to rebalance the scales after a group of people seemingly escape their untimely fates. This results in most of the movies ending in a bleak manner where death succeeds and proves that it can’t be outrun. Final Destination 5 has an especially morose conclusion since it first teases the possibility of happiness, only to brilliantly tie its conclusion together with the plane crash catalyst from the first movie.
2 Spiral: From The Book Of Saw Leaves Its Do Gooders In Doubt
The Saw franchise is one of the biggest modern horror phenomena. Saw builds a surprisingly deep continuity across nine movies, yet they frequently end with a series of twists that result in doom for the heroes, much like in the very first film. Spiral: From the Book of Saw, attempts to do some new things with the horror property, but it’s faithful to the series’ roots when it comes to the ending. The clever killer once again gains the upper hand and goes on to continue his morbid style of retribution.
1 The Cabin In The Woods Turns To A World In Ruins After Its Genre Extravaganza
The Cabin in the Woods is the extremely rare “lightning in a bottle” horror movie that’s a smart and passionate love letter to the genre. Cabin in the Woods routinely subverts expectations with its deconstruction of the contrived scenarios that fuel horror movies. There’s so much fun to be had with the endless supernatural obstacles that get released and the movie bravely embraces an ending of utter doom. There’s a level of acceptance that’s reached at the end of Cabin in the Woods, but it leaves the world in ruins and beyond saving.