Science fiction movies are known throughout cinema for having some of the strangest, most enigmatic plots and messages. One of the best ways for a science fiction film to establish itself as a cult classic is to leave its viewers confused and wanting to know more. These endings have ranged from unique takes on the end of the world to encounters with otherworldly beings.
There are great endings, terrible endings and just weird ones. Science fiction has always pushed the boundaries of imagination and reality, so the mysterious nature of these films has always been a feature rather than a bug. Some films prove so cryptic that their true meaning remains a mystery even today, with fan theories raging over the nature of these stories and their endings.
10 Event Horizon
Event Horizon is loved for its intense cosmic horror and non-stop weirdness. It's no surprise that its ending would be every bit as odd and horrific. The film followed a team of soldiers and scientists sent to investigate the lost space ship Event Horizon when it emerged from a long disappearance.
When the team boarded the ship, they were immediately confronted with strange happenings. They realized that the ship itself was possessed by a hellish dimension it had explored. The scientist on the ship, Weir, was himself possessed, and fought the other characters in an attempt to return to the dimension.
9 Mission To Mars
Mission to Mars is one of the most underrated science fiction films, as well as one of Brian DePalma's best. It follows a team of astronauts who head to Mars on a rescue mission when the crew of the last voyage went missing. Their perilous journey culminated with a seemingly sentient storm on the planet.
When the characters passed through, they discovered an ancient alien structure, with a functioning facility inside. They were then greeted by a hologram of an alien of the ancient Martian civilization, who showed them that Earth was seeded by them before traveling away.
8 Arrival
Dennis Villeneuve's Arrival is one of the director's strangest films and a true standout in the science fiction genre. It follows the arrival of mysterious alien ships to Earth and humanity's subsequent attempt to make contact, led by a mathematician and a linguist.
Throughout the film, the main character, Louise, has dreams and flashbacks of a life viewers assume took place before the arrival. However, the end reveals that the aliens don't perceive time as linear and they imparted the ability to Louise — who was having memories of her future.
7 Soylent Green
Famously one of the most shocking endings in the history of cinema, Soylent Green follows a dystopian society under the thumb of corporations. The people of the future depend on a bland food, Soylent Green, for survival. One good cop stumbles upon a disturbing truth.
For its time, Soylent Green had one of the most unexpected and horrific endings, with the revelation that the food people had been eating was made from people. For its time, the ending made cultural waves in science fiction and remains a reference for disturbing revelations and dystopianism.
6 Existenz
Existenz was one of many films that explored the theme of artificial reality and futuristic gaming in the early 2000s. It follows two characters, Ted and Allegra, as they play through a chaotic world constructed by the game. The entire film makes viewers question how much is real.
When the game seemingly ends, Allegra and Ted reveal themselves to be zealots bent on destroying artificial reality and kill the game's true creator. Existenz ends on the tease that, rather than leaving the game, the characters might just be in the next level, with no clues either way.
5 AI: Artificial Intelligence
AI: Artificial Intelligence was set in a future where androids with artificial intelligence were sophisticated enough to replicate humanity. After their son fell into a coma, the Swinton family adopted David, an android boy. When their son woke up, he fought with David and the family made a choice.
The Swintons abandoned David in the woods, leading him to embark on an incredible journey to find his mother. After falling to the bottom of the ocean and freezing, David was revived by advanced robots in the far future, who sought to understand their own origins through David.
4 Skyline
Skyline was an action/sci-fi movie that followed in the footsteps of films like Cloverfield in following a group of survivors as they tried to escape an alien invasion. Though it lacked Cloverfield's found footage method, it duplicated its theme of saving the best look at the aliens for the end.
Skyline ends with the abduction of its two survivors, Jarrod and Elaine. After being taken aboard the alien ship, Jarrod was killed, his brain being removed and seemingly fed to an alien. As Elaine struggled for survival, Jarrod's brain somehow took control of an alien, and he fought off the others attacking Elaine.
3 Southland Tales
Southland Tales is a strange movie from start to end, as well as having an impressively star-studded cast that included Dwayne Johnson and Justin Timberlake. It takes place in a near-future dystopia, where the United States explores alternative sources of energy.
Southland Tales ends with a unique spin on the end of the world, which sees one of its main characters ascend into the air in a truck with another version of himself. The film itself is incredibly difficult to follow the first time around, and its end-of-the-world ending doesn't help.
2 Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko is renowned in the sci-fi genre for being one of the strangest films ever made. Following the young teen, Donnie, who wakes up in the street after a plane crash, the film takes audiences on a journey of drama and confusion, being a film that definitely requires a second watch.
Donnie Darko's ending comes after the revelation that the bulk of the film's run time occurred in a tangent, collapsing universe and Donnie must save the real world. In order to do this, Donnie must move an object back to the real world, where he awakens and is subsequently killed by the object.
1 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey is iconic in pop culture for many reasons. The Stanley Kubrick sci-fi explored themes of isolation in space and the threat of artificial intelligence to humans. Set aboard a spaceship, it follows two men, Frank and Dave, and their interactions with HAL, the onboard AI computer.
The film is set to the backdrop of the mysterious discovery of a black monolith on Jupiter's moon, Titan. When HAL kills the crew and Dave is the only survivor, Dave later falls through a space anomaly, which Kubrick described as him being taken by beings of higher intelligence. This culminates in a psychedelic-feeling sequence.