Warning! Spoilers for every film listed.
More so than many other genres,horror moviesare particularly reliant on their endings to make an impression, with the best of them able to save otherwise mediocre films. Finding a good way to tie off a narrative is especially important for horror movies, which thrive off the gradual buildup of terror that comes to a climax over time.Horror movie endings can be tragic, or, in rare instances, happy, but they’re generally better the more shocking they are.
With that in mind, the famoustwist endings of M. Night Shyamalanpresentsome great contenders for horror movie endings that save their respective films. In other cases, a heightened sense of focus that comes with a finale can dial up the excitement of a scary movie without necessarily needing a complex narrative surprise. However they may accomplish it, many horror movies are quite reliant on their final moments to leave a lasting impression, being otherwise unassuming films.
10The Visit
One Of The Best Twists Ever Made By M. Night Shyamalan
The Visitwas seen by many as something of a return to form by M. Night Shymalan, who, up until the film’s 2015 release, had largely allowed his horror roots to fall by the wayside. The movie followstwo young siblings, Becca and Tyler, who arrange to visit their grandparentsfor a week away from home. Becca and Tyler aren’t very familiar with their estranged relatives, and they’re soon subjected to some terrifying behavior by their old hosts.
The Visit
Cast
From director M. Night Shyamalan, The Visit follows two siblings who are sent to stay with their estranged grandparents while their mother is out of town on vacation. Realizing that all isn’t what it seems during their stay, the siblings set out to find out what is really going on at their grandparents' home. Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould star as Becca and Tyler, with Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, and Kathryn Hahn making up the rest of the main cast.
As the chilling events of the kids' fateful stay unfold, they call their mother in a panic, only to learn that the odd couple the two had been staying with aren’t their grandparents at all. What follows is a mad bid for survival as the two imposters realize their facade is up, torturing their young captives with impunity. WhileThe Visitultimately has a happy ending, itsdisturbing twist is one of Shyamalan’s best.
9Sleepaway Camp
A Standard Slasher Made Legendary By Its Ending
As far as slasher premises go,Sleepaway Campisn’t an especially creative one. A lonely, misunderstood girl at a summer camp struggles to fit in with her peers, only to become surrounded by a series of grisly murders perpetrated by an unknown killer stalking the campgrounds.
It might be surprising to learnSleepaway Campis considered such an iconic horror movie from that logline alone, but what truly propels the film into legendary status is its shocking twist ending.
It might be surprising to learnSleepaway Campis considered such an iconic horror movie from that logline alone, butwhat truly propels the film into legendary status is its shocking twist ending.Earlier, it is mentioned that the troubled Angela’s little brother died in a tragic boating accident, one Angela herself only barely managed to survive.
Sleepaway Camp
The 1983 cult classic slasher horror Sleepaway Camp follows Angela Baker (Felissa Rose), an introverted teenage girl who’s sent to summer camp years after a traumatizing event deeply affected her. However, she is constantly bullied and abused, and everyone at Camp Arawak begins to die, one by one.
The astonishing conclusion of the film reveals thatnot only was Angela the camp’s feral murderer, but she was actually her brother, Peter, living as his sisterfollowing the tragedy, with the real Angela being the one who died. The disturbing final shot of Angela/Peter standing stark naked, screeching with a vacant expression, is one of the most iconic images in slasher movie history, making up for the so-so premise up until that point.
8The Mist
A Creature Feature That Ends On A Dour Note
As far as Stephen King movie adaptations go,The Mistis one of the better films to take one of the author’s most creative premises and run away with it. Set in a small town,The Mistdescribes a group of strangers' desperate bid to survive hold up in a grocery store aftera mysterious fog containing otherworldly monsters descends upon their town, killing all who get lost in it.
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What might’ve been a by-the-numbers creature feature is brought to new heights by its utter downer of an ending, which sets a precedent for one of the bleakest in horror movie history.Theending ofThe Mistactually changes the source material, making for a more fascinating, but far more dour note to cap the film off on.
The Mist
Stephen King’s terrifying novel is brought to the screen with The Mist - a horror-thriller film directed by Frank Darabont. When a small town suddenly sees a giant rolling fog arrive, they show mere curiosity. But when people begin to die mysteriously within, several survivors hold up in a grocery store as they attempt to find a way out and survive - unfortunately, the dangers don’t just come from outside- they also come from within.
When his vehicle runs out of gas after trying to mount an escape through the mist, protagonist David makes the decision to mercy kill his fellow survivors, including his son, rather than allow them to be ravaged by the ferocious monsters of the mist. Only moments later, David is bailed out by the military, who have mounted a response against the creatures, meaning that his hasty actions were in vain.
7Split
Carried By James McAvoy’s Unleashed Acting Skill
Another M. Night Shyamalan movie to be completely carried by its ending,Splitpresents an odd case for a horror movie. The film positsJames McAvoy as a dissociative identity disorder system who kidnaps three teen girls, imprisoning them in a secretive underground facility. The girls have to navigate the various alters of McAvoy’s character, being especially wary of the “The Beast”, a savage secret personality with an appetite for human blood.Splitis an ok horror thriller that becomes far more noteworthy for its bombastic ending.
Split
M. Night Shyamalan’s Split follows Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), a man with dissociative identity disorder, who kidnaps three teenage girls and imprisons them in an underground facility. When Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) realizes that she can play Crumb’s personalities against one another, she begins to form a plan for escape before she is sacrificed to a creature he refers to as “the Beast”.
In the film’s final moments, it’s revealed thatSplitis a stealth sequel to Shyamalan’s earlier filmUnbreakable,in which a criminal with a rare condition rendering his physical body fragile, Mr. Glass, comes into contact with David Dunn, a man with latent super strength. Dunn reappears in a cameo at the end ofSplit,connecting the two films in a shared universe that would be further explored in the sequel,Glass.Even if this idea of a Shyamalan superhero universe didn’t pan out great,Split’sunforgettable final reveal still colors it favorably in memory.
6Death Proof
Doesn’t Fire On All Cylinders Until Later
Released as part of the double featureGrindhousealongside Robert Rodriguez’sPlanet Terror, Death Proofis Tarantino’s take on a slasher movie. Rather than brandish a knife, the film’s horror villain Stuntman Mike, played by Kurt Russell, uses a “death proof” stunt car as his weapon of choice, running down hapless victims in a spree of vehicular manslaughter.
As exciting as the premise sounds,the majority of the film sadly suffers from pacing issues, with Stuntman Mike’s victims being few and far between. It’s only in the last third of the film that things truly come online with an actual exciting car chase, as Stuntman Mike relentlessly pursues his latest batch of targets.
Death Proof
Mike McKay, a Hollywood stuntman, murders young women via “stunts” he performs with his vehicles — but he makes a mistake when he targets another stunt performer.
The satisfying final sequence ends with Mike’s would-be victims turning the tables on him, chasing him down with their own car only to pull him from the wreckage for further punishment. It’s quite the supervision of expectations to see a slasher movie villain suddenly get his comeuppance, but the welcome change of pace for the genre is par for the course forTarantino’s revenge exploitation sensibilities.
5Identity
Typical Horror Tropes Saved By A Dramatic Ending
Riding the fine line between mystery thriller and straight-up horror,Identityis nothing impressive before the big reveal of its twist ending.Taking inspiration from Agatha Christie’s classic whodunitAnd Then There Were None,the movie establishes a similar premise, following ten strangers sharing an isolated hotel in remote rural Nevada. Before long, they begin being picked off one-by-one, prompting a hasty investigation for the culprit before there’s nobody left alive.
Identity
Identity is a psychological thriller directed by James Mangold. The film centers on ten strangers who are stranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a torrential rainstorm. As they seek refuge, they discover a common link and must unravel the mystery behind their newfound connection while a series of shocking murders ensue. Starring John Cusack, Ray Liotta, and Amanda Peet, Identity delves into themes of fear and survival.
Identitypulls a similar trick toSplit,relying on a villain with dissociative identity disorder to sow confusion in the cast. Along the way, the film falls prey to plenty of tropes in both horror movies and murder mysteries that don’t do it any favors, with especially foolish decisions being made by many of the characters. However, the eventualreveal that the murderer was actually the most unsuspecting victim, the young boy Timmy, is a fantastic sucker punch that more than makes up forIdentity’s previous shortcomings.
4Scanners
Goes All-Out In A Sudden Burst Of Energy At The End
One of theworks of David Cronenberg, famous for his body horror scenes,Scannersis a decidedly uneven viewing experience.The film centers around the prospect of the titular “Scanners”, people with rare psychic abilities. When a weapons manufacturer begins reaching out to various Scanners for their own nefarious purposes, a single psychic wages war against them.
Scanners
Scanners is a science fiction horror film directed by David Cronenberg. Released in 1981, the movie centers around individuals with telepathic and telekinetic abilities known as scanners. It follows a man with these abilities who is recruited to hunt down a rogue scanner leading a rebel faction. The film stars Stephen Lack, Jennifer O’Neill, and Michael Ironside, blending psychological tension with intense action sequences.
This prompts the company, ConSec, to release their own on-retainer Scanner as a response, leading to a paralyzing war for supremacy. WhileScanners' head-explosion scenes are still well-remembered, the narrative itself takes a long time to get going, with a gradual, plodding pace that takes a long time for the war between ConSec and the rebellious Revok to come to fruition.
The two engage in a deadly telepathic duel, saving the movie’s methodical pace with a brilliantly spectacular finale.
The film suddenly perks up towards the ending, however, in which it’s revealed that Revok and the protagonist, Cameron, are estranged brothers, made into the most powerful Scanners ever thanks to the tampering of their father. The two engage in a deadly telepathic duel, saving the movie’s methodical pace witha brilliantly spectacular finale.
3The Vanishing
Relies On Its Ending To Be Effective
Sometimes, horror movies aren’t so much made up for by their ending as much as they rely on their final moments to properly convey their themes and terror.The Vanishingis a prime example of this, a Dutch psychological thriller with a downer ending indicative of its entire theme of despair.The movie centers around a young couple, Rex and Saskia, traveling to France on a vacation.
The Vanishing
The Vanishing is a psychological thriller directed by George Sluizer, based on the novel The Golden Egg by Tim Krabbé. The film follows a Dutch couple on vacation, where the woman mysteriously disappears. The subsequent search, spearheaded by her desperate boyfriend, becomes an obsession that leads him to unravel the truth behind her disappearance. Celebrated for its suspenseful narrative and chilling conclusion, The Vanishing is a thought-provoking exploration of human psychology and obsession.
Their holiday soon turns into a nightmare for Rex when Saskia suddenly vanishes out of his sight, leading him to fall into the depths of despair in search of answers. Early on,The Vanishingmakes no mystery out of the culprit behind Saskia’s disappearance, explaining the motives of the psychopathic Raymond in-depth.
In the film’s last moments, Raymond contacts Rex and offers to reveal the truth, leading to Rex’s search for answers leaving him buried alive, just like his lover. Thisbrutally depressing conclusionis paramount to the entire film’s experience, andThe Vanishingwouldn’t be nearly as impactful without it.
2Life
Takes Its Horror To Another Level As Its Runtime Depletes
For the most part, 2017’sLifestands as a decent combination of arip-off ofAlienand John Carpenter’sThe Thing.The science fiction horror featurerevolves around the discovery of an alien form of lifethat is delivered to the International Space Station by an unmanned probe, nicknamed “Calvin” by a naming contest back on Earth. While Calvin begins life as a simple biological oddity, it soon evolves and balloons out of control, brutalizing the workforce of the claustrophobic space station.
Life
A six-member crew is tasked with studying a sample from Mars that may be the first proof of extra-terrestrial life.
Lifeborrows very heavily from its obvious inspirations, presenting unoriginal ideas like alien infections and creatures hiding in the vents of a spaceship. That being said, the final gambit by the survivors of Calvin’s wrath makes for a deliciously horrifying predicament. The astronauts attempt to trap Calvin in one escape pod and launch him into space while returning to Earth in the other, only for the situation to be switched, with the lone, screaming Miranda sent hurtling into oblivion while Calvin ends up on Earth, ready to continue his rampage.
1The Human Race
Goes From Odd To Spectacular At The Last Minute
A seldom-seen gem of the 2010s,The Human Raceis an odd film with an utterly unpredictable ending that makes up for its many weaknesses. The movie followsa group of eighty strangers who suddenly wake up in a strange institutional realm, told by a disembodied voice that they must race one another to the death, instantly dying if they step on the grass or are lapped twice by another person.
Sure enough, disobeying these magical rules causes the abductees' heads to explode, prompting a desperate bid to be the last one standing. In the end, the sole survivor of the battle royale is the one-legged Eddie, who survives a desperate attempt by another racer to push him into the grass by balancing on his crutches.
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Winning the race, Eddie is congratulated, only to be told he’ll be moving forward into another contest, this time against a flying alien creature. Cracking his neck, Eddie steps into the ring, making foran unbelievably cool endingto an otherwise awkward and unfocused science fiction survivalhorrormovie.
