Many horror fans have strong stomachs when it comes to shockingly terrifying content in movies, but even the steeliest of us has seen movies that have tortured our psyches with endings that leave no silver lining whatsoever, leading horror fans to discuss the darkest movie endings they’ve ever watched. Don’t worry, we won’t spoil any of the details.
The person who started the Reddit thread that sparked the conversation called out the notoriously tragic ending of The Mist, which seems like a very natural fit. In terms of subsequent picks in the comments, right at the top is Eden Lake, which, by comparison, feels less upsetting to me than some subsequent choices.
Next up is Speak No Evil, a 2022 Dutch film that later got an American remake. I won’t spoil the ending, but it is indeed quite bleak, the kind of totally hopeless ending that will leave you wishing you could unsee it.
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Another fan calls out The Descent, which has two different endings, one that is almost happy, and one that is the very opposite. It is, of course, the more hardcore ending that’s referred to. Martyrs and Funny Games are also high ranking picks, and believe me, they both deserve the recognition.
Personally, I feel like I had to scroll too far down to find Megan is Missing, an early example of the screen horror version of found footage in which a teen girl tries to find her kidnapped friend. It’s not… great… or even maybe good… but the ending is absolutely gut wrenching. It will haunt you.
If I were to add my own choice to the list, I’d go with Studio Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies. It’s not a horror movie by any stretch, but it has maybe the saddest and most brutally stark movie ending I’ve seen.
It’s so truly, deeply depressing that Ghibli created My Neighbor Totoro, about as light and sweet a movie as has ever been made, to soften the emotionally devastating blow of Grave of the Fireflies as a double feature.
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Most horror movies are inherently sad and often end that way, but we’d be remiss not to mention Cabin Fever, Hereditary, and of course, the OG, Night of the Living Dead.
If you’re looking for some scares that will haunt you long after the credits roll, you can dig into our list of the best horror movies of all time.
