10 Bleakest Endings In Horror Movies

10. Night Of The Living Dead

There’s a lot of racial commentary that comes with the ending of George A. Romero’s original zombie classic Night of the Living Dead, in which protagonist Ben - a black man, manages to navigate hostilities inside the farmhouse with the likes of Cooper and avoid becoming chow for the ever-growing number of zombies outside only to be taken out by a group of trigger-happy rednecks in the films closing credits.

Director George A. Romero always maintained that none of this commentary was meant to be in the film, as the character was not intended to be any particular race, with actor Duane Jones winning the part purely on the strength of his audition.

Night of the Living Dead is already a pretty bleak movie; effectively notching up the sense of hopelessness continuously throughout its runtime. Whether the powerful tone of the ending was intentional or not, the reading of the film is clearly there and provides a painfully bleak ending to a masterpiece movie that leaves the audience with a clear message; even in the face of great terror – humanity is the truest evil of them all.