12 Movies Where The Villain Emerges Victorious
Some films abandon "the good guy wins" trope and end with the villain triumphing.
At the end of day, movies are designed to entertain us. But no matter how invested we get in the story or the relationship between the characters, we know how it's going to end. The hero defeats the bad guy and saves the day. It may not always be totally realistic - but hey, we as an audience need a bit of escapism. Why end the movie on a downer? I mean, you can't let the villain win, can you?
But there are some films that disregard this sacred formula and conclude with the antagonist emerging victorious. This subversion of expectations blindside viewers because we have become so accustomed to a cliched happy ending that we don't know how to react if a story ends any other way. Because Hollywood can be so predictable, you may feel satisfied that a movie genuinely caught you off-guard. On the other hand, you may be angry to see evil prevail.
Sometimes, the good guy doesn't just lose; they lose spectacularly. Their failure may result in their name being tarnished, the death of their loved ones, or the literal end of the world.
It goes without saying that there are spoilers galore ahead.
12. The Blair Witch Project
In this found-footage styled horror, four film students are making a documentary about a ghost in Burkittsville called the Blair Witch. One of the locals tells the crew about a hermit called Rustin Parr who slaughtered seven boys on the orders of this ghostly witch decades ago.
While killing each of these children, Parr placed the next of his victims in a corner facing the wall so they wouldn't have to look at the horrors that were in store for them. (This sounds like a minor point but makes the ending all the more haunting.)
In the final scene, the film students stumble upon the same house that Parr lived in. As Mike heads into the basement, an unseen force attacks him, causing him to drop his camcorder. As Heather makes her way to the basement, she sees Mike standing in a corner, with his back turned to her. Before she has a chance to say anything, she is struck by an unseen force, causing her to drop to the ground. We never see the Blair Witch kill the film crew directly, but it is clear that each of them have met their demise