20 Most Intense Movie Endings Of All Time
8. Se7en (1995)
David Fincher's delightfully grimy thriller concluded with one hell of a final kicker, by delivering a box to Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) in the middle of his final confrontation with sin-obsessed serial killer John Doe (Kevin Spacey).
The contents? Oh, just the decapitated head of Mills' wife (Gwyneth Paltrow), who Doe then announces was pregnant to an unaware Mills.
As Mills' rage begins to take hold, Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) tries to help him maintain his cool, insisting that if Mills kills John Doe, he will win, because Mills' act of wrath would complete the cycle of seven deadly sins.
Regardless, Mills shoots Doe dead, allowing the villain to prevail in an almost unbearably bleak finale that's redeemed only slightly by Somerset's mildly hopeful final narration.
Few directors tackle suspense as well as Fincher, and here he left audiences with knots in their stomach all the way to the finish line.