10 Good Movies That Completely Botched Their Final Act

9. Psycho

Let the backlash commence! All potential ensuing hatred aside, Psycho is undoubtedly a masterpiece of cinema as a whole and will forever live on as a classic. It is arguably Alfred Hitchcock's finest work, definitely his most-seen, and it cements why he is and will always be known as The Master of Suspense. The truth is, Psycho is perfect all the way up to the second-from-last scene in the film, in which a psychiatrist who is simply drafted in for exposition purposes tells us all what we already know - Norman Bates is his mother. The scene is overblown and we really could have done without it. The majority of us understood it and those who didn't fully understand could have at least basked in the ambiguity of it all. Perhaps the only two possible respites is that audiences of the day may have needed the whole explanation at the end. By no means is it an insult to the intelligence of a 60s cinema-goer; but my, how cinema has changed in the past fifty plus years. Nowadays, it is a lot more common for a filmmaker to not completely spell out the narrative for the viewers. The other saving grace is the final couple of shots, as the camera hones in on Norman Bates' face accompanied by an eery voiceover from his mother, and then we see poor Marion's car being recovered from the lake. Thankfully it's as if the over-exposition never happened.