10 Greatest Fake Out Endings In Movies

There are certain cinematic conventions that have held firm since the dawn of movies themselves and just generally aren't broken, such as the fact that the end credits signal the conclusion of a movie's story, leaving audiences free to make their exit.

Sure, you might miss a sneaky credits scene if you get up immediately, but the main film is categorically over.

That is, aside from those rare movies that dared to toy with cinematic form and deliver early fake-out endings intended to keep the audience on their toes.

These 10 movies largely smashed the fourth wall to pieces by appearing to end earlier than they actually did, whether a short while before the actual ending, half-way through the story, or maybe even mere minutes into the film.

As viewers wondered quite what the hell was going on, the filmmakers pulled back and resumed the movie, giving everyone watching a cheeky meta laugh.

And then there's a certain beloved, Oscar-winning blockbuster that didn't roll the credits prematurely but actually appeared to end numerous times before it finally did.

Whether for comedic purposes or because they simply had so much story to tell, these movies all delivered ingenious fake-out endings...

Adam McKay's relentlessly sarcastic Dick Cheney biopic Vice drops a credits fake-out at the end of its first act that, despite McKay's typically irreverent tone, is wildly unexpected.

At this point in the story, Cheney (Christian Bale) has served as Secretary of Defense under President George H. W. Bush, as sets him on a path to become George W. Bush's (Sam Rockwell) running mate during the 2000 U.S. presidential election.

But before that, McKay imagines an alternate future for Cheney, where he puts his political aspirations to the wayside and retires from public life to breed golden retrievers, while his noted health issues are resolved and he even competes in Ironman competitions around the world.

It's at this point that even the most politically oblivious viewer likely realises that something is off, and just then, the end credits roll to a triumphant, upbeat orchestral swell.

A few seconds later, though, we hear Dick's phone ring, and we're ripped out of this false finish and brought back to the bleaker reality of Cheney being invited to run alongside George Dubya. It's brilliantly bold filmmaking, but oh-so-depressing.