10 Horror Movie Endings That Leave You Speechless

The current reigning champion for the scariest horror film of the 21st century, Ari Aster's Hereditary jams us, face-first, into the lives of the grieving Graham family - miniature artist Annie (Toni Collette), her psychiatrist husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) and their children, Peter (Alex Wolff) and Charlie (Milly Shapiro) - shortly after the death of Annie’s mother. But grandma had more than a few skeletons in her closet, and they gradually come out to play as a series of mysterious events, sinister occurrences and possessions take over the Grahams' lives. 

Glacial paced to begin with, Hereditary spends much of its first half building tension and laying the groundwork for things to come, up to the accidental decapitation of Charlie, who as it turns out was set to be the host for the demon king Paimon that her gran worshipped. From here, things only get darker, with Annie succumbing to possession and destroying her family from the inside out. 

As if everything that happens isn't bad enough - beheadings, immolation, you name it - the conclusion is its own breath-taking exercise in misery. Annie beheads herself and Peter, new host of Paimon, is led by Annie's corpse into the family's treehouse, where the headless corpse of Peter's grandmother awaits, worshipping a mannequin with Charlie's severed head on it. Hereditary, indeed.