10 Horror Movies Ruined By Disturbing Endings
These scary films lost their luster due to unsettling finales.
For movie fans, there’s almost nothing more disappointing than getting sucked into a film for the majority of its runtime, only to find that the final payoff is woefully underwhelming.
The horror genre can be especially prone to such situations because it often dishes out over-the-top plots and characters that require justified and satisfying resolutions.
What’s more – and especially when it comes to the most upsetting viewing experiences – part of the fun derives from seeing the villains being vanquished so that the heroes live happily ever after and all seems right with the world.
But what if the opposite happens and a horror movie is ruined because it has a particularly disturbing ending?
The 10 titles on this list are surely guilty of that, whether due to their crushing bleakness, their silly twists, or in at least one case, the laughable absurdity of what’s supposed to be deeply deranged.
True, certain storylines require an unsettling conclusion to feel warranted and natural, but the ones we’re discussing here simply went too far during their finales (thereby diminishing their quality and rewatchability in the process).
Oh, and obviously, spoilers ahead for the following films!
10. 47 Meters Down
47 Meters Down was never going to be mind-blowing, but it began suspensefully enough to deliver B-movie survival horror fun.
It’s centered around sisters Kate and Lisa, who decide to watch sharks from within a diving cage while in Mexico. Predictably, things go wrong, leaving them stranded on the ocean floor as the great white beasts approach.
Over the next hour, they fight to survive amidst enduring physical injuries (including the cage landing on Lisa’s leg) and a loss of oxygen. Along the way, boat owner Captain Taylor sends them an air tank that might cause hallucinations, and afterward, it’s implied that Kate is wounded by a shark.
From there, 47 Meters Down continues doing a great job of eliciting concern for the sisters’ increasingly dire situation until they’re shown making it back to Taylor’s boat.
That’s why it’s such a letdown when the rug gets pulled and viewers are given the clichéd twist that Lisa’s been hallucinating for a while. In fact, she’s still pinned beneath the cage (where she soon realizes that Kate actually died when she was attacked by the shark).
Consequently, 47 Meters Down goes from being a likably tense ride to a soul-crushingly hopeless one.