10 MORE Horror Movies Where The Hero ALMOST Won
9. Prince of Darkness
When it comes to John Carpenter classics, bleak genre cracker Prince of Darkness rarely gets a mention, and to be honest, with its goofy plot and lower prestige, it’s easy to understand why. Regardless, when it comes to thick atmosphere and relentless doom, it’s hard to beat as an example from Carpenter's backlog. Especially, in its chilling last scene.
To explain the plot and the context of the finale really is a task in itself, but to boil it down: a group of student scientists is trapped in an abandoned church, with an anti-God entity attempting to re-enter reality after having been banished to a mirror dimension.
The finale has our heroes - epic-stache-wearing Brian (Jameson Parker) and his love interest Catherine (Lisa Blount) - in the room where a (kind of) Satan figure is emerging from a reflective surface. With chaos erupting around them, Catherine rushes at the figure, pushing it back in and submerging herself in the other dimension. Then Donald Pleasence (playing essentially Father Loomis) breaks the glass, sealing the evil away but also banishing Catherine to (kind of) Hell.
Things don't end there, though. The heroes have saved the day, but at a major cost. Brian is haunted in his dreams by Catherine's face, now having taken the place of the anti-God figure. He wakes up gasping and sweaty, goes to his mirror, touches it… End Credits.
Yep, the fellow basically just kicked off the end of the world.