10 Most Disturbing Recent Horror Movie Endings

In Ari Aster's Midsommar, Dani accompanies her boyfriend and his friends on their trip to Sweden where they plan to attend and study a midsummer celebration for their college thesis. However, it does not take long for the group to realise they are in the midst of a pagan cult and get caught up in a horrifying ritual that happens only once every 90 years. Not unlike The Wicker Man, the film exploits society's fears of different beliefs and religions compared to Christianity. The young Americans bare witness to disturbing suicide, forced impregnation and regular psychedelic drugging, all completely foreign ideas.

The final shot of the film shows Dani, the newly inducted member of the cult, watching on with a smile as her paralysed (ex-)boyfriend is burned alive in a temple with the other human sacrifices. The cult have seemingly fulfilled the emotional void she had at the start of the film while simultaneously taking revenge on her emotionally distant boyfriend.

What makes this ending so disturbing is how protagonist Dani, a typical American young adult is so easily coerced into joining up with the cult and in the end, looks happier doing so. It makes audiences question their own beliefs and ideas of morality while asking the question if they could be capable of doing the same.