10 Movie Endings With Disturbing Implications You Totally Missed
Pixar wants you to forget that Remy's days are numbered when Ratatouille's end credits roll.
It's with good reason that the overwhelming majority of movies have happy endings - studios want to send audiences home on a gleaming high, ensuring that they're satisfied and will recommend the film to their friends.
Not all films adhere to this model, of course, but it's a popular formula for a reason - audiences find catharsis in the hero overcoming a tough obstacle, and it's generally what people want to see.
But sometimes, whether intentionally or not, movies end in a fashion that appears to be happy, only for them to hint at a far darker future for the focal heroes.
These 10 movies, from some of the most acclaimed blockbusters of the last few years to a legendary Best Picture winner, all concluded with the tease of a more disturbing true outcome for the central characters.
While most all viewers will choose to accept the happier surface-level reading of the ending, and that's totally fine, those who dare to dig deeper will see that the triumphant finale was destined to be short-lived, and a world of pain awaits those left standing...
10. Immortan Joe Still Has One Remaining Son - Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road ends with evil cult leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) being killed and his hold over the citizens of the Citadel finally relinquished, as the locale's water supply is made freely available to anyone who needs it.
It's a triumphant, fist-pumping ending, except for the fact that it's easy to overlook one thing: Joe still has one surviving son in the mix.
Though we see several of Joe's heirs perish throughout the film, in the final scene one of them still remains - the physically disabled Corpus Colossus (Quentin Kenihan).
While Corpus gets virtually no character development in the film itself, the peripheral Fury Road comic book series fleshes him out considerably, revealing him to be a fiercely intelligent strategist.
More to the point, the comic confirms that after the events of the movie, Corpus follows in his father's footsteps and strangulates the Citadel's water supply, fearing that freely giving water away to every thirsty person would make them look weak.
And so, the cycle begins again.