10 Movie Villains Who Totally Got Away With It

Ari Aster's scintillating directorial debut is one of the most upsettingly grim horror films of the decade, and concludes with a suitably downcast finale.

In its unforgettable ending, it's revealed that the violent and disturbing series of events throughout have all been part of a grand plan by a cult which worships the ancient demon king Paimon.

Since childhood, Paimon has actually been residing within the body of Annie Graham's (Toni Collette) daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro), while the cult made preparations to transfer Paimon into her older brother Peter (Alex Wolff), given that Paimon requires a male host.

Charlie ends up decapitated mid-way through the movie, setting the Graham family on a course of physical and emotional destruction which leads to Annie's husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) being burned to death, while Annie later beheads herself with a piece of piano wire.

In the end, Peter is sufficiently broken down that he's helpless to fend off Paimon, who takes possession of his body in the film's grim final sequence. The cult gloriously hails their fully resurrected king, and that's all she wrote.