10 Movies Saved By Their Final Shot
3. Open Water
Open Water is a massively divisive based-on-true-events horror-thriller in which a couple get stranded in shark-infested waters during a scuba diving trip.
Though intermittently intense, for many the film's extremely low-rent production values made it a tough one to sit through, and honestly, it's hard to blame anyone who thinks that.
But the deeply unsettling ending is tough to shake regardless of the film looking like it was shot on a Game Boy Camera.
After Daniel (Daniel Travis) is devoured by the sharks, his partner Susan (Blanchard Ryan) sees herself being circled by them, and so decides to remove her gear before voluntarily submerging herself.
The final shot simply lingers on the spot where Susan went underwater, with no indication of what happened to her, even if we as the audience know there's only one possible outcome.
Despite the film's roughshod technicals, that departing image is a terrifying reminder of the immensity of the ocean and how even vast, open spaces can be deeply oppressive.
It serves as an eerie, haunting reminder that nature doesn't hate you - it just doesn't even think about you at all.