10 Movies Where The Hero Was Dead All Along
6. Stay
Marc Forster's 2005 psychological thriller Stay opens with the sight of protagonist Henry (Ryan Gosling) sat on the Brooklyn Bridge next to a flaming car, with no further context immediately given.
The movie has a slippery, dreamlike logic to it both narratively and visually, as Dr. Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) tries to talk a suicidal despondent Henry out of killing himself.
But the film ends with the reveal that the increasingly surreal events featuring Henry, Sam, and Sam's girlfriend Lila (Naomi Watts) are actually Henry's dying dream as he bleeds out from the aftermath of the aforementioned car accident on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The various characters he encounters throughout the film are actually those who witnessed the crash, with Sam and Lila attempting to save his life following the accident. Sadly, Henry dies in the film's final moments.
As much as Stay received wildly polarised reviews from critics upon release, it has won itself a cult following in more recent years due to its David Lynch-inspired style.