10 Movies Where The Killer Never Gets Caught

The Pledge is a majorly underappreciated psychological drama about an imminently retiring detective, Jerry Black (a stellar Jack Nicholson), who attempts to track down a child murderer.

The movie has a uniquely brutal spin on the uncaught killer motif, given that while they're never brought to justice, there's an extra nasty twist lying in wait.

Believing he's ascertained the identity of the killer, referred to largely as a "wizard," Jerry attempts to entrap him with a sting operation, but in a cruel bout of irony, the wizard is burned to death in a fatal car accident on his way to said sting.

After hours of waiting, the authorities eventually pack up the operation, leaving Jerry to his own devices as he dejectedly believes that the killer is still at large, entirely unaware that the wizard died in a random accident.

It's a brilliantly singular take on the intentionally unsatisfying ending, denying closure not to the audience but to the main character, who is left to stew in his own boozed-up frustration.