10 Recent Movies That Should've Ended Earlier
4. Opus
A24's slightly disappointing new horror-thriller Opus follows Ariel (Ayo Edebiri), a journalist who is invited to the private compound of a reclusive pop star, Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich), to sample his new album.
It turns out, however, that Moretti is actually operating a dangerous cult from his compound, and in the finale Moretti and his followers drink poisoned champagne as part of a mass suicide ritual.
Ariel is almost forced to drink the champagne as well until a sympathetic follower frees her, allowing her to escape the compound just in the nick of time.
Having Ariel flee in the middle of the night and leaving her future uncertain certainly felt like a fitting way to wrap the film up while leaving the audience to ponder her true fate.
Yet the filmmakers just couldn't resist rustling up one more scene which casts all doubt aside.
Set two years later, Ariel has written a book about her experiences at the cult, and Moretti is revealed to have survived the night, now imprisoned for the various deaths he ordered throughout the story.
However, there's a twist - when Ariel visits Moretti in prison, he reveals that the "dead" followers who drank the champagne are actually still alive, having vanished and blended into society at various levels where they will attempt to continue spreading Moretti's teachings.
More to the point, Moretti reveals that he always intended for Ariel to escape the compound so she could write a book and, without her knowledge, help spread Moretti's message to millions.
Ultimately this big reveal is trying way too hard to deliver a "gotcha!" final plot twist. It's not terribly convincing, when the more abrupt, natural ending the story arrived at a few minutes earlier would've been way more fitting.