10 Scariest Final Shots In Horror Movie History

5. The Descent

The Descent
Lionsgate

The Descent actually had two endings when it hit theatres back in 2005: a conventional happy one for American audiences and the more downbeat original that was retained for the UK release.

The latter is by far the better of the two though, showing main character Sarah finally escaping the caves where the movie is set and flagging down a car in the countryside, only to realise the whole thing had been a figment of her imagination and that she's really still trapped in her underground tomb and about to be swarmed by monsters.

While that's already a terrifying ending, the final shot, which shows the now completely mentally unstable Sarah alone, covered in blood and hallucinating that she's spending her final moments with her dead daughter on her birthday while the camera pulls out to show just how far away from safety she really is, adds an even scarier surreal edge to the twist.

The best thing about Neil Marshall's flick is how well it mixes psychological horror with full-on monster movie goodness, and no scene blends the two styles more perfectly than this final one.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.