10 Scariest Final Shots In Horror Movie History

5. The Descent

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.