10 Utterly Devastating Film Endings That Totally Came Out Of Nowhere
7. The Mist - Gunning Down Your Family
The Mist was a great film all about human reaction to a sinister, world-shattering event, with almost everything taking place in a cramped store featuring a ludicrous but dramatically convenient glass frontage design. The whole thing oozed macabre with a constant downbeat mood, terrifying mist-monsters and universally excellent performances.
Naturally, any attempt to create a community in the store went to hell in a handcart pretty quickly as the cabin fever-suffering survivors felt they had to sacrifice others to placate the mindless monsters just outside their door. Also, the threat level was constantly made apparent with schlocky horror such as witnessing American Pies Shermanator being eviscerated by giant tentacles early on.
So main character Thomas Jane, along with his adorable kid and some others decide to make a break for it rather than stay with the increasingly extreme store survivors. Naturally, you know this is a bad idea, but you don't quite realise how grim the film was going to get until it decides to break out the tragedy. Thinking they were about to killed by a giant monster coming toward them, Jane guns down the car's occupants - including his son - to save them from the horror.
However, it turns out the noise was the army coming toward them, who've been been murdering shedloads of monsters en-route. It's only then we realise we've been set up for one of the most unremittingly grim ending conjured up in recent times. Jane weeps in his car and we reel from being savagely gut-punched by a film. As rug-pulls go, it's just utterly, utterly bleak, and amazingly effective.