12 Movies That Tricked You Into Thinking They Had Happy Endings
6. The Woman In Black - It Doesn't Matter If He's With His Wife, He's Still Dead
The Allegedly Happy Ending: Each version of The Woman In Black ends differently. The original book has the main characters family killed, which is amped up in the 1989 TV by having the hero die too. The West End stage play has an final scene so chilling it'd be a disservice to spoil it here, so let's just say it's haunting.
Wanting something a little more audience friendly for the Daniel Radcliffe-fronted version a couple of years ago, director James Watkins twisted the tale, with widower Arthur Kipps touchingly reunited with his wife at the film's climax.
The Depressing Truth: Aw, he gets a happy ending. Shame he's frickin dead. This film, which tenderly had the family walk into the mist together, essentially ends with the ghost winning, but that's painted over with a unsettlingly happy colour on it.
It was a nice touch to make Radcliffe (who just a year before had been playing a boy wizard) as a grieving single father, but you feel the dead wife element was only put in to allow this tone-muddling ending.