20 Most Intense Movie Endings Of All Time

11. Psycho (1960)

Though the conclusion to Alfred Hitchcock's peerless horror film is frequently criticised for over-explaining serial killer Norman Bates' (Anthony Perkins) mental state with on-the-nose exposition, it's hard to argue with the entrancing pull of those final moments.

As the camera closes in on Bates' handsome face, the voice of his mother can be heard, and if you look closely, you can see her skeletal remains subtly superimposed over his mug, before we fade to the grim final image of Marion's (Janet Leigh) car being dragged from the nearby swamp.

In the near six decades since Hitch's best-loved film was unleashed upon audiences, it's still staggeringly effective, all the way up to its extremely discomforting end. It is a film that gets in your head and, if you let it, dares to stay there.