20 Things Horror Movies NEED To Stop Doing
1. Pointlessly Ambiguous Endings
An ambiguous ending can be a great way to keep the audience thinking about a story once the end credits roll - for instance, who among us hasn't thought about what happens after the final frame of Hereditary?
But it also shouldn't be a substitute for a lack of actual ideas, as it so often seems to be in cinema in general, and certainly in the horror genre.
Why come up with a satisfying, concrete ending when you can just cut things off mid-flow and let the audience figure it out for themselves?
It's a tough balance to strike, but great ambiguous endings add depth and provocation to an already great movie, whereas a poorly executed one just leaves everyone exasperated and irritated by the blatant fumble.
Unless you've got a genuinely good, well thought-out reason to leave things hanging, it's certainly smarter for a storyteller to actually give the audience an ending.