50 Movies Where Evil Won

Plot: A retelling of William Shakespeare's tragedy starring Jon Finch and Francesca Annis as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, respectively. 

William Shakespeare's Macbeth might be classed as a 'Tragedy', but it does actually have a fairly happy ending in most ways. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do get punished for their ruthless rise to power, and a new, nobler king takes power at the play's end. Well, that's normally how it goes. 

Roman Polanski's adaptation of Macbeth does things a little differently. As in the play, Macbeth is indeed killed, and Malcolm (Stephan Chase), the older son of the king that Macbeth murdered, subsequently takes the throne. Nevertheless, this particular adaptation ends on a far more chilling note than normal, as Malcolm's younger brother Donalbain (Paul Shelley) encounters the Three Witches once he returns to Scotland, suggesting that the cycle of power, corruption, and evil is about to begin all over again. 

This was the first film Polanski made after his pregnant wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family, and he really leant into the darkness of the play, creating an adaptation that is perhaps even more brutal than the play it adapts.