8 Worst Slasher Horror Movie Fakeout Endings

7. Scream VI

Scream VI Chad
Paramount

During Scream VI's first two acts, the story nicely builds, there's some cracking kills, and the new, intense Ghostface makes for an intriguing threat for our protagonists. That said, the third act did sour horror hounds, with many feeling like the picture didn't quite stick its landing.

In that final act, there was of course the fakeout reveal that Mason Gooding's Chad Meeks-Martin wasn't actually as dead as we were all led to believe.

Granted, the survival of Chad here - and in 2022's Scream - is seemingly a concerted effort to present him as the Dewey Riley of this new generation of heroes, but this survival of Gooding's character felt like a step too far.

As Scream VI enters its final 15 minutes, Chad is stabbed approximately 12 times (your writer has just rewatched that scene for this sole purpose) by two Ghostfaces. Sure, we've seen other characters stabbed several times and survive their respective films, but the sheer speed and number of wounds dished out to Chad here made it impossible for him not to have kicked the bucket.

So, when Chad is miraculously shown still alive during Scream VI's closing moments, it's a move too implausible to be anything if not a little silly from writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.