Another Top 10 Ambiguous Movie Endings

The ending of “Rosemary’s Baby” is bound to chill anyone to the bone. It’s hard to say what’s the most disturbing part: Rosemary’s realization that she was raped by the devil, the fact that her satanic neighbors and husband were in on it, or that the new mother decides to nurture the antichrist regardless? What really gets under our skin, though, is that we never see what becomes of Rosemary’s hell spawn. Is the human race in for a thousand years of darkness? We’re probably better off not knowing.

In this South Korean mystery, a man named Oh Dae-su is kidnapped, imprisoned, and manipulated by a puppet master. Once released, Dae-su sets out to discover his captor’s motives. Along the way, he falls in love with a young woman named Mi-do. To Dae-su’s horror, he eventually learns Mi-do is his daughter and his captor utilized hypnosis to bring them together intimately. In the end, Dae-su is hypnotized again to erase this traumatizing ordeal from his memory. The final scene, however, subtly suggests that some mental scars can’t be healed.

In one corner, we have the alpha wolf armed with a set of ferocious teeth. In the other, we have Liam Neeson armed with a knife and a fistful of glass. The two charge at one another for one hell of a showdown…and then we cut to black. If that’s not ambiguous enough, a fleeting post-credits scene reveals the wolf struggling to breathe as Neeson rests his head on it. Did Neeson survive? Even if the wolf won, will it survive? The answers will forever remain shaded in the grey.

There are many different ways you can interpret the final image of “The Shining,” which reveals a photo taken in 1921 at a Fourth of July ball. Standing front and center is Jack, grinning among the crowd of partygoers. Does it symbolize Jack dying and joining the Overlook Hotel’s ghost club? Is Jack a reincarnation of all the previous hotel caretakers trapped in a never-ending cycle? Or is Stanley Kubrick simply trying to mess with our heads? It’s an ending and a film we’ll be analyzing until the end of time.

Ray arguably doesn’t deserve to live. He murders a priest, accidentally kills a little boy, and can generally be the rudest man. Yet, we really don’t want to see him die. Despite his suicidal tendencies, even Ray doesn’t want to die by the end of “In Bruges,” if only to seek redemption. As he’s mortally wounded, Ray vows to confess his sins to the boy’s parents and face the consequences. Whether Ray lives to redeem himself remains unknown. Wherever he ends up, though, at least it’ll be better than Bruges.

In a pursuit to find his abducted daughter, Keller Dover becomes a figurative prisoner to his paranoia. He then becomes a literal prisoner as the kidnapper traps him in a secret pit. Dover’s only hope is a whistle, which just barely catches the attention of Detective Loki before the credits roll. We can only assume Loki discovers the pit and rescues Dover. Even then, however, Dover is likely going to face a rough trial for imprisoning and torturing a mentally challenged man who was initially believed to be the kidnapper.

The ending of “Birdman” keeps Riggan Thomson’s fate masked in mystery when he climbs out a window and his daughter gazes up at him in awe. Some believe that Riggan is dead while others say he’s become totally detached from reality. The most widely accepted theory, though, is that Riggan has lifted Birdman off his shoulders by creating super-realism. Thus, he can finally take flight as a better father, a better man, and a serious actor. Since this is one superhero movie that won’t spawn a franchise, we’ll never know for sure.

“Enemy” doesn’t spell out whether Adam and Anthony are supposed to be doppelgangers or if they’re the same person. Once the movie’s over, however, the real question you’ll be asking is, “where the hell did that tremendous tarantula come from?!” Alluding to an earlier scene, the spider is often thought to be symbolic of women and Adam and/or Anthony is afraid of getting caught in their web. In other words, it’s his subconscious’ way of confronting commitment. Either that or it’s some kind of monster spider invasion.

Some would describe “Pan’s Labyrinth” as a fantasy. Others describe it as a horror picture. The ending is a bit of both as Captain Vidal shoots Ofelia and she awakens in a throne room. She’s reunited with her parents, hailed as a princess, and they all live happily ever after…or do they? Is the magical world all in Ofelia’s head? Is it representative of the afterlife? Is it possible that only those who truly believe can see magic? This is one bedtime story that will definitely have us up all night.

Before we try to crack the enigma that is our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
- “Closer” (2004)
- “The Awakening” (2011)
- “No Country for Old Men” (2007)
- “Donnie Darko” (2001)

From beginning to end, “K-PAX,” keeps the audience and a psychiatrist played by Jeff Bridges guessing whether Kevin Spacey’s prot is an alien or cray cray. We’re given reason to believe prot is indeed an extraterrestrial. We’re also led to believe he’s really Robert Porter, a man unable to cope with the loss of his family. Either way, prot’s spirit is destined to ascend from his body on July 27th. Although we don’t get a conclusive diagnosis, the film’s moral is evident: Make the most of your time on earth.

Do you agree with our list? What ambiguous movie endings are you still trying to wrap your brain around? For more entertaining Top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.