You Thought We Were Finished?
A few days ago, we went over 10 horror movie endings that were shocking, confusing, strange, or all of the above with our pick of the Top 10 WTF Endings in Horror Movies and although these endings weren’t necessarily bad – in fact, most of them actually work quite well – they definitely left us feeling uneasy. Now, since we only had time to cover 10 of these films in our video, we decided some of our honourable mentions deserved credit here on WatchMojo.com! So if your favourite WTF ending didn’t make our first list, keep reading, you might find it below. Also, it should be pretty obvious, but there are some major spoilers ahead!
Jigsaw Revealed – “Saw” (2004)
This particularly unexpected ending simply had to be mentioned because it was the moment that set the bar for the remainder of the “Saw” films, and let’s be honest, the Saw franchise loves a good twist. After Adam and Dr. Lawrence Gordon wake up confused and chained to the pipes of a dirty bathroom with a corpse between them, we follow their attempts to riddle their way out of Jigsaw’s maniacal puzzle. By the end of the film, Lawrence makes a painful decision to cut off his foot in order to escape and find help, leaving behind Adam who discovers a tape-recorder in Zep’s pocket. The tape revealed that Zep, the hospital orderly that they killed and believed was Jigsaw, was actually just another victim that was blackmailed into holding Lawrence’s family hostage. The “corpse” then gets up and turns out to have been Jigsaw all along! No one SAW that one coming…
Two Killers – “Scream” (1996)
When a mysterious man in a black robe and white mask juxtaposes a light-hearted appreciation for horror film trivia and a brutal desire to get revenge on Sidney, she begins to lose trust in everyone around her. What did her mother’s death have to do with all of this? Is it Neil? Is it Randy? Is it Stu? Is it her own boyfriend, Billy? Well, the twist ending in “Scream” might not have been the most clever, but it is a classic and a trope that was unique to the slasher film genre: two killers! The final buildup of events that revealed both Billy and Stu as the robed killer definitely took the audience by surprise at the time, alongside Billy’s confession that it was he who murdered Sidney’s mother, not Cotton Weary. Why? Because Sidney’s mother had an affair with his father and broke up his parents’ marriage. Not exactly a strong enough motif to justify his horrendous actions, but it lines up well with the satirical tone of the film as a whole.
Still Following? – “It Follows” (2014)
Sometimes, a twist ending is so subtle that if you blink, you miss it and that’s definitely the case in the 2014 film “It Follows”. After sexually contracting a curse from her date Hugh, Jay becomes victim to an ominous shape-shifting figure and she must somehow pass on the curse, before it continues to follow and ultimately, kill her. But after a series of complicated events – IT morphing into the shape of her friends, Greg being killed after they sleep together thus reverting the curse back to Jay and Paul finally shooting the creature in the head – it seems as though justice has not quite been served. Paul and Jay even end up sleeping together, followed by Paul heading to a run-down town where it is implied he will pass on the curse once and for all. But does he? We’re not so sure, considering the film closes on a shot of Jay and Paul walking hand-in-hand, with a mysterious figure following them from a distance.
Hiding – “Honeymoon” (2014)
When we say WTF endings, we don’t just mean twist endings, we mean endings that made us go “Wait…what just happened?” This 2014 horror film seemed like a simple classic, with an innocent couple secluding themselves in the woods for a romantic getaway, only to realize things weren’t as rustic and ideal as they had hoped. But, what unfolded instead was a series of unexpected and utterly strange events involving Bea undergoing an alien infection and ultimately tying her husband Paul up and anchoring him to the bottom of the lake to “hide” him. She then proceeds to walk into a mysterious light and the film…ends? We still aren’t sure what to make of this movie’s conclusion and perhaps that was the intention all along.
Malcolm Is a Ghost – “The Sixth Sense” (1999)
Whether you consider “The Sixth Sense” to be a horror movie or a dramatic thriller, it definitely isn’t something you want to watch alone in the dark and it undoubtedly left its audience speechless with a surprise ending that is still iconic to this day. Cole has been haunted by his ability to see dead people, specifically those with unresolved issues, and his only outlet to confide in is child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe. Malcolm is also dealing with his own issues, namely a broken marriage and an unsettled dark past with a former patient, but the mutualism formed between him and Cole slowly begins to mend each of their respective issues. That is, until the night Malcolm decides to pay his wife a visit and fix what’s been broken, only to find her asleep and clutching the wedding band he thought he was wearing. Malcolm was unknowingly dead and had been since his former patient shot him, but given Cole’s ability, this reveal was cleverly hidden until the very end.
Do you agree with our bonus picks? Which horror movie’s ending was the most shocking for you? Check out our original list of the Top 10 WTF Endings in Horror Movies below and let us know in the comments!
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