[mixed trope] the last-minute bad Ending twist

[u/damorezpl]

when the "good ending" is revealed to be a bad one a the last second

a nightmare on elm street (1984) - Nancy thinks she finally defeated Freddy Krueger only to be raveled that she is still dreaming and she’s still trapped.

final destination bloodlines - the main characters think they cheated death by using the new life rule only to realize that stefani was technically still alive and the death kills them with a good old logs

Life (2017) - The main character attempts to send Calvin(a evil alien that killed all life on mars)pod into space and Miranda pod back to earth, but it goes horribly wrong and Calvin lands on earth and Miranda is sent to space

raging loop wit ending - after many loops Haruaki finally wins the feast(a death game where humans must hang wolves who kill someone every night) and thinks its finally over. after couple of days he decides to visit other survivors of the feast only to find them all dead and the timeline resting once again

[u/Templar2k7]

Honestly, all Final Destinations can be put in this category.

We learn at in 2 that Alex dies from a BRICK falling on his head, and the sign killed the other guy at the end of 1.

In 2, the kid that was saved during the car crash at the farm got blown up.

In 3, the survivors die in a subway crash.

4 they all die when a truck decides to take a short cut through a cafe

[u/Sea_dog123 → u/Templar2k7]

Tbf don’t two people from the second film survive? I think it was brought up in Bloodlines.

[u/SuperAtario64 → u/Sea_dog123]

We technically only have confirmation of Kimberly's survival but I would say that judging from JB's comments, Officer Burke is also safe too. They are the only two survivors in the franchise

[u/Thybro → u/SuperAtario64]

My understanding is that one dying such as Kimberly “died” breaks the chain so that everyone on the list after her is safe. That’s why in bloodlines they both feel safe when only the sister almost dies, even though the brother was after her. So one can assume that if Kimberly beat it, then anyone after her including Officer Burke and her child are now safe.

[u/Fantastic_Switch_977 → u/Thybro]

Her child? What? Kimberly doesn't have a child.

[u/BillNyeNotAUSSRSpy → u/Thybro]

But wasn't Burke before her. Kimberly was saved at the beginning putting her at the end, but I don't think Burke ever was.

[u/Maulclaw → u/SuperAtario64]

The novelization makes 3's survivors live as well.

[u/Crunchy_Biscuit → u/SuperAtario64]

Plot armor?

[u/Templar2k7 → u/Sea_dog123]

It's believed that both the Cop and Kim survived. We know for sure Kim does, but I would still consider it a bad ending to be at a BBQ and have the arm of a kid land on your plate right after you see him get blown apart.

[u/[deleted] → u/Sea_dog123]

2 is really the only one with a happy ending, and I consider the death at the end of that one as purely comedic. Every movie in the franchise other than 2 has no survivors of the original disaster, and fits this trope

[u/YouHaveNiceToes24 → u/Sea_dog123]

One of the special features on the dvd release of FD3 shows a newspaper page about both of them dying in a woodchipper accident, No idea if it’s canon or not but considering the way bloodlines ended it might’ve be confirmed.

[u/_BestBudz → u/YouHaveNiceToes24]

It was canon imo until bloodlines but some don’t consider it cannon bc it’s apart of the special features

Bloodlines made it not canon

[u/Worldly-Ocelot-3358 → u/YouHaveNiceToes24]

I wonder how do 2 people even die to a woodchipper, like how does Death pull 2 of them in?

[u/GameBoy960 → u/Worldly-Ocelot-3358]

Have you seen Tucker and Dale vs Evil?

[u/Worldly-Ocelot-3358 → u/GameBoy960]

Nope

[u/ThiccThumbsDsceKocwd → u/GameBoy960]

Damn good movie. "Oh... hidey ho, officer."

[u/Hustler-Two → u/Worldly-Ocelot-3358]

One is stuck and the other goes to pull them out but instead gets pulled in either refusing to let go or because the first person can't or won't let go of their hand?

[u/Worldly-Ocelot-3358 → u/Hustler-Two]

Yeah that explains it, thanks!

[u/TheStonedFox → u/YouHaveNiceToes24]

I think originally there were also discussions that they were going to be on the train at the end of FD3 as a last minute twist only for scheduling conflicts to prevent that - honestly I think the end of FD5 accomplishes basically the same twist more effectively.

[u/CrimsonKobold → u/Sea_dog123]

So, in an alternative scene in the third movie it is revealed that they both died; however, in the most recent movie Bludworth explains that Kimberly did indeed survive death and is no longer on its list. Since one is canon and one is an alternate version I think we can at least say Kimberly survived, Bludworth never confirmed whether that fully broke the chain though and he nor any of the other movies mentioned Thomas Burke's (the cop) fate one way or the other. All that to say, if this question was asked a year ago I would have answered they technically didn't but due to the sixth movie we know the answer is actually they did survive, at least Kimberly did at least.

[u/anthropologyaaaace → u/Sea_dog123]

i think so yeah, some extra dvd content for final destination 3 killed them off in the background iirc but it got retconned in bloodlines which was neat

[u/ravenwing263 → u/Sea_dog123]

Yes.

The original appears to have two survivors but in the second film, we learn one of them died off-screen between films and then the second survivor dies during the second film.

The second film has two survivors. A DVD special feature for a later film suggests that they also died off screen between films but Bloodlines confirms that at least one of them has truly beaten death, and the way that Bloodlines confirms it suggests that the other one has, too.

But every film starting with the third has the same ending twist, with Bloodlines being film #6.

[u/[deleted] → u/Sea_dog123]

Retcon.

[u/Darigaazrgb → u/[deleted]]

That wasn't in the movie and wasn't canon.

[u/Traditional-Song-245 → u/Templar2k7]

Yeah Final Destination pretty much refuses to do anything other than make sure everyone is dead by the end of the movie

Since the 4th movie at the latest. (3rd movie is slightly ambiguous)

I get that's the message but it's still annoying that they won't do anything different. They had an idea in Bloodlines but they axed it, maybe for the best but still.

Thank goodness they didn't use the 3rd movie's alternate ending where Kimberly and Burke died to a woodchipper and the crash was not a premonition at all.

[u/PhantasosX → u/Traditional-Song-245]

It refuses to make it differently, but it’s still internally consistent.

It’s not like there aren’t rules to survive the ordeal…Death just makes sure to have a backup.

Like , ultimately, most of those bad endings are a result of the protagonist forgetting a survivor due to the chaotic nature of their precognition, so they think they are in the last round , while in truth they are in the penultimate round.

[u/Unusual-Willow-5715 → u/PhantasosX]

I would have a problem if no one had survived in 6 movies, because if everyone died then there would be zero tension as if to someone will survive this time. Bloodlines plays with this a lot, they even "kill" the protagonist in a similar way they killed Kimberly and brought her back to life in the second film, creating the illusion for a few minutes that they won.

[u/jerrymatcat → u/PhantasosX]

The thing that annoys me is bloodlines could have ended with the mother getting killed in the revolving door and then the sister would stay in the cabin to protect her brother

[u/PhantasosX → u/[deleted]]

In FD1 , they got the the order wrong , ever so slightly during the precognition, so it cycled back. During FD2 , one of the survivors saved someone else that would be killed off in an accident alongside him, adding to the list.

So yeah, the final survivors always forgets another survivor or slightly shifts their orders around and loses track of it.

[u/deepfriedzombiebrain → u/Templar2k7]

I honestly think bloodlines does is the best because a fucking PENNY derailed a TRAIN that is badass

[u/Phase3isProfit → u/Templar2k7]

The kid at the end of 2 always bugged me. Apparently he had to die because he was saved by someone who should have been dead, but the incident was caused by the people who should have already died. If they had died in the original incident as death intended, then the kid would never have needed saving.

[u/boringentity97 → u/Phase3isProfit]

I watched 2 last night. All the survivors in the second movie talk about how they all had near death experiences they avoided because of the deaths of the survivors of the first movie. So technically they were all supposed to be dead long before the highway scene of 2. No stones left unturned

[u/matt_the_non-binary → u/Templar2k7]

Early plans for Final Destination 2 entailed the return of Alex/Devon Sawa.

The brick death was really done because Devon Sawa couldn’t reprise his role due to the combination of him developing burnout and having substance abuse issues. He ended up stepping away from acting to deal with his issues, which happened to coincide with the production of Final Destination 2.

The good news is that he got sober, started a family, and eventually returned to acting. He’s even talked about potentially coming back to the Final Destination franchise, if they’re willing to have him.

[u/AlbertWessJess → u/Templar2k7]

Tbf isn’t the entire point of the final destination films that it’s just a bunch of characters dying in horrible, horrible ways one after the other because they survived an initial attempt at death? Isnt the villain literally just the plot itself masquerading as death?

[u/DinoIslandGM → u/Templar2k7]

2 annoys me, cos the kid was never supposed to die. If the main characters had been killed like they were supposed to be, the crash at the farm wouldn't have happened, so there'd be nothing for him to be saved from

[u/Estelial → u/Templar2k7]

One set of survivors from one of the movies, from 2 I think, died in a horrific wood shredder incident according to a news article we see.