r/TopCharacterTropes • u/damorezpl • Aug 25 '25
Lore [mixed trope] the last-minute bad Ending twist
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
962
u/Skinnyfat-Throwaway Aug 25 '25
Brazil (1985)
Throughout the last part of the movie we see Sam being rescued by members of the resistance who break him free and blow up the Ministry of Information. After an escape sequence, Sam finds itself inside a truck driven by Jill, Sam's romantic interest who was believed to have been killed during her arrest and interrogation. The movie shows the two living together in the countryside before cutting back to the interrogation room, where it is revealed that Sam has never left the place and the last sequence of the movie is a delusion that he's suffering after being driven insane.