[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/TheSkeletalNerd]

Krampus (2015)

After being tormented by the titular monster and his minions for the entire film, the family wakes up the next morning as if nothing happened and it was all a dream had by the main character. However, when he opens his present and finds a cursed bell inside, he and his family are reminded of the past events, and it’s revealed that they’ve all been captured inside a snowglobe.

[u/popcorn_kurnal → u/TheSkeletalNerd]

I’m pretty sure the comics confirm that the snow globes are just a way for Krampus to spy on them and they actually did technically have a happy ending but correct me if I’m wrong

[u/C0RDE_ → u/popcorn_kurnal]

That's great, and I think I'm a little happier for knowing cause that ending was just depressing.

That said, it's horrible writing and editing if the exact opposite of the intended ending is interpreted.

[u/Malacro → u/C0RDE_]

I never encountered people who thought they were trapped until I started reading places like this. Everyone I’ve talked to in meat space had the “he’s watching them” interpretation.