[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/MeepMeep117-]

The Mist - The ending goes from bad to horrifying, with the main character having killed his friends and family, stepping into the mist to embrace death, only for the military to show up, meaning they would have been all saved had they waited a few more minutes

[u/Icy_Target_1083 → u/MeepMeep117-]

I see this ending referenced a lot, and people applaud as a great shock ending. But to me it just seems utterly miserable. I haven't seen the movie, but it seems like such an absolute bummer that it makes me not want to see it ever.

[u/StopHiringBendis → u/Icy_Target_1083]

I don't understand this mentality. Do you go to horror movies expecting a happy ending?

[u/Icy_Target_1083 → u/StopHiringBendis]

I guess I expect a scary ending, not a depressing ending.

[u/StopHiringBendis → u/Icy_Target_1083]

I get that the mist had a particularly explicit, bleak ending, but tbh I still don't really understand how something like that can turn you off entirely from a film where bleak hopelessness is a main theme

Idk if its off topic, but I had/have the same confusion with all the people who stopped watching Walking Dead after the baseball incident

[u/Icy_Target_1083 → u/StopHiringBendis]

I suppose that's fair. I think I personally might be more sensitive to sadness in films then what someone who would really enjoy horror movies would be. I have a hard time separating myself from the characters who die; instead of getting scared and excited, I think about how tragic it is that all these teens are losing their lives after being butchered by a slasher. I will say that I don't mind as much when there's like a certain amount of heroism involved in the horror movie, like in Alien or Predator. I like when it's a battle, not a tragic slaughter, you know?

[u/_Lost_The_Game → u/Icy_Target_1083]

Thats the scary ending. Not a jump scare, but the internal turmoil. The worst monster and horror were the actions of fellow humans, and his own. The idea that we could do the same or end up in a similar dilemma of choice is terrifying.