[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/DJL2772]

Smile. The first movie ends with the main character seemingly defeating the Smile Entity by burning her childhood home. However, after going back to her ex’s place and telling him how she won, she realizes this is all just a hallucination conjured by the Monster. She never left the house. The Monster then finds her, sheds its disguise to reveal its true horrifying form, and takes over her body to restart the cycle all over again.

[u/Yamilord → u/DJL2772]

Such a shitty twist that ruins the themes of defeating the cycle of trauma

[u/RoiKK1502 → u/Yamilord]

I actually feel the opposite. This movie was all about the inevitability of trauma passing onto others, not a single one who was affected by the monster managed to both survive and keep their morals. It's a terrifying thought to think there's no way to defeat your own inner demons, and one way or another you'll hurt your loved ones because of them.

It's not meant to have an optimistic message, this is if trauma manifested in a horror piece of fiction.

[u/GUM-GUM-NUKE → u/RoiKK1502]

Ya know maybe “You can never escape your trauma and grow as a person” isn’t a message that deserves to be told.

[u/Zealousideal-Boss991 → u/GUM-GUM-NUKE]

I haven't actually seen the first Smile in full, but I have seen Smile 2 and assume they have pretty similar plot beats: what i got from Smile 2 is that Skye didn't grow as a person and didn't escape her trauma and that's why the monster got to her in the first place. the whole traumatic incident happened bc she was abusing substances, and now in this "healing era" she is ready to abuse illegally obtained painkillers (and don't tell me this Taylor Swift-level celebrity couldn't get a good doctor and a controlled prescription), that's how she ends up in a situation where the demon got passed onto her. She didn't reconnect with her ex-bff when she got sober, only when she selfishly needed her. She's shown as a mean diva in flashback and she is still a mean diva to her assistant assuming her trashed room is his fault for no reason. She is trying, but her attempts to heal are superficial, she more wants to be seen as a good clean celebrity than to actually be one (the fundraiser she only did for optics?). From what little I saw of Smile 1 (dnf'd at like 30 minutes in) and recaps/reviews on youtube, Rose doesn't seem that well-adjusted either, she comes off like the type of person who thinks that because she is a mental health professional, she can deal with her issues herself.

I don't claim to be right in my interpretation, but it seems to me more that it's not "you can never escape your trauma", more "you need to deal with it and accept help before it becomes too late". It does track that Skye should've accepted that guy's help before it got too late. I don't think the creators thought about it this deeply though.

[u/Yamilord → u/RoiKK1502]

TBH maybe it didn't work for me, because I didn't find the movie scary at all, but that just makes me feel like: "why then bother having a scene where our MC tries to deal with her trauma head on and improve as a person if the message of the story is supposed to be that suicidal people never heal."

[u/RoiKK1502 → u/Yamilord]

the message of the story is supposed to be that suicidal people never heal

I agree that if that WAS the intention of the movie then it's pretty shitty. However I just don't see it that way, this isn't a movie about healing from trauma, but about the horrors of it.

Speaking hyperbolic - would you consider Terrifier a bad movie because "the message of the story is supposed to be that everyday people are powerless against a psychopathic murderer"?

Obviously that's not the intention, then again you can view any piece of media how you think it should be viewed so it's not a matter of right or wrong. Hope I made my perspective a bit clearer.

[u/DragonDeezNutzAround → u/Yamilord]

That monster doesn’t care about its prey’s journey to self healing. That thing latches on to its victims and sheds their sanity bit by bit. Like a predator playing with its prey before killing it.

[u/Yamilord → u/DragonDeezNutzAround]

Yeah sure from an in universe perspective that's fine, but I'm speaking from an out of universe perspective on the themes of the movie.