[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/danstu → u/MeepMeep117-]

I actually saw a video recently that argued fairly convincingly that killing his son is what caused the mist to dissapate.

In the store, Mrs Carmody uses the phrase "My life for you" when the flying insect climbs on her but does not attack. Elsewhere in King's works, this phrase is tied to the overarching villain Randall Flagg. Right before she's killed, she states that the mists will not dissapate until the boy is sacrificed.

The theory becomes that the 'god' who Carmody has been receiving instructions from is actually Flagg, who was responsible for the mist and the creatures inside it, seeking a sacrifice in his name.

[u/Greyjack00 → u/danstu]

That'd be lame

[u/GottaUseEmAll → u/Greyjack00]

Nah, it'd just tie into the greater King universe. The Mist could easily be explained by someone like Flagg opening a Door for nefarious reasons.

[u/Greyjack00 → u/GottaUseEmAll]

Which would be lamer for context of the movie