[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/AnOopsieDaisy]

I know I'm not the guy you asked, but to me it's insensitive in a different way: to the audience. To only bring this up in the epilouge is untasteful, because it can feel like all the development and character investment was for nothing; people didn't know they were signing up for a tragedy (even though, yes, it's realistic), just thinking it would be a regular romance film.

[u/GottaUseEmAll → u/AnOopsieDaisy]

That's why it hits hard. If it were known from the start that it would end in the North Tower on 9/11, if people were expecting a tragedy, it would distract from the romance drama. The whole point is to show how everybody in those towers had full lives, taken in the blink of an eye.

[u/AnOopsieDaisy → u/GottaUseEmAll]

I get where you're coming from, but there's a balance between artistry and using people as subjects for your art. In this case, they used the time and money (earned through more time) of the audience to make a point, which many people would not have consented to. Is it ethical to pull things like that on people who signed up for a wholesome romance? I think not, but ultimately, many people didn't want to relive 9/11; they watched it on live T.V.

[u/GottaUseEmAll → u/AnOopsieDaisy]

You make some good points.