Entertainment Weekly has the list: do you agree?
The 20 best horror movie endings of all time
“Careful,” Randy warns Sidney near the end of Scream (1996). “This is the moment when the supposedly dead killer comes back to life for one last scare.”
He’s right, of course: Billy Loomis does briefly stir again before Sid puts him down for good. And that’s no surprise. Randy’s meta-commentary throughout Scream is based on years of pop-culture consumption — anyone who has watched enough horror can tell you that these movies love to give the audience a final jolt before the credits roll.
But however popular the “one last scare” ending is, that’s not the only way to wrap up a horror film. Revisiting the most memorable conclusions from a bevy of genre offerings reveals a wide variety of endnotes, from the spooky to the somber to the sublime. There are jump scares, yes, but there are also endings that inspire more lingering dread. Some even find a surprising poignance amid the body count. You may find yourself shocked, moved, or simply delighted — in rare cases, all of the above.
If you want to see why you’ll have to flip to the article, so, here’s the list
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
- The Wolf Man (1941)
- Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
- Don’t Look Now (1973) (I have not seen this one)
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
- Carrie (1976)
- Friday the 13th (1980) (I went to school there, been to all the shooting locations)
- The Beyond (1981) (I don’t think I finished this one)
- The Fly (1986)
- The Vanishing (1988)
- The Blair Witch Project (1999)
- Saw (2004)
- The Devil’s Rejects (2005) (Never finished it, didn’t like it)
- The Mist (2007) (It was a good horror ending, but, I think it would have been better to go with the book ending)
- REC (2007) (I don’t think it was that scary, just more jump scare style, didn’t stick with me)
- Occult (2009) (Never heard of it)
- The Invitation (2015) (gave up, thought it was boring)
- Saint Maud (2019) (nope, premise looked dull)
- Midsommar (2019) (who are the people that say this is horror? A few bad scenes, but, really, I’d call it drama, ending was a little disturbing)
- Speak No Evil (2022) (Never saw it)
The ones I’ve seen, excepting Midsommer, do have great horror endings, but, they are missing one of the best
Not the best version, and reversed, but, seriously, Christine was dragged to hell. Great acting by Justin Long, who was looking into a camera and having to picture what was going on.
Also, the ending to the original Nosferatu is great, but, not necessarily scary. Hell House LLC is fantastic, as is the 3rd Hell House.
The Wicker Man (1973)