When it comes to movies, everyone loves a happy ending. It gives us a false sense of security that everything is right in the universe and that evil is always punished and good always wins.
Of course that’s not true and some movies take a perverse pleasure in showing it, with endings so resoundingly shocking or unhappy that they leave viewers hiding behind their pillow or peeking through their hands. So when a poster on Reddit recently asked people to name their favorites of these “anti-happy-ending movies” the movie-loving masochists of Reddit responded in droves, with references to endings from movies that some of us probably forgot or else wanted to. These are movies that take you on a wild ride and then punch you in the gut.
Needless to say this post is rife with major spoilers so skip the movies you haven’t seen if you’re into that.
1. There Will Be Blood (2007 )
“It’s one of my favorite endings ever! The main characters are both horrible people, who we see interacting in the movie over the course of many years/most of their lives. One becomes a merciless, vindictive oil baron and the other becomes a smarmy, hypocritical radio evangelist. The ending consists of the evangelist going to the baron to beg for money to support his fraudulent lifestyle, where the baron drunkenly mocks and belittles him, then beats him to death with a bowling pin.”
2. Watchmen (2009)
3. Hereditary (2018)
“From a horror fan perspective, that one fucked with me a bit. I loved it.”
4. Parasite (2019)
“Absolutely. That final pan away from that house on the hill into that shitty little sub-basement just crushed any hope at a good ending for that poor kid.”
5. The Lighthouse (2019)
“What a strange way to end an already strange movie.”
6. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
“It was a very special movie with regards to tearing down the borders of genres. The end was also definitely not happy. What a roller coaster!”
7. The Dark Knight (2008)
“The Joker pretty much wins.”
8. No Country For Old Men
“No good ending, no bad ending. Just an ending, and life goes on.”
9. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
“I mean, sure, it was happy for Thanos…”
10. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975 )
“I love the ending and always will. The perfect way to end a comedy.”