Badmovies.org Forum

The discussion of alternate endings for Army of Darkness made me think of this topic. Relatively few movies stray from the norm of having the good guys come out on top in the end, or at least ending on a hopeful note. I wouldn't want too many movies to have unhappy endings, but they can make messages stronger and plots less predictable.

The question is, when did you first realize that the good guys don't always win?

In my case, it was many years ago, watching Colossus: The Forbin Project with my family. I don't remember exactly how old I was. Anyway, after all the efforts to deactivate Colossus failed, the big computer told humanity that it was in charge, and they would do what it told them or else. Roll credits.

How about you guys?

I can't remember the very first one but Lars Von Trier's "Breaking the Waves" and  the second Planet of the Apes movie comes immediately to mind.

-Heather

It was either after seeing John Carpenter's Halloween or Kaufman's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (which completely creeped me out as an 11 or 12 year old)

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

Creepshow 2 immediately comes to mind, because I was only 9 or so when I saw it for the first time. Each story had the "hero" failing and dying.

In all seriousness,  Mrs. Doubtfire. I'd seen lots of films with unhappy or ambiguous endings but when Robin Williams and Sally Field didn't get back together I was really confused. I was 13. Kind of pathetic.

Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers at the Drive-In.  Still one of the scariest endings of all time.  I wouldn't sleep voluntarily for weeks.

It was either Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original for me) or the Simpsons in general ("Marge, I'm confused-- Is this a happy ending or a sad ending?")

The Black Hole.  That movie still freaks me out!

I can't believe no one said "Planet of the Apes" or "Beneth the Planet Apes" both with a negitive ending, kinda like Sci-fi.

Also on their the movie Campfire tales and to a certain extent Alien 3 I guess because Riply "died". Forrest Gump had a pretty unhappy ending everyone he loved and or loved him died in the end and the whole movie people make fun of him and he doesn't even realize it (I personally know what that's like)

I'll think of more

Uhm, I mentioned the second Planet of the Apes (the titles get a little fuzzy after the first one ;)

Forbin project, for sure, and the end of...ah...the Peter Cushing one with the bone sucking mutant turtle thingys on the island. The stinger at the end made me ask mom for a nightlite!

Forbin is right up there, but I remember seeing Willard along with Krakatoa, East of Java-- as a drive-in double feature when they came out.  Not really a happy ending to either of those movies.

John Carpenter's The Thing

and maybe even this show called Are You Afraid of the Dark. It's kinda like a creepy version of Goosebumps. Some of those episodes scared the crap out of me.

Darn, Vincent Price beat me to it -- from beyond the grave!

John Carpenter's The Thing.

>and maybe even this show called Are You Afraid of the Dark.

 Great little show! Some goofy episodes, but some were pretty good too. I wish Nick would play the final season of it again. I only saw like 3 episodes because it was almost never on when it was supposed to be,

The Quiet Earth

it starts off with an unhappy begining and ends with the mother of all unhappy endings.

I'm convinced. Where do I find this gem?

I used to love this show. And Roundhouse. Ah, Roundhouse...

My favorite episodes were "The Ghastly Grinner" and the one where the kid stole the clown's nose from inside the funhouse, and the clown's ghost stalked him. That show genuinely made me scared on a weekly basis (except for the really, really, REALLY cheesy episodes) when I was little. The first season still is spooky...

Roundhouse was cool, except for the dance sequences. They considered sitting on the ground kicking their feet and slapping their foreheads hot moves. I want one of those mobile recliners. I watched probably every Are You Afraid Of The Dark ever, but it was never really scary.

Yeah I watched both of those shows.  They made my Saturday Nights!

any HK/Asian love story
None of their movies end with lovers kissing in front of the sunset
they always end with one lover in anothers arms with one of them with a sword through their chest :)

Lots of really good responses. I'd forgotten Invasion of the Body Snatchers. That was another early unhappy ending that really surprised me.

I noticed a few people are also simply listing their favourite unhappy endings. Forbin, Body Snatchers and The Thing are all great. Another one that really blew me away was The Hitcher. Did anyone see that ending coming?

Any other examples of the best unhappy endings?

How about Invasion Earth, the British miniseries? It ends with them learning that they can't destroy the inter-dimensional invaders after all, so they just nuke the town to show that they're willing to destroy themselves rather than let the invaders win.

That reminded me of Failsafe, which reminded me of Dr. Strangelove.

Actually, Strangelove might belong in a different category - an unhappy ending that was funny.

The opposite of this for me would be Texas Chainsaw Massacre: I had gotten so used to downer endings in indie horror films of that era that I was genuinely surprised when the heroine actually got away. I still wouldn't exactly call it a HAPPY ending, as there's no real resolution, but it wasn't unhappy either.

Back when SNICK was cool.

The orginal line up

Carissa Explains it all
Roundhouse
Ren and Stimpy
Are you afraid of the dark

Later Roundhouse would be pulled for Pete and pete. And Clarissa for All That

The Ghastly Grinner eposide is a classic. I also really liked the one where the comic book villian came to life, but I'm a comic book fan so maybe it's just me

Actually, the idea of a happy ending in a slasher movie,or any horror movie for that matter, is kind of weird. The heroine gets away, but virtually everyone she knows is dead and she's psychologically scarred for life. It's very hard to say that the good guys won or that the bad guy lost - especially since there's usually a clue that he'll come back.

At least the survivors appear shaken in most endings. The ones that really get me are the movies that have people laughing and cheering because they beat the monster/killer/villain, in spite of the fact that their families or friends or whole society has been decimated brutally before their eyes.

Then there's some of the Nightmare on Elm St. series, in which Freddy is defeated, but then comes back and grabs somebody in the epilogue.

Another reason i don't watch this kind of film series. You know the monster can't be killed, so it's pointless to get involved, espchualy if they make characters that you can care about. The Tremors franchise understood this. They Made success by the heros possable, so since you were concentrating on them, it mattered what happened. The monster was just the "McGuffin" as it were. Sorry, but with real evil in my daily news, i prefer movies where the Villian/monster gets it but good. Tremors Three not only makes Burt Gummer (Of all characters), the hero, but pulls it off. And, Burt gets the last laugh! Oh, sorry...was that a happy ending i mentioned? My Appologies.

I can't really remember the first time I saw an unhappy ending. Could it be "Bonnie & Clyde"? Funny thing is that most of the must stunning unhappy endings I can remember are from thrillers. However, I rather like movies where the unhappy ending is not just a cheap last-second twist, but the ultimate and logic conclusion to the story. Here are my favourites and why:

1) Carlito's way (Brian DePalma). Just wonderful (and logic) ending. I showed the movie to my best friend and he inmediately reached for a kleenex, while he called me all sort of names.

2) The wild bunch: OK, one or two survive, but do you really think these people have a future? They are dinosaurs, cowboys in the XXth Century. They only can expect to make noise before they extinct, just as the others did.

3) John Woo's A bullet in the head: It speaks for itself.

4) Screamers: OK, it is a cheap last-second twist, but I love the ultimate irony of it: Hendrikson killed by the first and only spontaneous act he has performed in the whole movie, and the ship heading to the headquarters of the people who started the whole thing.

That's why I said TCM's ending wasn't really "happy." The heroine ends up covered in blood, all her friends are gone, and her mental condition is probably not great after her run-in with "Grandpa," AND all but one of the psychos are still alive, but she's alive, which is more than you can say for most protagonists in '70s indie horror flicks.

Resident Evil. Mirical mile (Big time). My bank statement, (oops, not fictional)

Ok, here's the ultimate unhappy ending: Testament. It's about a small town that is hit by radiation after a limited nuclear war. At first they think they're fine because the town was far enough away that they didn't suffer any damage. Then the people start dying of radiation poisioning. By the end, the mother is left with only one son and the retarded boy they took in, knowing they're all going to die.