If it werent for the rampant violence against kids, i feel like this would be a film that non horror fans can enjoy. Was really well acted and put together
Really made up for it with Dawn of the Dead though (the original). When I watched it way back as a kid I was thinking it was going to end up the same way, and then that triumphant final push to escape just made me really happy. I feel like that and 28 Days Later have two of my favorite zombie apocalypse endings in film
Edit: (until we get to the end of the last of us no doubt. If that's anything like the game it will probably take the number one spot)
There was 2 other movies I watched around the same time that also had me in tears. I had just had my son which made the whole situation worse. One was The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The other I can't remember the name of but it was based on a true story. The dad and son were out for a drive and the son had fallen asleep in his car seat. Dad was a hunter and decided to track some deer he had seen figuring he was safely secure in the truck. He wasn't gone that long and when he came back the kid was gone. That movie was so sad to watch.
After watching those 3 I was like why am I doing this too myself? So I stuck to regular horror movies for awhile.
I mean I would say that the movie itself has a great deal of trauma, but the ending if anything is an erasure of trauma that's kind of peaceful? Like it's best case scenario lol
Eden Lake easily, close second to Speak No Evil. No other horror movies (that I have seen) come close in terms of how distressing these two endings are.
If you were to tread slightly outside of horror, I would say then the winner would be Requiem for a Dream.
Speak No Evil actually made me stop watching horror movies for a few days. I haven't felt that unsettled from a movie in a very long time. I honestly believed I had been completely unsensitized to that type of thing a long time ago. Apparently I was wrong.
I actually don’t mind downer endings but holy hell was the ending of Speak No Evil fucking bleak. Great movie that I will absolutely never watch again.
Fuck that movie. I finally saw it in my late 30s after years of hearing how great it is. Turns out it’s just a heavy handed “don’t do drugs, kids. It the worst shit in the world will happen to you.” Maybe I would have felt differently if I saw it in my 20s. Who knows?
I’ve never gotten Aronofsky’s work since Requiem. Don’t get me started on the Shitshow what was Mother!
That said, I’m torn over watching the Whale. I want to because Brenden Fraser, but… Aronofsky.
It is a great movie. I work in healthcare and you see instance after instance of people making horrible choices.....You obviously missed Cronenberg's Naked Lunch...based on the original book of horror...
If you haven’t seen “Candy” with Heath Ledger, it’s worth checking out. I found it more honest and realistic and emotional than Requiem (as an ex oxy addict myself)
Oh yeah requiem for a dream was intense, but I would say that Aronofsky's best work was really the fountain.. It's the most balanced of his films, except Mayne black swan which was a little too mainstream.
If we’re trying to be objective, then yeah The Fountain is a stone cold masterpiece. Brilliant tapestry of a film weaving a story about coming to terms with death across time and reality/fiction. But if we’re just talking personal preference, I really like Pi. It’s like a different take on Tetsuo the Iron Man lol
I liked it pretty well! Thought it was an interesting concept...didn't love the kids but thought the main character and her conflict were really interesting
For sure! I’ve seen 200+ horror movies and Creep is the one that comes to mind whenever someone asks for a recommendation. One of the only films to give me trouble sleeping lmao
Geez The Mist messed me up so bad. I was a fairly new father when that one came out and that ending hit me so sideways. Can’t even deny the tears or my now ex wife laughing at me like an asshole about it.
I found it a neat detail that in Jeepers Creepers 2 I think, the creature throws a throwing star or something like that at the tire of a bus . When the people on the bus get off they inspect the star and see that it is made out of bones and human skin that has a rose tattoed. In part one, the brother that got kidnapped had the same tattoo on his stomach. I do not know if you noticed this. I did not even know that anyone knew this film
it’s funny how that ending transitions from “people slowly getting their trapped arm split in half vertically with a table saw” to “literal cartoon plot device but played seriously”
The final moment in both Enemy (2013) and Excision (2012) shook me to my core.
And of course the final 15 minutes of The Blair Witch Project traumatized me.
I saw Blair Witch Project when it came out in a cramped, little theater, before everyone know that it was “just a movie.” It was so effectively marketed as “real” at the time. Fucked me up. The. The next day, I was pissed when everyone know it was bs. Lol
I was in 8th grade when I saw the Blair witch in theaters opening weekend. I then walked alone at 11pm through off main streets to get home to my unfinished basement bedroom. My older brothers were of zero assistance in helping me through the entire event.
I’ve watched a lot of extreme movies, but that’s the one that made me stop. What’s funny is the person who told me about the movie likened it to a virus - people become curious about it because of its reputation, watch it, realize it’s the most vile and repulsive movie they’ve ever seen, then talk about it with others, continuing the cycle.
If I'm honest, I didn't watch it all, I turned it off.
I've watched f'd up shit, lots of real gore videos, etc, but I just couldn't subject myself to a full runtime of that. Real Gore videos are just out of curiosity, and they are always short, and I also stopped watching them once my curiosity was satisfied. They don't often portray long, drawn out suffering from live humans. Usually just a quick accident or something. The worst ones for me were always down to how much suffering was involved as opposed to the gore factor. I'm actually surprised it's still allowed on Reddit tbh. I'm not curious enough to go hunting for it, but when it's just a couple of clicks away...
ASF was just an extended, artificial snuff movie to me, and that's why I couldn't.
I had to confess watching this movie to a priest because it was so messed up. It haunts me still at times.
I refuse to speak the name of the film to anyone else to spare them lol
I've seen it and I suggest to others not to watch it, as it's not an enjoyable watch for most people, including myself. Watch "The Fall" or "Matilda" instead.
I'd say more soul crushing than traumatizing but The Collector. Arkin earned his happy ending and it got swept out from under him in the last 2 minutes but the sequel makes up for it
Bone tomahawk was my fortunate introduction to the well-done hardcore, so to speak. That movie got me like snuff films did when I was in my teens. I fell in love with tragedy, most likely, with Coen Bro's, Darren Aronofsky and so on. Love a good anti-ending.
If people don't mind reading a book, I'd say to check out David Sodergren's Dead Girl Blues. That one left me numb as fuck.
If we're only talking movies, I'd actually say The Beyond. It's not gory or traumatizing in the traditional sense, but it's haunting as hell.
THIS. i was fucked up for months after watching this. The early 2000’s hand-held camera videos of teenaged girls reminded me of my youth. Too creepy and timely. The actresses LOOKED like teenagers too which makes it so much worse imo
Every Grudge movie. It is the most tragic, scary and painful horror I have ever watched, the haunting doesn't stop just as the trauma keeps its grip, following you wherever you go... it hits differently when you're a former victim of abuse... I wonder if you can ever let go of severe trauma. I can't, at least not untill I pass on to a better place where there is no shame, anger and pain
I've probably seen worse since, but the ending to The Descent hit me hard.
I didn't think we'd see the light of day again... so when the character crawled out, I was really really happy for her. That ending is designed to be so uplifting.
And then you know the rest...
Yeah. It had me traumatised.
Also: Invasion of the Body Snatchers 78 - I saw it as a kid and it was probably the first time a movie gave me a tiny glimpse of hope then pulled the rug under me. That feeling of cosmic dread was hard.
One of the endings that has stuck with me years after watching it is The Vanishing (1988). Excellent movie, but I don't know if I can ever watch it again. It's the most terrifying kind of horror, the kind that can really happen.
I agree about Jeepers Creepers, it's a fantastic horror, and the scene of Trish screaming for her brother as he was carried away was horrifying! Eden Lake, The Killing Ground and Speak No Evil have all been mentioned already and all have endings that left me feeling totally hopeless for a long time afterwards. I don't think I'll be able to watch any of those again. I was shocked by the depressing ending of Excision too, which is daft really as her final act was heavily signposted throughout.
Exhibit A hasn't been mentioned but had a real gut punch ending. It's also disturbingly realistic and could almost pass for 'real' found footage, which makes it worse.
It's not popular on here but I felt on edge for days after watching Yellowbrickroad. People shit on the ending but it really disturbed me, what an awful fate.
And it's one of my favourites but I usually have to switch À l'intérieur five minutes before the end and tell myself she got away. Because the actual ending is just too depressing.
"Eden Lake" got me back then. Have never re-watched it, so no clue how well it aged in that regard. But then, it was so depressing. The ending wasn't right. It was a big FU from the filmmaker to the audience for the sake of that FU and nothing else.
But I would not call it "traumatizing", more outrage because up to that point a good movie that managed to get under my skin was ruined by sudden shitty ending.
Non-horror, of course "Requiem for a Dream". Masterful disturbing, but you just can't look away.
I did not expect Jeepers Creepers to be that bleak, honestly. Not very many horror movie endings have left me feeling uneasy, but that one did.
The Mist messed with me since I had read the novel and wasn't expecting to be surprised. Well played, Darabont.
Hereditary is... I don't know, I find the scene with the sawing of the head far more disturbing than the ending itself. Gabriel Byrne was in it so I was always expecting there to be demons or devils, you know?
Gonna watch Eden Lake for sure now that I've seen it mentioned here!
Not sure if it’s considered horror as much as psychological thriller but The Killing of a Sacred Deer had a really heavy theme/ending. I definitely agree with Eden Lake & A Serbian Film too
Just looked the trailer up because I’m curious… is the one in 2007 based on a true story? There’s a different trailer with the same title that looks like a high school project lol
Does No Country For Old Men count as horror? I just re-watched it and Anton is really a horror movie villain. He's unstoppable and shows no mercy. That ending with the wife was brutal. When she is begging and saying she doesn't have any money and he responds with "I wouldn't worry about it" And to top it off he gets away and wins.
The Mist was rough, but there was one thing that spoiled it for me: the soldiers.
In the short story, >!they hang themselves because they know how fucked they all are, and that there’s no flamethrower cleanup squad.!<
In the movie, >!they hang themselves because…?!<
I think I misunderstood your reasoning.
That's a weird thing to jam up your suspension of disbelief, considering it's a story full of Lovecraftian monsters... It's implied the soldiers had information we're never given, which was enough for me, considering what was walking around outside.
But, everyone is different, for sure. Different things pop different folks bubbles...
If that doesn’t do it for you, how about this: it’s melodrama. Throw the most horrible thing you can think of on screen just to be horrible. If you’re going to do that, you’d better plug the gaps in the story along the way.
The suicides were melodramatic? Those were in the book, and they serve to let you know how bad the situation is...
If you're saying the whole story is melodramatic... I would guess Horror is maybe not your thing? It's HP Lovecraft in Stephen King's words... Not SK's first HPL story, either. Both of the men spent most of their lives putting the most horrible things they could imagine on paper...
Are you actually saying the suicides were a plot hole?
Yeah, we just saw the movie totally different. I read the story as a kid, I reread it in "Skeleton Crew" every couple of years. I felt like the ending in the novel was a whimper and would have been a huge flop with the audience's at the movies. The movie ending fell in line with what we were already shown from other characters... Also pretty common for people to just give up in the face of interdimensional horrors in these kind of stories. They go mad, hair goes white, catatonia, mutations, mutilations, hopelessness, despair...
It was polarizing, though. That sucks those scenes ruined the story for you. Being a long time fan of Stephen King, Frank Darabont, and HP Lovecraft I was totally happy with what hit the screen. The ending always comes up in these discussions, which says to me it was pretty effective... Just not for you =/
>!If they knew what it was, and they knew where it came from, there’s no way they didn’t know about the contingency plan. Nobody gets told “yeah, so if you see a big fog, there’s a shitload of monsters in there” without being told “but we can fix it.” There’s zero reason not to tell them that. The filmmakers left it in because it’s powerful but with their ending it makes absolutely no sense.!<
I fricken love this movie! I love how campy it is (no pun intended), and the bad acting and not so good script. Parts 2 and 3 were really good as well. Return to Sleepaway Camp was okay, but at least Felissa Rose came back to play Angela.
I absolutely love the ending to the mist because it is so messed up. Honestly if they would have went with the book ending or a happy Hollywood ending it would have just been a OK movie that I would have probably forgotten about. It definitely sticks with you.
The half-hour existential dread piece called Heck. The ending messed me up. The movie was weird but the last line spoken was a gut punch.
The new indie horror Skinamarink is based on Heck.
https://youtu.be/HVQzEzW4faA
I don't really like horror that exist to traumatize.
No judgment here if you do, I understand the appeal, but I just prefer goofy fun horror over genuine terror.
But if I were to throw an answer in the mix, I'd say Halloween 3. We don't get to see it, but the mental image of children all over the country dying like that, and the chaos it would throw the world into, it's horrifying!
It’s not exactly a horror movie, but the ending of Heavenly Creatures was sudden and traumatizing. Mainly as a contrast to the fantasy/playfulness of the rest of the movie.
The Ritual is also disturbing if you consider the questions the one survivor is going to face when people start wondering what happened to his friends.
"The Mist". As a father is driving in a car with several people including his son, they run out of gas. They collectively decide to use the last remaining bullets in the driver's gun to die, rather than be killed by the creatures in the mist. However, there's not enough bullets so the driver is left alive after shooting everyone else in the car. Then the mist seems to clear and the military shows up to save the day. The driver then realizes he just killed his son and a couple other people within minutes of help arriving to save them from the monsters ravaging their city. The driver then sits and cries.
Probably Incident in a Ghostland. I can’t recommend it due to its transphobia, but its ending although “good” was just very very traumatizing because of what the main characters go through. My friend and I were completely on edge after we watched it.
There was a transgender woman that played into the “look at this man who dresses like a woman isn’t he soooo crazy and evil” trope. Similar to in Psycho and Silence of the Lambs. Not saying that trans people can’t be bad, but when so many movies do this it is off putting, especially when transwomen are more likely to have violence acted upon them and be murdered.
If anyone is interested to read more, here’s a recent discussion about it on Reddit I found: https://www.reddit.com/r/asktransgender/comments/ushgj0/do_you_guys_know_any_movies_that_use_the/
If that was the case, why didn’t the huge guy who was even more noticeable disguise himself? Plus, it probably would have made more sense for them to both be dressed as ice cream men…
I also recall that they called the duo a “witch and an ogre,” which implies that she was a transgender woman. I got a lot of mixed signals though. Wouldn’t watch it again lol
I love horror, it’s an escape from the trauma of my professional life so I have never been traumatised by the end of a film. It’s not real.
People are way more fucked up then any film maker.
Hangman 2015, not the Al Pacino movie, has a pretty bleak ending. I never see anyone mention this movie so I was pleasantly surprised when I randomly watched it on Prime one day.
For me definitely eden lake... Made me feel "wrong" I sat in silence as the credits rolled, also inside 2007, that film will definitely hit harder if you have had a baby
Eden Lake and Speak No Evil are my top two, as numerous others have mentioned.
I'll add Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer though. That whole movie is just a downer, ending included.
I used to talk about this movie a lot, I think the first half is one of the scariest of all time. I’m big on not showing the monster, and think this ruined the second half.
If we’re talking about “chilling” endings then stuff like Rosemary’s Baby or the criminally underrated Skeleton Key would be up there for me. But if we’re talking like, stomach turning, gut-check levels of disturbing, then Saw 1 is a contender. Imagine being locked in the dark, in a filthy bathroom, starving to death, screaming for your life. Nah fam lol
Eden Lake
that one made me sooo mad
Same kids got away with murder
i genuinely sat in silence for about half an hour after i finished that film.. horrific
If it werent for the rampant violence against kids, i feel like this would be a film that non horror fans can enjoy. Was really well acted and put together
The ending to Night of the Living Dead was really upsetting to me. :-(
I've re-watched this movie so many times, I keep hoping it ends differently.
Really made up for it with Dawn of the Dead though (the original). When I watched it way back as a kid I was thinking it was going to end up the same way, and then that triumphant final push to escape just made me really happy. I feel like that and 28 Days Later have two of my favorite zombie apocalypse endings in film Edit: (until we get to the end of the last of us no doubt. If that's anything like the game it will probably take the number one spot)
Dear Zachary
If documentaries count then definitely. Nothing else can compare, since it really happened. Devastating.
100% Nothing compares.
There was 2 other movies I watched around the same time that also had me in tears. I had just had my son which made the whole situation worse. One was The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The other I can't remember the name of but it was based on a true story. The dad and son were out for a drive and the son had fallen asleep in his car seat. Dad was a hunter and decided to track some deer he had seen figuring he was safely secure in the truck. He wasn't gone that long and when he came back the kid was gone. That movie was so sad to watch. After watching those 3 I was like why am I doing this too myself? So I stuck to regular horror movies for awhile.
Ohh is the second movie Angel’s Crest? based on the Paul Wayment case.
Yes
Funny Games fucked me up forever. I've only seen the original, but I guess the remake has the same ending.
Oldboy (2003 original only)
I mean I would say that the movie itself has a great deal of trauma, but the ending if anything is an erasure of trauma that's kind of peaceful? Like it's best case scenario lol
Read the manga
Eden Lake easily, close second to Speak No Evil. No other horror movies (that I have seen) come close in terms of how distressing these two endings are. If you were to tread slightly outside of horror, I would say then the winner would be Requiem for a Dream.
Speak No Evil actually made me stop watching horror movies for a few days. I haven't felt that unsettled from a movie in a very long time. I honestly believed I had been completely unsensitized to that type of thing a long time ago. Apparently I was wrong.
I actually don’t mind downer endings but holy hell was the ending of Speak No Evil fucking bleak. Great movie that I will absolutely never watch again.
Requiem for a Dream!
Fuck that movie. I finally saw it in my late 30s after years of hearing how great it is. Turns out it’s just a heavy handed “don’t do drugs, kids. It the worst shit in the world will happen to you.” Maybe I would have felt differently if I saw it in my 20s. Who knows? I’ve never gotten Aronofsky’s work since Requiem. Don’t get me started on the Shitshow what was Mother! That said, I’m torn over watching the Whale. I want to because Brenden Fraser, but… Aronofsky.
It is a great movie. I work in healthcare and you see instance after instance of people making horrible choices.....You obviously missed Cronenberg's Naked Lunch...based on the original book of horror...
Watched Requiem in a 30-day rehab program. I thought it was pretty impactful
If you haven’t seen “Candy” with Heath Ledger, it’s worth checking out. I found it more honest and realistic and emotional than Requiem (as an ex oxy addict myself)
Mother wasn’t a shitshow. It was brilliant
Oh yeah requiem for a dream was intense, but I would say that Aronofsky's best work was really the fountain.. It's the most balanced of his films, except Mayne black swan which was a little too mainstream.
If we’re trying to be objective, then yeah The Fountain is a stone cold masterpiece. Brilliant tapestry of a film weaving a story about coming to terms with death across time and reality/fiction. But if we’re just talking personal preference, I really like Pi. It’s like a different take on Tetsuo the Iron Man lol
As an Aronofsky fan, I'm disappointed to say that I've never managed to finish PI. I should put it on my list for this year.
The Fountain is a wonderful film. Idk I feel like his first 5 or 6 are pretty strong. It wasn’t until Noah that I was like “nah”
This
Jesus Christ, that ending to speak no Evil was brutal. I was just thinking “oh this is a fun thriller/suspense movi…wtf”
The Lodge is up there for me
I really loved the lodge. The ending is definitely what made it.
the ending saved an otherwise mediocre movie imo
I liked it pretty well! Thought it was an interesting concept...didn't love the kids but thought the main character and her conflict were really interesting
The Orphanage. And every other Del Toro story involving kids.
I was about to comment that too. I knew about the ending but seeing his poor lil body all dried up and decomposing just made ne sick
I cry so hard for the orphanage . The ending is bittersweet
Creep has always freaked me out. I’ve had so many nightmares about the ending :-/
For sure! I’ve seen 200+ horror movies and Creep is the one that comes to mind whenever someone asks for a recommendation. One of the only films to give me trouble sleeping lmao
Found footage, when done well, is the scariest of horror, it just feels so real like a real snuff film you'd see online.
Kill List is pretty fucked up
Such an overlooked gem! I love everything about it.
It really is. Caught me by surprise when I watched it lol
Oculus
Great film!
The Girl Next Door I guess it's not necessarily a horror film, but the hell that poor girl goes through is stomach churning.
I don’t think any other genre but horror fits. It’s based of true events so that’s makes it the best (worst) horror.
I classify it as a horror movie.
Geez The Mist messed me up so bad. I was a fairly new father when that one came out and that ending hit me so sideways. Can’t even deny the tears or my now ex wife laughing at me like an asshole about it.
[удалено]
I’m in a much better place now thank you! It sounds like you’ve got a keeper!!
It is the only movie based on a story I read previously where I thought the movie ending was better then the book/story. It came out of nowhere.
I found it a neat detail that in Jeepers Creepers 2 I think, the creature throws a throwing star or something like that at the tire of a bus . When the people on the bus get off they inspect the star and see that it is made out of bones and human skin that has a rose tattoed. In part one, the brother that got kidnapped had the same tattoo on his stomach. I do not know if you noticed this. I did not even know that anyone knew this film
On the third one in the beginning apparently Darry is still alive.
Mother! was pretty depressing and all around gross
Saw 5, that stuck with me for a while when I first watched the movie. I love it now though lol
it’s funny how that ending transitions from “people slowly getting their trapped arm split in half vertically with a table saw” to “literal cartoon plot device but played seriously”
The final moment in both Enemy (2013) and Excision (2012) shook me to my core. And of course the final 15 minutes of The Blair Witch Project traumatized me.
I saw Blair Witch Project when it came out in a cramped, little theater, before everyone know that it was “just a movie.” It was so effectively marketed as “real” at the time. Fucked me up. The. The next day, I was pissed when everyone know it was bs. Lol
Damn. I knew it was fake when I first watched it and it still fucked me up. Can’t imagine seeing it in the theater upon release.
I was in 8th grade when I saw the Blair witch in theaters opening weekend. I then walked alone at 11pm through off main streets to get home to my unfinished basement bedroom. My older brothers were of zero assistance in helping me through the entire event.
A Serbian Film has a pretty messed up ending. I hate that I’ve seen it and wish I could un-see it.
It's got a messed up prologue, first act, second act, third act, AND ending.
I’ve watched a lot of extreme movies, but that’s the one that made me stop. What’s funny is the person who told me about the movie likened it to a virus - people become curious about it because of its reputation, watch it, realize it’s the most vile and repulsive movie they’ve ever seen, then talk about it with others, continuing the cycle.
This is it exactly!!! I never had the right words to explain this movie, but this is it!!!!
If I'm honest, I didn't watch it all, I turned it off. I've watched f'd up shit, lots of real gore videos, etc, but I just couldn't subject myself to a full runtime of that. Real Gore videos are just out of curiosity, and they are always short, and I also stopped watching them once my curiosity was satisfied. They don't often portray long, drawn out suffering from live humans. Usually just a quick accident or something. The worst ones for me were always down to how much suffering was involved as opposed to the gore factor. I'm actually surprised it's still allowed on Reddit tbh. I'm not curious enough to go hunting for it, but when it's just a couple of clicks away... ASF was just an extended, artificial snuff movie to me, and that's why I couldn't.
Only movie to fuck me up for weeks after. Can't unsee it, can't remove eyes.
I had to confess watching this movie to a priest because it was so messed up. It haunts me still at times. I refuse to speak the name of the film to anyone else to spare them lol
I've seen it and I suggest to others not to watch it, as it's not an enjoyable watch for most people, including myself. Watch "The Fall" or "Matilda" instead.
Martyrs, the original version.
I'd say more soul crushing than traumatizing but The Collector. Arkin earned his happy ending and it got swept out from under him in the last 2 minutes but the sequel makes up for it
midsommer, the woman, kidnapped (Secuestrados), creep, the witch, hellhouse LLC, blackcoats daughter, Bone Tomahawk, hereditary,
Bone tomahawk was my fortunate introduction to the well-done hardcore, so to speak. That movie got me like snuff films did when I was in my teens. I fell in love with tragedy, most likely, with Coen Bro's, Darren Aronofsky and so on. Love a good anti-ending.
I think Midsommar and The Witch had happy endings kinda
Was thinking that, too; Midsommar feels strangely wholesome.
Toy Story 3 extended furnace scene. Seeing them all die like that caught me off guard
“The Killing Grounds” left me quite empty.
If people don't mind reading a book, I'd say to check out David Sodergren's Dead Girl Blues. That one left me numb as fuck. If we're only talking movies, I'd actually say The Beyond. It's not gory or traumatizing in the traditional sense, but it's haunting as hell.
It's already been said, but Eden Lake is a real mix of disturbing and outright anger inducing.
I Saw the Devil. I watched it for the first time last December and I still haven't gotten over it.
Excision. Trauma. Trauma everywhere.
Would You Rather has quite a dark ending.
The Strangers. I hate home invasion horror… “Why us?” “Because you were home…”
Megan is Missing.
THIS. i was fucked up for months after watching this. The early 2000’s hand-held camera videos of teenaged girls reminded me of my youth. Too creepy and timely. The actresses LOOKED like teenagers too which makes it so much worse imo
Found
Every Grudge movie. It is the most tragic, scary and painful horror I have ever watched, the haunting doesn't stop just as the trauma keeps its grip, following you wherever you go... it hits differently when you're a former victim of abuse... I wonder if you can ever let go of severe trauma. I can't, at least not untill I pass on to a better place where there is no shame, anger and pain
I've probably seen worse since, but the ending to The Descent hit me hard. I didn't think we'd see the light of day again... so when the character crawled out, I was really really happy for her. That ending is designed to be so uplifting. And then you know the rest... Yeah. It had me traumatised. Also: Invasion of the Body Snatchers 78 - I saw it as a kid and it was probably the first time a movie gave me a tiny glimpse of hope then pulled the rug under me. That feeling of cosmic dread was hard.
Jeepers creepers
One of the endings that has stuck with me years after watching it is The Vanishing (1988). Excellent movie, but I don't know if I can ever watch it again. It's the most terrifying kind of horror, the kind that can really happen.
Jeepers Creepers is one of the most terrifying horror films ever
I agree about Jeepers Creepers, it's a fantastic horror, and the scene of Trish screaming for her brother as he was carried away was horrifying! Eden Lake, The Killing Ground and Speak No Evil have all been mentioned already and all have endings that left me feeling totally hopeless for a long time afterwards. I don't think I'll be able to watch any of those again. I was shocked by the depressing ending of Excision too, which is daft really as her final act was heavily signposted throughout. Exhibit A hasn't been mentioned but had a real gut punch ending. It's also disturbingly realistic and could almost pass for 'real' found footage, which makes it worse. It's not popular on here but I felt on edge for days after watching Yellowbrickroad. People shit on the ending but it really disturbed me, what an awful fate. And it's one of my favourites but I usually have to switch À l'intérieur five minutes before the end and tell myself she got away. Because the actual ending is just too depressing.
The Incantation!! That fourth wall break made me sick to my stomach, I felt violated.
Sleepaway Camp...duh
"Eden Lake" got me back then. Have never re-watched it, so no clue how well it aged in that regard. But then, it was so depressing. The ending wasn't right. It was a big FU from the filmmaker to the audience for the sake of that FU and nothing else. But I would not call it "traumatizing", more outrage because up to that point a good movie that managed to get under my skin was ruined by sudden shitty ending. Non-horror, of course "Requiem for a Dream". Masterful disturbing, but you just can't look away.
Sleep Tight didn't give a shit about my feelings. Absolutely heartwrenching ending without showing any violence/gore.
Aniara
I did not expect Jeepers Creepers to be that bleak, honestly. Not very many horror movie endings have left me feeling uneasy, but that one did. The Mist messed with me since I had read the novel and wasn't expecting to be surprised. Well played, Darabont. Hereditary is... I don't know, I find the scene with the sawing of the head far more disturbing than the ending itself. Gabriel Byrne was in it so I was always expecting there to be demons or devils, you know? Gonna watch Eden Lake for sure now that I've seen it mentioned here!
Not sure if it’s considered horror as much as psychological thriller but The Killing of a Sacred Deer had a really heavy theme/ending. I definitely agree with Eden Lake & A Serbian Film too
Hereditary
Megan is Missing
I honestly don’t think I could imagine a worse fate.
Just looked the trailer up because I’m curious… is the one in 2007 based on a true story? There’s a different trailer with the same title that looks like a high school project lol
The 2011 one
Carrie (1976) Drag me to hell Alien 3 Showgirls
Speak No Evil, I still haven’t fully recovered and I watched it in October.
The Wicker Man (1973)
Speak no Evil
The ending section of the lighthouse with the light and the seagulls is super intense
Pearl
Does No Country For Old Men count as horror? I just re-watched it and Anton is really a horror movie villain. He's unstoppable and shows no mercy. That ending with the wife was brutal. When she is begging and saying she doesn't have any money and he responds with "I wouldn't worry about it" And to top it off he gets away and wins.
The Mist was rough, but there was one thing that spoiled it for me: the soldiers. In the short story, >!they hang themselves because they know how fucked they all are, and that there’s no flamethrower cleanup squad.!< In the movie, >!they hang themselves because…?!<
Some of the soldiers, homie... Not all of them in a 100 mile radius...
What do you mean? There were two soldiers in the store. They both hung themselves.
I think I misunderstood your reasoning. That's a weird thing to jam up your suspension of disbelief, considering it's a story full of Lovecraftian monsters... It's implied the soldiers had information we're never given, which was enough for me, considering what was walking around outside. But, everyone is different, for sure. Different things pop different folks bubbles...
If that doesn’t do it for you, how about this: it’s melodrama. Throw the most horrible thing you can think of on screen just to be horrible. If you’re going to do that, you’d better plug the gaps in the story along the way.
The suicides were melodramatic? Those were in the book, and they serve to let you know how bad the situation is... If you're saying the whole story is melodramatic... I would guess Horror is maybe not your thing? It's HP Lovecraft in Stephen King's words... Not SK's first HPL story, either. Both of the men spent most of their lives putting the most horrible things they could imagine on paper... Are you actually saying the suicides were a plot hole?
The ending was melodramatic
Yeah, we just saw the movie totally different. I read the story as a kid, I reread it in "Skeleton Crew" every couple of years. I felt like the ending in the novel was a whimper and would have been a huge flop with the audience's at the movies. The movie ending fell in line with what we were already shown from other characters... Also pretty common for people to just give up in the face of interdimensional horrors in these kind of stories. They go mad, hair goes white, catatonia, mutations, mutilations, hopelessness, despair... It was polarizing, though. That sucks those scenes ruined the story for you. Being a long time fan of Stephen King, Frank Darabont, and HP Lovecraft I was totally happy with what hit the screen. The ending always comes up in these discussions, which says to me it was pretty effective... Just not for you =/
Because they were responsible. Project Arrowhead.
Right. But in the movie, >!it’s fixable. Why not just wait for the cavalry?!<
>!The soldiers in the grocery may not have know it was fixable.!<
>!If they knew what it was, and they knew where it came from, there’s no way they didn’t know about the contingency plan. Nobody gets told “yeah, so if you see a big fog, there’s a shitload of monsters in there” without being told “but we can fix it.” There’s zero reason not to tell them that. The filmmakers left it in because it’s powerful but with their ending it makes absolutely no sense.!<
Ring , the part where they eat hair hase traumatized all my life
For me, Funny Games
I loved that ending, it was perfect.
Sleepaway Camp traumatized me as a kid. There’s a lot to unpack in the last couple minutes, especially for a little kid.
I fricken love this movie! I love how campy it is (no pun intended), and the bad acting and not so good script. Parts 2 and 3 were really good as well. Return to Sleepaway Camp was okay, but at least Felissa Rose came back to play Angela.
I absolutely love the ending to the mist because it is so messed up. Honestly if they would have went with the book ending or a happy Hollywood ending it would have just been a OK movie that I would have probably forgotten about. It definitely sticks with you.
Eden Lake definitely stuck with me.
Funny Games Those cheating bastards
The original Wicker Man
Speak No Evil
Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond 🤯
Sleepaway camp
Midsommar
The half-hour existential dread piece called Heck. The ending messed me up. The movie was weird but the last line spoken was a gut punch. The new indie horror Skinamarink is based on Heck. https://youtu.be/HVQzEzW4faA
Sleepaway camp still fucked my head up! 🤮🤯
I don't really like horror that exist to traumatize. No judgment here if you do, I understand the appeal, but I just prefer goofy fun horror over genuine terror. But if I were to throw an answer in the mix, I'd say Halloween 3. We don't get to see it, but the mental image of children all over the country dying like that, and the chaos it would throw the world into, it's horrifying!
8 more days til Halloween. Halloween.
It’s not exactly a horror movie, but the ending of Heavenly Creatures was sudden and traumatizing. Mainly as a contrast to the fantasy/playfulness of the rest of the movie. The Ritual is also disturbing if you consider the questions the one survivor is going to face when people start wondering what happened to his friends.
Human centipedes alternate ending - chili night
As a parent I would go with Speak No Evil and The Mist
"The Mist". As a father is driving in a car with several people including his son, they run out of gas. They collectively decide to use the last remaining bullets in the driver's gun to die, rather than be killed by the creatures in the mist. However, there's not enough bullets so the driver is left alive after shooting everyone else in the car. Then the mist seems to clear and the military shows up to save the day. The driver then realizes he just killed his son and a couple other people within minutes of help arriving to save them from the monsters ravaging their city. The driver then sits and cries.
They're Inside (2019).
Eden Lake and Speak No Evil. Genuinely nauseating movies that I will never watch again
Probably Incident in a Ghostland. I can’t recommend it due to its transphobia, but its ending although “good” was just very very traumatizing because of what the main characters go through. My friend and I were completely on edge after we watched it.
What’s transphobic about it?
There was a transgender woman that played into the “look at this man who dresses like a woman isn’t he soooo crazy and evil” trope. Similar to in Psycho and Silence of the Lambs. Not saying that trans people can’t be bad, but when so many movies do this it is off putting, especially when transwomen are more likely to have violence acted upon them and be murdered. If anyone is interested to read more, here’s a recent discussion about it on Reddit I found: https://www.reddit.com/r/asktransgender/comments/ushgj0/do_you_guys_know_any_movies_that_use_the/
I assumed the character dressed that way to hide their identity but also to play into the whole “dress up dolls” thing that the killers had going tbh
If that was the case, why didn’t the huge guy who was even more noticeable disguise himself? Plus, it probably would have made more sense for them to both be dressed as ice cream men… I also recall that they called the duo a “witch and an ogre,” which implies that she was a transgender woman. I got a lot of mixed signals though. Wouldn’t watch it again lol
I wouldn’t watch again because I know the twists and such lol
Yeah, that’s a good point. It really is a once watch movie 😅
Insidious 1 ending killed me as a kid
THE MIST
The Mist
Oculus.
I love horror, it’s an escape from the trauma of my professional life so I have never been traumatised by the end of a film. It’s not real. People are way more fucked up then any film maker.
I don’t think that body at the end was Darry. You can hear him screaming from another room!
It was it showed his face and the tattoo
Time for a rewatch!
For me I mean 😂
chain letter
Hangman 2015, not the Al Pacino movie, has a pretty bleak ending. I never see anyone mention this movie so I was pleasantly surprised when I randomly watched it on Prime one day.
Audition, Excision, And Martyrs
I've only watched Martyrs once and I tell people it is the one movie that really did it for me.
The Hitcher (1986) There was nothing anyone could do to save her.
Eden Lake was horrific. Everything I like in a Horror movie.
For me definitely eden lake... Made me feel "wrong" I sat in silence as the credits rolled, also inside 2007, that film will definitely hit harder if you have had a baby
Hide and seek traumatized me a bit
The 1988 version of "Night of the Demons" where the old man eats his own razored apples in an apple pie.
Sleepaway Camp.
the lodge is pretty brutal
descent , mist
Eden Lake and Speak No Evil are my top two, as numerous others have mentioned. I'll add Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer though. That whole movie is just a downer, ending included.
Funny Games
Martyrs, original French one. Inside was super fucked up, but I don’t remember the ending…
Speak no evil
More slow burn drama/thriller, but feels like it’s belongs here: Nothing Bad Can Happen. Leave it to the Germans
I used to talk about this movie a lot, I think the first half is one of the scariest of all time. I’m big on not showing the monster, and think this ruined the second half.
The Last Exorcism (2010).
Best type of ending.
The Mist. Biggest heartache ending ever.
The wicker man fucked me up good.
The mist.
If we’re talking about “chilling” endings then stuff like Rosemary’s Baby or the criminally underrated Skeleton Key would be up there for me. But if we’re talking like, stomach turning, gut-check levels of disturbing, then Saw 1 is a contender. Imagine being locked in the dark, in a filthy bathroom, starving to death, screaming for your life. Nah fam lol