WARNING : Spoilers for multiple horror movies ahead .

Summary

Some really greathorrormovies terminate with evilness emerging winning as the heroes are left dead , despondent , or otherwise unable to defeat the villains . Horror motion-picture show have to strike a tricky balance when it amount to tone . Although the genre is designed to dash looker , if things get too bleak and laborious to watch , a significant portion of the audience will inevitably be put off finishing the story . As such , manygreat horror moviesoffer viewers a concession by providing a relatively hopeful finish . The Final Girl usually triumphs over the slasher , no matter how many of her friends he has killed .

Some revulsion movies counteract this , refuse to provide any resolution . There are movie where the killer is never discover , leaving viewers unsettled and uncertain and film where the hero turns out to have been the villain all along . However , none of these are quite as bestial as the horror movies where the hero straight person - up lose . Plenty of miserable - rent horrors have used this bleak twirl as a chinchy surprisal , but there are a smattering of genuinely corking horror moving picture that lean into the musical genre ’s darkest side with ending that veil any hope and permit malign victory .

10Sinister

A last-second twist makes this 2012 chiller much nastier than it seems

Cast

For most ofSinister ’s runtime , it looks like Ethan Hawke ’s honest law-breaking generator Ellison is playing with fervency by staying in a haunted house with his kinfolk . When he uncovers boxes of snuff picture show in the attic , Ellison discovers that the monstrous demon Bughuul has been possess children and forcing them to shoot down their families . Miraculously , Ellison make do to get his folk out of the haunted house before this fate befalls his minor , only forSinister ’s fell twist endingto reveal that moving only made things defective asEllison ’s daughter becomes possessed , drug her entire fellowship , and kill them .

9The Strangers

This home invasion horror never gives its heroes a chance to fight back

2008 ’s home invasion horrorThe Strangersis one of the subgenre ’s most distressingly effective entranceway since the wedge have no musical theme why they are being place and no way to defend themselves . When Liv Tyler ’s Kristen answers the door to a mysterious alien , she does n’t bring in she and her boyfriend are in for a night of terrifying chases , torture , and eventual death at the hand of these mask liquidator . Although Kristen might make it out live , the heroes never kill the Strangers or unmask them , let alone learn why they attacked them .

8An American Werewolf in London

This classic horror-comedy is a lot bleaker than viewers may remember

For much of its runtime , An American Werewolf in Londonfocuses on its sub David , and his ostensibly sentence attempts to cure his lycanthropy . The tone of this repulsion - drollery is relatively grim , but most of David ’s account does nothing to prepare viewers for one of the most tragic repulsion villain dying ever . Not only does he never rule a remedy , butDavid ends up exit in the blazon of his love interestbeforeAn American Werewolf in London ’s ending suddenly cut to black .

7Spoorloos (The Vanishing)

This infamous Dutch thriller has a truly hopeless, haunting ending

1988’sSpoorloos ( The Vanishing)is a hypnotic , uniquely terrifying horror motion-picture show that follows Rex , a adult male who becomes taken up with his girlfriend ’s disappearing . When he at last run across her abductor , Raymond , the smooth sociopath tells him he will show Rex what fall out to her . Desperate to know , Rex ends up drinking the drugged coffee tree Raymond offers him and aftermath up inside a coffin six feet below the ground . It ’s a savagely nihilistic , cruel finish to a sorely effective repugnance story .

6Dead Silence

This underrated killer doll movie leaves all of its heroes dead

2007’sDead Silencesees its hero return to his small hometown and confront a hex that has lasted generations after it claimed the life of his wife . While this apparatus might sound familiar , what makes the flick noteworthy is the hero ’s concluded unsuccessful person to defeat the demonic villain aim him . By the timeDead Silenceends , the heroes are all all in and their tormenter , the sprightliness of puppeteer Mary Shaw , is more sinewy than everin a uniquely dark wind terminate few viewers will see coming .

5Fallen

This supernatural thriller’s hero comes painfully close to beating the villain

1998’sFallenfollows Denzel Washington ’s beleaguered police detective as he attempts to work out the connection between a serial of seemingly unrelated slaying . When he discovers the culprit is a body - hop demon , he manages to lure the ogre ’s current host out into a remote cabin before shooting them and himself to ensure they ca n’t escape . The fiend then simply hops into the body of a nearby cat . Admittedly , this ending makes the movie a waste material of time , but the braid is so brutally canny and cruel that it still fitsFallen ’s hopeless note dead .

4Oculus

This haunted mirror horror has a terrifying, hopeless coda

Before Mike Flanagan became renowned for his challenging Netflix horror show , the writer / director created 2013 ’s haunt mirror horrorOculus . This metre - shifting chiller see a pair of siblings adjudicate to uncover the mystery behind a cursed mirror that killed their parents . The duo convey the mirror back to the scene of the offense and , instead of destroying it for good , terminate up tricked into doing its bidding . By the last , Oculus ’s hero is blamed for his sis ’s deathwhile the mirror ’s big businessman are bright .

3Cult of Chucky

The killer doll reigns supreme by the end of this 2017 effort

WhiletheChild ’s Playmoviesvary in terms of quality , one affair that the franchise always has is a sick sense of humor . As such , it was no surprisal when Chucky ’s 2013 comeback saw him pin a string of murders onCurse of Chucky ’s helpless heroine . What is more surprising is that he gets away with it , only for 2017’sCult of Chuckyto reaffirm this desolate world . By the conclusion of this slasher subsequence , Chucky successfully transfers his soul into another body , killing all the heroes and live to see another day .

2Smile

This 2022 horror hit has a truly crushing twist ending

2022’sSmilesees a disturbed psychologist , Rose , slowly see that she is being targeted by some sort of paranormal entity that feeds off pain and fear . While Rose rely on her beau , co - worker , sis , and finally even her ex for support , no one can stop this entity from quest for her , and few even consider that her ordeal is pass off . Eventually , Rose faces off against the monster in a remote cabin and seemingly overpower it , only forSmile ’s endingto revealthe apparently happy ending was all a mirage that forces an played out Rose to let the monster possess her .

1Hereditary

This dark horror drama’s demonic villain eventually wins the day

Ari Aster ’s 2018 debutHereditarysees the Graham family gradually fall apart after a tragic accident claims the life of their untested fellow member , Charlie . While the teen slacker Peter is the focus ofHereditary ’s orifice one-half , the moving-picture show slowly lurch its attention to his grieving mother Annie in its final bit . However , none of the cast is spare whenthe fiend Paimon successfully possess Annie , uses her organic structure to shoot down Peter , and then possess Peter ’s bodyto get ahead human form in thishorrormovie ’s unremittingly cutting conclusion .

Ben Affleck as Christian drumming his hand on the table while talking to Cynthia Addai-Robinson’s Marybeth in The Accountant 2

Kaitlyn Santa Juana as Stefanie looking horrified in Final Destination Bloodlines

In a dusty landscape Finn stares out into the distance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

A custom image featuring Katee Sackhoff and Karen Gillan in Oculus

Headshot Of Juliet Rylance

Headshot Of Ethan Hawke In The Screening of Raymond And Ray During The 47th TIFF

Cast Placeholder Image

Headshot Of Vincent D’Onofrio In The 2024 Disney Upfront

Headshot Of Scott Speedman

Headshot Of Laura Margolis

Headshot Of Gemma Ward

Headshot Of Kip Weeks

David Naughton grimacing while sprouting hairs during a werewolf transformation in An American Werewolf in London

Headshot Of Jenny Agutter In The ‘The King and I’ press night at the Dominion Theatre

HeaDHSOT oF Griffin Dunne

Rex smiles at his girlfriend in Spoorloos (The Vanishing)

Judith Roberts as Mary Shaw peering from the darkness in Dead Silence

Denzel Washington’s Cobb stares ahead lost in thought in Fallen

A white eyed demon woman smiles in Oculus

Chucky standing in a white room in Cult of Chucky

Rose stares in horror in Smile 2022 ending

Headshot Of Jessie T. Usher In The Premiere of Shaft

Headshot of Kyle Gallner

Headshot Of Robin Weigert

Headshot Of Toni Collette

Headshot Of Gabriel Byrne