Gloomy, sad or bleak movie endings

[ImmortalSlasher]

I think it depends on the feel and tone of the movie. If the two examples in the opening are Seven and The Mist those are good examples of setting a dark and foreboding tone. John Carpenter is also very good at that in his End of the World movies.

I personally hate it when a bad ending is for shock value though. I can't remember the movie, I guess it was pretty bad. But a character gets shot, I think in the face. It might have even been a female character. And I felt bad because it happened to a girl. And it was more for shock. More a look what happens and life is unfair and dangerous sort of thing. But the whole time the movie's tone wasn't like that. If anyone remembers this movie let me know. Now I'm trying to remember what movie it was.

[Roiffalo]

(This is going to be a bit off topic but I swear it's related.)

Situation pending it can be a good thing or a bad thing. Two examples I can think of are Evil Dead when it had an ending with a bit of shock value, and Mexican Werewolf in Texas (you can insert any terrible B movie here really though) which also had a jump scare.

Evil Dead it was fitting and approved of by audiences, and whenever anyone plays the attacking camera bit at the end of the movie people automatically get pissed off and accuse the film of ripping off Evil Dead. What makes Evil Dead fitting though? It's an 80s film with campy effects and one guy against constant evil, rarely giving the movie a minute to breathe once shit hits the fan. I think the lack of hacking things to pieces is what makes the final attack so effective. Really what was left to attack after all that? It puts you on the edge of your seat and makes you crave more.

Where Mexican Werewolf in Texas and its equal crap counterparts do so poorly at trying to create a scare, using bad effects and no build up to try and make you jump. One cannot fear jump scares alone though. The movie's final attempt at trying to scare its audience is just that. A lousy jump scare. Giving a horror movie a sudden bleak ending with an unexplained attack does not make it scary and thus a good horror movie. If you're going to make the movie any good at this point you might as well let the characters live. It'd be more unexpected and less whoring yourself out to try and be spooky.

That said bleak, gloomy, sad, etc endings only benefit the movie if it furthers the story. It wants to leave an impact with the audience, something that will make them talk about it for hours after words and recommend it to their friends just so they can understand why it was such a powerful film.

It can also be argued that certain genres of horror would be better fitted with a tragic ending. Horror comedy for example prooooobably wouldn't be a good one. That kind of movie wants to leave a humorous impact and killing everyone off would just leave a hollow impact. Drama would certainly work. Thriller could go either way. It's really about knowing what audience you're trying to entertain and story you're trying to do it with.

[jburning]

I love bleak endings, but it sort of depends on the context. John Carpenter's The Thing is my favorite bleak ending ever. Other well-done bits of nihilism include Requiem for a Dream, The Fly, Found, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, etc.

Then there are some films that are so bleak that they make me feel icky afterwards, like A Serbian Film and Salo.

[Ferox13]

I love Lovecraftian Horror, so happy cute endings are a must for me.

[Anthropophagus]

I love bleak and depressing endings.

The Mist
Se7en
The Road
Oldboy
Planet of the Apes.(original of course)
Wicker Man
The Vanishing
Funny Games

[1890 Media]

Just wanted to chime in and say another bleak ending I enjoyed was Session 9. The whole last line of the movie leans toward Satan. I think Orphanage and May were good examples as well.

[MightyKat]

The sort of ending a movie "should" have will obviously depend on the particular story in question. I'm a big fan of tragedies and bleak endings, but I also find it cheap when movies tack on a "just kidding! The monster was still alive the whole time!" moment in the final seconds of the movie. It just seems lazy and unplanned.

Whether it's "bleak" or not, I prefer an ending that's ambiguous. If something "doesn't sit quite right" at the end of the movie, I'm more likely to reflect on it long after the movie is over. (Of course, a movie that just does a bad job telling its story to a point where it's confusing wouldn't fit in this satisfyingly ambiguous category)