The horror genre has a profound way of tapping into our most primal emotions. Fear, anger and sadness are often the themes of these types of films and can leave some moviegoers in a fragile state of mind after watching. While it’s a given that most horror movies don’t end happily ever after; some films leave viewers with a deep sense of depression. Let’s take a look at and rank the most depressing horror movie endings.
10 Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Sam Raimi brings his unique style of horror to the 2009 horror movie Drag me to hell. A film that tells the story of a young girl named Christine and her journey to rid herself of an ancient gypsy curse that predicts she will be haunted by a demon for three days before being taken to Hell. It is told that as long as Christine is in possession of the item cursed by the gypsy, in this case a button, she is doomed to be taken by the demon. When the gypsy woman dies, Christine believes she has a golden opportunity and passes the button to the gypsy woman’s corpse. Feeling safe, Christine meets her boyfriend at the train station, where he reveals to her a missing button of hers that he had found in his car. Now in possession of the cursed item again, Christine’s time is up and her boyfriend has to watch as she is dragged to Hell. It’s a really depressing, yet maniacally awesome final scene to this Raimi movie.
9 Pet Sematary (1989)
The 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name, Pet Sematary, is a movie that focuses on one of the most profoundly sad concepts, which is losing a child. After his son Gage is killed by an unconscious trucker on a busy country road, Louis Creed decides to bury his son in a nearby pet cemetery. A cemetery, according to its neighbor, would have “acid” soil, but portends the possibility of returning those who have died to the land of the living. Louis’ son does come back, but is far from the sweet little boy he was before his death. The reanimated Gage begins attacking his parents, even going so far as to kill his mother. After finding his dead wife and now being forced to watch his son die again, this time at his own hand, Louis has come to a devastating discovery that he has been in error, hasn’t he? Believing he waited too long to rebury his son in the pet cemetery, Louis tries again with his wife, only to be confronted by her in the final moments of the film and eventually killed.
8 The Descent (UK version) (2005)
A claustrophobia’s nightmare, The descent tells the story of six friends who go on an adventure in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. The protagonist Sarah uses the journey as a method to help her grieve the loss of her husband and daughter. As the group dives deeper into the cave, they begin to fall prey to creatures known as “crawlers” in the film. With Sarah as the only survivor, she makes her way to safety…or does she? In the American release of the film, this is really the end, no ifs, ones or buts, Sarah escaped. It’s the film’s UK release that provides the truly depressing ending as it plays out similarly with Sarah escaping, only for the audience to soon realize that her entire escape was part of a hallucination as she’s stuck stays put in the cave as the creepers get closer. her.
7 The Strangers (2008)
The strangers has become a cult classic since its release in 2008 and features one of the bleakest stories and depressing endings in all horror movie history. It tells the story of James and Kristen, a couple going through relationship troubles, and their stay at a remote vacation home after a friend’s wedding. The two begin to be terrorized by three masked strangers, who unleash physical and psychological torments on them for no other reason than being home. At the end of the film, James and Kristen are finally captured by the strangers, who repeatedly stab the pair to death. It’s a group of young men handing out religious pamphlets that come across the horrific scene and when one of them tries to touch Kristen, she’s shaken out of consciousness and seemingly alive before the camera goes black and the movie ends.
6 Hereditary (2018)
Director Ari Aster has quickly made a name for himself in the horror genre, kicking off with his feature film debut and self-described “disturbing”, Heir apparent. This psychological horror film is an in-depth character study of the psychological dysfunctions of families, as the members’ old secrets are exposed within as they all deal with the loss of Charlie, a daughter and sister of the remaining characters. As the son of the family, Peter is haunted by an unknown force. When it is revealed that Peter’s grandmother was a member of a coven, he becomes the intended host body of the other coven members, hoping to provide a home for the demon Paimon. By the end of the film, Peter has suffered the loss of his sister and both of his parents, and now remains Paimon’s vessel.
5 saw (2004)
Saw was truly a genre-changing film upon release and helped usher in the oft-criticized “torture porn” era of horror. Despite what other movies the movie may have opened the door to, Saw itself is a well-balanced horror film, a perfect balance of blood and gore with well-written and unpredictable story content. The main focus of the movie revolves around Dr. Lawrence Gordon and his reluctant cellmate Adam, who are stuck together and chained in an old bathroom with a corpse in the middle. The two are forced to engage in physically and emotionally exhausting “games” by an unknown assailant named Jigsaw. When dr. Gordon has finally had enough and saws off his own foot to escape the room, the corpse in the center begins to rise, revealing himself as Jigsaw, the mastermind behind the game. A screaming Adam is left behind as Jigsaw declares “game over” before locking Adam away forever.
4 Se7en (1995)
Inspiring countless dark and mind-blowing psychological thrillers since its release. Se7en follows two detectives on the hunt for a serial killer who torments him, inspired by the seven deadly sins. The film is regarded as one of director David Fincher’s best films and contains a great story reflections of humanity. The ending finds Brad Pitt’s David Mills character as a pawn in the killer’s game at the end. Discovering what is said to be his wife’s decapitated head in a box, and inflicting the seventh and final sin of wrath on the killer, John Doe, as he shoots him to end the film.
3 Lake Eden (2008)
In the Anglo-French horror film Eden lake, a relaxing weekend away in a remote English countryside turns deadly for Jenny and Steve when they are terrorized by a gang of teenagers. As the teens stage their sadistic acts throughout the film, it results in Steve’s death and Jenny flees the woods in a panic. When Jenny returns to town, she crashes her car into a house party and discovers she has ended up at the home of her attacker’s parents, whose sadistic tendencies are as primal as their children.
2 Night of the Walking Dead (1968)
Night of the Living Dead is a horror film widely regarded as the best zombie movie of all time, and has received tremendous critical analysis since its release in 1968. A key moment in the film that is explored in great detail in this analysis is the bleak and depressing ending. As the hordes of ghosts are repelled throughout the film, the film’s only African-American character and sole survivor, Ben, is mistaken for a ghoul by a rescue crew and shot to death before being incinerated with the monsters’ bodies. The ending is generally dark, as audiences are forced to watch the main character they’ve rooted for the entire movie meet a gruesome fate. The ending takes on a whole new level of sadness if you believe that and theory Night of the Living Dead contains metaphors for domestic racism in America in the 1950s and 1960s.
1 The Fog (2007)
The end of Frank Darabont’s big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, The fog, can be described as downright frustratingly depressing. The film focuses on a small group of townspeople who band together to survive supernatural creatures descended from a mysterious fog that has engulfed the town. Since David Drayton’s protagonist is able to aid in the escape of his son Billy and three other townspeople, they begin driving in an attempt to escape the fog. The group’s happiness comes to an end when the car runs out of fuel and the monsters close in. The group makes the decision to end their lives rather than face the monsters. The burden falls on David to shoot the remaining survivors, which he does, before ending his own life. After completing the task, which included killing his own son, David prepares to get out of the car and be taken away by the creatures. As he does, the fog begins to burn away, revealing an army unit that has begun destroying the creatures. David falls to his knees, having just killed four people, including his son, when rescue was only a stone’s throw away.