Top Ten Worst Movie Endings In History
Then buzz it up
February 18th, 2008 at 13:00 by David Schwartz
There is nothing worse than watching a good film only for it to be ruined by a terrible ending.
It can be an appalling plot twist which makes you question why you bothered in the first place, an abrupt end that leaves more questions than answers , or, even worse, bloody Ewoks (More of that later).
Well, hecklerspray has decided to rustle up the top 10 worst offenders into a handy, easy-to-carry-home format. Now, be warned, this list will definitely contain plot spoilers. Look, it would be impossible to talk about a film's ending and how bad it is without revealing what actually happened. But that doesn't mean we're the sort of people who enjoy spoiling endings.
Notoriously, some git once decided to spoil the ending of the The Usual Suspects for thousands of Londoners by drawing a big arrow on the identity parade poster for the film pointing at Kevin Spacey's head. Shit, now we've just done it. Also, apparently, the Portuguese translation for the horror classic Psycho was 'The Story Of The Man Who Killed His Mother'. D'oh! Done it again.
See, when we do it, it's by accident. we find ourselves constantly revealing the fact that Bruce Willis is a ghost in The Sixth Sense. Bollocks!
Look, here's the list…
10. King Kong (2005)
OK, we already knew what the ending was going to be, but it's the terrible Jack Black line at the end about 'beauty killing the beast' - or something like that - that just stinks. Come to think it, there's only one bit of the film that's really worth watching anyway. Plus it take about five hours for them to get to the sodding island. Rubbish!
9. The Breakfast Club (1985)
Everyone gets together, apart from the geek, who writes the report for all of them. Geeks everywhere weep.
8. The Village (2004)
The problem with M. Night Shyamalan now is that everyone expects a good twist at the end after the success of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. And when it is coming a mile away, it makes you wonder why you bothered in the first place.
7. Dead Man's Shoes (2004)
Dodgy plot twist did some damage but the real disappointment was it actually finished at all. Shane, please make a sequel!
6. Titanic (1997)
Bloody history teacher spoiled this for us.
5. No Country For Old Men (2007)
We really enjoyed this film until suddenly it ended. Did they run out of money or something? It's like when you used to write an essay for school, get halfway through it and then realise there is a good film on TV so you rush the end. What was on that was so good? Not bloody No Country For Old Men that's for sure.
4. War of the Worlds (2005)
Not so much for the fact that the aliens all catch colds and die within about three or four seconds of each other; more that, by chance, Tom Cruise stumbles across the one house left in America that hasn't been turned to rubble - and his entire family are in it, all spotless and happy. Terrible ending - a much better alternative would have been to get Tom Cruise stomped to death by a giant metal alien foot. In slow motion. For two hours. In real life.
3. Sunshine (2007)
A man comes out of nowhere and chases everyone around. It was like, 'shit, we've realised this is really boring, the sun isn't that interesting, so let's get a nutter on board'. No, it was just fine as it was and you fucking ruined it. Left us with sunstroke.
2. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)
Why not pick just one ending and go with that? For fuck's sake! So Sam and his hobbit bar wench have kids. Big deal. Meanwhile, we've all put our coats on in the cinema and we're praying that the credits come soon so we can have that slash we've been holding in for the last four hours.
1. Return of the Jedi (1983)
Even to this day we get angry about this. Okay, Return of the Jedi was the worst of the first three films (we don't even want to think about the next three). But it has some good moments. There's Princess Leia in a gold bikini, Jabba, and the bit where Boba Fett gets eaten by a giant anus. But the bloody Ewoks! What were they thinking? Actually, we know exactly what they were thinking. Money! What better way to sell merchandise to little girls than to come up with teddy bears? To make it worse they do a little dance at the end.
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February 18th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
For what it’s worth, the “‘Twas beauty killed the beast” line from “King Kong” was the last line spoken in the original version as well. Does it make it better? No, not if you hate the line. But there you have it.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Here’s a question for you. Can you think of a bad movie where the protagonists die at the end? No? didn’t think so.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I sure can Gilbert: the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. It wasn’t exactly explicit but if they’re not dead we’re talking some serious Deus Ex Assina. Plus you can’t even hope to say it was good with a straight face.
Honorable mention goes to From Justin to Kelly, even though that was just an elaborate fantasy world that I wished I lived in.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:24 am
i love the ewoks, and their little dance!
….she squealed girlishly…..
February 19th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I can’t believe “No Country for Old Men” is up there. The ending is perfect.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:03 am
No Country for Old Men has a great ending - they should have swapped it with Virgin Suicides or the Italian Job.
Casablanca’s is wank as well.
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2146727
February 20th, 2008 at 3:05 am
srsly.
did you not pay attention to the first 2 hours of NCFOM? It was all leading towards that. C’mon. Let’s hear it for smart film viewers around here, hmm?
February 20th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Wow this is a really pathetic attempt to summarize what other people are supposed to think about films… I happen to disagree with every single one on the list.. but then I guess because I don’t put a website on Digg that makes that an irrelevant point.
This site was a waste of my time, as was writing this comment.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:20 am
I agree wholeheartedly with Mark. No County For Old Men is a cinematic triumph, and no other ending would’ve fit.
But then again, I guess it would suck if you think it’s just a movie about an evil dude who, like, kills people with a cattle stunner because he’s so badass omg lol.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:22 am
Originally Fay Wray, who played the orginal Ann Darrow, was going to say the line. Sadly she died shortly before she was scheduled to film it. So Jack Black had to step in her shoes for it.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:15 am
I also want to cast in my vote for No Country. It was perfection…you just didn’t catch it. Watch it again and give it a chance. Pretty please.
And while I’m here, I’d like to add my agreement that King Kong was ridiculous start to finish.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
[...] 10 worst movie endings [...]
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
This is the worst list ever. Its shit like this that pisses me off. If you really think these were the worst endings of all time you know nothing. As said below, the King Kong line is a classic, so what if its cheesy, it was in the original and thats all that matters. The Return of the King ending has to be very similar to the book, what most people dont get is that they are traveling into the Gray Havens in the end and blah blah its a long description but people would of been pissed if they changed the end of the movie form the book. I really still cant believe this idiot put these as the worst movie endings
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
If shit like this pisses you off, you’ll really hate the “Top 10 Movies We Claim To Hate Just Because It Irritates Morons When We Insult Things They Like”.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:23 am
half of your listings are almost exactly the same (word for word) as another authors worst movie endings list thats on page 1 of google as well, heres an ending…Form your own opinion!
June 4th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
No country for old men should have been number 1.. What started out as a good movie ended in disaster when they abruptly stopped the film without telling you things such as ; what happened to the crazy guy? what happened to the money? and a list that goes on and on.. this was almost as bad as the soprano’s abrupt ending, i give this film 2 thumbs down!
June 18th, 2008 at 5:19 am
yo, you suck.
The new “King Kong” was decent enough. “No Country For Old Men” won, like, 5 academy awards, and is ranked very high on IMDB’s Top 250. “Sunshine” was sick, and “Return of the Jedi” is AN ORIGINAL star wars film, come on!
June 18th, 2008 at 9:03 am
“half of your listings are almost exactly the same (word for word) as another authors worst movie endings list!”
Oh dear, exposed for the bunch of cheating hacks that they are!
Actually, I was considering setting up an Australian Blog “cut&paste” style using HS as a “template”. Is that legal?