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The Worst Surprise Endings in Movie History

Thursday October 22, 2009

Categories: "Gothika Rule", Commentary, Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Huffington Post has got a list of the nine worst surprise endings in movie history (well, in the past few years). I was pleased to see three of my Gothika Rule picks on the list, "Perfect Stranger," "23," and "The Forgotten." (For newcomers -- the "Gothika Rule," named for a movie with one of the worst endings of all time, means that I will give away the surprise to anyone who sends me an email to save them what I had to suffer in watching it.) Be sure to check out the comments from readers with their own suggestions. I'd add "The Pink Jungle," "Desperate Measures," and, of course "Gothika." Any others?

Comments (11)

Filed Under: gothika, huffington post, movies, surprise endings

posted by Nell Minow @ 3:59pm Permalink email icon

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Steve

January 1, 2010 3:33 PM

Dear Nell,

While we could go at this with a plethora of movies I offer you two...by the same director...same family of movies...

Jurassic Park....II and III. I contend that Spielberg must be ADHD. Somehow, someway...he loses interest at about the 3/4 mark in the above two movies, falls into a deep Hollywood sleep, and the same guys who have been breaking in to some of the stars home of late, break into his office...finish writing the script and magically, its brought to the big screen in the truest sense of let down one could "Not" hope for in a Spielberg action/adveture/fantasy flick.

The last beach scene in Jurassic Park III made me just wonder who viewed the daily's and allowed this to get through.

How true the saying..."Potential never realized, is only potential"

Toby Clark

January 20, 2010 2:53 AM

Now that I've seen Signs, I don't think the ending is that stupid. Remember Bo's paranoia about contaminants in her drinking water? Maybe that's what killed the alien, not the water itself.

Steve: Jurassic Park III was directed by Joe Johnston, not Steven Speilberg.

Dave, I agree about Superman II's disappointing use of the Reset Button although it's still not as bad as what Richard Donner did when he made his cut in 2006. However, I don't agree about Donnie Darko, which was far more complex than a reset button. I suggest you read Richard Kelly's explanation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_darko#Director.27s_interpretation
I'm also unclear on what your problem with Se7en was. My understanding is that the killer is making his victims and their sins instruments of a death, if not always their own. Most of the victims may do so under coercion, but they still kill themselves (Pride takes the pills, Gluttony overeats, and Greed cuts himself, while Lust could be said to apply not to the prostitute but to the man forced at gunpoint into killing her). This fits with the final scene, in that Doe kills Tracy because of Envy and Mills kills him because of Wrath.

The one that bothers me though is Sloth, since it's not even clear that he was a sloth before Doe got to him.

Nell Minow

January 20, 2010 8:31 AM

http://blog.beliefnet.com/moviemom/

I agree with you, Toby, about Donnie Darko and Se7en. But the ending of Signs bothers me, not just because of the water (though you'd think this is the kind of thing the aliens would have checked into before picking our planet and you'd think that the issue would have come up sooner following their arrival) but the determinism of it, which suggested that God was on the side of Mel Gibson's family but not the millions of other people.

Wendy

January 25, 2010 1:44 PM

This is probably in a different vein (and I realize I'm late to the party), but for me it is the fictional films where one of the main characters the audience is rooting for dies at the end just to...I don't know...push the emotional envelope or something. The three examples that come to mind for me are _Message in a Bottle_, _City of Angels_, and _Pay It Forward_. I enjoyed all three of these films until the end, and then I felt like I had just been emotionally manipulated for the prior two hours. I don't mean to suggest a character can never die at the end, but make it a real part of the story--not a tag on manipulative ending.

Nell Minow

January 25, 2010 9:06 PM

http://blog.beliefnet.com/moviemom/

I agree, Wendy! Another one is "Nights in Rodanthe." Completely unnecessary!

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