Dark Endings In Film
Jennifer
Moderator
What are your thoughts on dark endings in films? For me, I think they work great if they fit within the context of the film. For instance, I can't imagine the original Planet of the Apes without the dark ending. The final sequence makes the movie, and is one of the reasons, if not the main reason, why the film is considered a classic today.
Then sometimes dark endings that are changed for the theatrical release are better than what we got. Take Little Shop of Horrors for example. The original dark ending where the plants won is much better than the cheesy ending that was hastily put together for the theatrical release. It fit much better with the dark humor of the film, and we got the excellent finale song "Don't Feed the Plants" (which was included in the Off-Broadway and Broadway versions, and included in the film's soundtrack, but wasn't included in the theatrical release of the film).
Little Shop of Horrors Original Ending
vs.
Little Shop of Horrors Theatrical Ending
Sometimes though, it's good that dark endings get cut. The original ending of Clerks is a good example of a cut of a dark ending that was for the better. In the original cut, Dante is shot at the end, and it cuts to black on the shot of Dante's cold, dead eyes. While this fit thematically with Dante's line that he "wasn't even supposed to be here today", it was too dark for the subversive humor of Clerks, and didn't fit with the tone of the film. In the theatrical cut, it ended with Randall's line "you're closed", which was a much better ending for this story.
Comments
They can be captivating and extremely emotional if done right.
I still remember bawling like a baby at the ending of Requiem for a Dream.
No hope in that ending whatsoever.
I love dark endings to dark films, and I usually like curveball dark endings to happy films. That being said it has to be executed perfectly, a bad dark ending is way worse than a bad happy one.
I'm kind of a sucker for dark endings. If it hits me deeply on a personal level, then I'm most likely going to like it. Of course there are instances where they flat out suck, but I haven't seen one yet. Or I just don't remember up the top of my head.
Oldboy has an insanely dark ending.
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The film, The Mist left me sick to my stomach. I was so god damn devastated.
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Se7en has a good dark end. Probably one of the most memorable ones.
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I teared up hard at Life is Beautiful's ending.
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Oh, I forgot about Seven. It's definitely one of my favorite dark endings too.
Unbreakable is another dark ending that I really liked. It was from a time when M. Night Shyamalan still knew how to deliver a great twist ending.
Unbreakable Ending
No offence but these are funny endings. I'll give you few examples of bad endings.
Worth mention. TV show "The Outer Limits" is full of dark endings.
Planet of the Apes and the original ending of Little Shop of Horrors end with the extermination of the entire human race. I think that's pretty darn dark.
And, as for the original Clerks ending, I really don't see how a man getting shot, ending with a close up on his cold, dead eyes could be considered in any way funny. o_o
I like dark movies in general. 'Hara-Kiri' is a great dark movie, but the dark payoff at the end is just amazing. I highly recommend watching it.
Jen, the scene with Statue of Liberty is not dark at all. So popular, parodied multiple times, it's amusing. You're calling evil puppet plant pretty dark? Film is a comedy, even that scene was funny. Apocalypse is grim, sure, but in movies like "The Road".
"Clerks" are full of silly jokes, you've posted one more.
I guess the horror "slasher" films used this idea so much that it broke them.
SAW series don't even pretend to have a happy endings...
Also a lot of fictional works that have supposed happy endings, usually have it all break down if you start to think what happens after.
Parody doesn't stop the original intention of the film. Just because tons of people have parodied Silence of the Lambs, it doesn't stop Hannibal Lector or Buffalo Bill from being unnerving when you watch the film. As for Little Shop of Horrors, it's a dark comedy. There's a whole dark comedy genre. It's meant to make you laugh, but it tackles depressing themes at certain points too. The fact that no humans are left at the end of the original cut isn't a feel good ending, and it's not supposed to be (it was actually changed for the theatrical release because everyone in the test audience was depressed about the ending).
As for the original ending of Clerks, Clerks was full of funny scenes, but not every scene in the film was shot for laughs. This one definitely was not. I really fail to see what on Earth is funny about a man getting shot, with the scene ending with a shot of him lying dead, eyes open, as the scene cuts to black.
I love a good dark film. So if it fits, sure! Why not? Not going to have a musical number at the end of Saw. As long as it's a fitting ending, and isn't completely out of place.
Have you ever watched that movie 'Enemy' with Jake Gyllenhaal? It's quite a clever film. I still have nightmares about that ending now though...
That film left me feeling so empty at the end. I think I just sat there feeling lost for about an hour after it.
I have seen a lot of dark endings in movies. But if there is one I really like, then it is the ending for Saw 1, mostly because of the twist.
Dr Strangelove has a dark ending. Darkly humorous that is.
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Oldboy, Seven, the Blair Witch project, Million Dollar Baby, Life is Beautiful are some that come to mind.