Random Movies You Never Realized Have Super Bleak Endings (15 items)

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  (#1) The Thing

  • Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, Richard Dysart, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, David Clennon, Keith David

  At the end of John Carpenter's horror masterpiece The Thing, the titular alien is blown up and the world is (seemingly) saved, while Kurt Russell and Keith David (literally) chill in sub-zero temperatures, waiting to die. It's a bleak ending for the two of them, but they saved the world from a potentially apocalyptic threat posed by an alien. 

  Or did they? As revealed in commentary on blu-ray release of The Thing in 2016 by cinematographer Dean Cudney, the ending is a lot more bleak than you might think. The Thing still lives, which means it may well escape Antarctica, and have a cataclysmic effect on human society. 
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  (#2) Prometheus

  • Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, Emun Elliott, Benedict Wong, Kate Dickie

  Looking back, the bleakest part of Prometheus's ending is that it begat Alien: Legacy.   

  But at the time, the ending seemed on the up and up. Any Alien film (or sort-of-Alien film) in which the lead survives, along with the head of a cyborg, qualifies as having a happy ending. Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) lives, like Ripley in Alien. Not so bad. You kind of knew everyone else would die going into it, right?  

  However, in a film filled with characters making idiotic choices, Shaw takes the gold, silver, and bronze medals. See, Shaw has a ship, and could fly it back to Earth. Instead, she opts to track down the home planet of the Powder-esque aliens that gave birth to the human race. Which sounds like a one-way ticket to an excruciating death. If she runs into a bunch of god-aliens, they'll murder her. If there aren't any of them at her destination, she's alone in the middle of nowhere, light years from earth. Great. A real lose-lose situation there, Dr. Shaw.
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  (#3) Taxi Driver

  • Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks, Leonard Harris, Norman Matlock, Harry E. Northup, Peter Savage

  You probably have some friends who think those scene tacked on the end of Taxi Driver ruin the movie. That it should've ended with Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) pointing his hand at his head like a gun, covered in blood. But that wouldn't be nearly bleak enough. 

  So what really happens at the end? Travis Bickle heals, is deemed a hero by society for rescuing a young girl (Jodie Foster) from prostitution, and goes back to driving his cab. The fact that he's lauded as a hero is a cynical comment on America's obsession with violence, vigilantism, and cowboys. This man isn't better, he isn't healed, he isn't more well integrated into society. He's still violent psychopath out driving taxis, only now everyone thinks he's a hero.  
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  (#4) Logan

  • Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Richard E. Grant, Doris Morgado, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Eriq La Salle, Elise Neal, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Quincy Fouse

  At the end of Logan, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) sacrifices himself for his violent little clone, Laura (Dafne Keen), and several other mutant kids with mid-card powers. Even though Logan dies - which really is a bummer - the kids survive and escape. So that's happy overall, right?  

  Well... these kids needed Logan to escape the first time around, and now he's gone (along with Professor X). They beat the bad guys today, but there are plenty more where they came from. What's more, the kids need to get to Canada in order to be officially safe, and they're still in the US when the movie ends. Even if they make it across the border without being snagged by a team of baddies, they're still a bunch of kids wandering around in the wilderness, hoping someone will be there on the other side to help. 

  As bittersweet endings goes, Logan takes the cake, because the more you think about it, the more bitter it tastes.   
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  (#5) The Devil's Backbone

  • Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi, Fernando Tielve, Irene Visedo, Iñigo Garcés, José Manuel Lorenzo, Paco Maestre

  In The Devil's Backbone, Guillermo Del Toro's haunting tale of an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War, things seem to work out for young protagonist Carlos and friends. At the end, the boys lure evil Jacinto into the basement, stab him repeatedly (boys will be boys), and drown him with the help of a vengeful ghost.   

  Carlos and his gang then escape the orphanage, alive, with some gold, to boot. Seems like the kids are alright. But The Devil's Backbone is the definitive example of out of the frying pan, into the fire. The future is bleak indeed for Carlos and friends. Even if they make it out of Spain, which is ravaged by sectarian violence and will be ruled by fascist dictator General Franco for decades to come, it's 1939 in Europe. The Nazi have just, or will soon, annex Poland, and all hell will break lose. 
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  (#6) The Graduate

  • Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, Elizabeth Wilson, Brian Avery, Walter Brooke, Norman Fell, Alice Ghostley, Buck Henry, Marion Lorne

  Ben (Dustin Hoffman) drives up and down PCH in order to stop Elaine (Katharine Ross) from marrying the worst guy ever in The Graduate. He gets to the chapel moments too late and bangs on the windows, screaming "Elaine!" One of the more indelible images in cinema.  

  The moment after the young lovers run off together harshes the mellow. Elaine and a very disheveled Ben race to a bus, laughing at leaving her Ken doll fiancée at the altar.  

  Slowly, the laughs and smiles dissipate, as reality sinks in. "What have we done?" The Sounds of Silence indeed. These rich kids might be disowned by one, or both, of their parents, which will leave them each one trust fund short of success. The Vietnam War is under way, Richard Nixon's presidency looms, and both characters are so wrapped up in their own problems they probably don't have the time of day to care about one another.

  Who wants to bet they did the Baby Boomer classic? A few years a rebellion followed by kids, corporate jobs, nice houses, fat retirement packages, a bitter divorce, and a lot of complaining about how much groovier life was in the '60s. 
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  (#7) Terminator 2: Judgment Day

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Earl Boen, Joe Morton, S. Epatha Merkerson, Castulo Guerra, Danny Cooksey, Jenette Goldstein, Xander Berkeley

  Terminator 2 is inherently bleak because you know going into the movie everything is happening because machines take over the world and people live either as slaves or members of an endlessly persecuted resistance movement led by John Connor. But the ending of the movie doesn't seem that bad. T100 dies, T-800 dies, John and Sarah get away, and Miles Dyson destroys the technology from the first Terminator that leads to his creating Skynet. 

  But it's not all roses and sunshine, kids. Sarah Connor escaped a mental institution and will be chased by American authorities unless she flees the country. The implication is she escapes to Mexico. Which means John grows up a fugitive, ever fearful machines will destroy the world and force him to become a resistance leader. In preparation for such an eventuality, his mom will train him in survival and military techniques, so there goes your childhood, John. Which was already a nightmare, honestly.

  How many freakin' psychological problems is this kid gonna have by the time Skynet takes over the world? 
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  (#8) Metropolis

  • Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp, Theodor Loos, Erwin Biswanger, Heinrich George, Olaf Storm, Hanns Leo Reich, Heinrich Gotho, Margarete Lanner, Fritz Alberti

  Fritz Lang's sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis ends with what is essentially a gentleman's agreement between rebellious workers demanding better working conditions and the rank capitalists who were mistreating them. It seems like everything works out well for both parties, because the capitalists learn to have a conscious and the lives of the workers will most certainly improve in light of the agreement. 

  Okay, sure. Except the capitalists are in no way beholden to helping the workers at all. There is no legal agreement, no oversight. No third party keeping tabs on things. In fact, you might argue, as does Siegfried Kracauer in his book From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film, the workers are worse off than they were before. To quote Goethe, "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
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  (#9) The Truman Show

  • Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone, Holland Taylor, Ed Harris, Brian Delate, U-na Damon, Paul Giamatti, Philip Baker Hall, Peter Krause, John Pleshette, Heidi Schanz, Blair Slater, Fritz Dominique

  After spending his whole life as the unwilling star of a 24-hour TV show in The Truman Show, Truman (Jim Carrey) sails to the end of the world/sound-stage, finally aware he's been living an augmented reality. As he wishes the home audience well, he walks off to a future most uncertain.  

  The thing is, this character has never lived in the real world. Everything he knows has been controlled by producers, financiers, set designers, costumers, and more since he was old enough to create memories. Even if he manages to find a financially stable life by selling his story ad nausea via books and a movie adaptation, he stands to get ripped off at every turn by predatory business people, agents, managers, and even low level scum like landlords and car salesmen. Most people have had the opportunity to live and learn by the time they reach Truman's age; he's starting an adult life with a child's mentality. 
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  (#10) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

  • Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore, C. Thomas Howell, Robert MacNaughton, K.C. Martel, Sean Frye

  You could argue the end of ET: the Extra Terrestrial is more bittersweet than bleak.   Elliott and friends break ET out of a makeshift government facility and the little alien is reunited with his posse. He says a tearful good-bye to Elliott and goes on his way (a cyborg would get misty-eyed; it's all very emotional). 

  The bleak bit comes the next day. Agent Keys (Peter Coyote) may have been sympathetic to ET's cause, but there are a few thousand other agents who won't be so kind. At the very least, Keys will probably be arrested for treason and the kids have a plethora of probing waiting for them. Especially since Elliot and crew showed the authorities they could fly. The feds are definitely gonna want to know what's up with that and how it can be weaponized for military use.     

  If they ever made an E.T. sequel, it would have been the darkest episode of X-Files ever.  
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  (#11) Toy Story 3

  • Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, John Morris, Jodi Benson, Emily Hahn, Laurie Metcalf, Blake Clark, Teddy Newton, Bud Luckey, Timothy Dalton, Jeff Garlin, Bonnie Hunt, Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Angel, R. Lee Ermey

  This sequel ends with Woody and Co. surviving a dumpster fire and getting a lovely new owner (Bonnie). Toy Story 3 gives audiences a happy out. Except one thing: the toys will never see Andy again. Once you hand off your old toys to a random little girl, it's a little tricky to stop by and visit them. 

  As Woody says "So long partner." You'll be crying Old Yeller level tears. Toy Story 3 leaves audiences with a lot of tough existential questions. If the toys are man, and Andy is god, are we all meaningless pieces of plastic given off to some other cruel deity when our maker has outgrown us?
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  (#12) Big

  • Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard, Jared Rushton, David Moscow, Jon Lovitz, Mercedes Ruehl, Josh Clark, Tracy Reiner, Oliver Block

  On the heels of several mediocre body-switching films (Vice Versa, Like Father Like Son), Penny Marshall's Big felt like Tennessee Williams by comparison. Young Josh Baskin wishes he was BIG, magically turns into Tom Hanks, gets a job, and rounds second base (and beyond) with Elizabeth Perkins.  

  In the end, Josh is granted a new wish, to become a kid again, and can look forward to thousands of hours on a psychiatrist's couch. Not to mention that every teenager he dates will have to measure up to his very adult experience with Ms Perkins. The end of Big is a bit like the end of Flowers for Algernon, with one key difference - while Charlie in Flowers gets to go back to ignorance forever, Josh returns to his innocent form, but can never escape the knowledge that makes him long for escape. 
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  (#13) 50 First Dates

  • Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Lusia Strus, Blake Clark, Dan Aykroyd, Amy Hill, Allen Covert, Maya Rudolph, Kevin James

  Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore's excuse to get paid huge sums of money hanging out in Hawaii for a few months, 50 First Dates might just have the bleakest-ever premise for a romantic comedy. Henry (Sandler) falls for Lucy (Barrymore), only to discover she can't form new long term memories. Havoc ensues, though eventually he finds a creative solution - remind her every morning of their relationship and life together (including their kids). Cute, right?  

  Not sure forgetting the relationship you've built every day is the definition of happily ever after. It's also totally disturbing of Henry to start a relationship with a woman who has no idea who he is each day. What if he's a con artist? She really wouldn't ever know. Henry's desire to be with someone with whom he can never have a history also speaks to deep psychological problems. The ending to 50 First Dates is officially all kinds of disturbing. 
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  (#14) Dumb and Dumber

  • Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly, Teri Garr, Karen Duffy, Mike Starr, Charles Rocket, Victoria Rowell, Cam Neely, Felton Perry

  The depth of Harry and Lloyd's stupidity is seldom more apparent than the final few minutes of Dumb and Dumber, proving even the broadest of comedies can leave a bruise on the audience (even before anyone was subjected to the prequel or sequel).

  Sure, it seems silly on the surface, but think about the ending of Dumb and Dumber for a second. As Harry (Jeff Daniels) says, he and Lloyd are out of money and their vehicle. They're in the middle of the desert, with no food, walking away from the closest town, wearing the thinnest of layers. If they don't freeze to death or die of dehydration, it's possible they'll be eaten by coyotes or bitten by a rattlesnake. 

  Even if Harry and Lloyd make it through the night, they're thousands of miles from home with no money, and they're dumber than a box of rocks. Things do not bode well. 
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  (#15) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

  • Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Wolf Kahler, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Anthony Higgins, Alfred Molina

  Raiders of the Lost Ark takes place in the 1930s. So the Nazis don't get the Ark of the Covenant. But guess what? World War II still happens, and so does the Holocaust. Great. Thanks Indiana. You really saved the world there. 

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