What is the best "bad" ending you've seen/read? [Spoilers abound]

[Thanee]

I'd agree with Empire Strikes Back, but it doesn't really count as much as an 'end' as many others.

I think this is called a 'cliffhanger' not an 'end'.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Wait, Matrix 3? You mean there was a sequel, two even, to the Matrix?

Bye
Thanee

That's some rumour. Almost as common as that horrid rumor about a second Highlander.

 

[Villano]

I forgot to add The Ring. Everyone is expecting the movie to be over and then you get hit with the whole "You weren't supposed to help her!" thing. That was good.

 

[shilsen]

I forgot to add The Ring. Everyone is expecting the movie to be over and then you get hit with the whole "You weren't supposed to help her!" thing. That was good.

For me personally, that was a bad ending that was actually bad in the qualitative sense. That last "crawl out of TV screen" scene was laugh-out-bad for me. It's a personal preference - as long as the bogeyman is behind the scrren I can use my imagination, but once I see it, it's completely non-frightening for me.

 

[Wormwood]

Se7en

Twelve Monkeys

Brazil

and my personal favorite:

1984

 

[Zuoken]

The Watchmen.

Hands down.

Spoiler

The whole graphic novel/comic series was brilliant. Especially Ozymandias's doomsday speech.

Nightowl: "I mean, when was this hopeless black fantasy supposed to happen? When were you planning to do it?"

Ozymandias: "Do it? Dan, I'm not a Republic Serial Villan. Do you seriously think that I'd explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting it's outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago."

 

[Qlippoth]

I'm guessing...

Which ending? (There are two...)

"Lady, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store."

 

[Starman]

The Watchmen.

Hands down.

An excellent choice, especially since the ending made the whole story. If it had ended any differently, it still would have been good. It was that stunning ending, though, that made the series so brilliant.

Starman

 

[John Crichton]

Twelve Monkeys

12 Monkeys & Dark City are two of the best mind-screw endings ever. 12 Monkeys actually shut down my brain for a few seconds after seeing it the first time. It rendered one of my buds speechless for nearly an entire evening. He just sat there. "Dude, so what did you think?" "Not now, I'm not ready yet."

I'll also add Donnie Darko to the mix as well as Fight Club, Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.

And not in the same vein because of the very end but Braveheart requires mentioning.

 

[Krieg]

John Carpenter's The Thing - You are stranded at the South Pole, unprotected from the weather, your camp is destroyed, no hope of survival...and you arent 100% sure that the one other guy who made is human or if he is the monster that destroyed and killed everyone in the camp and that could potentially wipe out the human race....

Planet of The Apes -

Oh my God, I'm back... I'm home! All the time... They finally, really did it....You Maniacs! You Blew It Up! Damn You, OH GOD-DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!