Some endings have you staring at the end credits in a daze. The shock twist finale is difficult to pull off successfully, as pulling the rug out from the audience right at the end of the movie risks leaving them with more questions than answers. Fight Club, Cabin in the Woods, and Sorry to Bother You are all fine examples of movies doing this well, but one of the finest examples in horror has to be Frank Darabont’s 2007 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist.
When a mysterious mist envelopes a Maine town a group of characters take shelter in a supermarket. Much of the film takes place inside, with people gradually being picked off by the bizarre creatures hiding in the mist.
Towards the end they make a break for it and – 15-year-old spoiler alert – discover that the world appears to have gone full Lovecraftian apocalypse nightmare. With all hope gone, the survivors decide to kill themselves rather than be eaten by monsters. Minutes later the mist clears and the army saves the day, making the whole suicide pact thing something of an “oopsie”.
It’s a jaw-droppingly bold ending that makes an otherwise middling horror film unforgettable… and one Redditor wants you to skip it:
As you can imagine, the replies are dumbfounded that anyone would want to skip the best part of the movie. Comments say this scene is “true horror”, that it’s “one of the best horror movie endings ever” and that “OP is whack”. We can’t disagree. It’s also noted that Stephen King himself loved the film’s ending, saying he wished he’d thought of it himself when writing the book.
Perhaps the most sensible comment is simply:
The Mist is available to stream on Netflix.
