5. The Fog (1980)
The legendary John Carpenter has a few films that could have landed on this list (I’m partial to the ending of his Prince of Darkness and its suggestion that the film’s selfless hero has herself begun reaching out from another dimension), but The Fog‘s ending is particularly memorable. A group of townspeople fends off marauding, ghostly pirates out for justice, and the onslaught only comes to an end when the living hands over the gold owed to the long dead. Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) wonders aloud why he was spared and then discovers — at the end of a wickedly sharp sword (wielded by f/x guru Rob Bottin) — that he actually wasn’t. Cue Carpenter’s brilliant score, cut to black, and the credits roll on one of the master’s under-appreciated classics. (Rob Hunter)
4. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
A movie like The Blair Witch Project has to have a good ending to work at all. The found-footage horror movie’s relentless shaky-cam, snotty-nosed crying, and forest wandering tests audience patience in a way that proves its verisimilitude but makes us hungry for the payoff. Luckily, the ending is quick and effective. After days spent lost in the woods, film students Heather (Heather Donahue) and Mike (Michael C. Williams) hear their friend Josh’s screams and rush into a seemingly abandoned house to find him. There are so many freaky things to unpack in these last moments, from the symbols and bloody handprints on the house to Heather’s final screams, but nothing imprints on the psyche as eerily as the image of Mike standing, facing the corner in the basement. It’s a callback to an earlier moment when a townsperson tells the story of child murderer Rustin Parr making one victim stand in the corner while he killed the other. We barely have time to process the uncanny image and its horrifying implications before the screen cuts to black. (Valerie Ettenhofer)
3. Pieces (1982)
Juan Piquer Simón‘s 1982 splatterfest is an absolute classic in the slasher subgenre. I rate it highly as one of my all-time favorite films and think everyone should watch it as frequently as possible. The basic premise is that there’s a crazed killer on the loose hacking up ladies at the local university and stealing random body parts. It’s a brutal film with off-the-wall moments that will leave you howling, especially when the film ends with a jigsaw corpse, which has been pieced together from the stolen body parts, inexplicably coming to life and rips off the junk of the male protagonist. It makes zero sense, but it’s glorious. (Chris Coffel)
2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Matthew (Donald Sutherland) is up against incredible odds. He has lost everyone he knows and loves to the alien race of gelatinous creatures killing and assuming the place of the population of San Francisco. He finds himself smack dab in the middle of the alien base of operations and did everything he could to destroy it. Exhausted and pursued, Matthew flees and hides under a bridge, hoping that he will remain undetected. The next cut to Matthew raises more questions than answers. He is back working at the health department, plugging away quietly, going about his routine, and expressing no emotion. Perhaps (we hope), he is merely evading the aliens, like Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) taught him, by suppressing his feelings and showing no outward displays of humanity. He heads towards City Hall, and who should step forward but Nancy. She quietly approaches him in hushed tones, wide-eyed at the relief of finally finding a friend. And then Matthew screams; a terrible shriek, pointing her way, outing her as a human and (to her and our horror) himself as a pod person. (Meg Shields)
1. Friday the 13th (1980)
The beauty of Friday the 13th is that just when you think you’ve got it figured out, the film still manages to surprise you. Such is the case with the second-to-last scene of the movie. As Alice (Adrienne King) floats on a serene lake, she’s suddenly attacked by Jason’s decomposing corpse. It’s a moment that can make even seasoned horror veterans gasp and this is rightfully regarded as one of the greatest endings in a horror movie. It’s surprising, horrifying, and, once you manage to catch your breath, just a little bit ridiculous. As all slashers should be. (Anna Swanson)
Related Topics: 31 Days of Horror Lists, Horror
