#The 10 Best Final Scares in Horror Movie Ending History

October is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “31 days of horror.” Don’t bother looking it up; it’s true. Most people take that to mean highlighting one horror movie a day, but here at FSR, we’ve taken that up a spooky notch or nine by celebrating each day with a top ten list. This article on the best horror ending scenes is part of our ongoing series 31 Days of Horror Lists.

We expect to be scared during horror movies. However, sometimes filmmakers decide to throw something at us once we think the scares are all over, resulting in a nasty little shock that is both impressive and unfair. The last-minute scare is a trope by now and can sometimes be poorly executed or just plain nonsensical, but it’s still easy to get caught off guard by films that do it well. After all, once the kid is saved (or killed) and the monster is killed (or escapes), and a sense of normalcy is restored, it’s only natural for us to relax a little bit. And then — wha-bam! — the film hits us with one last jolt. Credits roll and we laugh nervously to cover up for the way we just jumped out of our skin.

Here are ten movies with the best final scares that pulled off this tricky little maneuver well, as voted on by Brad Gullickson, Chris Coffel, Kieran Fisher, Rob Hunter, Meg Shields, Anna Swanson, Jacob Trussell, and yours truly.

10. Carrie (1976)

In terms of its relevance to the overall plot, traumatized prom attendee Sue’s (Amy Irving) dream at the end of Carrie is a bit of a jump-scare cheap shot. Still, that doesn’t make it any less terrifying when Carrie White’s bloodied, grabbing hand bursts out of her grave just before the credits roll. Brian De Palma’s final scare is one of the most iconic last-minute freak-outs in horror history, and it works because it sets up a somber tone — Sue setting flowers atop the wreckage of Carrie’s home — and then demolishes it with a jarring reminder that Sue’s survivor’s guilt will haunt her forever. (Valerie Ettenhofer)

9. Final Destination 2 (2003)

In the first sequel to Final Destination, we did not yet know that each subsequent film in the franchise would end with a deliciously shocking final bump to send us from the theaters reeling. Sure, the first one did, but they wouldn’t just recycle that ending again, would they? Oh, would they ever, but what Final Destination 2 does that is so unique is to go for a capper that winks at the series’ future turn into blood-red camp than a more straightforward “gotcha!” moment. Rather than Death catching up to our surviving leads, A.J. Cook and Michael Landes, it takes a detour and offs an ancillary character in a barbecue accident. As the survivors get ready for an outdoor dinner with the boy’s family, he explodes in the background, his scorched, bloodied arm flying through the air, perfectly plopping onto a picnic table in front of his screaming mother before cutting to black. It’s as bizarre as it is unexpected, but ultimately it’s meant to make you laugh through its sudden and senseless brutality, just like a Looney Tunes cartoon. This zaniness is the key element to why the Final Destination franchise has an ardent following almost a decade after the last film was released. (Jacob Trussell)

8. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

“What have you done to its eyes?” Mia Farrow’s cries at the end of Rosemary’s Baby are impossible to forget, but the scene’s conclusion, in which she accepts her satanic son, might be even scarier. Rosemary’s Baby unfolds like a psychological thriller, but in a whirlwind final sequence, viewers realize that it was actually an all-out battle for the fate of the world playing out in Rosemary’s womb. It turns out the new mother lost in a game that was rigged from the start, but the cult members who surround her at the film’s end present her antichrist child like a special gift to her. Rosemary drops the knife she had been clinging to, all the fight leaving her, and when she finally approaches the black-clad cradle with the love of a mother in her eyes, it’s a bone-chilling inversion of our expectations. (Valerie Ettenhofer)

7. Don’t Look Now (1973)

There are few climaxes I’ve felt as visceral a reaction toward as the one that attacks you in Don’t Look Now. Grief is a poison. The loss of a loved one can infect the soul, spreading venom from your heart to those around you. How can you stunt its growth? I’m not sure. Thankfully, I’ve never experienced pain as intensely as the one bestowed upon Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in Don’t Look Now. Their two characters try to lose their pain in the buildings and passageways of Venice, but wherever Sutherland’s father character turns, he sees his dead little girl prancing away from him. When he finally corners her in a dark building one night, the little girl turns, and well, it’s not a little girl. It’s a horror of another order. The first time I met Sutherland’s end in this movie, I was confused and angry. What the hell? I don’t get it. The more I watch the film, however, the more sincere a shock the final slice of razor becomes. I have not felt his character’s pain, but I imagine it to be something akin to this final scare. (Brad Gullickson)

6. [REC] (2007)

[Rec] is a cruel movie that offers no respite from the terror until the end credits roll. It’s one of the most immersive and claustrophobic movies ever made, and it’s one of the few that’s truly enhanced by the found footage format. You really get the sense of being stuck inside the nightmare with the quarantined reports. The ending is a doozy, too. Angela (Manuela Velasco) spots a zombie and tries to hide, but there’s nowhere to escape. She is then dragged into the darkness and her fate is unknown until the sequel. The visual is unforgettable, and it’s a final kicker in what is an exhilarating and bleak experience overall. (Kieran Fisher)

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)