| Author | Message | ||
     Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.8.175.44 |
Can anyone think of a good, genuinely scary horror movie with a happy ending? The only ones I can think of are poltergeist, Alien and the original texas chainsaw. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.229 |
Four Weddings and a Funeral. Notting Hill. Both horrific until the wedding bells chime. | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
I dunno whether I'd call the original Chainsaw a happy ending. Sure, she doesn't get killed but her maniacal laughter suggests she's been driven out of her mind. I suppose The Haunting is sort of a happy ending because Eleanor gets what she wants, to be with the house forever. Horror doesn't tend to proliferate in 'happy' endings though. How about Dracula, the Hammer version. Van Helsing defeats the vampire in a most heroic way. God yes, anything by Curtis is utterly horrific. | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 12.165.240.116 |
The Orphanage. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 194.75.171.106 |
I suppose it all depends on you define 'happiness' in this context. The Orphanage and Pan's Labyrinth both end with the deaths of their protagonists, but the endings could be described as happy. Sort of. Similar with The Haunting- but has Eleanor really got what she wants, or has she been tricked and trapped?} | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.99.74 |
Well, depending what you consider scary and what you consider a happy ending (and factoring in the tricks my erratic memory likes to play on me) the following might make the cut: The Exorcist, Dawn of the Dead (original version), The Fog, From Dusk Till Dawn, Hellraiser, Night of the Eagle, Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, The Fly (both versions). | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 79.187.206.46 |
Alien's happy ending isn't really a happy ending since we have Ripley's swandive into molten lava at the end of part three. Then again, she's resurrected for part four. I guess with the examples already mentioned horror films tend to have semi-happy endings, if any at all. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Wicker Man! Summer's a-comin' in, singing, dancing, festivities and the promise of a better harvest next year. What's one less Bible-thumping policeman? | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Then again, that one's not genuinely scary, is it? | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 79.187.206.46 |
Niki - When I originally saw 'The Wicker Man' as a teenager on Moviedrome, I was appalled that there was no happy ending. Even when I watch it now I can barely comprehend so bleak an ending. A magnificent piece of cerebral horror cinema. In fact, for any kind of cinema, genre or not. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.3.192 |
Not really scary, perhaps - it's borderline, definitely scary in its implications - but the Michael Douglas thriller The Game.... Again, though, like in examples above, irony probably reigns supreme here too. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.67.229 |
Really chilling when Edward Woodward comes over the ridge on the cliff edge and then they cut to the wickerman with all the animals inside. | ||
| John (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
I suppose that by their very nature, the loss involved in your average horror story - be it the loss of friends in a slasher flick, or the destruction of society in something like The Stand - means that any victory for the protagonist will be a somewhat pyrrhic one. Even some of the examples above can't really be said to have a truly happy ending, for example, 1. The Exorcist - saved the little girl, but not very happy for the two priests. 2. Dawn of the Dead - they escape the mall, but with little gas and nowhere to go, it all looks a bit bleak. 3. Hellraiser - Frank and Julie get theirs, but Kirsty's dad is still dead. 4. The Fly - more tragic than anything else. I think it's possible to have a positive ending in a horror film, but happy endings are few and far between. Christ, that was a spoiler-heavy post... | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.254.36 |
April Fool's Day? | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
Night of the Demon, surely. Les Yeux Sans Visage? Fire Walk With Me? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.246.79 |
Oh, and you reminded me, Ramsey - Inland Empire? (They are all dancing and frolicking joyfully....) | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
[Rec] – though I suppose it depends on your viewpoint. As a kid I used to feel cheated by horror films where the vampire or whatever was killed, and short-changed by ones where it was poised to make a comeback in embryonic form. I felt a passionate need to see the obliteration of the human species. I had a lot of issues (and not only of SPIDERMAN). | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Blue Velvet? Although I find the conclusion of the film weirdly haunting. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.145.108.50 |
I had a lot of issues (and not only of SPIDERMAN). It was more nocturnal for me. | ||
| John (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Fire Walk With Me? Really?! She may well have been released from her torment, but there was so much more to come. INLAND EMPIRE had what my girlfriend refers to as an 'Ewok Party' ending. It was reward enough for those of us who made it to the end of the film. How about 976 Evil 2. Even the hamster survived that one.  Jaws? | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.211.103.83 |
Se7en? If you are in agreement that John Doe's character is justified in his actions, that's about as satisfying as you'll get. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Fire Walk With Me is definitely a happy ending - for Laura. Her torment is over and her angels have come. It's up to the poor sods left behind to sort out the mess she left behind but the film is mostly from her POV, so yeah, definitely a happy ending! And I think The Sixth Sense and The Others also count for the same reason. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.232.64 |
1984? In the end, Winston loves Big Brother.... | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.102.216 |
Has anyone said 28 Days Later yet? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.4.31 |
Rosemary's Baby? In the end, everyone's have a great ol' time at a party, and Rosemary finally falls sweetly in love with her own preciously little baby.... |