18 Terrible Horror Movie Final Scenes That Still Get Roasted
Horror movies promise scares, suspense, and satisfying conclusions that leave you thinking long after the credits roll.
Unfortunately, some films stumble right at the finish line with endings so bizarre, confusing, or lazy that fans still mock them years later.
Check out 18 final scenes that turned potential classics into internet punchlines.
Disclaimer: This list reflects opinion and fandom discourse, not definitive fact or universal consensus about which horror endings are objectively “terrible.”
1. The Village (2004)
M. Night Shyamalan loves a good twist, but this one landed with a thud louder than any monster footstep.
When viewers discovered the “creatures” were just elders in costumes and the whole village existed in modern times, jaws dropped for all the wrong reasons.
Fans felt cheated because the rules changed too late.
What started as a creepy period thriller suddenly became a commentary on fear and control, but the execution felt more like a bait-and-switch than a clever reveal.
2. Signs (2002)
Aliens travel millions of light-years across space, only to get defeated by… water?
Seriously, they invaded a planet that’s literally 71% covered in the stuff they’re allergic to. Talk about poor planning on an intergalactic scale!
Though the family drama hits emotionally, the logic gap is wider than a crop circle.
3. High Tension (2003)
French horror delivered nail-biting suspense for most of its runtime, then dropped a twist that broke physics, time, and viewer patience all at once.
The reveal that Marie was actually the killer contradicts scenes we clearly watched happen differently.
How can someone be in two places simultaneously? Fans have created timelines, diagrams, and Reddit threads trying to make it work, but the math just doesn’t add up no matter how you slice it.
4. Ghosts of Mars (2001)
John Carpenter gave us Halloween and The Thing, so expectations were sky-high for this sci-fi horror mashup.
Instead, the ending fizzles like a dud firecracker with a “well, I guess we’ll fight them again later” vibe that screams sequel bait nobody asked for.
Rather than wrapping up the ghost possession threat, it just… stops.
5. The Happening (2008)
Killer plants. Yep, that’s the big threat.
After watching people flee invisible toxins for ninety minutes, the explanation lands like a deflated balloon at a birthday party.
Nature just decided to get mad, release some pollen, then stop because… reasons?
The environmental message gets buried under unintentionally hilarious dialogue and a resolution that answers nothing while somehow feeling overexplained at the same time.
6. Blair Witch (2016)
Sometimes less is more, but this sequel missed that memo entirely.
Where the original 1999 film mastered dread through what you didn’t see, the 2016 version cranks everything to maximum volume and shoves the witch right in your face.
Fans wanted creeping terror, not jump-scare chaos. The final basement sequence trades atmospheric horror for loud noises and fleeting glimpses that feel more annoying than frightening.
7. Lights Out (2016)
Horror often explores dark themes, but this ending crossed a line for many viewers.
When the mother’s suicide becomes the solution that saves everyone, it felt less like a brave narrative choice and more like a troubling shortcut that trivializes mental health struggles.
Sure, defeating the shadow demon required eliminating its connection, but there had to be another way.
8. Sinister (2012)
For most of its runtime, Sinister absolutely nails creepy atmosphere with those horrifying Super 8 films and Bughuul’s unsettling presence.
Then the final jump scare happens, and it’s like someone popped a balloon during a violin solo. Many horror fans argue the lawnmower scene and the slow-burn dread were enough.
Adding a cheap gotcha moment with the ghost kids felt like the filmmakers didn’t trust their own excellent work, cheapening what could have been a modern classic.
9. Jeepers Creepers (2001)
Few horror endings feel quite this hopeless.
After watching Darry and Trish fight for survival against the unstoppable Creeper, the final shot shows the monster literally picking his teeth with Darry’s eyeball while listening to his victim’s screams on repeat.
It’s meant to be horrifying, but many find it gratuitously cruel rather than scary.
10. The Nun (2018)
Just when you think the demon Valak is defeated and the credits should roll, the movie smacks you with a forced connection to The Conjuring universe that feels like homework nobody signed up for.
Instead of standing on its own, the ending desperately waves its arms shouting “Remember that other better movie?”
The stinger plays like an executive’s checklist item rather than organic storytelling, leaving audiences rolling their eyes instead of gasping.
11. The Bye Bye Man (2017)
When your monster’s name sounds like something a toddler made up, you’re already fighting an uphill battle.
The ending doubles down on the silly mythology, expecting viewers to take seriously a villain they’ve been giggling about for ninety minutes.
Rather than finding a clever way to make the concept work, the finale just repeats the same “don’t think it, don’t say it” logic that already felt thin.
12. Truth or Dare (2018)
Picture this: instead of stopping the deadly curse, the main character just uploads it to YouTube so literally everyone on Earth gets infected.
Congratulations, you just went from college problem to apocalypse in one click! The eye-rolling escalation turns what could have been a contained horror story into absurdist territory.
Fans roast this ending mercilessly because it’s both wildly irresponsible and narratively lazy, choosing shock value over any satisfying resolution or moral reckoning.
13. Open House (2018)
Netflix originals can be hit or miss, and this one faceplants right at the finish.
After building tension with a mysterious stalker, the ending provides exactly zero answers about who, why, or what was even happening in that creepy house.
It’s not ambiguous in an artistic way; it’s more like the writers forgot to write the last ten pages.
14. Slender Man (2018)
Bringing an internet creepypasta to the big screen should have been terrifying, but the ending feels like someone hit fast-forward and stitched random scenes together hoping nobody would notice.
What happened to the missing girls? Why does any of this matter?
The film rushes through its conclusion like a student turning in an essay five minutes before deadline.
15. The Turning (2020)
Imagine watching a mystery unfold for an hour and forty minutes, getting invested in the ghost story and psychological drama, then having the film literally just… stop.
No resolution, no answers, just a hard cut to credits that sparked immediate audience outrage.
The abrupt ending became an instant meme, with viewers comparing it to their TV accidentally turning off.
16. The Devil Inside (2012)
In horror history, few endings are more universally despised than this one.
After following an exorcism investigation through found footage, viewers got a car crash and a literal URL telling them to visit a website for more information. Yes, really.
Theater audiences actually booed when it happened. Asking paying customers to go home and Google your movie’s ending is peak laziness.
17. The Uninvited (2009)
Twist endings can elevate a thriller when done right, but this remake of A Tale of Two Sisters puts the twist before everything else, including logic.
When the big reveal happens, it recontextualizes events in ways that don’t quite fit what we witnessed.
Some viewers enjoy the psychological angle, but plenty roast it for prioritizing the gotcha moment over coherent storytelling.
18. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
After five previous films building complex (okay, confusing) mythology about the T-virus, Umbrella Corporation, and Alice’s origins, the supposed finale tries wrapping everything up in a chaotic sprint that raises more questions than answers.
Longtime fans wanted satisfying closure for characters they’d followed for years.
Instead, they got whiplash-inducing action sequences and lore revelations dumped so quickly it felt disrespectful to the franchise.
