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Happy and Unhappy Endings

Started by Maybe Im Doing It Wrong, November 02, 2010, 04:45:33 PM

Previous topic - Next topic
When I was a lad, genre films generally had happy endings. You knew the good guy would defeat the bad dudes, kill the space monster, rescue the girl, live happily ever after etc etc.
These days though, the unhappy ending seems to be the norm. Certainly most modern horror flicks end badly for the central protagonist(s) and unambiguously happy endings are pretty rare. Unfortunately this means that the unhappy ending's become as predictable as the happy one. I gave up watching the Saw franchise, for example, when it became clear that every film was going to end in misery for the good guy.

So what's to be done? Bring back the happy ending. Or can't that be done now?

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Maybe Im Doing It Wrong on November 02, 2010, 04:45:33 PM
These days though, the unhappy ending seems to be the norm....
Absolute  rubbish.

Quote from: Ignatius_S on November 02, 2010, 04:48:00 PM
Absolute  rubbish.

Really? I'm talking genre films here, primarily horror I guess, and I'm genuinely struggling to think of the last happy ending one I saw. Paranormal Activity? No. The Mist? No. Drag Me To Hell? No. Triangle? No.

I could go on.

Perhaps I should have put spoilers on those. Then again I didn't say *in what way* the endings were unhappy...

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Maybe Im Doing It Wrong on November 02, 2010, 04:52:56 PM
Really? I'm talking genre films here, primarily horror I guess, and I'm genuinely struggling to think of the last happy ending one I saw. Paranormal Activity? No. The Mist? No. Drag Me To Hell? No. Triangle? No.

I could go on.

A few from this year:

Toy Story 3
The last Shrek
Iron Man 2
Red
Despicable Me
Dinner for Schmucks
The latest Resident Evil film
Sex and the City 2
Robin Hood
Hub Tub Machine

The last Resident Evil film had a very upbeat ending, but horror as a genre often have less than happy endings – My Name is Bruce made this point – but I would say that was established over three dacades ago.

You start the list with Toy Story 3 and the last Shrek?!! You lunatic - they're kiddie films. If Toy Story 3 had had an unhappy ending all the toddlers in the world would have killed themselves.

I guess the original Night of The Living Dead was the first mainstream film to have a really ironic, unhappy, feel-bad ending. That was in 1968, so yeah, it's over forty years ago. My point was that it's become a cliche. When you're watching a horror film these days you just know it's going to have an unhappy ending, in the same way you used to know there'd be a happy one. I'm bored with it is all.


El Unicornio, mang

It's definitely true that most horror films these days feature the lead characters dying horribly (The Strangers, Wolf Creek, Eden Lake, Martyrs, Inside, etc). It's become quite tedious, watching people escape from harm and battle terrible odds for two hours knowing that they'll end up dead anyway.

Yeah - I'd like the odd happy ending, or even something ambiguous. The trouble is the first couple of times films pulled the "aha - you thought the cute, sweet girl was going to escape but she's not!" trick it was shocking, but now it's expected.

Famous Mortimer

I don't think there's a trend, really.

How many horror films with happy endings can you name from the last ten years?

Serge

But then: The original version of 'The Vanishing' has one of the unhappiest endings ever, and is one of the greatest horror films ever made.

The remake has a happy ending and is a complete pile of shit.

Marv Orange

Quote from: Maybe Im Doing It Wrong on November 02, 2010, 06:40:25 PM
How many horror films with happy endings can you name from the last ten years?

Does the remake of last house on the left count?

babyshambler

Quote from: Serge on November 02, 2010, 11:42:38 PM
But then: The original version of 'The Vanishing' has one of the unhappiest endings ever, and is one of the greatest horror films ever made.

The remake has a happy ending and is a complete pile of shit.

Spoorloos. Strange, I was discussing this film with friends only the other night. It is indeed fantastic.

easytarget

Quote from: Ignatius_S on November 02, 2010, 05:05:24 PM
Sex and the City 2

I was happy when that ended.
BA-BOOM!

Haven't seen it, the show makes me want to run a hot bath and open some veins

non capisco

Quote from: Serge on November 02, 2010, 11:42:38 PM
But then: The original version of 'The Vanishing' has one of the unhappiest endings ever, and is one of the greatest horror films ever made.

The remake has a happy ending and is a complete pile of shit.

It's hard to believe the remake is by the same director as the original, seemingly misunderstanding what made his original film so good, or at least happy to take the money and fuck it up on moronic studio advice.  Doing away with the distressing 'punchline' of Spoorloos is a bit like remaking Rosemary's Baby and having her give birth to a normal kid at the end and saying "oh darling, I was being silly, wasn't I?"

Quote from: Ignatius_S on November 02, 2010, 05:05:24 PM
A few from this year:

Toy Story 3
The last Shrek
Iron Man 2
Red
Despicable Me
Dinner for Schmucks
The latest Resident Evil film
Sex and the City 2
Robin Hood
Hub Tub Machine

The last Resident Evil film had a very upbeat ending, but horror as a genre often have less than happy endings – My Name is Bruce made this point – but I would say that was established over three dacades ago.

I thought that the end of Toy Story 3 was a bit of a tear-jerker, to be honest.

Big Jack McBastard

I love bleak endings, can't get enough of them. I'd say at the moment they're still few and far between with regards Hollywood though the ratio is improving slightly, there's many a flick that would be massively improved if they'd culled their 'Oh it all turned out alright in the end' style reveal of the protagonist or their significant other still alive despite the <whatever> shooting/infecting/eating/landing on them.

Give me a bit of unexpected poignancy, pain and despair rather than the formulaic thumbs up conceit any day.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Maybe Im Doing It Wrong on November 02, 2010, 06:40:25 PM
How many horror films with happy endings can you name from the last ten years?
Your original point was about genre films, which isn't just horror.

Harpo Speaks

Quote from: Maybe Im Doing It Wrong on November 02, 2010, 06:40:25 PM
How many horror films with happy endings can you name from the last ten years?

28 Days Later? No-one gets raped, Jim survives despite being shot, the Infected begin to die of starvation and the plane is spotted overhead.

As opposed to the alternate endings which had Jim dying.

ThickAndCreamy

I am Legend is a horror film and had a happy ending. They managed to finally discover a survived community (with a massive church) after being given the cure to save the world. If you haven't seen it, the ending is as poor as it looks on paper.

It was also one of the worst films I've ever seen at the cinema: contrived, dull, predictable shit. I wish the ending was unhappy as I couldn't care less about any of the characters and just honestly couldn't believe just how horrendous it was. It was two hours of feeling myself succumb to a gloomy world of permanent boredom and apathy, even drinking in the cinema didn't help.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Maybe Im Doing It Wrong on November 02, 2010, 05:35:22 PM
You start the list with Toy Story 3 and the last Shrek?!! You lunatic - they're kiddie films. If Toy Story 3 had had an unhappy ending all the toddlers in the world would have killed themselves.
You said genre films and that an "unhappy ending seems to be the norm" – Hollywood mainly serves up upbeat endings and I was giving some examples from this year.

Quote from: Maybe Im Doing It Wrong on November 02, 2010, 05:35:22 PM
...I guess the original Night of The Living Dead was the first mainstream film to have a really ironic, unhappy, feel-bad ending.
Not a good guess.

Never Takes Sweets From a Stranger, for instance, is a 1960 Hammer film about paedophilia, child abuse and how a community may band together and collude to cover up such evil. It's a very unsettling film and its conclusion is no exception.

In horror, having endings that aren't happy or upbeat has been happening for decades – for example, in the 1930's, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Freaks had endings that I don't think could be describe as particularly happy. This isn't not say that this was the norm.

Quote from: Maybe Im Doing It Wrong on November 02, 2010, 05:35:22 PM
.. That was in 1968, so yeah, it's over forty years ago....
I would say that what was far more important was the way that film-making changed in the Seventies - e.g. the rise of the anti-hero. An early example of the horror anti-hero in that decade was Vincent Price's Dr Phibes, who appeared in two successful films (so much so, that several sequels were touted), neither of which he got his comeuppance. Another reason these films are worth a mention is the black humour that permeated them – an element not new in horror, but which I would say started becoming more common.

Also in the seventies, things weren't so black and white – including endings - as they often were in films and this was seen in horror. For example, if we take the story in The Exorcist at face value, then a young girl's soul was saved but at the cost of the lives of two good men – that battle may have been won, but there was a price that had to be paid and no guarantee that the war would be won.

Quote from: Maybe Im Doing It Wrong on November 02, 2010, 06:40:25 PM
How many horror films with happy endings can you name from the last ten years?
Off the top of my head - and I was trying to think of ones in the last 12 months:

Devil's Rejects –
Spoiler alert
a family of psychos responsible for countless murders get shot down by the cops, pretty upbeat for me.
[close]

Hostel/Hostel 2 –
Spoiler alert
one of the protagonist survives and takes revenge.
[close]

The Crazies –
Spoiler alert
wouldn't say that was an unhappy ending.
[close]

Night of the Demons –
Spoiler alert
heroine triumphs.
[close]

I Spit on Your Grave remake –
Spoiler alert
rape victim takes revenge on her attackers.
[close]

Pontypool –
Spoiler alert
the two heroes survive and do nicely.
[close]

Resident Evil: Afterlife -
Spoiler alert
Claire, Chris, and Alice live to kick ass another day.
[close]

Quote from: easytarget on November 03, 2010, 12:07:32 AM
I was happy when that ended.
BA-BOOM!

Haven't seen it, the show makes me want to run a hot bath and open some veins
See – this is exactly what I'm talking about.

Quote from: non capisco on November 03, 2010, 12:10:27 AM
... remaking Rosemary's Baby and having her give birth to a normal kid at the end and saying "oh darling, I was being silly, wasn't I?"
Love it, love it, love it – that would have made a great film perfect.

Quote from: thecuriousorange on November 03, 2010, 01:59:14 AM
I thought that the end of Toy Story 3 was a bit of a tear-jerker, to be honest.
Oh, come on – it wasn't that bad a film.

Bad Ambassador


lazyhour

I wouldn't say Drag Me To Hell has an unhappy ending. The little boy has made his choice and
Spoiler alert
is going to be Eli's companion for the forseeable future
[close]
. Neither happy nor unhappy, is it?

Famous Mortimer

Severance had a fairly happy ending, as well. BOOM

Jemble Fred

Quote from: lazyhour on November 04, 2010, 11:24:55 AM
I wouldn't say Drag Me To Hell has an unhappy ending. The little boy has made his choice and
Spoiler alert
is going to be Eli's companion for the forseeable future
[close]
. Neither happy nor unhappy, is it?

Hang on, I saw this film at the weekend and don't understand what you mean at all. What little boy? All I remember is the exact typical
Spoiler alert
'haha you thought everything was sorted but the hero/ine is fucked after all!'
[close]
epilogue which this thread is criticising.

NoSleep

Robert Altman might as well have never made The Player.[nb]I won't tell you whether it has a happy ending or not[/nb]

Niall Quim

I'm guessing lazyhour meant Let The Right One In?

And Pontypool's ending,
Spoiler alert
I took it to be some weird afterlife vignette, or just a whimsical epilogue, with the real ending being that their studio got bombed and they be dead. Or am I being stupid?
[close]

Jemble Fred

Quote from: Niall Quim on November 04, 2010, 02:16:58 PM
I'm guessing lazyhour meant Let The Right One In?

I did wonder. That's kind of ruined that film for me then (although that ending sounds predictable enough).

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Niall Quim on November 04, 2010, 02:16:58 PM
...And Pontypool's ending,
Spoiler alert
I took it to be some weird afterlife vignette, or just a whimsical epilogue, with the real ending being that their studio got bombed and they be dead. Or am I being stupid?
[close]
Nope, you definitely weren't being stupid.
Spoiler alert
I was being a little tongue in cheek as some have taken that to mean that they survived – and I think the director said it was meant as a little dig at those who think you've got to tie all the loose ends – but people will make of it what they will. However, it's one of those films, where I don't think I would file under 'unhappy ending' as it's a good story that's interesting to watch how it plays out and (to me) it's not really relevant if the main protagonists live or die.
[close]

This was a bit unsettling. Isn't this meant for children?

Streets of Rage: BAD END

Spoiler alert
You became the boss of what, exactly? Didn't you just kill all the baddies across the city?     
[close]