Which horror icon went back to his day job after fighting the undead?
How does the sequel to "The Shining" finish on a positive note?
These disturbing movies are known for their surprisingly happy endings.
Before 2017's "Get Out," Jordan Peele was known for his gut-busting comedy chops in "Key & Peele"
— so when he decided to helm a horror film, it was a bit of a surprise. His resulting film was
a massive success by every metric, though. Beloved by audiences and critics alike,
it earned over $255 million worldwide, and Peele scored the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
The story follows Chris, played by Daniel Kaluuya, a Black man who visits his white
girlfriend's family for the first time. Things go from mildly uncomfortable to deeply unsettling
when he discovers that they run a secret operation that transfers the brains of aging white people
into young, fit bodies. Now, Chris has been seduced by Rose to become their next victim.
After a terrifying visit to the "sunken place," Chris fights back
and dispatches his girlfriend and her family in a spectacularly bloody fashion. However, a final
moment of tension arises when, during Chris' bloody escape, he sees flashing lights ahead.
Those well-versed in horror history, not to mention centuries of racial injustice,
might reasonably expect a tragic ending where our hero is arrested or gunned down.
Fortunately, the vehicle is driven by Chris' TSA agent friend Rod, played by Lil Rel Howery. The
two drive off into the night, leaving the scene of the grisly slaughter behind. The film even ends on
a moment of levity, with Rod telling Chris that he should've listened to him in the first place.
"I mean I told you not to go in that house."
Danny Boyle's grungy thriller "28 Days Later" was an instant genre classic when it hit theaters in
2002. In the film, activists free chimpanzees from a lab and inadvertently release a virus
that infects people with rage and, depending on who you ask, turns them into a form of zombie.
The key difference? These creatures sprint after its prey
rather than slowly shuffling like others of its cinematic ilk.
Weeks after the outbreak, Jim, played by Cillian Murphy, wakes up from a coma into
a world he no longer recognizes. Before long, he's teamed up with some fellow survivors as they
attempt to reach a safe haven promised by radio broadcasts. Things go from bad to worse, however,
when it turns out that the military regiment sending the messages
is trying to lure female survivors in with a misguided plan to repopulate the world.
Jim rescues his new friends from the twisted soldiers by unleashing an infected man upon them,
and the result is a blood-soaked finale in which Jim is shot. Even though they escape, surely
nothing but horror awaits them in a world where mankind's savage nature has run this rampant,
right? Not so, as the last moments of the film show the characters recovering in a
pleasant cottage and suggest that they may be saved by a passing fighter jet.
Though we know that things eventually go badly again in the sequel "28 Weeks
Later," the survivors of this film seem like they've gotten past the worst of it.
"Ready or Not" was directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
of the filmmaking collective Radio Silence, who went on to find even greater success with
their reboot of the "Scream" franchise. The 2019 thriller stars Samara Weaving as Grace,
a newlywed who's marrying into the wealthy Le Domas family.
After the wedding, her new in-laws reveal that she must participate
in their long-standing tradition of playing a game in order to officially join their ranks.
Unfortunately for all involved, Grace draws the card for Hide-and-Seek. It turns out the
Le Domases got their fortune through an ancient, satanic pact. When a new family member draws this
card, the rest of the clan must arm themselves and hunt her down in order to provide a blood
sacrifice. This leads to a desperate quest for survival as Grace looks for a way to flee their
mansion while evading her murderous in-laws. As dawn approaches and the family gets more frantic,
she finds increasingly violent ways to turn the tables on them.
Near the end of the film, Grace is captured and the remaining family members rush to finish the
blood ritual before the sun rises. However, she manages to escape their clutches just in time for
the ritual to fail. Apparently, this causes all the members of the family to spontaneously explode
in a manner that's both horrific and comedic at the same time. Grace sits back and relaxes as the
mansion burns behind her, having dodged a bullet by not becoming part of such a deranged legacy.
"Jesus Christ, what happened to you?"
"In-laws."
Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, the Swedish film "Let the Right One In" tracks
the unique relationship between Oskar and Eli. He's a 12-year-old loner who's being relentlessly
bullied, and she's the strange girl who moves into his apartment building. Over time, they build a
cute friendship that seems like it could blossom into something resembling young love. There's
only one wrinkle: Eli is a vampire, and has been trapped in a young body for a number of years.
She's dependent on an older guardian to hunt down potential victims and collect blood for her.
Though the story has a sweet emotional center when it concerns the bond between its young leads,
there is still a deeply disturbing undercurrent to the proceedings. Eli's guardian is captured
and arrested while attempting to procure blood for her, and ends up pouring acid on
his face and jumping from a hospital window to avoid compromising her safety. This leads Eli
to have to hunt for her own food, which leads to retaliation from members of the local community.
Even outside of the supernatural elements, there's also the problem of Oskar's desire to kill the
kids who frequently torment him. When he does finally strike back, they respond by attempting
to drown him in a swimming pool. Fortunately, Eli comes to his rescue and gruesomely dispatches
them all. Despite this incredibly bloody climax, the film still has time for an optimistic final
scene featuring the two on a train, running away towards their own personal "happily ever after."
2020's "The Invisible Man" is a loose adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel from "Insidious" and "Saw"
co-creator Leigh Whannell. The film jettisons virtually everything about the original story
outside of the core premise that a man can become invisible. Rather than portraying the
events from his perspective, the film instead centers on his main victim,
ex-girlfriend Cecilia, who was trapped in an abusive and toxic relationship before escaping.
Although she is told that her former boyfriend died after she left him,
Cecilia doesn't believe that he's really gone. Sure enough, she finds herself tormented by
an unseen figure who attacks her when no one is looking and then disappears,
making her seem increasingly unstable. The titular "Invisible Man" even goes as far as
killing Cecilia's sister and framing her for the murder, which lands her in a psychiatric hospital.
The kill count for this film may be low, but the psychological torture its protagonist
endures more than makes up for it. Even after her ex's brother is unmasked wearing the optical
bodysuit that grants invisibility, she still feels trapped by the violent relationship.
Just when it seems like she might give in due to their unborn child, she suddenly takes fate,
and the invisibility suit, into her own hands by killing her abuser once and for all. She even gets
to walk off into the proverbial sunset, after her detective friend seemingly lets her off the
hook after realizing what she's done. Not a bad outcome, considering all she had to go through.
It sounded a lot like he killed himself."
Ridley Scott's original "Alien" is a classic of both the science-fiction and horror genres,
boasting innovative special effects, and an atmosphere of tension and claustrophobia. Any
potential sequel was going to have its work cut out for it. Fortunately for filmgoers everywhere,
director James Cameron managed to expand the scale while maintaining the intimate terror of what
came before. The result is "Aliens," an action packed masterpiece as beloved as its predecessor.
Set 57 years after her initial encounter with a Xenomorph, the film finds Ellen Ripley awakened
from hypersleep just in time to assist a military expedition to the now-colonized LV-426. Yes,
it's the same place where the deadly species was first discovered. Despite traveling with a crew
of hardened marines, it doesn't take long for the creatures to begin taking them down one by one.
Their advanced weaponry fails to protect them for long, and soon only a handful are left alive.
In a last-ditch attempt to rescue young Newt, the colony's only living survivor, Ripley goes
head-to-head with the Xenomorph Queen, who is none too thrilled to have her babies set on fire.
Their grudge match eventually results in the queen being blown out of their ship's air
lock — and suddenly, all seems right with the world. The planet has been destroyed,
the aliens are all dead, and Ripley even has a new surrogate daughter. The final moments of the
film seem almost hopeful for the future. That is, as long as you ignore the rest of the franchise.
"I'm sorry, Newt." "You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault."
"The Collection," a 2012 sequel to 2009's "The Collector," comes from Patrick Melton
and Marcus Dunstan, who wrote the "Feast" trilogy and four of the "Saw" films.
It's no surprise that the first film is a grisly, stomach-churning affair
involving elaborate booby traps and insidious torture methods. It follows a mysterious
figure who kidnaps his victims for nefarious purposes. The film ends with him abducting
a man named Arkin, who is inadvertently released at the beginning of the sequel.
This time around, we get a look at the maniac's hideout, an intricate warehouse filled with all
manner of spikes and saws. Arkin leads a team of mercenaries in the hopes of
retrieving a girl named Elena, and before long, the majority of them find themselves torn apart
in increasingly gruesome ways. This is to say nothing of the collection itself,
a room filled with abstract sculptures constructed of preserved human body parts.
In the end, only Arkin and Elena are left, and though Arkin is able to get the upper hand by
throwing his nemesis into a chute, it seems like he might die as the building is consumed by fire.
Fortunately, Elena is able to create a path to safety by smashing up the glass cases of the
collection, spilling out the water within. It's a triumphant scene of survival set to rock music
that contrasts with the grimness of the rest of the film. Arkin is even able to track down and
abduct the Collector himself, with the intention of making sure he can't hurt anybody else.
Author Stephen King may not be the biggest fan, but few adaptations of his works are
more iconic than Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining." The slow-burn chiller cast a spell over decades of
movie-goers with its iconic setting and memorable characters. Crafting a sequel was going to be a
tall order for any filmmaker. Enter Mike Flanagan, who had already adapted King's words with
"Gerald's Game" and impressed the world with his "The Haunting of Hill House" series on Netflix.
Flanagan took the sequel novel, "Doctor Sleep," and was able to find a happy middle-ground between
respecting King's writing and paying homage to the beloved film. The story follows Danny Torrance,
now grown up and played by Ewan McGregor, as he struggles to overcome his childhood trauma,
as well as come to terms with his psychic gifts. He also becomes a
mentor of sorts to a young girl with similar abilities named Abra.
When she's targeted by a gang of psychic vampires, Danny does what he can to protect her.
As a last resort, he takes her to the Overlook Hotel, where he re-experiences the horrors of
his youth. Though he is able to unleash the many spirits contained there against Rose,
he ends up sacrificing both himself and the hotel, which burns to the ground as Abra
escapes. Despite this seemingly dark conclusion, Abra is later able to commune with Danny's ghost,
who tells her that everything is going to be all right and to use her power for good.
"Shine on, Abra Stone. You shine on."
Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead" is the stuff of Hollywood legend.
Shot for a measly $375,000, it launched the careers of both Raimi and star Bruce Campbell
thanks to creative filmmaking and an unsettling atmosphere. The pair reunited for "Evil Dead
II," which utilized its improved budget to create even more scares and gore effects,
as well as introducing a darkly comedic tone. Ash Williams may have been fighting for his life
against the souls of the damned, but his plight still managed to be downright wacky at times.
This trajectory accelerated even further with the third film, "Army of Darkness," which sees
Ash transported to the Middle Ages and leading a band of medieval warriors against the horrors
of the dead. Admittedly, this is the silliest of the trilogy, with several moments lifted directly
from "The Three Stooges." Even with the lighter tone, it still has plenty of disturbing content,
including the army of skeletons led by Ash's evil doppelganger,
whose skin has been removed from his face entirely, leading to a fearsomely gruesome visage.
Though many lives are lost, Ash is ultimately successful at defeating evil and returning to
the present day. In a humorous epilogue, he has returned to his department store job,
and even though Deadites still show up to attack him, he's always ready with his trusty boomstick.
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