Utterly Devastating Film Endings That Totally Came Out Of Nowhere

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Scriptwriters tend to be a creative sort. After all, it is their job to sit there and come up with new ways to thrill us, so being creative is something of a must in the job description. Yet being creative has definitely gotten harder as the years have gone on – granted, the human imagination is limitless, but when over a century of movie-making has established trope that work and those that don’t, it can be very easy to go into autopilot and ride the rails of these already-established plotlines. Case in point, the suddenly negative ending. You can see why scriptwriters choose to go with it – it’s probably cathartic to escape the formula of happily-ever-after, and if executed well you can knock an audience silly with the unexpected. And to be fair, they often do – there’s plenty of endings you didn’t see coming that knock the wind out of you. Yet occasionally, these endings can be added just to create artificial shock, disappointing the audience by pretty much invalidating everything that’s come before. These movies can anger audiences and live in infamy among critic circles.

Marley And Me – Marley Dies

At first glance, and after multiple glances, Marley and Me could be dismissed as a harmless bit of fluff. There’s an adorable dog, a throwaway plot and in the form of Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, established Hollywood A-listers working on auto-pilot. So far, so good. What happens is the humans get gradually more flustered by Marley’s antics, and a good time is had by all. Then come film’s close, Marley is put to sleep as he begins to succumb to the ravages of old age.

Forrest Gump – Jenny’s Death

Forrest Gump live in infamy as the film which deprived Pulp Fiction of the Best Picture Oscar, but you’d be a fool if you can’t see its quality. Sure, it’s not as good as the competition it beat out, but Gump’s adventures through the touchstones of American history is full of whimsy, fun and schmaltzy life lessons about boxes of chocolate. Really, it’s just a happy film.