Top 10 most haunting endings in horror movie history

7. The Descent (2005)

This British flick offers one of the darkest and most claustrophobic horror movie settings imaginable. The Descent tells the story of six women who set out to explore an unmarked cavern, only to wind up trapped inside. One by one, they are killed by subterranean humanoids that want to feed on their flesh.

It all comes down to one final girl, Sarah. In the climax of the film, Sarah manages to escape the cave and make it to her car, speeding away to safety. Moments later, she snaps back to reality and finds herself alone in the dark cavern; she never escaped at all, and it was all a hallucination. Sarah awaits her presumed death as the camera pulls away and the growls of the creatures grow louder.

6. Insidious (2010)

Though it would spawn both a sequel and two separate prequels, the original Insidious is still the freakiest of them all. That’s no doubt due to its incredibly haunting ending.

In the movie, married couple Josh and Renai move into a new home, where their son Dalton is possessed by otherworldly spirits. They enlist the help of demonologists, and eventually, they “rid” the evil from Dalton. Josh and Renai celebrate with Elise, one of the demonologists, happy that their ordeal is over.

Only it’s not. Elise realizes something is wrong, and takes a photograph of Josh to reveal that he is now possessed by the evil spirits. He strangles Elise to death, and when Renai finds the body, Josh taps her on the shoulder — when she turns to face him, she gasps, horrified, before the screen cuts to black.