Horror fans have certain expectations and hopes for the ending of a movie. Hopefully, if it's a slasher, the final girl saves herself, maybe some of her friends or family, and defeats the killer. If it's a supernatural story, then the protagonist solves the mystery and figures out how to lift a curse or make an evil ghost happy.
Sometimes, a horror movie has a particularly thrilling, perfectly told, and smart ending. The film is wrapped up with no questions left unanswered and the main character is finally happy. These endings definitely stand out.
When A Stranger Calls (1979)
When A Stranger Calls is a timeless 1970s horror movie and also has one of the most satisfying conclusions. Seven years after a killer murders the kids who she is babysitting, Curt Duncan (Tony Beckley) terrorizes Jill Johnson (Carol Kane). At the end of the film, Jill thinks that her husband Stephen (Steven Anderson) is in bed next to her, but instead, it's Duncan. John Clifford (Charles Durning) shows up and kills Duncan. After a harrowing experience, Jill is relieved to see that her kids are fine and her husband is in the closet but unharmed.
It's easy to like Jill and hope that everything works out okay for her, and it's nice to see that after so much pain and suffering, she and her family get a happy ending.
Hush (2016)
Kate Siegal starred in Hush, one of the most underrated 2010s horror movies, as a deaf writer named Maddie, who finds herself in terrible danger when an intruder tries to kill her. At the end of the movie, he comes into the bathroom and she scares him with her smoke alarm and insecticide. As the killer tries to strangle her, Maddie kills him with a corkscrew in his neck, a shocking and satisfying moment. Maddie sits outside her house with her cat, smiling, knowing that she has made it out alive.
While the killer in Hush might not be as iconic as Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, he is just as horrible, and it's sad imagining Maddie losing her life. Thankfully, Maddie uses her inner strength and makes it through this terrifying ordeal.
Haunt (2019)
Haunt has a perfect horror movie setting and the 2019 horror movie also has an absolutely flawless ending. After escaping the haunted house full of killers with masks that hide creepy, deformed faces, Harper realizes that the killers have her home address. Harper goes back to her childhood home and waits there, ready to take back her power and murder them so they can't come after her anymore. When Clown Mask enters the house, he finds a trap that Harper set and she shoots and kills him.
Since Harper is carrying around some awful trauma, as she was abused when she was younger and her college boyfriend also hurt her, it's especially satisfying to see Harper standing up for herself and hurting someone who caused her pain.
There's Someone Inside Your House (2021)
While the Netflix adaptation of There's Someone Inside Your House, the young adult horror novel by Stephanie Perkins, leaves something to be desired, the ending is still satisfying. Ollie Larrsson (Theodore Pellerin) and Makani Young (Sydney Park) survive being in the middle of a corn maze that is on fire, and Makani murders the killer, Zach Sanford (Dale Whibley). The fact that the characters can think about their futures and plan to follow their dreams is moving and emotional.
The film also gives Makani closure, as she had been involved in a hazing incident and she hurt her friend by pushing her right into a bonfire by accident. Makani gets in touch with her friend to apologize and see if they can repair their friendship. While there are some disappointing parts, There's Someone Inside Your House is a classic teen horror movie in some ways, so it's nice to see the characters able to fully grow up and move on.
The Night House (2021)
Rebecca Hall's character Beth goes through a real journey in the 2021 horror movie The Night House, which examines grief. After losing her husband Owen (Evan Jonigkeit), Beth still feels his presence inside their lake house, and then comes across a startling discovery: Owen was trying to trick a demon that has been stalking Beth by finding women who looked like Beth and sacrificing them in a carbon copy of their house.
The final scene sees Beth sitting in the lake with her friend Claire (Sarah Goldberg), realizing that this ordeal is over and she's going to be okay. While the pain and suffering that Beth has been through can never be erased, she understands why her husband did what she did and she's able to look to the future.