Summary
- A24 films blend horror and heart with intense, nonsensical endings that leave fans in awe every time.
- From The Lighthouse to The Witch, endings showcase sound design and bleak, fascinating horror storytelling.
- Saint Maud and Talk To Me offer powerful, haunting endings that stay with viewers long after the credits roll.
As one of the premier indie movie production houses, A24 has cultivated an incredible fan base of film-loving fans the world over. They've done this by helping to put out some of the most interesting and, at times, disgusting films to ever grace the silver screen. As such, the company has become synonymous with the modern horror genre.
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A24 movies tend to have some of the most imaginative and horrific premises, while exuding an incredible amount of heart. Yet, what these films are mostly known for are how these elements come together in the form of intense, and at times, nonsensical endings, that leave fans in a state of awe just about every time. What follows is a list of the best A24 film endings there are.
Spoilers Ahead for all films listed.
5 The Lighthouse
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
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Release Date |
October 18, 2019 |
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Director |
Robert Eggers |
From the start, nothing is as it seems in The Lighthouse, partly due to the main characters, Wake and Howard's, deceptive natures. However, it'd be easy for any person to lose themselves in the isolation that being a lighthouse keeper brings.
The Lighthouse Ending, Explained
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The two men gradually lose themselves, growing madder with each passing day. This culminates in the siren's call of the lighthouse driving Howard to bury his partner alive, before succumbing to the elements himself in a finale that is a true testament to the movie's sound design team.
4 Hereditary
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
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Release Date |
June 8, 2018 |
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Director |
Ari Aster |
Hereditary is dense, full of cult-ish imagery and jargon that is not very obvious upon first watch. Instead, viewers are greeted with a number of mundane situations that build on the movie's tension over time, due in no small part to the rapturous performances of the main cast.
By the climax of the film, though, that tension is released as the family is picked off, one by one, dashing any hope of a happy ending. Son of the family, Peter, then has his body taken over by the true antagonist of the film, the pagan god, Paimon. It's one of those endings that can be seen coming upon subsequent watches, as viewers come to realize that Paimon's followers orchestrated everything bad that happens to the Graham family from the start.
3 The Witch
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
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Release Date |
October 18, 2015 |
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Director |
Robert Eggers |
Director Robert Eggers showcased an early mastery of the slow-burn with The Witch. This flick stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Thomasin, as she and the rest of her family try to make it through the winter amid an ongoing attack by the Wicked One himself.
The Witch Ending, Explained
The Witch is a bleak, fascinating horror movie with an ending as great as the rest of the story and a great performance from Anya Taylor-Joy.
Everything amounts to naught, though, as the Devil's machinations, and the family's growing distrust of Thomasin, come to a head. This results in the deaths of everyone but her. With nothing left to lose, she gives in, signing her soul away, and becoming the witch her own blood accused her of being all along.
2 Saint Maud
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
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Release Date |
October 9, 2020 |
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Director |
Rose Glass |
Like most A24 films, Saint Maud is low budget, and it shows in its janky depictions of divinity throughout. Yet, the story of a woman trying to escape her seedy past through a life of divinity loses none of its poignancy, right up until its end.
Maud offers herself to her God in a way many would never want to even imagine: self-immolation. Wings spread out from her back, as onlookers fall to their knees over what they are witnessing. Alas, in the final frame, it's revealed to be a delusion, the fantasy being washed away in a sea of flames and screams.
1 Talk To Me
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
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Release Date |
July 28, 2023 |
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Directors |
Danny and Michael Philippou |
In Talk To Me, a gaggle of teens mess with what essentially ends up being an elevated ouija board. It's a hand that allows those who hold onto it to commune with the dead, and it winds up releasing a power that they simply don't fully understand, leading to some dire consequences. While definitely not a wholly unique premise, it is done extremely well.
It's a story that clearly speaks about the dangers of unattended grief, as main character, Mia becomes addicted to communing with the dead, only to wind up being haunted by her deceased mother's spirit; a spirit that, as it turns out, is a malevolent one. This ghost (who may or may not be Mia's real mother) drives her to murder her father before eventually ending her own life, and becoming trapped inside the hand that started it all.
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