Have you ever been watching a film that had you on the edge of your seat, only to smack you in the face with an incoherent or ludicrous twist ending? Few things infuriate me more than the wasted potential.
Two films with disappointing endings:
-Perfume: Story of a Murderer: I was attracted at first to the unusual premise, and thoroughly enjoyed the movie's exploration of how human obsession can completely subsume an individual's morality and consume their entire life. The ending, however, was a massive dose of WTF? Just before the main character is about to be executed for his numerous perfumes, he unveils a perfume that causes everyone in the town square to engage in a massive orgy. He walks away unscathed, only to decide that no one will ever love him. He pours his magical perfume over his head, which causes nearby bystanders to devour him alive.
You think I'm kidding.
Unfortunately, I'm not.
- The Village: I know that putting a Shymaylan film on this list is a cheap shot, but I never felt so let down by a film. I was really digging the unique setting, and the idea of an entire village attempting to keep a forest of hostile creatures at bay made for a very tense film. I was exceedingly unimpressed when the ending revealed that, surprise! They actually lived in the modern day, and the entire story was an elaborate ploy created by a collection of adults who wanted to escape the crime and violence of their ordinary lives.
