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[Mike Works]

Whole lot of people wrong about The Witch in this thread.

 

[nkarafo]

And in what world was the ending of the mist cookie cutter? It's one of the most nihilistic movies to come out of Hollywood in I don't know how long.

I didn't say it was "cookie cutter" i said it was pretty basic, lowest common denominator stuff.

If they wanted so much to do it this way, they should have invested more time in the last part of the movie.

Spoiler

They should have shown more to convince me that these characters were 100% convinced they were out of options. And even then, it would be sensible that at least one character would still disagree so the protagonist would have to murder him or something. Because it's comically unlikely all four people in a group would agree to get a bullet in their head like this

Instead of that it was like this:

Spoiler

"we are out of gas, lets kill ourselves"
"okay"

Sorry, i wasn't convinced.

 

[retroman]

Red State's ending was rather unsatisfying and anticlimactic.

Turns out that Kevin Smith just didn't have the budget to create the ending he originally envisioned.

Spoiler

During various interactive Q&As for the film, Smith has stated that the original ending continued with the Rapture happening and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse descending on the scene.

Too bad. That could've been an amazing ending, if done right.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

What a horrible first post. The ending was tacked on because you wanted to piss?

You're taking this too literally, they just meant that the ending went on for far too long. And they're right. RotK's pacing is atrocious. First, the perilous climb to Mount Doom that just goes on and on and on and on and yes they're suffering and it's harsh and difficult WE GET IT and then later they say their farewells for 40 minutes, ugh. Shit's boring and went it drags on for too long and becomes too melodramatic, it completely removes the emotional impact.

I'd actually rather they trimmed that down majorly and included the Scouring of the Shire instead as epilogue.

 

[Ridley327]

ITT: people confusing endings that they don't like with endings that were literally tacked on as a result of poor test screenings or producers wanting sequel hooks.

Enemy at the Gates has a tacked-on ending. A Nightmare on Elm Street had a tacked-on ending. The Witch does not have a tacked-on ending.

 

[Limit]

The characters in The Mist didn't run out of options.

- They were driving really slow with whatever gas was left in the vehicle. How many hours were they driving? How much distance did they cover? I bet not too much. Certainly not enough for them to assume the whole place is consumed by the mist, let alone the country. Or the planet. So even though they weren't sure about how much distance the mist is covering, or what happens in the rest of the world,

Spoiler

they decided to kill themselves

.

- They were pretty safe in the car. They could have wait it out for a day or two. Maybe more until hunger and thirst takes them over. Maybe the mist would fade away. Maybe it was moving instead of spreading. They didn't know. Maybe someone would appear to help. Maybe the military would appear

Spoiler

(which is what happened anyway)

. They still had plenty of time to wait it out and see if something happens.

Spoiler

Instead, right after they stopped they decided to kill themselves

- Even after they waited it out,

Spoiler

the choice of suicide would still be hard to swallow

. These characters were supposed to be the logical, smart ones. They would try and find more possible outcomes, no matter how unlikely. Additionally, at least one or two would be

Spoiler

at least afraid to kill him/herself

. There would be some discussion, someone would cry, someone would doubt.

Spoiler

Someone would rather carry on as long as possible and see what happens

. It was four people. Yet, they all thought the same thing, felt the same thing and did the same thing.

It was a pretty unreasonable, cartoonish ending, tucked in just so you

Spoiler

just for the "oops" twist

. It felt so forced to me that

Spoiler

after the military showed up, i felt nothing for the character who realized how wrong he was

. I even laughed at the whole thing.

If the mist was a 12 episode long tv series, diving into the minutia of their journey out into the world would have been feasible. But it was a movie. The last few minutes are a montage of sorts. We don't know how much time has passed. But again, that's not the central point.

Spoiler

The rational players in the jeep were juxtapositioned against the religious zealots at the mall. From the movie's perspective their flaw is their hyper rationality. They saw monsters both big and small and inductively reasoned there was nothing left but death. They chose not to hope and have faith. And that was their downfall.

Nobody ever said that.

Analogy.

Quit the condescending tone. Theres a difference between "they don't get it" and "they don't like it". Just because someone has a different opinion than you, it doesn't mean he is stupid. The book has a different ending, which is the original one by the way. So if i like that one more it means i'm not as clever as you?

Maybe. I don't know you. Since you are the one catching feelings at a generalized statement I'll let you be the judge.

 

[retroman]

If the mist was a 12 episode long tv series, diving into the minutia of their journey out into the world would have been feasible. But it was a movie. The last few minutes are a montage of sorts. We don't know how much time has passed. But again, that's not the central point.

Spoiler

The rational players in the jeep were juxtapositioned against the religious zealots at the mall. From the movie's perspective their flaw is their hyper rationality. They saw monsters both big and small and inductively reasoned there was nothing left but death. They chose not to hope and have faith. And that was their downfall.

You know, I really didn't mind The Mist's ending. In fact, I thought it was pretty awesome.

I can kinda see why some people would be bothered by the fact that

Spoiler

the heroes seem to give up so quickly, though. Perhaps the ending would be slightly more acceptable for certain audiences if the protagonists got out of the car and tried to escape, but eventually got backed into a corner and surrounded by the monsters, making their situation a bit more desperate and inescapable than the original ending.

 

[Sheroking]

Red State's ending was rather unsatisfying and anticlimactic.

Turns out that Kevin Smith just didn't have the budget to create the ending he originally envisioned.

Spoiler

During various interactive Q&As for the film, Smith has stated that the original ending continued with the Rapture happening and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse descending on the scene.

Too bad. That could've been an amazing ending, if done right.

On the opposite end of the Kevin Smith "tacked-on ending" spectrum, there's Clerks.

The original ending was a gunman shooting Dante dead as he ends his shift, which sort of the fit the "unfortunate things happen" theme of the movie. Someone told Kevin it was morbid and tone deaf, so they quickly slapped together the actual ending: The camera slowly panning out as Dante and Randal out behind the counter.

 

[Markitron]

I can think of no better example of this than the US version of the Descent. It was tacked on for the US audience so it would be more upbeat and leave room for a sequel, in the process it completely ruined one of personal favourite endings of all time, that last shot is just fantastic.

 

[Harmen]

The Lost World for sure. The bullshit ending drags the film down in major ways for me. They should just have gone with a bigger climax on the island itself, with the cast sailing into the sunset in the end.

I can think of no better example of this than the US version of the Descent. It was tacked on for the US audience so it would be more upbeat and leave room for a sequel, in the process it completely ruined one of personal favourite endings of all time, that last shot is just fantastic.

I thought the original version for non-US audiences was actually longer? We got

Spoiler

the "good ending" dream, which then cuts to her waking up in a cave. The US version just doesn't show that last bit as far as I am aware

 

[EGM1966]

Source Code because you can pinpoint exactly where the movie should have ended.

Yah that's a good one. It should clearly have ended on the ambiguity of the frozen moment. I'd love to know if what follows is tacked on because it sure feels like it.

 

[Markitron]

The Lost World for sure. The bullshit ending drags the film down in major ways for me. They should just have gone with a bigger climax on the island itself, with the cast sailing into the sunset in the end.



I thought the original version for non-US audiences was actually longer? We got

Spoiler

the "good ending" dream, which then cuts to her waking up in a cave. The US version just doesn't show that last bit as far as I am aware

Maybe it's not tacked-on in a literal sense but it's still in the spirit of the term IMO. It's an ending that unnecessarily altered the tone of the film to set up a sequel.

 

[Blargonaut]

*snip*

Also about the Mist:

Spoiler

You didn't have a problem in how four different individuals, who were supposed to be the reasonable folks, all agreed to kill themselves, no doubts or anything. Nobody was afraid of killing himself. All four people just agreed to that the moment it was suggested. Not even one of them protesting or thinking about it a bit.

You didn't think it's a far fetched scenario, even for a movie?

It made sense to me IMO, their judgement was clouded

 

[hat_hair]

The entire last scene of Psycho could be removed quite easily.

Spoiler

A psychiatrist explains the entire plot. To be fair, this makes sense at the time as an explanation for something uncommon, especially as it was basically the first slasher film. Nowadays that scene just feels unnecessary.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

It made sense to me IMO, their judgement was clouded

Clouded from the mist??

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...

 

[Blargonaut]

Clouded from the mist??

...


...

 

[Monocle]

Most Recently....

The Witch.

The most retroactively damaging ending I've seen in a while. Just made the entire slog of the movie I watched altogether more uninteresting.

Another one is Looper

Well....the entirety of movie was a mess, but the last half was really just icing on the cake of an already bad movie. It turns the stupid up to 11 at the end.

What the shit? The Witch's ending is the natural culmination of all the events that led up to it. One of the best horror movie endings in recent memory because it had the balls to commit to its own subject matter and not pander to modern horror audiences, who are glutted on a diet of jump scares, over the top gore, and stupid twists.

I'm going to have a stroke (not really) if I see one more person suggest The Witch is "boring" or "not a real horror movie" or should have ended with some sort of "haha j/k" twist that senselessly dicks over the main characters and does no justice to the themes and dramatic buildup of the rest of the movie.

The Witch is basically perfect for what it is: an uncommonly authentic and historically literate depiction of New England Puritan beliefs concerning witches. Haters are welcome to toddle off and rewatch Saw 3D.