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Movies whose happy endings aren't

The music swells, the hero smiles, and something is deeply wrong. These films end on an apparent high note that the movie itself quietly contradicts: a reward that isn't deserved, an escape that didn't happen, a triumph that cost everything. The best of them let you enjoy the happy version for a full day before it curdles.

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Fair warning: knowing an ending is on this list is itself a gentle spoiler. Titles only, no details.

Taxi Driver poster
Taxi Driver
1976 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 89%★ 8.2crime · dramaApple TV+

Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.

Brazil poster
Brazil
1985 · dir. Terry Gilliam
🍅 98%★ 7.8comedy · science fiction

Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.

Blue Velvet poster
Blue Velvet
1986 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 87%★ 7.7mystery · thriller · crime

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

A Clockwork Orange poster
A Clockwork Orange
1971 · dir. Stanley Kubrick
🍅 86%★ 8.2science fiction · crimeMax

In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the music of Beethoven. The state, eager to crack down on juvenile crime, gives an incarcerated Alex the option to undergo an invasive procedure that'll rob him of all personal agency. In a time when conscience is a commodity, can Alex change his tune?

Oldboy poster
Oldboy
2003 · dir. Park Chan-wook
🍅 82%★ 8.3thriller · mysteryRent or buy

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.

Whiplash poster
Whiplash
2014 · dir. Damien Chazelle
🍅 94%★ 8.5drama · music · thriller

Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.

Parasite poster
Parasite
2019 · dir. Bong Joon Ho
🍅 99%★ 8.5comedy · thriller · dramaParamount+

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

Shutter Island poster
Shutter Island
2010 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 69%★ 8.2drama · thriller · mysteryParamount+

World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.

Memento poster
Memento
2000 · dir. Christopher Nolan
🍅 94%★ 8.4mystery · thrillerNetflixPrime Video

Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.

The Prestige poster
The Prestige
2006 · dir. Christopher Nolan
🍅 77%★ 8.5drama · mystery · science fictionNetflix

A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.

Gone Girl poster
Gone Girl
2014 · dir. David Fincher
🍅 88%★ 8.1mystery · thriller · drama

With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.

American Psycho poster
American Psycho
2000 · dir. Mary Harron
🍅 69%★ 7.6thriller · drama · crimePrime VideoHulu

A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

Nightcrawler poster
Nightcrawler
2014 · dir. Dan Gilroy
🍅 95%★ 7.8crime · drama · thrillerNetflix

When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.

Fight Club poster
Fight Club
1999 · dir. David Fincher
🍅 81%★ 8.8drama · thrillerRent or buy

A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

Pan's Labyrinth poster
Pan's Labyrinth
2006 · dir. Guillermo del Toro
🍅 95%★ 8.2fantasy · drama · war

In post–civil war Spain, 10-year-old Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to live under the control of her cruel stepfather. Drawn into a mysterious labyrinth, she meets a faun who reveals that she may be a lost princess from an underground kingdom. To return to her true father, she must complete a series of surreal and perilous tasks that blur the line between reality and fantasy.

Black Swan poster
Black Swan
2010 · dir. Darren Aronofsky
🍅 85%★ 8drama · thriller · horror

A committed dancer struggles to maintain her sanity after winning the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake."

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) poster
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
2014 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 91%★ 7.7drama · comedyMax

A fading actor best known for his portrayal of a popular superhero attempts to mount a comeback by appearing in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, his attempts to become more altruistic, rebuild his career, and reconnect with friends and family prove more difficult than expected.

The Usual Suspects poster
The Usual Suspects
1995 · dir. Bryan Singer
🍅 87%★ 8.5drama · crime · thrillerMax

Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. Verbal lures his interrogators with an incredible story of the crime lord's almost supernatural prowess.

Us poster
Us
2019 · dir. Jordan Peele
🍅 93%★ 6.8horror · mysteryMax

Husband and wife Gabe and Adelaide Wilson take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends. But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.

Gone Baby Gone poster
Gone Baby Gone
2007 · dir. Ben Affleck
🍅 94%★ 7.6crime · drama · mysteryParamount+

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.

Mulholland Drive poster
Mulholland Drive
2001 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 83%★ 7.9thriller · drama · mystery

Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman's identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project.

Donnie Darko poster
Donnie Darko
2001 · dir. Richard Kelly
🍅 88%★ 8fantasy · drama · mysteryPrime VideoHulu

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

Joker poster
Joker
2019 · dir. Todd Phillips
🍅 68%★ 8.3crime · thriller · dramaMax

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood poster
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
2019 · dir. Quentin Tarantino
🍅 86%★ 7.6comedy · drama · thrillerPrime Video

Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…

The Lobster poster
The Lobster
2015 · dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
🍅 87%★ 7.1comedy · drama · romanceMax

In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into animals and sent off into The Woods.

Every title above links to its kindred spirits. Find the one you love, then follow the thread. Or browse the mood behind this shelf: bleak, cerebral, unsettling.