Poll: Can a horror movie have a happy ending?

[Hugh Wright]

After getting a glut of horror movies on my film rental service I got very good at spotting not only 15 holes in the plots and 4 ways everybody could survive (not including those relating to shotguns), but also spotting the 'twist' ending that would doom the 'survivor' in the last 30 seconds of the movie.
This made watching the movies slightly less enjoyable, but would removing the 'twist' make the movie something other than a horror movie?

 

[Mafoobula]

I think a horror movie that turns out well would actually be more of a horror/thriller/action/suspense flick. Besides, the slightest hint of "it turns out well in the end" would ruin all suspense, turning it into mostly thriller. It's like the Final Destination movies. We know that people are going to die, we just want to see what Rube Goldbergian mechanism kills them. There's no real horror to the movie, just a bit of suspense and some cheap, sadistic thrills.

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

The main problem is most horror films suck, or the only reason things escalate from bad to ultra-shit-fan-interaction is due to the stupidity of the characters.
case in point: Paranormal Activity (1, at least. Haven't seen the others.)

Most plots could be solved with common sense. Just realised I didnt answer the question.
Mostly, no. If there is a survivor, it is almost always a white 'pure-natured' person. If most people survive, it doesn't see ma good horror film

 

[SckizoBoy]

Young Frankenstein perhaps? (if you call it a horror film, that is...)

*snrk* *snrk*

 

[Soviet Heavy]

28 Days Later. Happy ending, positive note, very satisfying.

Movie is still terrifying. But the fact that there is hope at the end makes it worthwhile. You want to see the characters survive, and when they do, you feel great.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Some horror movies need happy endings, and some just seem out of place.

 

[Asita]

Depends. Does the premise allow for a happy ending? If the story focuses on a full-blown Zombie Apocalypse, then no. By virtue of the sheer magnitude of the tragedy serving as the setting, these kinds of stories should probably have is a pyrrhic victory or bittersweet ending at best, as anything else fails to play off of that setting properly. I'm all for letting the protagonists emerge victorious, but if the film's setting is inherently depressing, then the ending should stand as a beacon of hope in an otherwise dark world, with the audience aware of the ending's significance and the backdrop it stands against.

 

[DoPo]

If you ask me, a lot of horror movies end with a happy ending. At the very least, there are less morons in the world. Sometimes stupidity doesn't triumph in the end, which makes it truly satisfying.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Yeah, there must be numerous horror films with happy endings.

 

[Broady Brio]

Horror movies with happy endings? It's possible.

Good horror movies with happy endings? That's a bigger challenge.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Zombieland, if it falls into "horror" or not is debatable, has a happy ending and is completely awesome. The only real horror is the early sequences where they're still figuring out how to live in a zombie apocalypse though.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Define "happy ending". Do you mean all the character made it trough safe and sound or just the main character(s) alone? Ok yes sometime the main character live but the others do not so a bittersweet ending?

 

[omega 616]

After getting a glut of horror movies on my film rental service I got very good at spotting not only 15 holes in the plots and 4 ways everybody could survive (not including those relating to shotguns), but also spotting the 'twist' ending that would doom the 'survivor' in the last 30 seconds of the movie.
This made watching the movies slightly less enjoyable, but would removing the 'twist' make the movie something other than a horror movie?

Don't the vast majority of horror films have a good ending "and 1/2 got away", every horror film bar maybe one or two has had at least 1 person walk away unharmed.

Texas chainsaw massacre, Friday 13th and nightmare on elm street AKA the biggest series of horror films ever all have one walking away at the end (as far as I can remember).

Wouldn't a sad ending be "and everybody got massacred"?

 

[Hugh Wright]

Lets take Ghost Ship and Scream as examples. (not sure about how to do the spoiler tags so will be vague)
The movie ends with the lead alive, in medical care and likely to survive, but in the last thirty seconds is given the knowledge that everything that they lived through would happen again, and again, and again...
So happy? Not really. Bittersweet? Maybe, but more bitter than sweet. Horror? Yes.

Scream ends with a few characters alive and despite being ABOUT horror movies and having many tropes, cliche's and ideas from horror movies in it, I wouldn't say its a horror movie.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Every horror movie where all the characters die is a horror movie with a happy ending, because 99% of characters written for a horror movie is too stupid to live and watching them makes me hope they die horribly.