16 Horror Movies Like 'Fall' With Gut-Punch Endings
Fall is a brutal survival thriller in which two women get trapped at the top of a 2,000 foot TV broadcasting tower. The entire movie is stressful - especially if you have a fear of heights - but the ending packs a particular punch. Below you will find movies like Fall that would make for a perfectly anxiety-inducing double feature.
The 2010 film Frozen immediately comes to mind, as it also features a small cast of characters being stuck up high with seemingly no solution as to how to get back down again. The Descent, The Mist, and 47 Meters Down are other great horror films that leave you feeling like you’ve been punched in the gut. If you’d like your twisted ending with a side of comedy, Happy Death Day is a great option. Oculus and Would You Rather, on the other hand, are good choices if you’d like to be left with your jaw dropped by the time the credits roll.
1. The Descent (2005)
As far as horror movies where people are trapped, The Descent is hands down one of the best. It follows a group of thrill-seeking girlfriends who - thanks to their friend - end up spelunking in an unmarked cave system. At first they are horrified because they can't find a way out, but things get much, much worse when they realize they are not alone down there. It went on to spawn a sequel - The Descent Part 2 - in 2009, but nothing compares to the shock of watching the original.
2. The Mist (2007)
The Mist, based on Stephen King’s novella of the same name, features a cast of characters trapped in a grocery store, after a mist settles over their town, and brings mysterious and violent creatures with it. From giant spiders and praying mantis-like monsters to ancient-looking creatures like pterodactyls, there is carnage along with all of the suspense and anxiety. The Mist, however, is probably best known for its unbelievably bleak ending.
3. Final Destination (2000)
The 2000 Final Destination went on to launch a franchise, with four additional films. It follows high school student Alex (Devon Sawa) who has a premonition that the flight he is on is about to crash. He freaks out, getting himself and six other people kicked off of the plane. Everyone realizes they have managed to escape death when the plane really does explode, killing everyone on board. Unfortunately for them, you can’t actually escape death, and it comes after them, one by one, to claim the lives it was supposed to on the flight.
4. Would You Rather (2012)
Would You Rather follows Iris (Brittany Snow), a woman who is struggling to afford the costs of taking care of her brother, who has leukemia. In an attempt to win money to cover her brother's expenses, Iris attends a dinner party held by a philanthropist named Shepard Lambrick (Jeffrey Combs), where the winner of a “parlor game” gets to take home a big prize. What the competitors don't realize is that only one of them is going to make it out of game night alive. Like Fall, Would You Rather is an anxiety nightmare.
5. Frozen (2010)
Everyone knows about Disney’s Frozen, but not as many have seen the Adam Green film of the same name, which came out three years prior. Frozen horror movie follows three friends who get trapped on a chairlift at night, after the ski slopes have closed for the day - and would remain closed for the entire following week due to a storm. From skin tearing and broken limbs to becoming dinner for wolves, this movie is absolutely not for the faint of heart - making it a great match for a double feature with Fall.
6. 47 Meters Down (2017)
In 47 Meters Down, Mandy Moore and Claire Holt play sisters Lisa and Kate, who head to Mexico for some fun and to blow off some steam after the former is dumped. At her sister’s insistence, Kate agrees to go watch sharks from a diving cage with two local men they had met. As the title suggests, something goes wrong, and they end up 47 meters down on the ocean floor, trapped in the metal cage. If you’re looking for a panic attack in a movie - with some less than happy twists - 47 Meters Down would definitely pair well with Fall.
7. The Ring (2002)
The Ring may not seem to have a lot in common with Fall, which is not supernatural, and takes place in basically one location the entire time. However, they both deploy the “fake happy ending,” leaving audiences shocked and unsettled. The image of Samara (Daveigh Chase) crawling out of the television to attack Aidan (Martin Henderson) is iconic, and one of the scariest moments in horror. That scene is as unforgettable as the horrifying face of Katie (Amber Tamblyn), after she was attacked in the beginning of the movie.
8. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
In The Autopsy of Jane Doe, small town coroner Tommy (Brian Cox) and his son Austin (Emile Hirsch) must work together to discover a cause of death on a young unidentified woman by morning. Quickly, the pair find themselves confused, as the injuries suggest conflicting theories. The condition of the body says the death has just occurred, while the corpse's eyes seem to show she has been dead for days. Things only get worse from there, as doors lock on their own, lights explode, and other corpses in the morgue go missing. Not unlike Becky and her friend in Fall, this father-son duo are in for a rough night.
9. Identity (2003)
Ten strangers find themselves stranded at a motel, a rainstorm preventing any of them from leaving in Identity. Then the murders begin. People are getting picked off one by one, and numbered room keys are being found with each corpse. Identity is like Fall in the sense that the happy ending might not be quite as happy as you think. The movie, which features stars like John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Clea DuVall, and Alfred Molina, jumps between the strangers at the motel, and a convict named Malcolm Rivers (Pruitt Taylor Vince), who awaits execution.
10. Escape Room (2019)
Escape Room also features characters setting off on what they think will simply be a fun adventure, but ends up being a desperate fight for their lives. Six people with different backgrounds/financial situations are invited to participate in a top-of-the-line escape room with a $10,000 prize. Things start off friendly enough, but when everyone realizes that people are actually dying within the different themed rooms, the ruthlessness comes out.
11. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
For a fun real-life horror meets supernatural nightmares double feature, Fall would go well with beloved eighties classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street. It follows heroine Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) who realizes she and her friends are all having nightmares featuring the same monster, a man with burnt flesh and knives for fingers. The group tries to figure out how to evade the monster, as he picks them off one by one. The ending shows Freddy Krueger is not going to make it easy to get away from him.
12. Krampus (2015)
Krampus is the outlier on this list, as it is a holiday film. However, the third act of the film is as stressful and bleak as Fall can be. The cast is stacked, with Toni Collette, Adam Scott, Allison Tolman, David Koechner, and Conchata Ferrell, and it has a similar dark and comedic tone to that of Gremlins. The family has to quickly go from fighting each other, to fighting off the myriad henchman of the shadow of Santa Claus, Krampus. The protagonist, Max (Emjay Anthony), inadvertently summoned Krampus when he made the decision not to believe in Santa anymore, thanks to being mocked by his cousins.
13. The Nun (2018)
The Nun is also a horror movie with quite the adventure. However, in this case it is traveling to Romania to try to banish a demon. Taissa Farmiga plays Irene, a nun still in her training, who is asked to join Father Burke (Demián Bichir) to try and help save Saint Cartha’s monastery from a demon. The Nun, which is a part of the popular The Conjuring universe, plays tricks on the viewer, because nothing is as it seems. It also has an ending that suggests the evil has not been vanquished, after all.
14. Oculus (2013)
Oculus plays with your mind, making you question what is real, and what is just imagined. Written and directed by Mike Flanagan, Oculus follows siblings Tim (Brenton Thwaites) and Kaylie (Karen Gillan) who think an antique mirror is responsible for their hardship and the death of their parents. Tim was blamed for the crime, and sent away to a psychiatric hospital, while Kaylie spent her life researching the mirror so she can prove her brother's innocence. For a dark double feature, Oculus pairs well with Fall.
15. Happy Death Day (2017)
Happy Death Day is more of a fun ride than the others, though it still involves brutal murder. College student Tree (Jessica Rothe) finds herself in her own Groundhog Day situation when she continuously wakes up on her birthday after being murdered. She discovers she must figure out who is trying to kill her in order to escape her fate - and the time loop. Just when you think she’s done it, the tables are turned again.
16. Nocturne (2020)
Nocturne, like Fall, is the kind of movie that makes you question if what you are seeing is really happening, or if it is just in the character's mind. It follows twin sisters, Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) and Vivian (Madison Iseman), who are both classical pianists, though the latter is a prodigy. After another student completes suicide, Juliet stumbles upon her notebook, which sets a chain of events into motion that would change she and her sister's lives forever.
This was originally published on Ranker.com.
