Every filmmaker knows this: the ending is what audiences carry home.
Here’s 5 Ways to Make Your Film’s Ending Unforgettable:
1. Tie Up Loose Ends: Resolve key plot-points.
2. Leave Room for Interpretation: Open endings can spark discussion.
3. Echo the Beginning: Create symmetry with a callback to your opening.
4. Deliver an Emotional Punch: Leave viewers feeling something profound.
5. Hint at a Sequel: If appropriate, keep the story alive.
How Pzaz Helps: Plan your story-arcs with detailed tools for narrative structure.
What’s the most impactful ending you’ve seen?
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The ending of The Usual Suspects, Vincent Weberink. I wasn't expecting it at all!
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YES!
Great note;
a powerful cliffhanger or twist that sparks satisfaction, astonishment, or subconscious reflexive predictions and anticipation with some ambiguity and solidly based on what's preceded it,
necessarily a bookend from opening sequence and inescapably leading to an unpredictable yet compelling future,
I can't think of a heist movie where the plan failed but that kind of comes to mind,
an alternative ending to what was implied as inevitable,
but "Thelma & Louise" is the one that really comes to mind as it's tough to beat in terms of the WOW factor!
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The ending of the first Iron Man movie still sticks with me, it completely went against how a superhero movie at the time was expected to end and ended up not only setting up a sequel but spawning a whole cinematic universe.
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Schindler's List and Memories of Me. Both stirred similar emotions but different sides of that emotion. In terms of 'I didn't see that coming' Usual Suspect as mentioned by Maurice certainly created a WTF????? Memento hit me similarly.
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John Carpenter's PRINCE OF DARKNESS. The ending hit me so hard because everyone in the dorm room SCREAMED.
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old boy got me the most , it hit me so hard when he find out that it's his daughter totally unexpected ending
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For me, as a viewer, emotions have always come first. Art is all about emotions, and honestly, so is life. Emotions are what create memories. I often catch myself realizing that I don't clearly remember the exact plot of a movie or a book, but I do remember how it made me feel — the disappointment, happiness, shock, surprise, or bittersweetness. That emotional impact is what truly stayed with me.
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Absolutely, Daniel — I love how you put that. That balance between satisfaction and ambiguity is exactly what makes an ending memorable. “Thelma & Louise” is a perfect example — shocking, inevitable, and emotional all at once. It sticks because it feels right even though it’s unexpected.
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Great pick, Casey — that “I am Iron Man” moment changed everything! It broke the old superhero formula and showed how powerful authenticity can be in a character’s arc. Plus, it set a new standard for world-building in modern cinema.
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Hi! The movie "Snow Angels" impressed me with its plot and ending.
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Don't Look Up
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How did no one say The Mist yet? That ending is BRUTAL!!!
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Love and Other Drugs, A Beautiful Mind, Memoires Of A Geisha, As Good As It Gets
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Inception was a little unnerving in that I wanted a solid answer Vincent Weberink. Having said that, I admired Nolan's courage for wanting the audience to figure it out. The Iron Giant always brings a tear to me eye. "You stay...I go."
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All of these are such great examples! Thelma and Louise, A Beautiful Mind, The Sixth Sense!
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Wall-E --> excellent "show don't tell" example.