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LB7979
Since: Apr, 2016
14th Dec, 2017 07:56:54 PM
Trope Finder forum is the proper place to ask.
LB7979
Since: Apr, 2016
14th Dec, 2017 07:56:54 PM
Trope Finder forum is the proper place to ask.
Here, I'm trying to find out how this trope is named; it's almost certain that's been identified and classified already, I just don't know what it is. So, I'll describe it for you to find out. It's basically what I would call a "nightmare ending"; seen in some terror movie series for instance where the protagonist confronts the Big Bad, maybe some Ax-Crazy psychotic slasher guy and defeats him, usually killing him, or so it appears. But then, after the final confrontation has happened, in the movie's epilogue when the protagonist tries to return home to his/her normal life, the Big Bad seemingly appears out of nowhere and attacks him/her there, and then the screen cuts to black, signifying the end (a bad end at that) of the movie. However, this differs from a standard Downer Ending in that in a (canonical) sequel, the protagonist is seen again, alive and well, with no recollections of ever having been attacked at the end of the previous movie; thus the whole ending of the first movie being a "nightmare" of sorts, with that whole event ignored by the sequel movie without any explanation whatsoever (and not acknowledged as an actual nightmare by the protagonist), and usually it's only acknowledged that the villain of the first movie was killed back then and it's still dead all along. For example of this, see the ending of the first "I Know What You Did Last Summer" movie, in which Julie and Ray appear to defeat Ben Willis (the murderer who is the villain of the series) by throwing him to the sea, where he sinks presumedly dead, only for the guy to later attack Julie in her bathroom; however no mention of this attack is ever made by the second movie; although in the sequel Ben Willis reappears alive as well, the ending of the first movie where Julie is attacked is not acknowledged, and is simply retconned out of existence without any explanation.
Edited by dvegaj