10 Horror Movie Mysteries That Should NEVER Have Been Answered

What does the Boogeyman look like? Who is Hannibal Lecter as a person? We really don't want to know.

Hannibal Rising
MGM

Mystery, tension and surprise and the core principles of good horror cinema, and while the temptation can be strong for directors, writers and studios to reveal their hand to the audience, oftentimes it's not something we want to see.

Nonetheless, like rampant flashers in the park, some creatives simply can't wait to show us the oh-so-clever plot point, character design or backstory they've been working hard on. Whether it's not knowing how to finish, misunderstanding what turns the audience on, or simply a dollar-eyed desire to milk more money out of a franchise, there's a nasty tendency for Hollywood to spill their guts all over the screen.

But think, for a minute, about the films that have kept their cool and reaped the rewards. Would Michael Myers be a slasher icon if he had whipped off the mask mid-film and revealed himself to be... just a guy? Would Hereditary have been such a runaway success if it had spent time spoon-feeding us the history and modus operandi of Paimon? And would Alien be the same if the Xenomorph had wandered out into the sterile light of day rather than skulking around the vents?

No, no and (if Covenant is anything to go by) no. Sometimes it really is better not knowing.

10. The End Of The World As We Know It - Knock At The Cabin (2023)

Hannibal Rising
Universal

Knock at the Cabin, M. Night Shyamalan's latest nail-biter, brings together a misfit cast of characters, including Dave Bautista and Rupert Grint, for a modern day apocalypse in the making.

The self-proclaimed four horsemen of the apocalypse, Leonard (Bautista), Redmond (Grint), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird) and Adriane (Abby Quinn) take a gay couple -- Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldrige) -- and their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui) hostage on their holiday getaway at a cabin in the woods. So far, so typical home invasion. The four promise that if the small family do not willingly sacrifice one of their own, the world will come to an end.

On the television, they watch planes fall out of the sky, tsunamis strike across the globe and a deadly pandemic spreads like wildfire, and ultimately a mildly concussed Eric convinces Andrew to kill him, thus ending the apocalypse. But this kind of straightforward quasi-religious hoo-ha is the film's Achilles' heel. Sometimes it really is better not knowing, and Knock at the Cabin is far more interesting when we aren't sure whether the apocalypse is real or an elaborate ruse staged by four psychopaths.

Shyamalan would have done well to keep us guessing, keep everything circumstantial, and end the film just after Andrew shoots his partner dead but before we find out whether he's made a life-ruining mistake.

Contributor
Contributor

Writer, editor and lifelong critic of test screenings, money men and films-by-committee.