Time for a cozy movie night! Grab the popcorn, gummy bears, chocolate-covered raisins, and I’ll prepare the fluffy blankets. Put on your PJs, grab your sparkling beverage of choice, and settle into the couch. Now, what would you like to watch this evening: an uplifting film full of laughter and joy or a depressing drama that will turn you into a puddle of tears?
Redditors have been discussing movies that have anything but a happy ending, so we’ve gathered some of the saddest ones below. If you’re looking for something to watch with your kids, you might want to skip these. But if you’re in the mood for some much-needed catharsis, keep these heartbreaking films in mind! And continue reading to find a conversation with John Barker, Managing Director at All The Right Movies.
#1
The Green Mile.
I spent the whole movie hoping for the truth to come out and for him to be exonerated.
>!Then the truth comes out and everyone that matters is poised to do exactly that and the poor f**k is just so tired and beaten down from all the hate and hurt in the world that he just wants to get it over with. Everyone involved knows full and damn well he’s innocent and they go ahead with the e*******n anyway, because this literal angel full of childlike love and innocence basically begs them to set him free from this mean a*s world. !
It’s one of only a couple of movies that are both on my “Favorite movies of all time” list and also on me “Can never ever watch it again” list.
Image source: IGotNoStringsOnMe, Warner Bros
#2
Stand By Me. Listening to narrator talk about how friends fade into obscurity and only memories remain becomes more relatable every time I watch it.
Awesomekip:
“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”
Hits hard.
Image source: RabbiCartman, Columbia Pictures
#3
Dead Poets Society.
ihavesomestuff:
In my top 10 favorite movies. One of the few movies that destroyed me emotionally but I’ve still watched multiple times. It’s just that good.
Image source: therealmanbat, Walt Disney Pictures
#4
Hands down it’s Grave of the Fireflies.
ravravioli:
In the 90s, my parents found this movie for us because we loved Totoro. They put it on for us and then went out to dinner. They came back to utter chaos. 20+ years later I am still traumatized.
Image source: Onitsue, Studio Ghibli
#5
What Dreams May Come.
anon:
I was scrolling through to see if this had been mentioned. That whole movie is sad and depressing. Beautifully done and an incredible performance by Robin Williams but good lord I can’t watch it again.
Image source: Pigpen_darkstar, Universal Pictures
#6
My girl. His glasses, he can’t see without his glasses.
Professional-Text495:
Saw that movie in the theatre. No one expected that- they thought it was going to be another comedy from that kid in Home Alone.
My biggest memory from that movie was walking up the aisle and seeing kleenex all on the ground from people wiping their tears.
It was several years later when I’d see that much kleenex on the ground leaving a theater, but that time it was for “eyes wide shut.”
Image source: jlp120145, Columbia Pictures
#7
The boy in the striped Pajamas.
PaperStSoapCO_:
God damn I recently rewatched this and it f****d me up real good. Everything about it, obviously the ending but I was bawling through the entire thing. It hurts me.
Image source: STUBOING, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
#8
Hachi: A Dog’s Tale – a serious tearjerker this one.
michyeosseo1998:
Even to this day, I tear up the moment I hear the soundtrack of the movie, let alone watch the movie itself…
Image source: Nyteghoul, Sony Pictures
#9
The Land Before Time.
That’s a tragedy for those poor dino kids. Heck. That movie even reminds me of my dead pets. To top it off, the melancholic tone of “If We Hold On Together” by Diana Ross as its main theme. It gets me everytime.
Image source: imprctcljkr, Universal Pictures
#10
Million dollar baby
xMCioffi1986x:
Yeah, there’s no tiptoeing or silver lining, it’s just brutally honest “your life can completely change in a split second and sometimes there is no happy ending.”
Image source: anon, Warner Bros. Pictures
#11
Pan’s Labyrinth.
Kuhneel:
Between the bottle scene and the ending, I don’t think I could sit through it again.
Amazing, but emotionally exhausting.
Image source: PrisonerV, Warner Bros. Pictures
#12
Old Yeller. Sad ending for a good dog.
Image source: that-1-dude-420, Walt Disney Productions
#13
Marley and me.
Oh god I started watching this, got sucked in even though I KNEW how the ending would go. My bf came home in the middle of it, asked me why the f**k was I watching this, and then just handed me a roll of toilet paper. (We only bought actual Kleenex if someone was sick.) PS I used half of it.
Image source: Apprehensive_Move774, 20th Century Fox
#14
The Fox and the Hound.
arothmanmusic:
I saw that in the theatre as a birthday party. You know what ruins a birthday party? A bunch of crying children. That ruins a birthday party.
Image source: sycamorechip, Walt Disney Productions
#15
Requiem for a Dream.
connorlukebyrne:
Best movie no one ever wants to watch twice.
Image source: justafatgoat, Protozoa Pictures
#16
Se7en
Cynthus68:
This is the one that popped into my head right away. That was horrible. Definitely no warm and fuzzy feels with that ending.
“What’s in the boooox?”
Image source: Kroduscul, New Line Cinema
#17
Bridge to Terabithia, I saw that movie as a kid and rewatched it last year and again I cried like a b***h.
Kotekan:
I was NOT prepared for that in the slightest, me and my best friend sat in shock.
Image source: DarkZek22, Walt Disney Pictures
#18
One who flew over the cuckoo’s nest.
Image source: WhileHereWhyNot, United Artists
#19
The Mist. I think it’s why they made an alternate ending.
Anon:
One of the only movies I can remember watching in theater that had me legit mad after walking out, because it was just so good, but so painful.
I didn’t even realize until seeing it pointed out later down the line that it was even worse because, as I recall, a woman who left early in the movie to save her kids, crying that nobody would come out to accompany her, was part of the group of people being escorted by the military.
F**king hell, that movie is a good one.
Image source: toooldforthis64, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
#20
Donnie Darko. That rendition of the song Mad World further makes the ending more depressing and full of dread.
Image source: AZNominous, Flower Films
#21
The Lovely Bones.
Sammie2Dope:
I cannot finish this movie without getting anxiety and stressing out. This is one of the saddest movies.
Image source: randomdudenumber6, DreamWorks Pictures
#22
Forrest Gump!
I cry every single time I watch the scene where he visits Jenny’s grave. Tom Hanks’ talent is extraordinary!
Image source: phantom_avenger, Paramount Pictures
#23
Leaving Las Vegas.
moinatx:
This one wrecked me for some time. When people hate on Nic Cage as an actor I think about how affecting he was in this film.
Image source: anon, United Artists
#24
No Country for Old Men. Nobody wins, except maybe Anton.
Research_Liborian:
This…x 10.
Only movie that ever left me hungover, despite my watching it completely sober.
Image source: kryotheory, Paramount Pictures
#25
The road.
Cloaked42m:
I read the book. Once.
I’m never reading it again or watching the movie. They should have a warning on that thing.
Image source: ImABadFriend144, 2929 Productions
#26
Atonement.
pinkleaf8:
I had no idea what the movie was about & was blown away by it & then have never been able to stop thinking about what happened – the injustice, the separation before their love even got started, the sadness, the deaths.
Image source: fourhoovesandaheart, Universal Pictures
#27
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father.
beamer4:
Yes. Worst part is this isn’t fan fiction, it’s a real life nightmare that no family ever deserved. One of the few times I have felt physically gutted regarding people I’ve never met.
Image source: lieunee, MSNBC Films
#28
Memento is a singular movie to me where I thought it was brilliant and I never want to watch it ever again.
YariAttano:
The ending lines are forever burned into my mind:
“I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can’t remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world’s still there. Do I believe the world’s still there? Is it still out there?… Yeah. We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I’m no different.”
Image source: Rogue_Like, Summit Entertainment
#29
The Butterfly Effect.
hellsbelle51:
I actually watched it with the Directors cut playing. didnt know. felt so f**king empty inside after that.
Image source: squirrelz_uk, New Line Cinema
#30
Brokeback Mountain.
Anon:
I put off watching this for so many years because I knew it was sad. I watched it this year, a few months after my relationship didn’t work out. I think I had to carry the movie sadness with me for months. I don’t know if I can watch it ever again.
Image source: anon, River Road Entertainment
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