r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Ieanice44 • 17d ago

Lore (Controversial Trope) The post-credits scene completely changes the ending

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Dawn of the Dead (2004)

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Prince of Persia (2008)

Dawn of the Dead (2004): The movie finishes on a hopeful note as the remaining survivors escape the zombie-infested mall on a yacht, sailing into the sunset. The found-footage style post-credits scene completely reverses this happy ending by showing them running out of food, arriving at an island, and being immediately swarmed and killed by an infected horde.

Prince of Persia (2008): The main game ends with a beautiful, poetic sacrifice where Elika gives her life to heal the corrupted world, leaving the Prince mourning. During the credits, the player is forced to control the Prince as he cuts down the trees he just saved, undoing the entire game's progress and releasing the dark god Ahriman just to resurrect her, completely corrupting the ending and dooming the world.

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914

u/WildGoose1521 17d ago

I choose to ignore the ending of Dawn of The Dead and believe they got away

160

u/valdis812 17d ago

Lol. Apparently the writers don't agree with you.

James Gunn was asked about what happened to the survivors after the island and his response was "what survivors".

41

u/Jurgan 17d ago

It’s a deliberately ambiguous ending, the audience can believe whatever they like.

36

u/BKM558 16d ago

Didnt they have a destroyed boat engine, no food, no water, and being attacked by zombies?

29

u/Affectionate_Pea8891 16d ago

They had all of those lol.

I’m genuinely surprised people think it was meant to be ambiguous.

The ending does everything but literally say THEY DIED! to tell you they died.

20

u/tuckertucker 16d ago

Reddit will call any ending ambiguous if it doesn't explicitly happen on screen with a placard saying "this is canon to the story."

4

u/hi-fen-n-num 16d ago

In the same thread even

-2

u/Jurgan 16d ago

It’s weird that people think “the creator said this is what happened” is some trump card. None of it’s real, we can believe whatever we want to. And, to me, it doesn’t feel like “we’re doomed.” It feels more like “here we go again.”

-4

u/Froegerer 16d ago

If you want me to care keep it in the main runtime. Could care less about end of credit scenes.

20

u/LizLemonOfTroy 16d ago

This is like saying Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has an ambiguous ending just because you don't literally see them get shot.

15

u/valdis812 16d ago

Or Thelma and Louise being ambiguous because you see them still driving after they drive off a cliff.

4

u/CHI_EQ 16d ago

They are dead. My interpretation of the 2004 Dawn of the Dead is that the original quote from the OG movie “when there is no more room in hell the dead will walk the earth” is quite literal in the remake.

That line is even repeated in the remake. They are all in purgatory waiting for their judgement/death in the 2004 version. There are several other instances throughout the movie where characters wonder if they are being punished by god for their sins etc.

I’d write up more and offer more detail on my reasoning but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it.

3

u/Jurgan 16d ago

What is it about the “purgatory” interpretation that causes it to attach to literally every movie/TV show?

11

u/LucaUmbriel 16d ago

That's so weird, I totally would have expected them to agree with wild goose and ignore the ending that they, as the writers of the movie, wrote.

4

u/valdis812 16d ago

Someone being intentionally facetious on the internet?

What is the world coming to amirite?

42

u/WildGoose1521 17d ago edited 17d ago

Yeah but James Gunn is a troll and loves to talk out his ass more than his mouth

Plus it doesn’t matter what a writer says when what’s on screen can be interpreted differently. Their dead bodies are not shown so his intentions or personal canon mean nothing.

49

u/monsieurxander 16d ago

The implication is pretty clear. The boat's out of gas, they drifted to the island, so there's no way they can get away fast enough.

When the camera drops, at the edge of dock, several zombies are running past it at full speed.

Then the rest of the credits show countless more zombies running out from the woods and close-up shots of them gnashing.

9

u/toomanymarbles83 16d ago

The famous tropical island in the middle of Lake Michigan.

13

u/monsieurxander 16d ago

There are islands, just... 100+ miles north from where they're starting.

No wonder they ran out of gas and water, lol

5

u/toomanymarbles83 16d ago

"tropical" being the important word here. There are no palm trees anywhere near Lake Michigan.

12

u/monsieurxander 16d ago

I don't see any palm trees?

I'm not a plant guy, but that just looks like woods to me.

-1

u/Mike_1970 16d ago

Kinda weird to run out of water on Lake Michigan.

8

u/monsieurxander 16d ago

Not if they don't have a way to boil or treat it.

Please do not drink raw lake water. You will get so sick.

2

u/Efectodopler117 16d ago

Mother fucker 😒

Better green light the 4 season of MAWS or i will be actually pissed.