Story's over, everyone dies

After reading the online description of a certain series that everyone's been saying is good and finding out that everyone dies horrifically in the end, I suddenly had no desire to watch it (well, less than normal, I was already fairly uninterested in it but that's beside the point).

I've found that in a lot of things, I don't particularily like it when everyone just dies at the end. It just seems too absolute and contrived an ending. I don't particularily like watching a series where everyone struggles towards some end and the maker just decides "well, they all died. That sucks".

That's not to say a series can't do character death WELL, but in most of the "everyone dies" movies or series I've seen, it's anything BUT done well.

So the question: in general or in specific cases, do you like endings where everyone dies?

No, because there is no point to the story, unless it was already established that the story was about martyrs, killing people, or purposeful killing (by characters or forces of nature).

I think Final Fantasy X's ending would have been really great if Yuna had died regardless. Such an interesting twist that would be.

Likewise, it'd be interesting (SPOILER)to see if Tina would have died at the end of FFVI.

I think that it'd be interesting if something like that could be pulled off well, but I like to have absolute resolution in my stories, to where I can at least make an educated guess of what happens, not have everyone just go die. It does seem pretty contrived, now that I think about it.

That one series (SPOILER)Air was a real piss off, becuase the whole point of most of the series was (SPOILER)for a guy to find a girl to keep her alive, then leave so she can stay alive, but she dies anyway, and so does he, so both main characters are dead, and that's it. Bastard of a series.

I'm a fan of the typical Hollywood fairytale ending. Eg - The bad guys are defeated, everyone's alive and well, and everyone lives happily ever after in eternal bliss.

I go to the movies for escapism from the real world. I want to watch happy endings, not miserable, sad ones where everyone croaks.

If it's done well, I could be happy with either way. I like being surprised.

Doesn't everyone die in Resevoir Dogs?

If there's a reason for it that's been fully explored and panned out beforehand, then it'll work. If not then it just feels exactly as it is: contrived.

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Originally Posted by Craig

Doesn't everyone die in Resevoir Dogs?

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Yeah.

I don't know why, but I love it when everyone dies in the end, or atleast the main character.

At least it's an unpredictable ending. There's nothing worse than a predictable ending. All romantic comedies more or less follows the same recipe. Guy falls in love with girl, but they can't have eachother because of some stupid reason, like they're family. Then lots of funny situations occur and they forget about the problem, but 30 minutes before the movie ends, a conflict happens and it looks like they'll NEVER get together again, but they will. In about 20 minutes. I'd love it if they all died instead. :D Stupid Meg Ryan. ;o

But in most cases I'd prefer none, one or a few people dying in the end in of a movie. It just leaves me empty if everyone dies. What just happened? I can't really seem to come up with a movie where everyone dies, though. Anyone got any examples? I saw Reservoir Dogs got mentioned. Almost everyone died in Saw, but that story isn't finished yet.

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Originally Posted by Levian

Guy falls in love with girl, but they can't have eachother because of some stupid reason, like they're family. Then lots of funny situations occur and they forget about the problem

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Dude, that's disgusting.

Does Battle Royale count? The whole point of that movie is about people dieing. But the 2 main characters live so I dunno.

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Originally Posted by jrgen

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Originally Posted by Levian

Guy falls in love with girl, but they can't have eachother because of some stupid reason, like they're family. Then lots of funny situations occur and they forget about the problem

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Dude, that's disgusting.

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It's just a joke, and dating within family has happened plenty of times in the past, take royalty for instance. :p I remember seeing a romantic comedy where two people who are fooling around find out they're in family because they went to the same baptism, or something. But sure, bad example in this case, the problem is usually something along the lines of one of them not being interested in the other, them just being friends, him coming from the 18th century through a time machine, etc.

And yeah the point of Battle Royale is people dying, so I kinda wouldn't be surprised if everyone died there. Good mention, though.

doesnt everyone die at the end of romeo and juliet? or something ive never read or seen it.

I like the endings where there is atleast one living person who is happy.

If it's done well, then I don't mind. At least it isn't horribly predictable.

Samurai movies. Sometimes everyone dies, sometimes a few people don't die, but it's rarely (if ever) a happy ending. 'Seven Samurai' is a classic. I've watched it like 5 times... then I bought the Anime series on DVD. Heck, I cried during Tom Cruise's 'The Last Samurai'. Good movies.

Anyone ever read the Western novel, Road to Nowhere?
You should. (SPOILER)Everyone dies, you see? But they always make it out like the main guy survives. Right up to the VERY last page. And the veyr last 3 lines or so.

Ever see that episode of Scrubs where (SPOILER)that guy who was played by Brendan Frasier is following Dr. Cox around for the whole episode and at the end theyre on their way to Jack's christening, but it turns out they're actually on their way to that guy's funeral and he's been dead since the beginning? That was the absolute saddest thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

Go watch (SPOILER)The Departed and tell me everyone dying can't work.

No, especially when they're characters I like. I was thinking of killing off a character in my own story; this may well give me cause not too, thinking of it. It's sort of like being God and killing off someone, doing that to a character.

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Originally Posted by Craig

Doesn't everyone die in Resevoir Dogs?

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Yes, that happens at the end of the movie. That ending was actually made in a decent way. If anyone has seen a movie called Bubba Ho-tep, that one also has (SPOILER)both Elvis and John F. Kennedy, the two main characters, die in the end. Other than that, StarCraft's add-on Insurrection (SPOILER)had you lead a Zerg army in the 2nd last mission, and your mission was to kill all the main characters who you've got to know during the entire campaign. I think that was a really stupid way to get rid of all the characters, and it just made the ending feel awkward.

If you watch Six Feet Under, (SPOILER)the ending is where everyone dies (in flash-forwards, sort of) but it ends the series with this complete feeling, so I think that was done very well.

So, yes, there can be good endings where everyone dies, but it's very rare.

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Originally Posted by JKTrix

Samurai movies. Sometimes everyone dies, sometimes a few people don't die, but it's rarely (if ever) a happy ending. 'Seven Samurai' is a classic. I've watched it like 5 times... then I bought the Anime series on DVD. Heck, I cried during Tom Cruise's 'The Last Samurai'. Good movies.

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I wrote a short story last year which was Samurai based. Every single character mentioned in the story dies besides the girl. The final battle consists of an Oni and a samurai, and both throw their blades at each other. The blades stab each other and they both die.