this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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[–] Nemo@midwest.social 74 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Fallen. Denzel sets a very neat trap for the demon... but not neat enough.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog as well. While the Doc may have been mostly noble and Hammer mostly awful, it ends (somewhat ambiguously) with the Doc actually turning into a villain.

[–] classic@fedia.io 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Fallen was the one I was going to add. Glad to see it here!

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[–] snooggums@midwest.social 56 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The Usual Suspects is the first one that comes to mind that isn't horror and the villain winning by getting away. Does that fit the 'evil wins' concept you are looking for?

[–] Mikelius@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Would Reservoir Dogs also count in that case?

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[–] livus@kbin.social 44 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

In The Company Of Men

Devil's Advocate

Interview With The Vampire

Se7en

Nightcrawler

American Psycho

Arguably No Country For Old Men

A lot of documentaries e.g: Paradise Lost.

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Devil’s Advocate

I'd say evil loses quite definitively in that one - although the final minute or so makes it clear the contest of wills isn't over.

[–] livus@kbin.social 18 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The reason why I think it wins is it becomes obvious Satan can have do-overs and he's already falling for one of them. He hasn't actually escaped, and Satan is still having fun at his expense.

[–] Shurimal@kbin.social 43 points 7 months ago (6 children)

Pretty much any Batman movie. It's subtle, because it's not chaotic evil, but lawful evilβ€”the status quo, established hierarchic power structures and systemic injustices that plague the city remain in place. In fact, enforcing and protecting status quo is the whole raison d'entre of Batman, who is an extremely priviledged rich individual benefitting and profiting from the status quo. And thus has no desire to enact real societal change, unlike eg Baine.

I'd argue James Bond is also the same. Yes, Bond villains are evilβ€”irrationally and comically soβ€”but like Batman, Bond represents, enforces and protects the same hierarchic power structures and systemic injustices that give rise to these villains.

Then there is Star Wars and all this light vs dark side. But if you stop and think about it, Sith and Jedi are just two sides of the same medal. Jedi mind trick that coerces someone to do something against their will is extremely evil by its very concept. Especially in how trivialized its use is in the movies. Also, there is nothing civilized about lightsabers. These are horribly dangerous to the wielder and their opponent alike, will easily cut through hull plating by accident (a bad thing when a cm of material is all that's standing between you and hard vacuum). And would in reality not make a clean cauterized cut, but explosively flash boil the target with the end result like being blown from a cannon.

Lawful, systemic evil is the most devilish kind of evil; it's so subtle it goes unnoticed and is even celebrated as good, no doubt in no small part due to the vast propaganda machine lawful evil loves to build up around itself.

[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago (4 children)

To add to the star wars situation, the jedi are just as bad for the force as the sith, if not worse. They enforce a rigorous dogma that forces their own to suppress all emotion from a young age out of fear that they may be corrupted by the dark side. Not only does this literally make Darth Vader, but it leads to an entire society of emotionally stunted psychics who apparently go rogue very often. They're not sustainable.

Ignoring the new movies because I genuinely can't figure out what they're about, Anakin fulfilled the prophecy at the end of the original 3, destroying the incredibly powerful dogmatic regime of the jedi and killing both master and pupil of the sith leaving only independent, self governed force users dotting the galaxy.

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[–] golden_zealot@lemmy.ml 35 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 20 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Also from the same year, There Will Be Blood.

He drank their milkshake.

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[–] EarWorm@lemmy.world 33 points 7 months ago

The Social Network.

[–] CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work 30 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Gone Girl (2014). Then again, maybe that one counts as horror.

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[–] Crack0n7uesday@lemmy.world 29 points 7 months ago (2 children)

A Scanner Darkly, the drug epidemic is controlled by the pharmaceutical companies and they are still rich at the end.

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[–] Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works 24 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Half of US Β«War moviesΒ» It's not like the US soldier were less evil than the person they fight

[–] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 7 months ago (14 children)

Are you familiar with Nazi Germany?

Just making sure.

[–] Xanis@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Nazis certainly were evil at their core and may be an outlier. War though? It's difficult to not call war and it's atrocities evil. Even if you can prove irrefutably that you are on the "good side", two barracks down, the next town over, a 1000ft overhead something evil could be taking place specifically because war exists, and what's evil hides easiest in chaos and death.

Conflict happens. To the single soldier. The lonely wife. The stricken Mother and Father. War rarely has a true meaning. "Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer" Javik (Mass Effect)

People tend to defend war because of their agreement or disagreement over the reason for a conflict. While there is often a morally right side and wrong side, all I really see are the lives lost.

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[–] Archr@lemmy.world 24 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I am going to put in little shop of horrors since it is a musical. And I really would not consider it horror.

For those of you that don't know there are actually 2 versions of this movie. The original release version where the plants lose and the ORIGINAL test audience version where the plants win.

[–] cobysev@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago

The director insists the alien plants winning was the original ending he wanted, but he was forced to give the film a happy ending at the last minute. The director's cut gives you the original ending in all it's evil glory.

There's also an original Little Shop of Horrors released in 1960 that stars a young Jack Nicholson. That film has a different ending than both endings of the 1986 remake.

[–] PapaStevesy@midwest.social 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Globo Gym wins in the original version of Dodgeball, but the test audiences hated it so they added the blindfolded stand-off. I'm mostly happy they changed it, but that original ending would have been so ballsy. Also would make the subtitle better, since most "true" underdogs do lose.

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[–] anton2492@lemmy.nz 23 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

I've got one that's a gem and hasn't been mentioned yet, for once!

Upgrade (2018)

A guy and his wife are attacked, his wife is murdered and he just barely survives. With the help of a super-chip implanted into his body by a billionaire, he sets out to get revenge. But at what cost?

A stylish, savage techno-action film, basically John Wick but with AI chip. The ending is rightly haunting. Well worth watching!

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[–] Red_sun_in_the_sky@lemmy.ml 20 points 7 months ago

There will be blood. Oil mogul thrives while america plunges into depression. Plainview and people like him will go on to be more influential down the line. Like prescott bush or hw bush.

[–] RGB3x3@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Willy Wonka (Or Charlie) and the Chocolate Factory. And not because of Charlie, but because of Wonka.

The dude's basically a slave owner, paying his workers in cocoa beans, he nearly drowns a kid, poisons another, throws a third into an incinerator, and disfigures a fourth.

He's not a good person.

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[–] SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org 20 points 7 months ago

There Will Be Blood

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 17 points 7 months ago

If I remember right, The Usual Suspects

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 16 points 7 months ago

Just a reminder for people casually browsing that unmarked spoilers are present here!

[–] TheDude@kbin.social 16 points 7 months ago (2 children)
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[–] Senal@programming.dev 16 points 7 months ago

Brazil (1985)

[–] CMDR_Horn@lemmy.ml 15 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Law abiding citizen

Cabin in the woods

[–] Davel23@fedia.io 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I love Cabin in the Woods, but it arguably falls under horror.

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[–] Extrasvhx9he 14 points 7 months ago

I guess the iron giant

[–] takeheart@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] Bonehead@kbin.social 18 points 7 months ago (4 children)

That was more chaos winning than evil. Blowing up credit institutions and wiping everyone's debt is far from evil in most people's eyes.

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[–] greentreerainfire@kbin.social 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

12 Monkeys (1995)

Paradox (2016)

Both of these movies deal with time travel, I know that is a turn off for some people. Also in both of these movies it’s not that evil overtly wins, it’s more that protagonists fail to prevent the inciting incident from happening. With Paradox it’s not really implied until the last scene what has actually been going on.

[–] IHawkMike@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago (4 children)

I've always felt the protagonists win in 12 Monkeys. They say in the beginning that the virus outbreak can't be prevented (it's not that kind of time travel), but they needed a pure sample of the virus for the future to cure it. I don't want to spoil anything more than I have, but the plane passenger at the end is relevant. They work in insurance.

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[–] DickFiasco@lemm.ee 12 points 7 months ago

Primal Fear (1996). It's arguable whether or not the antagonist is truly evil though.

[–] DirigibleProtein@aussie.zone 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)
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[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 12 points 7 months ago (7 children)

Hard question because I watch so much horror..

Ex Machina

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[–] DeathbringerThoctar@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago
[–] eightpix@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Brazil (1985)

Chinatown (1974)

Conspiracy (2001)

[–] Ludrol@szmer.info 10 points 7 months ago

Jin-Rou

Grave of the Fireflies

[–] Ioughttamow@kbin.run 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)
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[–] edisondotme@monero.town 10 points 7 months ago
[–] andrew_s@piefed.social 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I'm assuming that it's been taken as read that this post will be full of spoilers.

Fallen (1998). IMDB doesn't include 'horror' in the genre list, but it's got supernatural elements to it, I suppose.
The Vanishing (1988) aka Spoorloos. Not the American remake, obvs.

[–] Davel23@fedia.io 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)
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[–] rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml 7 points 7 months ago

Massive spoilers for the movie, obviously, but technically Predestination:

spoilerThe film ends with the main character having fully descended into madness and clearly intent on taking whatever steps he has to to see the love of his life again, even if it means killing tens of thousands of people to do so.

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