User blog comment:Mmandator/Some thoughts on horror fiction/@comment-4295646-20120109164208

If I might throw in my two cents on this, I think the trend you describe is because the plot is self-contained. Life goes on - but for all intents and purposes, both the hero and villain are dead to the world the minute the credits roll. The movie is over; the emotional rollercoaster it took you on is over. Nothing left to do but talk about it. And if I were a horror director, I know I'd like to make a complete story out of it. Intro, rising tension, climax, falling tension, conclusion: the complete arc of hope and despair. What kind of story feels finished when the protagonist's driving goal hasn't yet been accomplished?

Sure, there are some that make a twist out of it, and it turns out the entire journey was futile from the beginning. Shaggy dog stories, they call them. But in general, either the hero wins, or we begin to sympathize with the monster. In either case, victory for what becomes "our" side doesn't really seem shoehorned in to me at all.

. . . Besides, what about all the stories that almost end on a high note, except for one last stinger where the villain's eyes shoot open or whatever? :P