If you've been tuning in every Saturday for a new article, I apologize for being late with this one about cliffhangers. I didn't mean to leave you hanging! (Although it kind of proves a few points.)
Cliffhangers? What are cliffhangers? Essentially, the term refers to a form of literary device intended to retain the audience’s interest. Basically, you're made to wait for what's coming next by being given a glimpse into what that might be about.
One Thousand and One Nights, a story I was fascinated to hear about in my early years, might best exemplify the meaning and importance of cliffhangers. There, a woman significantly extends her lifespan by telling a tale each night and ending it with a cliffhanger to another, so that the vile king, curious about how it’ll continue, would not execute her just yet. Sad, but a clever way to survive.
 |
| Michael Jackson - Thriller (1983) |
The horror genre is not an exception to having cliffhangers. In fact, it can be argued that it is one of the genres that most use them in their stories. Much like how suspense is often intermingled with horror, a suspenseful ending (that is, a cliffhanger) may follow.
At least in horror, cliffhangers can be intriguing, exciting, relieving, or downright disappointing. There are two major ways I've identified horror cliffhangers tend to be:
1. Cliffhangers that show you that, despite seeming otherwise, the horror is not over yet.
This is an insanely common type of cliffhanger in horror. It is depicted in the classic, and countlessly homaged and parodied, music video: Michael Jackson - Thriller. In movies, you may even expect it. The killer seems dead for good, but turns out he isn’t. The target seems fully exorcised and the demon or spirit banished, but turns out that something remains or is passed on to someone or something else. The survivors seem to have arrived at a safe place at last, but it turns out that they’re in as much or even more danger there. And so on. Which sends the message that we should double-check before dropping our guard and celebrating. And if you’re sick and tired of all the suffering, feeling for the characters and how much they have endured, you may be disappointed to see that they haven’t reached their happy ending yet.
2. Cliffhangers that show you that, despite the horror, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
On the other hand, however, there’s a less common, kind of rare, type of cliffhanger in horror. With this one, you get a sense of relief. Maybe the horror continues, but the character, or characters, that you sympathize with are rewarded in some way so that things aren’t as bad anymore. Maybe they’re able to rescue others that were deemed lost. Or they obtain resources and weapons that will come in handy for whatever they must face next. Or, like in Dracula Untold. SPOILER ALERT! The protagonist (hero/antihero in this case) is presumably reunited with his beloved in another time and another life.
Regardless, where does that leave us? Cliffhangers can be… maddening - especially if you’re left intensely looking forward to their resolution or what they'll lead to while being personally attached to the story. What do you do then? Maybe you only have to play the next episode, and voilá! Or maybe you just have to wait one day, get yourself together and have some patience. Or maybe it is a week, which isn’t so terrible either. But what if you have to wait months? Years even? Understandably, if the production of the follow-up is especially challenging, takes time, and is not done upfront, you can't really expect the miracle of having it right away. Might want to busy yourself with something else in the meantime and not obsess too much about it, lest you lose yourself to the waiting.
Because worse, what if a continuation never comes?
 |
| Michael Jackson - Thriller (1983) |
Cliffhangers can be used as an indication that there’s more in store for the story, just you wait. So, unless you’ve seen plenty in this life already and already know how it goes, you might assume that a cliffhanger = more is definitely coming. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Sometimes, a cliffhanger (or apparent cliffhanger) is no more than an invitation to imagine for yourself what follows, with no intention of releasing any new content tied to it (e.g. the ending of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina). A lot of the time, it is simply a way to ensure that, if possible and convenient to release another part, there’ll be a bridge already in place and anticipation built up for it. And at times, there indeed is a strong conviction to follow through, yet it just cannot be done for one reason or another, no matter how loved the story is by either the creators or the audience.
Typically, when the costs outweigh the benefits or a better opportunity to pursue exists or presents itself, there’s not enough motivation or purpose to proceed. And we’re left hanging. It’s understandable since entertainment is a business. But even as a passion, there are limits to how illogical one can reasonably or justifiably be for the sake of delivering on the promise of a story. So, you could be let down. Heartbreaking, I know...
Then again, there’s also the chance that the story will continue far beyond anything you initially expected, whether it plays out the way you wished it would or not. I mean, look at The Walking Dead, it’s on season 11! A whole eleven seasons of dealing with zombies. I wouldn’t have guessed when I started watching it a decade ago.
And I’m still amused by this fan-made graphic I came across around that time, revealing the structure of “every episode”. I can attest that it is barely an exaggeration, at least for the first couple of seasons.
What do you do when left hanging for something that you cannot get enough of?