Collider has published a ranked list of ten fantasy films that the site argues "subvert" the genre's core promise of a comforting, happy ending, using magic, curses and quests to build trust before deliberately breaking it. The countdown, written by Safwan Azeem, works from number ten upwards and highlights specific plot choices in each film that defy typical fairy-tale conventions.

Among the entries revealed are Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) at number ten, in which the title character never gets the usual "outsider learns to belong" ending and is instead cast out for good; "Beetlejuice" (1988) at number nine, praised for making the ghostly Maitlands the sympathetic heroes rather than the humans; and David Lowery's "The Green Knight" (2021) at number eight, which strips Gawain of the unblemished heroism found in the original medieval poem. The provided article text cuts off before revealing entries seven through one.