Phantasm and the movies of David Lynch are the only works who can get away with the "it was all a dream" twist because in those works, dreams are every bit as "real" as reality.
It's been a while since I last saw it but Pans Labrynth has an interesting twist, in that all the fantasy elements are in fact real. I always took it differently, and believed that the fantasy world was her self-constructed escape from the horror of reality, and the "happy" ending was her death. I believe Del Toro himself confirmed the former, but it's presented in such a way that it allows the viewer to apply their own interpretation.
Phantasm and the movies of David Lynch are the only works who can get away with the "it was all a dream" twist because in those works, dreams are every bit as "real" as reality.
It's been a while since I last saw it but Pans Labrynth has an interesting twist, in that all the fantasy elements are in fact real. I always took it differently, and believed that the fantasy world was her self-constructed escape from the horror of reality, and the "happy" ending was her death. I believe Del Toro himself confirmed the former, but it's presented in such a way that it allows the viewer to apply their own interpretation.