Movies with Shocking Endings? Name only. (1 Viewer)

[Dave Gilbert]

Chris K. - Why would I bother to see Crowded Room after your little exposition? :frowning: Please use spoiler tags.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

You want a shock ending?
VERY
BAD
THINGS

 

[Jeremiah]

Dave, I think "crowded room" is a joke by Chris. I don't think that movie exists or it's an inside joke.

 

[Eric T]

I can't think of many movies that exhilerated me as much as The Game did when I saw it for the first time!

 

[Chris Knox]

I don't think the ending is shocking. The title gives it away

You wouldn't bother seeing Crowded Room, because it doesn't exist...

Chris

 

[Stephanie T.]

Suspicion -- but not in a good way (damn Selznick!)
Inside Daisy Clover
The Fly [both versions]
Invasion of the Body Snatchers [both versions]
Seconds
The Graduate
The Mechanic
Pelham One, Two, Three
The Candidate
Young Frankenstein
Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters -- each has a nice twist at the end
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Robin and Marian
Looking For Mr. Goodbar
Rocky
The Shining
Alien
The Raiders of the Lost Ark
Cop
The World According to Garp
Miracle Mile
The French Lieutenant's Woman, Dead Ringers, Damage [hey, a Jeremy Irons trifecta!]
The White Rose [Der Weisse Rose]
A Handful of Dust
Thelma & Louise
The Ninth Gate
...& probably most of the movies that Terry Gilliam had a hand in.
And some oldie-goldies:
The Empire Strikes Back -- maybe not the final seconds, but close enough
Gone With the Wind
Some Like It Hot
The Third Man
Casablanca
The Wizard of Oz -- admit it! The first time around, you'd forgotten all about dreary, old, B&W Kansas... :b

 

[Scott Bell]

There wasn't a twist ending or anything, but the ending of Ring (original) messed with me for a week. I have never been so freaked out by a movie since Exorcist.

 

[Jon Strong]

BRAZIL

 

[David Echo]

Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol - a 1972 tv movie with Martin Landau that I saw as a kid.

Dave

 

[BrianShort]

Titanic --- who knew THAT was coming?!
...sorry
I'd have to second the mention of Limbo, since only one person has mentioned it so far.
Brian

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i second brazil, big time. also i really enjoy the man who wasnt there. love the coen brothers. but i cannot believe nobody mentioned vertigo. IMO, the best ending out there. i remember seeing it for the first time, i said out loud "what the shit! did that just happen?" and it did. amazing. although shaped like a football, hitchcock is the greatest.

CJ

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Alot of great selections. I'll throw in a vote for Intimate Relations.
Bruce

 

[Jefe Noche]

My all-time favorite ending:

Four Rooms

 

[Claire Panke]

When it comes to shock endings, I can't believe no one has mentioned Stephen Frear's The Grifters, one of my favorite neo noirs, thankfully now available in WS anamorphic.

Not a shock ending, but a twisty, unforseen one, is the conclusion of Nic Roeg's Performance. I see a couple folks have already mentioned Roeg's Don't Look Now.

I was pleased to see mention of several other of my favorite films: The Converation, The Vanishishing (original), The Rapture, Abre Los Ojos, Rouge.

Here's a really obvious one - The Empire Strikes Back. Be honest, for those of use who saw it when it originally came out, how much of a shocker was it to find out Darth Vader was Luke's daddy???

From the list, I think some of us are too easily surprised, lol. How could one not see the ending of The Game coming a mile away? Were y'all truly surprised by the final reel of Frailty?

Memento and Mullholland Drive weren't exactly "surprise" endings for me either - I totally expected these films to be multilayered and twisty. The best shock endings to me are where the audience is led by the film to suppose something and the final revelation takes you in a totally unexpected direction. I;m hard to fool, that's why I love it when a film surprises me.

Certainly, movies like Vertigo, Psycho, The Crying Game, The Others and The Sixth Sense probably fooled most people the first time. Including me. ;-)

 

[Tuomas Maattanen]

I didn't see this mentioned:
Expect the Unexpected

 

[JamieD]

Whatever happens, don't TELL her "this one has a suprise ending".. so many of my friends tell me that without me asking, that I end up realizing in the first 20 minutes what that suprise will be! Took some of the fun out of The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense, to say the least.


One of my friends said "Dude, you'd never guess the ending to The Sixth Sense!!.. It's so freaky!"... I stopped, looked at him and said "Well, let's see. The kid sees dead people. Bruce Willis is going to help him. Willis has gotten raves for his performance. Since I'm guessing that this is a thriller type movie, and not a life affirming sappy movie... Willis is dead, and is dead throughout the whole movie. And he probably doesn't know." Quite a look I got back. *LOL*

 

[Claire Panke]

Lol! Jamie, the only thing I hate worse than someone who clues you in to a surprise ending (including movie reviews that say "I'm not going to spoil the unexpected turn of events in this film for you but...") is when the movie trailer gives the the whole plt away. I mean, REALLY, who cuts these things????

 

[Sam E. Torres]

i challenge anyone to predict that frogs fall out of the sky
in magnolia.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Stephen Frear's The Grifters, one of my favorite neo noirs

You beat me to it. This was the first film that sprang into my mind, even though I only saw it once, upon its initial release. The ending was that memorable.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[BarryS]

Plus, for spoiler-free geek points, Michael Douglas's dad is played by the guy who does the voice of Mario in the Nintendo games!

In the home movies, you mean? I don't remember seeing his dad anywhere else. How do you know he's the voice of Mario?