For me, the all time shocker was the ending of the original Carrie. I dove under the theater seat when it happened, and then spent the intermission hanging over the seat in front of me, gasping.
Yeah, they didn’t end movies like that back in 1976.
That is a great story. omg I can imagine her horror.
I have not seen the movie, but I have seen the excellent condensed version set to music:
Easy Rider. How could a movie about free spirited hippies on the open road end in such a shocking fashion?
The South. In the '60s.
I’m not sure if it counts as horrifying, or perhaps heartbreaking, but the ending of Lion has a real gutpunch.
The ending of the The Candidate used to be a slightly funny, satiric poke at political culture. Who could have imagined it would be so prophetic?
For me it was “Sophie Scholl” (in IMDB it’s “Sophie Scholl: the final days”. I assume it’s the same movie). The timing, the stark, no BS, way it was shot, and the completely unexpected (to me) method, just blew me away more than anything I’ve ever seen.
For those who have never seen it, it’s a historical fiction taking place in Nazi Germany, and ends with a guillotine.
The musical Hair. I was messed up after watching it. From my understanding, the play has a somewhat different plot, but in the film, Berger has slipped into Claude’s army base wearing a uniform so that Claude can have a little R&R with his girlfriend. While the swap is in progress, though, the unit is called up suddenly and marched onto a plane bound for Vietnam. The look of terror on Berger’s face as he marches in lockstep along with Claude’s unit into the dark hold of the plane, and then the movie cuts to his gravestone…scary as hell.
I was thinking of this one as well. Roger Ebert wrote about the shocking ending experienced by the children who had gone to see it expecting your typical Saturday matinee “horror.” In addition to the graphic flesh eating, there isn’t a happy ending for anyone. Just when we think our hero Ben has survived, his life is ended by an overzealous mob who mistakes him for a ghoul.
On the Beach.
Sure, the entire movie has been pointing in that direction. But you might assume the forecast ending would be averted in some manner and there would be a glimmer of hope. But there wasn’t.
Electra Glide in Blue, with Robert Blake. Probably not the most horrifying I’ve seen, but it wasn’t mentioned yet.
I’m glad so many people also chose my #1, The Mist, so that I can mention my #2, Take Shelter.
Ooh, I forgot about that one. Peak Michael Shannon!
Fair enough - honestly, I should watch it again. It’s been years. I saw the film in my early 20s and at first was shocked by it, but later upon reflection, I came to like it. A very original concept, though one of the most brutal films I’ve ever seen. I’m sure there’s a lot that flew over my head the first time I watched it.
Easy peasy.
Oldboy.
This is how I remember it.
A guy for reasons unknown gets kidnapped and held prisoner for a couple of decades. He goes on the warpath once he’s released, and much grisly violence ensues while he tries to track down who’s responsible. Along the way he meets a young woman he falls in love with and takes her virginity.
Roll forward to the end of the movie where the villain reveals…
The woman he is in love with is his daughter. He’s been fucking his own daughter.
Horrified, weeping and gnashing his teeth, he cuts out his own tongue. It’s a pretty realistic scene.
And the final gut punch is, he doesn’t tell her. The final scene shows him continuing a romantic relationship with his own daughter, who has no idea.
Vomit.
Thought of another one: Miracle Mile. Great movie, in part because of how it keeps shifting its focus, putting you off balance as to what kind of story you think you’re watching, yet in retrospect everything makes sense and feels inevitable. The ending is definitely of a piece with this, and sticks with you.
(It’s also very dated in its 80s fashion aesthetic, so it’s easy to laugh at it for the first few minutes, but that effect wears off pretty fast.)
This is going back a ways: The Lord of the Flies (1963). I was about 14 when I saw it, so just a year or two older than the oldest boys in the film. For a lot of films with horrifying endings, it’s fairly easy for me to maintain my emotional distance and treat them as fantastic and/or fictional. This film was fucking real, I could see the truth of it as the story unfolded, and I don’t think I have ever been so negatively affected by any other film.
For those familiar with the film or the book, you may wonder how this could qualify, since there is an ostensibly happy ending. But that just makes it worse. The bad things have happened, they aren’t going to unhappen, and far worse things are happening in the outside world that has just come crashing in. Evil is winning, because too many are ready to follow it out of expedience, and good is too weak to fight it.
(I am happy to say that this is no longer my world view, and that I now recognize an allegory when I see one.)
Absolutely gut wrenching. I wouldn’t call it horrifying but I won’t ever watch it again.
I hadn’t heard of that one, but the original was the Swedish Let the Right One In. Good choice.