There wasn’t too much in the way of intricate dialogue for that scene but Pitt conveyed to me the fact
a) he was asking “what’s in the box” but pretty much already knew
b) That he was almost completely broken at that point and hanging on by a thread
c) That he knew John Doe had outfoxed him and he was now the equivalent of the other victims
d) He knew what Doe wanted him to do and that doing so would be the final victory
e) That he finally didn’t care anymore, he was lost anyway even before he pulls the trigger.
Is it subtle? No, but then Pitt’s character is not subtle and who actually wouldn’t be a manic mess after days of horror with a dawning realisation of what has been done to you?
Here’s a brief overview as a starting point. I will preface this by saying I think it’s subjective, a matter of personal response, and I don’t want to give you my own interpretation as if it’s a concrete answer. I also think it’s a provocative film that lands best when you put the pieces together in your head for yourself, and you realize, ah, that’s how that connects. But maybe this will help you start to shape your own meaning.
The key bit, I think, is in what DesertDog said in the earlier message above, regarding how women are affected by the broken society they have to navigate. The movie seems like a coming-of-age relationship story between the girls, but I think it’s less about that and more about how outside pressures affect the girls, considering them both as a sibling unit and as individuals who are slowly driven apart during their separate sexual awakenings. It’s important to note the two girls are essentially unparented in the story; both mother and father have their own things going on and leave their daughters largely to their own devices. Thus when the Italian seducer starts pressuring the older girl, she doesn’t have enough experience and guidance to recognize him for who he is, and is victimized by him. The younger girl dislikes him, but she is off-center on the specifics of why because she also lacks the experience and emotional maturity to understand what he’s doing beyond a very general perception. So when the shocking climax arrives, the younger girl draws an inappropriate equivalence between the events; men victimize women, she thinks, that’s the natural way of things, and not only does she think she has to accept it, she can’t imagine questioning it.
That’s just my take. Hopefully it helps some of the pieces fit together for you.
I saw FREAKS at a neighborhood movie theater when I was a little kid! It was summer vacation and my mom gave me money to go see a movie. I walked three blocks to the theater, paid my money, and watched the afternoon matinee with a few other people.
I guess someone in the theater complained and they pulled the movie, showing it just the one time.
Around that same time, a friend of my mom dropped off some books for her. I looked through the bag and pulled out The Exorcist. I read it, enjoyed it, but did not tell anyone.
I thought of it as well; glad someone mentioned it.
The thing is, there’s a version without the gut punch. The head of Universal Studios tried to not release the movie as Terry Gilliam made it. He had his own editors cut together a new version that played up the love story between Sam and Jill, and give them a happy ending. They escape to the country in Jill’s truck, and that’s it. The original is a masterpiece. Somehow, the studio’s “love conquers all” version was shown on TV at least once.
And “cut together” should be on a list of good oxymorons.
Many of those cited already are movies that were already pretty dark before the ending, where the ending may be depressing but makes sense in light of the setting and what we’ve already seen.
I can think of one where the ending was a twist, and it also created a world that I absolutely hated. That movie is Frailty.
That world at the end is as unsubtle as a sledgehammer to the head. It’s a completely black and white world. The Meiks have special sight, they should be allowed to go around killing people that they know are evil with that special sight. They have special powers and none of the rest of us can even hope to stop them or even understand what they are doing.
Words fail me as to the level of brutality of that sort of morality. Absolutely disgusting. I live in a world of nuance, that world isn’t it.
Not horrifying as in overwhelmingly frightening, but more of an acute dystopian letdown: 12 Monkeys.
After being sent to the past to determine the cause of a plague that wiped out much of humanity, the protagonist, James Cole, discovers the real cause and is unable to prevent it. He’s shot to death in front of his younger self, who will grow up to relive that moment in constant nightmares. Afterward, the scientist responsible for releasing the plague boards a plane and takes a seat next to a woman, whom we recognize as one of the scientists from the future who sent Cole back in time. When asked what she does for a living, she replies “Insurance.”
I only saw the remake and it was a terrible movie with no point. Furthermore, just not an interesting story. I guess I was depressed seeing it, but it didn’t even elicit that type of reaction.
Inside, a French movie, did absolutely shock me.
Has anyone seen Hereditary? The reason I don’t list it is that it isn’t just the finale, but the entire movie is one sense of dread.
Oh heck yeah. If the OP had been “most horrifying scene”, the ride home from the party / brother in his bed would have come to mind immediately. The actual ending is pretty damned horrifying but so much has gone before that by that time I was kind of numb.
I think I might be the only person who saw Angel Baby, an amazing Australian movie from 1995 about two mentally ill people who meet and fall in love.
As their relationship develops, they move in together and the woman gets pregnant. She worries her antipsychotic medicine will harm the baby, so she stops taking them, and the man stops his too in solidarity. Their mental health deteriorates, the woman is hospitalized, the man helps her escape, until his brother convinces him that she needs help.
The man and his brother return to where she was hidden and find her in premature labor. They rush to the hospital where she dies in childbirth. The man tells his brother to take care of his daughter, then walks to a bridge that held special meaning for them and presumably jumps.
On the one hand, the ending shouldn’t be much of a surprise because the writing is on the wall from the moment they stop taking their meds. But you still hold out hope for them up until the very end. They are both such sympathetic characters, and everyone around is so nice to them: social workers who try to help, the man’s brother, the man’s employer. People do the right thing, so it’s even more of a body blow when it doesn’t work out.