# Movies where a seemingly living character turns out to be dead (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2006, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-seemingly-living-character-turns-out-to-be-dead-spoilers/376607 "2006-10-16T06:02:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-seemingly-living-character-turns-out-to-be-dead-spoilers/376607/1 "2006-10-16T06:02:44Z")
I was just watching the Irish movie [Dead Man’s Shoes](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419677/) in which a major character in the movie turns out to have been dead the whole time, and what we saw as his character was in fact a manifestation of his spirit or soul or something. Other examples of this are _The Brown Bunny_ and _The Sixth Sense._ I know there have got to be more instances where a character who we see living, breathing, and interacting, is actually shown to be a ghost or some other sort of spiritual presence, and that the character has been dead for some time. What are some other movies that you can think of? ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-seemingly-living-character-turns-out-to-be-dead-spoilers/376607/2 "2006-10-16T06:29:23Z")
Jacob’s Ladder is the only one I can think of at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-seemingly-living-character-turns-out-to-be-dead-spoilers/376607/3 "2006-10-16T06:47:19Z")
[spoiler]The Others. Nicole Kidman thinks her house is haunted. Turns out, she and her kids (and the help) are the ones who are dead. The ‘ghosts’ she’s afraid of are actually the new owners of the house[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-seemingly-living-character-turns-out-to-be-dead-spoilers/376607/4 "2006-10-16T12:46:07Z")
It’s revealed very early on, but there is a time in **Beetlejuice** where we don’t know whether our protagonists are alive or dead. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-seemingly-living-character-turns-out-to-be-dead-spoilers/376607/5 "2006-10-16T13:08:06Z")
This was a very big theme in the original **Twilight Zone** series. I think there’s at least one episode where the protagonist doesn’t realize he’s dead from the start. There are quite a few where the protagonist(s) dies during the episode without realizing it until the end. And there’s the related class where the protagonist doesn’t realize they’re not human (i.e. – they’re a mannequin!) until the end. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-seemingly-living-character-turns-out-to-be-dead-spoilers/376607/6 "2006-10-16T13:15:24Z")
**Weekend at Bernies** They reveal at the end that Bernie is actually dead the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-seemingly-living-character-turns-out-to-be-dead-spoilers/376607/7 "2006-10-16T13:30:09Z")
High Plains Drifter Purgatory ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-seemingly-living-character-turns-out-to-be-dead-spoilers/376607/8 "2006-10-16T13:38:53Z")
**Revolutionary Girl Utena** has a character from Utena’s past show up quite often, but about 2/3rds of the way through you find out he’s dead. Although the movie is such a mind-trip that’s probably one of the saner parts of the movie.