A few weeks ago, I saw a re-run of the Simpsons. Homer came out of the cinema and said to Marge (in front of the waiting cinema goers) “I can’t believe that Dart Vader was Luke’s father”.
The very next day, I saw Unbreakable and one of my friends demanded to know what the twist at the end of the film was.
My reply - “Kevin Spacey is the Devil”
I can’t see the point in spoiling anyone else’s fun, even if they want it spoiled. Was I right? And do other people get upset when they find out the end of films before they see the beginning?
My cousin saw Sixth Sense with his girlfriend, and he’d never seen it, and didn’t know what the end was, but when it cut to the “six months later” thing, and bruce willis was sitting there, he just blurts out, “He’s A ghost.” Really loud. In the theatre. Ruined it for everyone, and he didn’t even know.
Normally I would say you were right to tell your friend the wrong ending, what’s the point in seeing the movie then? That’s why Hitchcock was a master, telling people not to reveal the ending of Psycho, because that gets people to want to see the movie…
My brother’s friends decided to taunt the people waiting in line for “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock”, by driving by and screaming “He’s alive” (Though this CAN’T have been much of a surprise–did anyone expect to reach the end of the movie and have Spock be still dead?)
I never saw “The Crying Game”. Never needed to after someone told me: “I just saw the movie and now I’m wondering if I’m a latent homosexual”. Gee, thanks. :rolleyes:
But nothing will top my “friend”, who, when we were in Social Studies and watching “Soylent Green”, picked the exact time to yell “OH, My God! Soylent Green is made from people!” :mad:
I saw Wild Wild West in the theatre (hey, I wasn’t paying). Afterwards, we saw a whole bunch of people standing in line to see the next showing… so as we were leaving, we started talking, really excitedly, about a whole bunch of fake plot twists…
“Man, when Will Smith got impaled on that re-bar, I thought he was toast!”
“That poodle gun was insane! Did you see the splat it made when it hit the mime?”
“Man, that cinematography they used when they tore Loveless limb from limb was amazing!”
Yup I hate it when people ruin movies for me. Especially that fcking Rosie O’Donnel ruining Fight Club for me. It took me awhile to see that movie and the exact fcking day I rented it she said on her show that Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are the same guy/mind it’s just Brad Pitt is a make up kind of thing. Anyways I about freaking lost it. Other than that I’ve not had any movies ending ruined for me.
I read the “Fight Club” twist in a magazine. I was pretty stupid to do so. It said SPOILERS about a million times, but I went ahead. Normally I’m not affected when someone reveals the plot or ending to movies/tv shows/books. I still watch/read them and enjoy them. But after I read the twist to Fight Club I was angry at myself. That was just too good of a plot twist to read it.
Or that one Simpsons episode where they’re in the theater and Homer says, “I know how this ends! The secret code is the nursey rhyme he tells to his daughter!”
I don’t think the “Fight Club” twist was kept very well guarded. I heard it plenty of times not long after the movie came out, which killed what little desire I might have had to see the film.
“Sixth Sense” was shown on campus one weekend several months after it came out in the theaters. I had already seen it, but many of the other girls in the audience had not. There was lots of shrieking and squealing everytime anything ghostly happened, which annoyed me so much that I had to exercise great self-control to keep myself from loudly revealing the plot twist for revenge.
How could anyone not have realized during the movie that Bruce Willis is a ghost. I caught on during the scene in the bedroom when the mom is sitting across from Bruce but not looking at him.
Now I was thrown when Rosebud was revealed to be a sled and not Marion Davies’s clitoris!
I dont normally reveal the ends of movies, but I have this friend with whom it is almost impossible to watch a movie. He is constantly asking questions like “What the fuck was that all about?” or “Tell me this guy gets killed by the end of the movie!” and such. My new stradegy is to answer these questions when he asks them. I am hoping it will shut him up quicker, and teach him not to ask questions he doosen’t want to know the answers to. (I actually learned this trick from my hunsband, who when asked 'Does this make me look fat?" will inevitable answer “yes”. I have learned not to ask questions if I dont want to know.)
I also tell my sister if she asks, as she honestly wants to know. She does not handle suspense well.
I thought the ending to “Unbreakable” was pretty damned obvious.
On the other hand I’ll admit I didn’t see “The Sixth Sense” coming at all.
“Fight Club” is totally worth seeing even if you know the ending. In fact I liked it better the second time I saw it.
So is “The Cying Game” actually.
On the other hand “Magnolia”:
SPOILER ALERT. DON’T SAY YOU WEREN’T WARNED. CAUSE MY POINT IS HOW MUCH NOT KNOWING IT ADDS TO THE MOVIE!!
I would expect most people renting “Magnolia” at this point would already know about the frogs. Which is a shame. I picked up on the Exodus 8:2 thing, but not having my Bible handy in the theatre…I didn’t see the frogs coming. And it was so unexpected, so totally ridiculous…possibly even stupid. I laughed for ten minutes. Just out of delight.
And obviously you can’t get that the second time. Or if you’re waiting for it. (Althought if you heard about this and you haven’t seen it, see it anyway. I mean there are three (!) other good hours in it.)
Actually, Sixth Sense was ruined for me by a damn Hollywood Video commercial. they were doing some “Movie in a Minute” spots where they’d try to do some slightly humorous recap of a film and then say “For something even better, go to Holloywood Video and rent…”
Anyway, the commercial went something along the lines of Bruce always saying he’s sorry he’s late and some mention about his clothes always being the same and the kid saying “I see dead people” a lot. Then Bruce asks what dead people are like and the kid says “Well, they’re not very punctual and don’t change their clothes” or words to that effect. Thanks a lot, Hollywood; you’ve really inspired me to go rent to film you just gave the ending of.
I did wind up seeing it on video with my girlfriend later (she rented it) and thought it was pretty good. She really liked it, but then I didn’t blow the ending for her.
this whole thread should have a spoiler warning - anyway:
I was in the theater of city of angels with my gf and right after they have sex, she yells “ohh my god she’s going to die” she hadn’t seen the movie and you could tell by the way she said it that she was kinda traumatized by the whole thing. When meg ryan gets hit by the truck everyone in the theater sighed in discust, needless to say we felt a little uneasy walking out of the theater.
As a side note, I thought magnolia was horrible. The whole moive was building to something then when the frogs rained I was so dissapointed, maybe I don’t get it but it just seemed rediculous to me, the worst 3 hours of my life while watching a movie a reserved for that day I saw magnolia
I saw Titanic on the first showing, opening day. As my brother and I walked out of the theatre, I was still rather struck by what I had seen.
(Disclaimer: I liked the movie. A lot. And I defended myself in the Guys who liked Titanic thread. Anyway.)
Two old ladies were waiting to go in as we exited. They asked us a quick question, “Wasn’t this directed by that guy who made those Terminator movies?”
“Yes,” I said. “It was great! At the end, a big spaceship came and rescued everyone!”
They just looked at me strangely, my brother stifled a giggle, and as soon as we were out of earshot, we both cracked up.
That’s the only time I’ve ever “spoiled” a movie’s ending for someone without their permission.
I’m of the mind that even telling somebody that a movie has a surprise ending, letting alone telling the actual ending, will ruin it for them. I watched Sixth Sense without knowing it had a surprise ending, and it took me by surprise. For Unbreakable, the studio was all to happy to let everybody know that this movie too had a surprise ending. I didn’t guess it until next to the very ending, but I knew it was coming. The ending had no effect on me. (This may have to do with the other far more serious quibbles I have with the movie.)
I still think the point is valid however. Surprises are surprises, not meant to be know about beforehand. Quite a few movies are made so that you don’t know what is going to happen, but then the PR deparment goes ahead and ruins it for you. Sixth Sense for example. Never mind that Bruce Willis is dead, it shouldn’t have even been let out that the kid is seeing dead people. How else do you explain the first hour of the movie? It all builds up to a revelation that the audience already knows. (Yes, I am aware that if they hadn’t let that out nobody would have watched the movie.) But a less obvious movie, Terminator 2. The first 30 minutes is setup so that you think Robert Patrick is the good guy and Schwarzenegger is the bad guy.
I know that they have to let this stuff out for publicity. That’s why if I really want to see a movie I avoid anything that talks about it. I like to see movies with a clean slate. Of course, sometimes this backfires on me. (Episode 1, anybody?)
By the way, the Wizard of Oz is just a man behind a curtain.
I don’t know which is worse: Someone like the former friend from my younger days who ruined the movie “Superman” for me by whispering what was about to happen 5 minutes before it did (throughout the entire movie!), or my mother, who is constantly interrupting with questions like “Why did he do that? Is he the brother to her?” I generally snap at the latter “I don’t know! Just watch the movie! I’m sure it will be explained!!”
I have a phobia about giving away ANYTHING before hand, to the point it drives other people crazy. “Aw, c’mon! Just tell me who did it!” Nope. Can’t do it. You gotta watch for yourself.
However, I do have one bit of spoiler information:
