Which show or movie really shocked you? Spoilers, obviously.

[Harvey_The_Heavy]

@Noggy_Monster

The Sixth Sense. I know…lame and obvious. I should have seen it coming but I honestly did not. Got chills up my spine that reminded me why I love mysteries.

Shit, I didn’t see it until it came out on DVD, and still somehow didn’t know about the twist ending.

A more recent one for me was Dark Knight Rises, where

Miranda turned out to be Talia al Ghul. I should have gone in at least expecting her to show up somewhere, but didn’t. I sat through most of the movie fully expecting Ra’s to return from the dead just like in the comics and didn’t even think of Talia.

[Truman_Burbank]

The twist in Identity, a John Cusack thriller, got me pretty good.

[Jragon]

@Harvey_The_Heavy

Shit, I didn’t see it until it came out on DVD, and still somehow didn’t know about the twist ending.

A more recent one for me was Dark Knight Rises, where

Miranda turned out to be Talia al Ghul. I should have gone in at least expecting her to show up somewhere, but didn’t. I sat through most of the movie fully expecting Ra’s to return from the dead just like in the comics and didn’t even think of Talia.

I saw it coming about 5 minutes beforehand because

[spoiler]I know it’s a stupid reason, but I realized that EVERY OTHER MAIN CHARACTER had an American accent. For whatever reason, major characters with foreign accents are evil in action movies, so I said in my head “wait… please don’t tell me that one chick is evil.”

I had literally no basis for my guess other than that. Still disappointed I was right.[/spoiler]

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@Jragon

I saw it coming about 5 minutes beforehand because

[spoiler]I know it’s a stupid reason, but I realized that EVERY OTHER MAIN CHARACTER had an American accent. For whatever reason, major characters with foreign accents are evil in action movies, so I said in my head “wait… please don’t tell me that one chick is evil.”

I had literally no basis for my guess other than that. Still disappointed I was right.[/spoiler]

So, by the transitive property, Michael Caine is the Riddler?

[divemaster]

@Larry_Borgia

Audition, the very first scene where you find out something is horribly horribly wrong:

when the large sack hurls itself against the wall

That was much more disturbing to me than all the torture and body horror that followed.

I hated Audition, but I have to agree with your assessment above. Perhaps the best “jump scene” ever.

[Zsofia]

@Jragon

I saw it coming about 5 minutes beforehand because

[spoiler]I know it’s a stupid reason, but I realized that EVERY OTHER MAIN CHARACTER had an American accent. For whatever reason, major characters with foreign accents are evil in action movies, so I said in my head “wait… please don’t tell me that one chick is evil.”

I had literally no basis for my guess other than that. Still disappointed I was right.[/spoiler]

Well, that one did have the Law of Economy of Characters problem. (Identity did too.) I mean, what’s she doing in the movie?

[Loach]

@JoelUpchurch

I actually started a thread about this. Best Movie I Never Want to Watch Again.

My roommate was actually worse. He grew up in American Samoa instead of New Zealand, but he said everything in the movie happened to someone he knew.

A very brutal but good movie ruined by a hack final line.

[StusBlues]

Breaking Bad.

The death of Jane

I never, ever thought Walter would go to those depths. Still stunning.

[Malthus]

@StusBlues

Breaking Bad.

The death of Jane

I never, ever thought Walter would go to those depths. Still stunning.

Especially since he subsequently sank even lower.

Jane was at least a blackmailer and a bad influence on Jesse. In the 4th season, he poisions a little boy Jesse cares about just to manipulate him - which is even worse.

[Johnny_L.A]

The last scene in Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom (Riget) literally had me on the edge of my seat and my jaw hanging open.

[StusBlues]

@Malthus

Especially since he subsequently sank even lower.

Jane was at least a blackmailer and a bad influence on Jesse. In the 4th season, he poisions a little boy Jesse cares about just to manipulate him - which is even worse.

Was it made explicit that Walter did this in season 5? The final scene of season 4 strongly implied it, but left a bit of room for doubt.

ETA: Sorry, threadjack–and the moment you mention was spread out over episodes, not dropped in one fell swoop.

[Justin_Bailey]

@Morbo

Yes, and as for my comment that Bill Paxton went for it and the studio backed him up: God was, in fact, ordering Matthew McConaghy to kill those people. God wants him to murder the shit out of demonic people who walk the Earth.

I love, Love, LOVE Frailty, but I never really understood what was so shocking about the ending. There’s two ways to play the end of the story and Paxton chose the (IMO) more interesting one. But there’s nothing really shocking about it.

[davidm]

@StusBlues

Breaking Bad.

The death of Jane

I never, ever thought Walter would go to those depths. Still stunning.

In the most recent season, when they stole the methylamine:When Todd killed the little boy by the railroad tracks. We had just seen them triumphantly rob the train undetected (including a cliched exciting last minute escape), and we were actually cheering for them, then the mood turned completely and we remembered just exactly what it was we were cheering for. This was an emotional whipsaw. This was brilliant writing and directing.

[Malthus]

@StusBlues

Was it made explicit that Walter did this in season 5? The final scene of season 4 strongly implied it, but left a bit of room for doubt.

ETA: Sorry, threadjack–and the moment you mention was spread out over episodes, not dropped in one fell swoop.

Not fully resolved yet. I simply took it that he was guilty from season 4.

[Anaamika]

Lots, but the Prestige is probably the most recent one for me, and it completely floored me. I was kind of half-drowsily watching it, and you bet THAT made me sit up and pay attention.

I shall eventually have to watch it again to see all of the things I missed. It’s rather like Fight Club (another one that totally shocked me) in that repeated viewings only make it better.

We have just lost cabin pressure.

[rosaclinic]

Fast & Furious 5 …the way they took away the safe of money attached to the back of their cars…wooo it was unbelievable but interesting…there are rumors of fast and furious 6 also…yupieee

[Saint_Cad]

Memento.
Carrie-Anne Moss has Leonard and us convinced that Dodd beat the crap out of her. Except he didn’t.

[HelenGawn]

@Smeghead

I went into that movie completely cold. I mean that not only did I not know what the twist was, but I didn’t know there WAS a twist, so I wasn’t even thinking along those lines. I hate horror and ghost movies anyway, so my mind was just on enduring it until it was over. It caught me completely flat-footed.

I had a similar experience with The Usual Suspects. Shocked, delighted, went for drinks and old-school grad-student bull session and bought another ticket within two days.

[Lunar_Saltlick]

@SciFiSam

A lame one, but in Ballykissangel a charcter died just when everything was going right for her and there was no warning that she was going to die. It genuinely shocked and upset me that this Sunday evening TV drama that I’d been half-shamefully watching should end on such a downer. …

Lame how? Oh, Assumpta! That had to be one of the most unexpected downers in all entertainment history. I still can’t believe it. For those unfamiliar with the show, it would have been like Pam dying in The Office and Jim leaves the show an episode later.

Amazingly, BKA continued on for three more seasons, but my heart just wasn’t in it. We crave seeing good things happen to good people, and when we get slapped in the face with the exact opposite – and no possibility ever of a reversal – well, I don’t need that on Sunday evening telly.

[tdn]

Edgar.