# Your Biggest Surprise in a Movie \[Open Spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604 "2008-04-16T16:34:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/101 "2008-04-19T11:18:06Z")
The final question in _Kill Bill vol. 1_, where Sofie Fatale is asked, by Bill: Does she know… her daughter is still alive? So totally didn’t see that coming and, after seeing it on the theater screen, made me want to see KB vol. 2 NOW!!! ---
**Author:** ![chris156](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@chris156](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chris156)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/102 "2008-04-19T11:36:39Z")
Wow…this thread has made me realise that I’ve _never_ actually seen a movie with a twist that I hadn’t found out about beforehand! ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/103 "2008-04-19T12:17:33Z")
I remember when The Sixth Sense was still in theaters, I was watching Craig Kilborne one night and he completely spoiled the ending. He literally said about the movie, “Bruce Willis is dead” with no warning or anything. The movie was still in theaters. I’ve never forgiven him for that and I never will. One movie that hasn’t been mentioned yet is European Vacation. Remember the hot Earo girl boobs? Here I was, about 10 years old, watching the movie with my family. Awkward! Normally a nice surprise, but not this time. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/104 "2008-04-19T12:48:20Z")
In “Jaws,” when Richard Dreyfus is swimming under that abandoned boat. He looks up through the hole in the bottom. I think all the air got sucked out of the movie theater on that one…it was a collective “Whooooosh!” Spielberg later said that was a lesson he learned. There’s only supposed to be one such moment in a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/105 "2008-04-20T04:04:38Z")
A Korean film R Point,an infantry squad is sent to find a missing unit in Vietnam and after they land on the beach they decide to take a comemerative photo but they all squabble because they all want to be in it. Eventually someone volunteers to be cameraman. Later on in the movie they are looking at the pic when they realise that they are all in it and that the photographer was one of the dead soldiers that they are looking for. A funeral in Berlin also.(Brit.sixties spy film) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/106 "2008-04-20T05:58:47Z")
Hm… **Lust4Life,** I may have to look for that one. More of my own contributions: the ending of _Jacob’s Ladder_ floored everyone. A confused minor in our small audience asked, “So what _was_ that about?” A stunned adult (not me, but I wish I’d said this) responded, “It’s about the difference between subjective and objective realities.” ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/107 "2008-04-21T11:41:47Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] No quarrel there at all. And unless you’re a credits freak and don’t leave your seat (or turn off the DVD player) until the screen goes dark, you will miss it. It’s a bit annoying when filmmakers decide to leave their audience hanging so that the few who do wade through their tricks can brag on how subtle they are to the dismay of the more casual observers who are just pissed that it wasn’t clearer. The thing that pushed me to find out was the genuine interest I had built up in the characters and the perplexing way the story was just dropped. It took a review (Ebert I suspect) to suggest going to the ending again. After I did that, and found “the answer” I was more than a little annoyed. It’s like having to read the book after having invested $10 and an afternoon (something I’m about out of the habit of doing) or in a machine that allows you to play the scenes back in any order you choose (Hello, _Memento_!), in order to find out what it was you were seeing. My bet is that 1 out of 10 (maybe 20) feel that commitment to understanding a movie when maybe 1 in 100 movies demands that much of the viewer. There is the thrill of the “Oh! I see!” moment, and some filmmakers tease you with the hope that there is one if you work for it. If they’re good about always having the answer there they continue to draw crowds (of whatever size their choices have limited the overall audience potential to) who relish the solving of the puzzle/mystery. In this case, the answer is totally believable and ties up a few loose ends you didn’t realize were loose. [/QUOTE] I did initially feel cheated that we should have watched the titles at the end, but after a while it does seem silly that we didn’t… The name of the film Cache, translates as Hidden, and the initial scene is a long shot of a scene with something (perhaps) hidden in it. I should buy it to watch again. I never did spot anything interesting in the actual videotape footage at the time… ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/108 "2008-04-21T12:51:17Z")
I remember being totally surprised and freaked out when Michael Meyers sat up after getting a coat hanger stuck in his neck in **Halloween**. Nowadays, after so many sequels and copycats, that gimmick seems tired and old, but at the time it was pretty fresh and perfectly executed. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/109 "2008-04-21T14:17:18Z")
\*\*[A Tale of Two Sisters](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365376/) \*\*. Korean horror film. Plot spoilers : Not too hard to figure out that her sister is dead, but it really threw me when her father calls his girlfriend and asks her to come over…she’s already been there for much of the film. But only in the girl’s head. Ha! Also a superlative misdirection shock moment : One of the women is cautiously approaching the kitchen sink area…an earring or something has just rolled out from under it. This is the area where the girl earlier saw a ghost hiding. I was on the edge of my seat with the build-up cos i just _knew_ it was going to grab her. Then in one of the cupboard POV shots of the woman approaching you see the ghost sitting quietly at the kitchen table behind her. Kind of like one of those “when you see it you will crap yourself” pictures.(there was a thread on those but I can’t find it, sorry). I actually missed it the first time because I was watching through my fingers waiting for the big scare. :o ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/110 "2008-04-21T14:46:37Z")
My first though upon reading the thread title was **The Sixth Sense** , but one that hasn’t been mentioned yet is \*\*The Others \*\* with Nicole Kidman, whose family lives in a house that is haunted. I got chills when the her family finds out that _they_ are the ghosts that are haunting the house. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/111 "2008-04-21T14:58:53Z")
[QUOTE=Saint Cad] Three words: Final Destination bus [/QUOTE] _Final Destination_! Thanks to that movie, I get goosebumps every time I hear _Rocky Mountain High_ . If I ever hear it at the airport, I’ll be cashing in my ticket and renting a car. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/112 "2008-04-21T15:03:27Z")
[QUOTE=Smid] I did initially feel cheated that we should have watched the titles at the end, but after a while it does seem silly that we didn’t… The name of the film Cache, translates as Hidden, and the initial scene is a long shot of a scene with something (perhaps) hidden in it. I should buy it to watch again. I never did spot anything interesting in the actual videotape footage at the time… [/QUOTE] Let me ask you, **Smid** , if you spent the first few minutes of the movie braced for something like those websites that have that screaming head pop up after maybe a minute of having you stare at some still scene to try to “find the hidden…” or else lulling you into enjoying the serenity of the picture? We did! We even played with the DVD (only way to get the full enjoyment from this movie, I would say) to see if the lights in the building, or the wiggling of the bushes, or _anything_ would account for how long that opening scene lasted. It would be easy to see how the person who invested in trying to scope out that opening scene might let his or her attention sag after it becomes obvious that the main theme is the terror in being watched. By credits time, when your attention needs to be at least as keen and your powers of observation need to be at their peak, as you were coaxed to be at the beginning, if you don’t do some serious questioning as to what that final scene is about, you’ll just have the feeling you were being gypped the whole time. I wager that next time I have a chance to see another movie by these filmmakers, I’ll pay closer attention. And odds are they’ll figure out another way to surprise me. They seem to make movies for that purpose! ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/113 "2008-04-21T16:10:08Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Let me ask you, **Smid** , if you spent the first few minutes of the movie braced for something like those websites that have that screaming head pop up after maybe a minute of having you stare at some still scene to try to “find the hidden…” or else lulling you into enjoying the serenity of the picture? We did! We even played with the DVD (only way to get the full enjoyment from this movie, I would say) to see if the lights in the building, or the wiggling of the bushes, or _anything_ would account for how long that opening scene lasted. It would be easy to see how the person who invested in trying to scope out that opening scene might let his or her attention sag after it becomes obvious that the main theme is the terror in being watched. By credits time, when your attention needs to be at least as keen and your powers of observation need to be at their peak, as you were coaxed to be at the beginning, if you don’t do some serious questioning as to what that final scene is about, you’ll just have the feeling you were being gypped the whole time. I wager that next time I have a chance to see another movie by these filmmakers, I’ll pay closer attention. And odds are they’ll figure out another way to surprise me. They seem to make movies for that purpose! [/QUOTE] I got drawn in, and it was kind of timed correctly because I’d worked through all the sort of questions I should have been asking myself “Do I expect something to happen here”. “I don’t know anybody to look for” to just about “I’m getting bored, lets look closer in another way” As for other movies by the filmmaker. Funny Games is apparently by them. I don’t know much about it… ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/114 "2008-04-21T16:24:54Z")
[QUOTE=TPWombat] \*\*[A Tale of Two Sisters](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365376/) \*\*. Korean horror film. Plot spoilers : Not too hard to figure out that her sister is dead, but it really threw me when her father calls his girlfriend and asks her to come over…she’s already been there for much of the film. But only in the girl’s head. Ha! Also a superlative misdirection shock moment : One of the women is cautiously approaching the kitchen sink area…an earring or something has just rolled out from under it. This is the area where the girl earlier saw a ghost hiding. I was on the edge of my seat with the build-up cos i just _knew_ it was going to grab her. Then in one of the cupboard POV shots of the woman approaching you see the ghost sitting quietly at the kitchen table behind her. Kind of like one of those “when you see it you will crap yourself” pictures.(there was a thread on those but I can’t find it, sorry). I actually missed it the first time because I was watching through my fingers waiting for the big scare. :o [/QUOTE] I don’t have much to add, except to say that I LOVE that movie. In fact, the whole movie is one surprise after another. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/115 "2008-04-21T19:02:44Z")
Another one from a movie seen by, maybe, 16 people: _The Rapture_, at the end of Mimi Rogers and her little girl’s desert journey, before Mimi gets arrested. If you’re one of the 16, you know the scene. I didn’t think the film would have the guts to do what it did (and I’m still unsure as to _why_ Mimi felt she had to do what she did), but, being raised on movies where kids always make it out OK, it definitely was a surprise! ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/116 "2008-04-21T20:17:20Z")
**Million Dollar Baby** … boxing scene… bell rings, corner readies stool… stool tips over… What a mess that movie became after that… ---
**Author:** ![AlmondJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@AlmondJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlmondJoy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/117 "2008-04-21T21:15:38Z")
Recently I was really thrown by the end of The Departed- maybe everyone else saw that coming but I didn’t ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/118 "2008-04-21T23:58:58Z")
[QUOTE=FatBaldGuy] Not exactly on topic, but related: My daughter was in high school when Apollo 13 came out. She went to see it with some friends. Afterward she asked me, “Why did they change the ending?” I asked what she meant. “Well, in real life they died, didn’t they?” [/QUOTE] I had the opposite experience watching **A Perfect Storm**. I knew it was based on a true story, and it featured the sailors on the ship, so I just assumed that they were going to make it home safely (after all, how would the movie be depicting the experience of the sailors unless they had provided a post shiprweck summary after being rescued?). When they drowned at the end, I was stunned for several minutes. Not only did I not expect the ending, I was assuming the opposite would occur. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/119 "2008-04-22T00:19:13Z")
_Casablanca_. I was shocked to learn that_gambling_ was going on in Rick’s _Cafe Americain_. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604/120 "2008-04-22T02:19:07Z")
Another TV series, (Scrubs) but the ending of the episode entitled My Screwup was quite the homage to The Sixth Sense. It took me several viewings to realize how they accomplished the misdirection so that we thought it was the old man with the heart condition who had died, not Jordan’s brother Ben. The big clue was given at the beginning when JD asked Ben how long he would keep taking everyone’s picture with his Polaroid and Ben responded: “Til the day I die.” Then Ben does not have his camera with him in any future scenes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-biggest-surprise-in-a-movie-open-spoilers/445604.md?page=7)