With YOU'RE NEXT in theaters after a 2 year delay and ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE finally being released in the US 7 years after its debut, it's time to go to the well and resurface some old discussion. This time I'll pull from a 2001 thread I made here. I've included many more films this go 'round, so hopefully we can expand the discussion further as well. Let's celebrate the BEST SHOCK ENDINGS in the history of horror...which one had your jaw on the floor?
Carrie and Friday the 13th are certainly up there with the jump scares but as for shock endings I'd go with The Sixth Sense or Body Snatchers
For me it would probably have to be April Fool's Day (1986). I originally saw it back in the theater when I was just 11 years old, and the ending completely shocked me back then. Before that, I'd probably never witnessed such an ending shocker.
A tie for me between Seven and The Mist. Voted for The Mist after flipping a mental coin (it was shiny and worth a lot of money).
Other: Les Diaboliques takes the cakes, eats it, and spits it all over the rest of those. Runners up: Carrie, Don't Look Now and Seven.
I'm going with Saw ... only because I never saw it coming. The series had its share of ups and downs but nothing ever came close to the initial reveal of Jigsaw. It wasn't a jump scare like the finales of Friday the 13th or Carrie but it still packed quite a punch.
Why is not Argento´s "Tenebre" here with it´s awesome reveal of the killer. Shocked the hell out of me. One of the best twists ever
Really hard list to choose from, but I want with Psycho since the ending to that movie completely blew my mind as a kid. But, there are others here that I enjoy for various different reasons.
Extremely hard to choose one... But I had to go with Sleepaway Camp. You can't top that one Though the endings for Invasion of the Body Snatchers, April Fools Day, Seven, and Diabolque are still crazy.
I chose The Blair Witch Project. Early in the movie, there's a lot about the legend of the Blair Witch, but unlike a lot of movies, almost all of it is BS and never comes into play later in the movie (ever notice how some throwaway scene or anecdote early in a movie always becomes a plot point later? Not just horror, but all genres. It's like, if they put it on screen, it HAS to become important some time before the end). Obviously, it's the "stand in the corner" thing that does end up being true, and the way it's filmed is perfect. There's that short bit of "wait....what's happening....oh, it's that thing the guy talked about" going on in your mind, and I've often compared it to the feeling of closing the car door even though you know you're locking your keys inside. The brain recognizes it before the body has time to react. It's certainly a shocking effect. Sadly, it doesn't work as well on subsequent viewings, but really, that applies to almost all "shock endings", doesn't it?
There are some on that list that I still haven't seen or can't remember. Also, I think shock needs to be defined. Some shock in how bad the twist is. Like April Fool's Day or Haute Tension. Sadly, Sleepaway Camp was ruined for me by that Starz horror special. Right now, I would go with Seven. I've only seen it once but I couldn't believe that the bad guy won. That they actually went there with the story. I need to see this again and the sequel which looked ok from the bit I caught on TV. I remember a lot of people not liking Blair Witch. I think you never actually see the witch. That was a problem I remember people talking about. But I thought it was spooky in how the witch was always messing with them. At least from what I remember.
I've actually seen every movie on this list with the exception of Carnival of Souls. A toss up for me between Sleepaway Camp, Saw, and The Sixth Sense.
NOTLD '68 and Sleepaway Camp are the two most shocking endings for me (on the list). It was a hard decision but ended up voting for Sleepaway Camp. Not only was that ending shocking, it was down right disturbing as well. :eek1:
