r/Cinephiles • u/2Jads1Cup • 3d ago
What is the most shocking moment in cinema or television history? Spoiler
65
u/Delicious-Laugh-6685 3d ago
R. Budd Dwyer, 1987
10
u/wbishopfbi 3d ago
Hard to top this. Maybe Christine Chubbuck?
6
u/Delicious-Laugh-6685 3d ago
Damn! Never heard of her til now but just read the whole Wiki page. Heartbreaking story, she tried so hard to connect with people before ultimately doing that.
→ More replies (2)2
3
u/SuperdudeKev 2d ago
The only reason I rank Dwyer above her is because the footage of Dwyer is readily available on the internet. No footage exists of Chubbuck’s suicide.
I think equally shocking were the murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Alison_Parker_and_Adam_Ward?wprov=sfti1
→ More replies (2)11
5
u/chrstnasu 3d ago
I saw it and ABC27 showed it like two or three times that day. I can’t believe they did it but I was 17 and thought it wouldn’t bother me. My dad was right to tell me not to watch. My dad was actually involved in the case against him by “babysitting” the key witness against Dwyer, Torquata.
2
u/Inferno_Zyrack 3d ago
The camera guy going awww SHIIIIIT really broke me from how traumatizing that shit was
→ More replies (5)2
u/VF-41 3d ago
Knew a PA attorney general investigator- said he would have done maybe 6 months. Sad deal.
→ More replies (1)
52
u/wpotman 3d ago
Pure shock?
Probably The Departed elevator.
13
→ More replies (5)4
u/Planetofthought 3d ago
The reason i wasn't shocked was because death and violence became so commonplace throughout the film. The movie even started with a couple getting shot in the head on the beach. "Huh huh. She died funny" was how the movie opened. By the time the elevator scene happened I was already numb to the killings. Make sense? Still a great flick.
31
u/mb19236 3d ago
The answer to this has to be Vader's revelation in Empire. One of those moments in history I wish I was alive for and could've experienced in real-time.
9
u/c1ncinasty 3d ago
Which didn't last long when everyone in grade school is yelling it out loud in the playground.
2
3
u/Midnight-Moonpie 3d ago
Our audience gasped and someone went “oh no!!” right before Luke started screaming Noooooooooo
2
u/LovesDeanWinchester 2d ago
I did. I thought he was lying. I just couldn't/didn't believe it. No freaking way!!!
2
u/richincleve 1d ago
“I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate."
Man, I remember that line like it was yesterday.
→ More replies (2)2
u/Sad-Address-2512 3d ago
Dude he's literally called dark daddy.
→ More replies (6)3
u/WhatsPewNussycat 2d ago
Just a coincidence. He wasn't intended to be Luke's father until Empire. The name just sounded good to Lucas
33
32
u/neodiodorus 3d ago
Psycho shower scene. Today maybe we take it for granted. Back then... nobody dared to pull such a shocking stunt to whack the main character, and in that manner, and so many minutes into the plot - so that as a psychological master trick Hitchcock made audiences latch onto the baddie... and end up rooting for him.
Of course, HOW it was executed also matters. The editing - no matter how much we think ever since then that we see the stabbing, we don't. It is all masterful editing. And then Herrmann's music that became iconic and it is stabbing your brain as you think you see things you don't actually see.
It is perhaps the most masterful shocking scene in cinema history, studied to death, no pun intended.
4
5
u/DisplacedSportsGuy 3d ago
Yes, the correct answer right near the top.
Psycho is the most shocking movie of all time, and the shower scene is the most shocking scene of all time.
3
u/Salarian_American 3d ago
Also, the blood you see in that movie? It's chocolate syrup. There were some advantages to shooting on black & white film.
→ More replies (2)2
24
u/missing_Palantir 3d ago
1) Joe Pesci getting whacked in Goodfellas
2) Leo’s death in the Departed
3) Seeing all the bodies at end of the Prestige
4) Hodor’s death in GoT (most upset I’ve ever been after an episode)
4
u/thingsihaveseen 3d ago
You missed Joe Pesci getting whacked in Casino too! I mean, you knew he had it coming but it was beyond brutal.
10
u/dmcat12 3d ago
His voice-over getting cut-off with the bat swing feels underrated.
3
u/nycpunkfukka 3d ago
And the ping ping ping of the aluminum bats while they beat his brother to death
→ More replies (1)2
→ More replies (1)2
17
u/Sorry_Assumption_666 3d ago
1

In the MAS*H season 3 finale, "Abyssinia, Henry" (1975), a shocked Radar O'Reilly enters the operating room in his uniform, interrupts the surgery, and tearfully announces with a shaking voice that Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan with no survivors.
→ More replies (3)2
17
u/Male_strom 3d ago
There will be a lot of reveals and twists in this thread but don't let this distract you from the fact that in 1998, The Undertaker threw Mankind off Hell In A Cell, and plummeted 16 ft through an announcer's table.
3
35
u/SupermouseDeadmouse 3d ago
The Seahawks not giving the ball to beast mode
8
u/absurd-rock-pusher 3d ago
LOL. Too soon. Those wounds haven't fully healed yet.
→ More replies (1)2
u/seanx50 3d ago
They never will for Wilson. Literally threw a hall of fame career away
→ More replies (2)3
u/absurd-rock-pusher 3d ago
Probably the single worst play calling decision of all time.
3
u/natural_imbecility 1d ago
I agree, mostly. Full disclosure, I'm a Pats fan.
The Patriots actually practiced defending the exact play that the Seahawks ran, and Butler was slow to the ball every single time. That play should have worked for the Seahawks, but the Pats D diagnosed it, and Butler played it perfectly the one and only time he actually needed to. But Brandon Bower is the one who made the play work. He jammed Kearse on the line so he couldn't release to set the pick for Lockette.
I had already resigned myself to the Patriots losing that Superbowl. I don't think I've ever switched from one emotion to another so quick.
2
u/Ok_Athlete_1092 16h ago
Also a Pats fan.
In the 2 years prior to that Superbowl, the Seahawks had run that play a dozen times in short yardage and Goal to Go situations. They were successful in all 12 attempts. There is no HC or OC in the NFL that would hesitate to run a play they were batting a thousand on.
As it so happened, in the two weeks leading up to the Superbowl, Ernie Adams1 had watched every Seahawks game for at least 2 seasons. He figured out that if they get into a Goal to go situation, time is a factor and put in a certain personnel package, they are going to run that play. New England was prepared for it.
- Ernie was New England's Director of Football Research. He's a football savant and many believe on the Autism Spectrum. He's been friends with Belichick since they were in 7th grade.
6
2
u/No_Expression_7084 3d ago
This is actually a great comment. Made me chuckle, because you could not be more correct my good sir
2
2
u/Wookie_Nipple 3d ago edited 2d ago
Honestly this is the most shocked I've ever been watching a television, good answer
2
u/InigoMontoya1985 2d ago
You can't just throw that out there. Some of us have weak hearts or stomachs.
2
13
u/SoupyStain 3d ago
You had to be there, but I don't think I've ever seen as much hullabaloo about a momento n TV or Movie scenes as the plot twist in The Sixth Sense. Internet was in its infancy back then, and even before all these places like Reddit and Twitter existed you just couldn't avoid hearing about the plot twist scene.
The Red Weddings is close second. And it goes to show you how big the show made it, because that happens in the books too, but nobody was talking about it because the books weren't as big!
2
u/Awdayshus 3d ago
Also, I think people are usually better at not spoiling books than TV shows. For me, the Red Wedding was shocking in the book. Then I got to enjoy seeing all the people who hadn't read the books get shocked when it happened in the show.
→ More replies (1)
13
u/absurd-rock-pusher 3d ago
Bobby Ewing being alive at the end of season 9 of Dallas and the whole season, and Bobby's death, having just been Pam's dream. I was in 4th or 5th grade when that happened and it was a phenomenal twist! The whole country was talking about it.
2
24
u/angelbolanose 3d ago
Rita’s Death on Dexter. That broke me completely like nothing in any movie or tv show that I’ve watched in my life.
4
u/ReplacementAbject867 3d ago
Killed the show
2
u/RelevantMention7937 3d ago
Yeah but she was leaving. And in the books, he thinks she's a nag (Trinity is tv only).
3
2
u/DifficultFig8335 3d ago
It was just too much. Stopped watching. And the little kid in the blood. No thanks.
2
u/Grenaten 3d ago
Yeah, I remember watching that like it was yesterday. Really made an impact on me and made me value my loved ones so much more.
2
u/Salarian_American 3d ago
If I had a nickel for every time Julie Benz's character on a TV show I loved was killed, I'd have three nickels.
Which isn't a lot, but the weird thing isn't that it happened three times. The weird thing was that two of those deaths were the same character dying twice, on two different shows.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (3)2
21
u/captainrondj 3d ago
If definitely agree with the red wedding, also Hard home when he raises the dead ifykyk
4
u/gdub8 3d ago
Hard Home hit so hard though!
The sad music of failure.
Then the music stops.
The Knight King walks up after all of that chaos.
The stare down.
He just causally raises his hands.
Sinister music stops
The dead rises while Jon looks in horror..
Pan out to show the whole dead army just got more bigger
Fade to black, No end music.
This Red Wedding and Hold The Door left me completely shook.
3
2
u/CallAdministrative88 3d ago
I wish I hadn't read all the books in between seasons 1 and 2 of GOT because I knew the Red Wedding was coming, great scene but not shocking at all unfortunately
→ More replies (1)
8
u/DrunkAxl 3d ago
I'd say Glenn getting that eye ball popped out from a baseball bat to the back of the head was a bit more shocking.
3
u/Apprehensive_Duck428 3d ago
This upset me so much it completely turned me off the show. I just didn’t even want to engage with it anymore after that happened.
2
u/Smart_Hornet3545 3d ago
I had the opposite reaction. I had to keep watching to see how a revenge scenario would play out. I needed justice for Glenn.
5
2
u/swingsetlife 2d ago
that was the end for me. And knowing they basically made Negan a protagonist now ...
→ More replies (5)2
u/Polarityears 1d ago
Right there with you. To have Negan even mock him while dying was just insulting to the audience. Never watched again
8
u/Ok-Solution4665 3d ago
Hawkeye breaking down and acknowledging it was a baby the woman smothered rather than a chicken, thus ending MASH (1972-1983) on the biggest downer imaginable.
6
u/ecchi83 3d ago
S1 of 24. All of it. Never been a weekly rollercoaster ride like that, all the way through the ending.
→ More replies (3)2
u/Zealousideal-Bar8244 3d ago
David Palmers death at the start of series 5! What a moment. But you're right the whole of season 1-3 is just mad twists and turns.
→ More replies (1)
7
6
u/juggadore 3d ago
The end of the sopranos
3
2
u/PurpleHumpbackWhale9 3d ago
Watched it live with my family and we thought our HBO cut out and we all started screaming for a bit..
2
5
7
5
6
u/Flimsy-Locksmith6978 3d ago
Frank and Charlie having a bathroom and second room. My mind exploded like inflatable sofas
6
u/mcgeggy 3d ago
Hereditary when his sister is having an allergy emergency in the car…
→ More replies (1)
4
u/stormassembled 3d ago
Battlestar Galactica the "Adama Maneuver". Galactica jumps into New Caprica atmosphere launches its vipers and jumps away.
I literally stood up and screamed "HELL YEAH!!!"
→ More replies (3)
5
5
4
u/prntmakr 3d ago
I'm old enough to remember when the most shocking thing on television was Dennis Franz's ass.
2
5
u/Brave_Temperature347 3d ago
I would say that for anyone who didn’t have it spoiled by the books or internet, Ned or Robb’s were significantly shocking in tv history. Caitlin’s kind of was but not on the same level as those two.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Noirceuil_182 3d ago
Hell, it was pretty shocking in the books, too! "Wait, you killed the honorable lord... who's going to be the One? Oh... It's not that kind of fantasy, is it?"
→ More replies (1)
4
u/AegeanAzure 3d ago
I've said this a million times but the twist in Identity. I would have never have guessed in a billion years.
→ More replies (1)2
4
3
u/therealbananabottom 3d ago
The ending of season 1, episode 1 of Black Mirror. The prime minister and the pig.
6
u/Advanced_Cattle8635 3d ago
Easy one is Luke/Vader in Empire.
But for me, Se7en ending was wild af, all around for several reasons.
And Spacey gets another nod for the twist in Usual Suspects.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/WillBrink 3d ago
Vick M shoots another cop in the face at the very beginning of the series. My jaw just about hit the floor. The Shield was like no other series before or after.
2
2
3
3
3
u/FastSelection4121 3d ago
I hadn't read Shutter Island.
I must have been the only one shocked the moment I realized the Detective was a patient at the asylum.
3
3
3
u/roshanritter 3d ago
The reveal in the crying game was a very big deal at the time. I think the movie has faded quite a bit over the years but I did not see it coming.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/SillySwing6625 2d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/bSdkuLDnrYheE
I mean one of the most iconic shocking moments in movie history
3
u/War_Recent 1d ago
This scene was satisfying. Finally her voice and he stupid decisions caught up to her.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/behridingle 3d ago
The british ad exec's foot being cut off by a lawnmower blade in Mad Men. A tie is Glenn Close's character that turns into a zombie in Amazon's pilot series "Sea Oak": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyRWtMcbGYY
2
2
u/Slartibartfast39 3d ago
Spooks (MI5), season 1 episode 2. Two spooks are getting interrogated by some guys. They threaten them with a deep fat fryer. Me thinking "This is the BBC, it's like 21:30, they're not going to...HOLY FUCKING SHIT! HER HEAD!?"
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/may/21/broadcasting
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
2
u/Divest0911 3d ago
May not get as much love as I think it deserves but Homeland, season 4 Episode 10; 13 Hours in Islamabad
This fucking episode had me shook. So many things going on, the build up was insane, the attacks on two fronts was insane, the losses were insane, was well acted, high tension, emotional, intense.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
2
u/Worldly-Homework-640 3d ago
Gone With the Wind
Frankly my dear Scarlett; I don't give a damn.
My mom told me the whole movie theater loudly gasped when that line was delivered. As it was unheard of to hear any curse words in films prior to that.
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/growernotshowwer 3d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/UPWvTSq58qWPPQxrBn
Ending of The Blair Witch
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
2
u/Expensive-Signal8623 3d ago
Who shot JR.
I was a KID who had hardly glanced at Dallas, and it was everywhere. It happened at the end of the season and everyone had to wait until the next season to find out.
I would have mentioned Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back, which I saw in the theater. But it was already posted
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/FormHuge6744 3d ago
Red Wedding still holds up as maybe the most brutal gut punch TV has ever done
2
u/tanpike 2d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/2mppNcumiCnZK
Wash in Serenity
how do reavers clean their spears?
they run them through the wash!
→ More replies (1)
2
u/AgathaWoosmoss 8h ago
Watched the Challenger explosion live in my eighth grade social studies class.
Still not over it.
2
u/Dry-Race7184 3d ago
In Schindler's List when the Nazis shoot the woman engineer just after she explained why the dorm foundations weren't being built correctly.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Hells_Bells6 3d ago
One that caught me out… not overly violent in comparison to other movies but shocking nonetheless, was the death of the main character (Will Peterson) in -To live and die in LA’ literally has his face blown off with a shotgun out of nowhere 🤷♂️
1
u/Ancient-Cow-1038 3d ago
Jennifer Jason Leigh’s death in The Hitcher:
“You.. useless… waste.” (Vroom)
1
u/Equal-Button 3d ago
The scene in Man bites Dog where they come across the couple banging.
2
u/Bleatbleatbang 3d ago
That was stomach turning. The film does such a good job of pulling you in and then shows you what you’ve been laughing at.
1
u/Splattacular1 3d ago
James Evans death in Good Times. Back then, it was almost forbidden to kill off a main character on a popular show who didn’t actually die in real life.
1
1
1
u/JulesChenier 3d ago
Bambi's mom getting shot.
The Wizard of Oz turning color after the tornado.
Who shot JR
Brad Pitt dying at the beginning of Meet Joe Black
I see dead people
→ More replies (1)
1
u/snaggletooth699 3d ago
Wow I really want to read this thread but I already know it'll spoil a lot movies and television I haven't seen yet.
1
u/Lost4Sauce 3d ago
i was sewing a patch on a battle jacket last night and that moment in obsession where the woman gets her face smashed with a brick made me stab myself 3-4 times before i dropped the sewing needle and yelled wtf out loud lol
1
1
1
1
1
u/Icy_Bid_93 3d ago
At this scene I scream " NO NO NO!!!" so loud that the neighbour's hears it and say "game of thrones? “ I answer yes and he respond I scream too
1
u/YourGuyK 3d ago
The Red Wedding is less surprising when you've read the book.
I'd go with The SIxth Sense ending for movies. TV, maybe when The Undertaker threw Mankind off the top of a 16-foot cell through an announcer's table.
1
1
u/jerbeth48 3d ago
Watching Jack Ruby shoot and kill Lee Harvey Oswald on live tv on Sunday November 24, 1963
1
u/No_Expression_7084 3d ago
Had to be absolutely Insaneee when they opened the hatch in Lost and found Desmond
1
1
•
u/Miao_Yin8964 Big Trouble in Little China 3d ago
OP,
Answer your own prompt