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The story
A thread on the 5ch forums asking users to name “the Western movie with the most shocking ending” took off, pulling in a huge range of titles beyond the go-to picks like The Sixth Sense and Planet of the Apes. The conversation ranged from twist-ending classics such as The Mist, The Silence of the Lambs, Cube, and Dancer in the Dark, to the Hong Kong film released in Japan as Gunrou Taisen — infamous for the story that a real on-set accident was left in as its actual ending — and even the uncut version of Drunken Master II, known for having a different ending than the one shown in Japanese theaters.
What people said
Someone already mentioned it, but yeah, this one.
Going into the ending you start to get a "wait… could it be…" feeling, but it still hits like a truck when the client (De Niro) is revealed.
Due to a production accident, the lead actress genuinely catches fire on screen,
the footage freezes into a stop-motion frame, and the story just… ends right there.
It closes out on newspaper clippings about the actress's severe burns.
The accident happened during what was supposed to be the film's final action scene, so the story technically still worked as an ending.
You wouldn't see such an obscure title come up anywhere outside a dedicated board.
I didn't get it back then, but watching it now, France's poverty and immigration issues feel a lot more real.
Watched it on TV as a kid and just sobbed in a pitch-black room as the survivors kept dropping off one by one during the escape.
My family still teases me about it.
but it's such an obscure horror movie that hardly anyone knows it — shame really.
Though the movie itself wasn't all that great.
The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker
The Discarnates
the ending was pretty shocking too.
Se7en
Planet of the Apes
Only the endings stick with me.
like, wait, Judgment Day actually happens?!
if only it hadn't come out after The Sixth Sense.
There was Zongeria before that, but
only zombie movie fans seem to know it.
Edward Norton's performance was insane.
but apparently in the uncut version he goes blind from the aftereffects and loses his mind afterward — a total bad ending.
Finding that out was a real shock.
Wong Fei-hung's been the subject of a ton of movies, but that ending is brutal.
If you swapped it for a Japanese equivalent, it'd be like Mito Kōmon (a beloved samurai-drama hero) getting attacked by villagers and beheaded on display.
Too bad — I figured out The Sixth Sense's twist early on.
Wish I could've enjoyed it more without knowing.
I was a fan of the original novel, and I was floored that the movie gave the Triffids a weakness: seawater.
With The Mist, I'd already heard the ending was gut-wrenching, so I saw it coming — kind of a bummer.
Carrie.
that ending is what sets it apart from your average slasher flick.
honestly, I just burst out laughing at the ending.
Made me realize that once shock goes far enough, people just crack up.
like, wait, THAT'S the one who makes it out?!
Nothing's topped it for me so far.
the ending had me like, "wait, hold on…"
even Matsuko Deluxe (popular Japanese TV personality) called it a masterpiece.
Background and Key Points
How “shocking” an ending feels is a topic that tends to split opinion depending on era and genre, and the thread lined up well-worn favorites like The Sixth Sense and Planet of the Apes alongside titles known only to a niche audience, like Angel Heart and Gunrou Taisen. Drunken Master II, mentioned at #40, is known for having a different ending in its Japanese theatrical release than in the uncut overseas version, the result of the ending being swapped out during distribution. Gunrou Taisen, mentioned at #22, is known among film fans for the story that footage of the lead actress genuinely suffering severe burns in an on-set accident was used as-is for the final scene. There were also comments, like at #46, that “figuring out the twist too early ruins the fun,” pointing to a broader debate over how to handle spoilers.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “What’s the Western movie with the most shocking ending in history?“
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