Movies that get fucking dark out of nowhere

[FutureLarking]

Something that's in the cinemas right now, so:

Spoiler

Last Christmas

It's not *super* dark and I don't think it earned the direction it went considering there's genuinely no obvious foreshadowing - but given what I went into the film expecting (only having seen the poster), it just goes to a dark place out of nowhere in like the space of 10 seconds. Tries not to stay too dark afterwards though.

Not going to mention what exactly happens in case someone accidentally clicks the spoiler, because I really wasn't expecting it in that movie at all.

 

[Servbot24]

Something in theatres right now:

Spoiler

I expect to Parasite to be a scary movie, so not only was I surprised that it was light-hearted and comedic, but I was surprised again when it took a dramatically dark shift towards the end.

 

[Melhadf]

The Transformers animated movie.

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Destroyer of childhoods

 

[Melhadf]

I'll never understand how people were blindsided by Bridge to Terabithia. Did none of you have to read that in school? It was part of my school's fourth grade curriculum.

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It was advertised as a fantasy film here in the UK. Literally all anyone knew was that it looked ilke a generic kids fantasy film. Watched it on TV with my eldest when she was about 7... we put it in the no pile after that.

 

[PSqueak]

So why are people say Oldboy?
the movie opens with the protagonist being kidnapped and imprisioned for years for aparently no reason.
we see how the isolation bleeds out so much of his sanity and humanity.

sure it gets worse from there but the general tone is pretty fucking dark from page 1

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You gotta understand how the tone shift works, Oldboy starts with the expectation that you are gonna see some generic action revenge rampage movie, yes those are not "happiness and sunshine" movies but they are "turn off your brain and enjoy the violence" movies, but then you get to the point where the "villian" reveals his motivations, his revenge and what he did to the protagonist and you realize this was not "just a stupid revenge rampage movie" and it catches you off guard with how fucked up everything was.

Anyways, people already covered Old Boy, Bicentennial man and Click, so im out of choices.

 

[sapien85]

Tyler Perry movies have a bad habit of doing this. You can't go from sexual assault discussion to Madea antics in the same damn scene, man.

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Yeah these ones are notoriously bad at handling this.

 

[greengr]

War on Everyone gets pretty dark and really not funny for a black comedy,has something close to that running scared scenes

 

[Hokey]

It throws away a lot of the charm it established up to that point just to make this big dark turn but I think it's ballsy as hell and kinda works as a "loss of innocence" moment. It might secretly be a great foil to that entire genre.

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Yea well said, I was kinda upset the movie lost that charm but it seems it was done on purpose to throw you into the deep end and have that shock factor.

 

[Jeffolation]

That bit in Caché from Michael Haneke certainly knocked my hat back.

 

[jelly]

I haven't seen My Girl in many years but that was unexpected from what I remember.

 

[Stantastic]

You gotta understand how the tone shift works, Oldboy starts with the expectation that you are gonna see some generic action revenge rampage movie, yes those are not "happiness and sunshine" movies but they are "turn off your brain and enjoy the violence" movies, but then you get to the point where the "villian" reveals his motivations, his revenge and what he did to the protagonist and you realize this was not "just a stupid revenge rampage movie" and it catches you off guard with how fucked up everything was.

Anyways, people already covered Old Boy, Bicentennial man and Click, so im out of choices.

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Weird, i was never under the inpression in that film that it was just action revenge film where i should turn off my brain.

 

[Fevaweva]

Predestination.

It goes from cool time travel film akin to Looper into...some of the best mind-fuckery I have seen put to film.

 

[Doggg]

Silence of the Lambs, when Buffalo Bill turns off the lights on Clarice.

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lol

 

[Rirse]

Another that only a quick scene but horrifying was in Superman 3. It otherwise a pretty meh movie but the villain sister being transformed against her will be the super computer is pretty fuck up when your eight.

 

[Doober]

Nocturnal Animals is already a dark fucking movie, but then the last part puts the story in a different context that somehow makes it all darker still.

 

[The Teachinator]

Another that only a quick scene but horrifying was in Superman 3. It otherwise a pretty meh movie but the villain sister being transformed against her will be the super computer is pretty fuck up when your eight.

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Man, so many scenes in this movie. It's all awful but I loved it as a kid.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

Better Watch Out. I expected your average slasher movie, but it was way darker than expected and people are getting killed in a horrible manner and by whom.

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The Home Alone scene was rough!

Not sure if this counts due to the time and place it's set and I've only read about it but La Vita a Bella is a comedy drama that's set in 1945

At some point the main character is taken to a concentration camp with his son and wife, he convinces his son that it's all a game they are playing culminating in him being marched off to his death and giving his son an over the top smile And wink to keep up the pretence

 

[Morrigan]

People listing Silence of the Lambs... really now

 

[Blue Skies]

Nocturnal Animals is already a dark fucking movie, but then the last part puts the story in a different context that somehow makes it all darker still.

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Oh man that's one of the greats
I actually don't remember what you're talking about, so I guess it's time for my first rewatch!

 

[Butch]

I just wanted to say that I saw Parasite thanks to this thread and it's now probably my movie of the year.

 

[bdbdbd]

Jojo Rabbit fits, I think. The satire is mostly lighthearted but yeah it's a movie about the Nazis and youth indoctrination, so you do anticipate it'll get darker, until they pull a headfake and you think, huh, maybe not, and then...

Spoiler

shoes

 

[Deleted member 16876]

You are Next is a very interesting slasher movie. Watch it blind.

 

[KDC720]

"Sorry to Bother You" was a weird one because it steadily gets more absurd as it goes along, and yet I still wasn't expecting it to go where it went.

The third act twist in "Don't Breathe" will either make or break the movie for you. A tense horror-thriller takes a pretty dark and gross turn near the end and I'm still kind of torn on it.

"The Book of Henry" is a terrible movie but it goes to some really strange places.

 

[Sheepinator]

One of my all-time favorite movies...

Trainspotting.

 

[Melhadf]

Just watched Sorry to Bother You as this thread likes it.

Seemed strange in a Being John Malkovich sort of way then... Where the fuck did that come from.
Like seriously what the hell.

I will have to introduce others to this :)

 

[Deleted member 47700]

"The Book of Henry" is a terrible movie but it goes to some really strange places.

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Great video on it:

 

[Dervius]

Oh, another that just occurred to me



Documentary on the world of "competitive tickling" by David Farrier (who later went on to release the Dark Tourist series on Netflix).

The trailer definitely alludes that the tone takes a darker turn, but if you watch it blind it can seem to come out of nowhere. Highly recommended.

 

[Almeister]

That bit in Caché from Michael Haneke certainly knocked my hat back.

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Good call! Definitely a jaw on the floor moment.

 

[Lys Skygge]

Danny Boyle's "Sunshine"

Spoiler

First 3/4's is a sci-fi film about some scientists traveling towards the sun to save it. Suddenly the movie turns into a slasher film. I still can't decide if I liked the genre change or not 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Maturin]

Something that's in the cinemas right now, so:

Spoiler

Last Christmas

It's not *super* dark and I don't think it earned the direction it went considering there's genuinely no obvious foreshadowing - but given what I went into the film expecting (only having seen the poster), it just goes to a dark place out of nowhere in like the space of 10 seconds. Tries not to stay too dark afterwards though.

Not going to mention what exactly happens in case someone accidentally clicks the spoiler, because I really wasn't expecting it in that movie at all.

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I guessed the "twist" from the trailer. It's pretty obvious if you know the song.

 

[FutureLarking]

I guessed the "twist" from the trailer. It's pretty obvious if you know the song.

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Maybe, I didn't even know the movie was based on anything. I just saw the poster and it looked like standard fare for it's genre, didn't pay the title any extra attention until it happened. 😅

 

[Tribal_Cult]

The Joker

Spoiler

It starts out as this really optimistic tale of a guy wanting to become a stand-up comedian, helping his sick mother.

You see him form a relationship for the first time, and you really think this could end with him pulling his life together,

and then it just falls apart, out of nowhere really

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lmao

 

[Heilige Kip]

Bone Tomahawk is like this. Starts as your avarage western, but at the end it is crazy and disturbing.

 

[Agnostic]

I remember watching 'The Reader' take a different path down to hell.

 

[Kasey]

Burn After Reading freaked me out.

 

[Awesome Kev]

 

[Deleted member 8197]

ITT people confuse pacing with a tonal shift.

Like Audition, Elephant isn't a film that 'gets dark' - it's what the film is about.

 

[Soap]

The cable guy maybe

 

[Deleted member 47700]

ITT people confuse pacing with a tonal shift.

Like Audition, Elephant isn't a film that 'gets dark' - it's what the film is about.

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Great video about how Audition is pretty dark from the start:

 

[Hogendaz85]

Barefoot Gen the Atomic bombing scene is the most disturbing thing I think I've seen from a piece of fiction also doesn't help that it really happened. Look it up on YouTube but be warned it stays with you.

 

[Coyote Zamora]

Leaving Las Vegas


You would think it's about a guy recovering his will to live and maybe finding unconventional love but...

 

[thetrin]

Very Bad Things

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Bad_Things

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Oh god, I saw this on tv one time, and I was not at all prepared for what that movie turned into.

 

[Deleted member 27246]

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How can you look at this picture and think the movie got dark out of nowhere ;)

But on a more serious note...while I understand some people are mentioning this movie, it starts out 'slow', but there is already a sort of creepiness there and at no point I had the feeling I was watching some romantic drama.

 

[capitalCORN]

How can you look at this picture and think the movie got dark out of nowhere ;)

But on a more serious note...while I understand some people are mentioning this movie, it starts out 'slow', but there is already a sort of creepiness there and at no point I had the feeling I was watching some romantic drama.

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I mean, it's about a guy trying to scam a wife. And then there's the molestation allegation

 

[Deleted member 1570]

Aww, it's a cute tale of a puppy trying to get home—

Spoiler

ACTUALLY that puppy is the reincarnated soul of the man in the picture and experiences existential torment from being back home but unrecognizable to his family. He also suspects that the man his wife is now seeing murdered him and poses a threat to his family, but it turns out that the dog was a severe workaholic asshole and accidentally killed himself in a street race with the wife's husband after an argument.

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My parents rented this movie for me and my brother when I was a kid and I could never remember the name of it, so thanks for that.

I cried when the other dog died, and no, him being reincarnated as a squirrel didn't help.

 

[Fantomex]

How can you look at this picture and think the movie got dark out of nowhere ;)

But on a more serious note...while I understand some people are mentioning this movie, it starts out 'slow', but there is already a sort of creepiness there and at no point I had the feeling I was watching some romantic drama.

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I think people are misconstruing two different things. I agree that watching Audition with a background or synopsis of what the movie is about renders the "wow it got dark " point obsolete.

However, for some of us that were told, watch this movie, or all of a sudden were watching sundance or cinemax when it was on and had no idea what kind of rom com we were watching, it got DARK AF really quick. And that's why it was suggested.

 

[Proteus]

Not sure if it counts or has already been said but does "Click" count?

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Click is probably only one of the few good examples in here along with Terabithia.

 

[Deleted member 13496]

What's the big twist in Burn After Reading?

All I remember is the

Spoiler

sex chair

 

[grang]

Oh, another that just occurred to me



Documentary on the world of "competitive tickling" by David Farrier (who later went on to release the Dark Tourist series on Netflix).

The trailer definitely alludes that the tone takes a darker turn, but if you watch it blind it can seem to come out of nowhere. Highly recommended.

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Good call, this was a really weird movie that just gets weirder and weirder.

 

[Hasseigaku]

Young Sherlock Holmes. It's silly in retrospect I'm sure but the chant in that movie will forever creep me out.

Edit: Also, how has Up not been mentioned? I know the tone doesn't stay the same but man....