- The martians all die from catching the common cold.
- In The Wasp Factory, Frank is a girl.
- In Sleepaway Camp, Angela is actually a boy, and the killer. (therivs)
- Soylent Green is people! (Hawley)
- Vader is Luke’s father. (Slurms)
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie) is interesting because the narrator is the murderer (arbitrary)
- ET phones home. (Scott)
- Old Yeller dies. (Slurms)
- Holmes didn’t fall off Reichenbach falls; he climbed up the rocks and hid to feign his death. (foolsage)
- On the Orient Express, everyone did it. (foolsage)
- Rosebud is the sled. (foolsage)
- Rhett gets fed up with Scarlett’s whining and leaves her. (foolsage)
- Norman Bates is the killer (Mister K)
- Norman Bates plays the role of his own mother. (Wilhelm2451)
- (A Boy and His Dog) the boy chooses his dog over his girlfriend, and now his dog is well-fed. (Tipa)
- (Ubiq) Chip’s dead boss is dreaming that Chip & co are dead, but believe they are alive and that Chip’s boss is dead. (Tipa)
- Those battle simulations Ender runs are real battles. (Tipa)
- (Time Out of Joint): Raul’s entire existence is a fabrication and everyone in his city is in on it. (Tipa)
- (Through a Scanner Darkly): The main character is spying on himself. (Tipa)
- (Blade Runner): Decker is a replicant. (This differs from the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, where he isn’t. Two spoilers in one!) (Tipa)
- (Suspicion): Cary Grant is not really a killer. (Tipa)
- The One Ring ends up being cast into Mount Doom (Ysharros)
- Farm Boy is the Dread Pirate Roberts. (Ysharros)
- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the same person! (AndyH)
- Paris shoots Achilles in the heel with a poisoned arrow. Troy burns. (foolsage)
- Odysseus makes it home. (foolsage)
- Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves. (foolsage)
- Hamlet gets revenge then dies. (foolsage)
- Ilsa and Victor escape. Rick stays in Casablanca. (foolsage)
- Michael becomes the new Godfather. Fredo betrays the family. Michael has him killed. (2 in one!) (foolsage)
- (The Spy Who Came In From The Cold) Mundt really *was* a double agent, and Leamas allows himself to be killed rather than escape after his girlfriend is killed. (Xbalanque)
- (Minority Report — the short story) The three precogs reports were all different, so they were *all* minority reports, and Anderton murders General Kaplan so that Precrime won’t be dissolved. (Xbalanque)
- (Anubis Gates ) The body of Ashbless discovered on what Doyle knows to be the date of Ashbless’s death was actually a ka. (Xbalanque)
- Kristen shot J.R. (xJane)
- Spock isn’t dead dead. He’s in McCoy’s brain. (xJane)
- The Ark of the Covenant is now in a secret government warehouse, and if you close your eyes, the stuff in the Ark won’t kill you. (xJane)
- Psst Oedipus, that’s your mom. (xJane) ((Jocasta is Oedipus’ mother.))
- (Glengarry Glen Ross.) Shelly Levine (Jack Lemmon) is the thief. (Tipa)
- (The Third Man.) Orson Welles faked his death. (Tipa)
- On the 7th day he just slacks. Oh and they eat the apple. Lots wife looks backwards. Pillar of salt. (Uzi)
- Slim Pickens’s bomber destroys the world by triggering the Russian Doomsday device. (canazza)
- In the end, the farmers win rather than the seven gunfighters. They lose. They always lose. (AndyH)
- The wizard is just an old man from Omaha. (scrusi)
- In Len Deighton’s Bernard Sampson series (Berlin Game onward), Bernard’s wife’s defection to East Germany was staged by the British without his knowledge. (Wilhelm2451)
Feel free to comment with more spoilers from media that is at least 20 years old (I’ll delete anything more recent) and I’ll add it to the list.
In Sleepaway Camp, Angela is actually a boy, and the killer.
Wotcha Spinks,
Soylent Green is people!
Cheers,
Hawley (Pre-Soylent Green state)
Vader is Luke’s father
There’s a great Tshirt from Threadless I think that lists a bunch of spoilers http://www.threadless.com/product/844/Spoilt is the tshirt, and I want one!! I love it because it doesn’t say what films its spoiling but it’s obvious!
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christe) is interesting because the narrator is the murderer
ET phones home.
Old Yeller Dies…../sniff
Holmes didn’t fall off Reichenbach falls; he climbed up the rocks and hid to feign his death.
On the Orient Express, everyone did it.
Rosebud is the sled.
Rhett gets fed up with Scarlett’s whining and leaves her.
The big horse is full of armed Greeks.
Wow, 5 in one. Not sure if the trojan horse counts as a spoiler because iirc The Iliad is told from the point of view of the greeks.
Norman Bates is the killer
I don’t think it is a real surprised that Norman Bates is the killer. The surprise is that Norman Bates also plays the role of his own mother. That is the shocking revelation at the end.
Jesus dies.
(A Boy and His Dog) the boy chooses his dog over his girlfriend, and now his dog is well-fed.
(Ubiq) Chip’s dead boss is dreaming that Chip & co are dead, but believe they are alive and that Chip’s boss is dead.
(Ender’s Game) Those battle simulations Ender runs are real battles.
oh, let’s go for more Philip K. Dick….
(Time Out of Joint): Raul’s entire existence is a fabrication and everyone in his city is in on it.
(Through a Scanner Darkly): The main character is spying on himself.
(Blade Runner): Decker is a replicant. (This differs from the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, where he isn’t. Two spoilers in one!)
(Suspicion): Cary Grant is not really a killer.
I’m not going anywhere near the Jesus one! (I’m allergic to christian theology, will leave that to people who know more about it.)
Even in the film, it’s only alluded that Deckard is a replicant (i.e. the unicorn dream, the origami unicorn). He might or might not be.
That’s true, foolsage, but I’ll give Tipa the benefit of the doubt because I do remember that when the film first came out, everyone was pretty sure that he was a replicant. It is foreshadowed.
The One Ring ends up being cast into Mount Doom.
Farm Boy is the Dread Pirate Roberts.
@Tipa ooo Ubik spoiler, excellent! Love that book (and the author).
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the same person!
Paris shoots Achilles in the heel with a poisoned arrow. Troy burns.
Odysseus makes it home.
Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves.
Hamlet gets revenge then dies.
Ilsa and Victor escape. Rick stays in Casablanca.
Michael becomes the new Godfather. Fredo betrays the family. Michael has him killed. (2 in one!)
The Blade Runner one arguably isn’t 20 years old, because in the original theatrical version, it’s ambiguous whether he’s a replicant, and the more straightforward interpretation is that he’s not. The Director’s Cut, where it’s pretty much definite that he’s a replicant, is from 1991 or so (and the Final Cut is even more recent).
(The Spy Who Came In From The Cold) Mundt really *was* a double agent, and Leamas allows himself to be killed rather than escape after his girlfriend is killed.
(continuing the Philip K. Dick thing)
(Minority Report — the short story) The three precogs reports were all different, so they were *all* minority reports, and Anderton murders General Kaplan so that Precrime won’t be dissolved.
(Anubis Gates (which won the 1983 Philip K. Dick Award, and was written by Tim Powers, who was friends w/ Dick)) The body of Ashbless discovered on what Doyle knows to be the date of Ashbless’s death was actually a ka.
<3 Tim Powers
Oh God help me the Anubis Gates is 20+? NOW I feel really old.
Tim Powers rocks.
Troll 2: ((edited out for spoilerness))
So close! But imdb says 1990 for Troll 2 so it isn’t quite 20 years. I feel I should stick with my own rules. But when I post this thread again next year, you can get the top spot!
Kristen shot J.R.
Spock isn’t dead dead. He’s in McCoy’s brain.
This gives me a great excuse to immortalise an advert I saw at about the time that The Search for Spock was out. It was an advert for London buses and the tagline was, “Searching for Spock? By the time you’ve found somewhere to park they’ll have found him.”
The Ark of the Covenant is now in a secret government warehouse, and if you close your eyes, the stuff in the Ark won’t kill you.
Pssst, Oedipus. That’s your mom. Ooops.
The Sixth Sense. ((edited for spoilers))
I want top spot in 2019. I really loved that movie.
Haha, ok.
Glengarry Glen Ross. Shelly Levine (Jack Lemmon) is the thief.
Re: Blade Runner. The only reason there was any controversy about whether Deckard was or was not a replicant is because in the book, he was not.
In the movie, he dodges the question of if he ever took the VK test, his apartment is covered with old photographs, Commander Adama doesn’t trust him, etc. The Director’s Cut just made it explicit.
The Third Man: Orson Welles faked his death.
and the Swiss only produce cuckoo clocks
On the 7th day he just slacks. Oh and they eat the apple. Lots wife looks backwards. Pillar of salt. Jesus dies on p681. Comes back to life on p682.Gets a tad odd in the end…
Still not doing the Jesus spoilers. It’s because I’m still traumatised from when I was at school and innocently asked someone whether if he was resurrected that meant that he later died again and they got really really really upset. So I still dunno if he dies at the actual end or not.
Slim Pickens’s bomber destroys the world by triggering the Russian Doomsday device.
In the end, the farmers win rather than the seven gunfighters. They lose. They always lose.
((Simpsons spoiler))
Wikipedia gives 1995 as the date for the first airing of that episode, sorry.
Oh damn, I forgot the rules lol
The silver shoes can take you home.
Alternatively: The wizard is just an old man from Omaha.
In Len Deighton’s Bernard Sampson series (Berlin Game onward), Bernard’s wife’s defection to East Germany was staged by the British without his knowledge.