The 25 Most Shocking Moments in Movie History

We watch movies for plenty of reasons: to laugh, to cry, to learn new things. But often what we want most is a mind-blowing jolt to the system — whether it be a revealing line of dialogue, an horrific act of violence or simply a star playing against type. Click on a title below to find the best shocks cinema has to offer. But before proceeding, please note that there are many spoilers, and of course check with a doctor to make sure your heart can take it.

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25. Where's Poppa?

(1970, dir. Carl Reiner)
Never mind that Where's Poppa? was the first American film to use the word "cocksucker," or that it contained a character charmingly named "Muthafucka." No, the true shocker in Carl Reiner's black comedy comes when Ruth Gordon, playing a batty old widow, in a moment of overwhelming affection for her son Gordon (George Segal), rips down his trousers and kisses him on the lower cheeks in front of his love interest, a nubile young nurse (Trish Van Devere) hired to take care of the old wacko. "You expected her to just give a little peck, not for her to nuzzle and rub her cheek against it like she did," says Segal. "By that time in the process, I was completely numb. It seemed like just another warm moment in the film."

Credit: Courtesy of MGM