Team America: World Police (2004)
The Moment: Puppet sex. There's not much else needs to be said, really.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: They start using their strings for bondage.
The Birds (1963)
The Moment: Jessica Tandy heads to her neighbour's house for help, only to find the birds have got there first and - in a gut-punching one, two, three of increasing close-ups - we see they've been busy pecking out the owner's eyes.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Tandy treads on the eyes as she's leaving, and flies out of the house like she's on rollerskates.
28 Weeks Later (2007)
The Moment: How deep is your survival instinct? Robert Carlyle ditches his wife in a heartbeat when the Infect gatecrash his countryside hidey-hole.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If Carlyle changed his mind and went all Begbie on the crazies' asses.
Pinocchio (1940)
The Moment: Before the studio became more sanitised, early Disney wasn't afraid to animate the horrors of its European fairytale sources - as this nightmarish sequence of Pinocchio sprouting donkey ears proves.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: He grows a donkey dick, too.
A History Of Violence (2005)
The Moment: Roleplay gets real, as Maria Bello finds herself wanting raw staircase sex following the revelation of hubby Viggo Mortensen's shady past.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The parasitic slugs from Cronenberg's Shivers make a reappearance.
There's Something About Mary (1998)
The Moment: Another thing to tick off your list of scenes you never thought you'd see: Cameron Diaz going on a date wearing Ben Stiller's sperm as hair gel.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Stiller returns the favour by using her secretions as shaving gel.
Misery (1990)
The Moment: A scene that introduces a new pastime into common parlance. Well, we say 'pastime,' but only a loony like Kathy Bates' Annie Wilkes actually wants to practice hobbling.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: She then cruelly enter James Caan's crippled writer into a dance contest.
The Public Enemy (1931)
The Moment: While the censors were breathing down William Wellman's neck for the gun-totin' glamour of his gangster flick, the director was busy creating a much more violent and disturbing sight, as James Cagney angrily slams a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: She retaliates by whacking him with Weetabix.
Toy Story (1995)
The Moment: If Pixar hadn't already won you over, the joyous finale, as Buzz accepts his toyhood while still getting to play at being the Space Ranger hero, did the trick. "This isn't flying, this is falling with style."
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Buzz isn't as good a pilot as he thought, and the toys smash into the tarmac.
Network (1976)
The Moment: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" TV anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) strays off-script in a moment that looks more resonant with each passing year.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Beale drops an F-bomb.
Shame (2011)
The Moment: Self-hating sex addict Michael Fassbender goes for a jog to escape the flat where his sister is shagging, and the camera keeps pace across several New York blocks in a perfect fusion of cinematography and character.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Fassbender runs straight into traffic.
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Moment: Young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) stakes his claim to being the don by shooting rival Don Fanucci, as the towel he's used as a silencer catches fire.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Vito burns his hand, drops the towel, sets fire to the building, the entire neighbourhood burns down.
Lost Highway (1997)
The Moment: Of all the mind-fucking shenanigans that David Lynch has put on film, the most unsettling might be the simplest, as Robert Blake's creepy Mystery Man proves to Bill Pullman he's in two places at once.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: ...And then another one walks through the door.
The Brood (1979)
The Moment: David Cronenberg was going through a divorce at the time, which probably explains why Oliver Reed discovers wife Samantha Eggar licking clean her new-born monster child.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: She eats the baby.
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
The Moment: Butch and Sundance - aka Newman and Redford - decided to go out blazing, but are saved by a freeze frame.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the freeze frame then got riddled with bullet holes anyway.
The Departed (2006)
The Moment: Already a 'woah' moment in Infernal Affairs , the sneaky elevator headshot is choreographed so well by Martin Scorsese that even those familiar with the original will have dropped jaws for a second time.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Damon and DiCaprio stand the other way around in the elevator. Oops.
Anchorman (2004)
The Moment: Will Ferrell's comedy was always out-there in terms of surrealism, and then he got all of his Brat Pack mates (and Tim Robbins) together for an insane bloodbath of laughter.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: There's yet another gang involved, played by Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Judi Dench and Mickey Rooney.
The Prestige (2006)
The Moment: Did you guess the secret behind Christian Bale's magic trick? Good on you. Did you work out how Jackman did it? Did you heck.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The multiple Jackmans don't die, and eventually set up their own community.
Rififi (1955)
The Moment: Director Jules Dassin pulls off the perfect heist, as his Gallic gang is forced to conduct a robbery in silence in a wordless, half-hour set-piece.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The alarms are tripped by someone farting.
Casino Royale (2006)
The Moment: The Daniel Craig naysayers were silenced about ten minutes into his 007 debut, as James Bond literally jumps into the modern era of action movies with a parkour-styled foot chase.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Bond stops just as it's getting exciting to deliver a Roger Moore-esque quip.
Se7en (1995)
The Moment: Detectives Mills and Somerset reckon they're chasing a serial killer using the Seven Deadly Sins as his M.O. When they find the Sloth victim, though, they realise that 'killer' is too reductive a label for this particular psycho.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Sloth does a dance routine.
Django (1966)
The Moment: What's in the coffin that gunslinger Django is carting around? An armed posse decides to find out, only to discover he's hiding a massive machine gun - and it's locked and loaded.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Django's carrying around a vampire in there.
Freaks (1932)
The Moment: Prince Randian, aka 'The Living Torso,' isn't going to let the small matter of having no arms and legs get in the way of his rolling a cigarette.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: He builds a life-sized replica of Batman out of Lego.
My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
The Moment: Forest spirit Totoro waits at the bus stop. The bus arrives. It's a Catbus.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The Catbus takes ages to arrive, and when it does it's chasing a Mousebus.
To Live And Die In L.A. (1985)
The Moment: Think all car chases are the same? William Friedkin bettered even his seminal pursuit in The French Connection by having William Petersen's Secret Service agent pursue his quarry the wrong way up the freeway, into incoming traffic.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: It's set on the M25.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
The Moment: On-the-run Veronica Cartwright catches up with hero Donald Sutherland, only for him to let out an unearthly cry and point an accusing finger at the fugitive survivor. He's one of them.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Sutherland's faking it. He just didn't want to get stuck with her.
Chinatown (1974)
The Moment: Jack Nicholson's P.I. Jake Gittes browbeats the truth out of Faye Dunaway's slippery femme fatale Evelyn Mulholland, only to wish he hadn't when her family secret - her daughter is her sister - is revealed.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: This film actually goes there, as incestuous monster Noah Cross goes after his daughter/granddaughter.
The Mist (2007)
The Moment: That biggest of clichés - the cavalry arrives to save everybody - is up-ended as they arrive, agonisingly, moments too late.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The soldiers tell Thomas Jane's horrified dad that they would have been quicker but they stopped for a loo break.
Day Of The Dead (1985)
The Moment: Genre master George A. Romero sets the bar for the best-ever zombie kill, as bad guy Captain Rhodes (Joseph Pilato) is torn in half by the hungry undead. "Choke on 'em," he snarls with commendable cool.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The zombies genuinely choke on 'em, prematurely ending the film in a moment of communal gagging.
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Moment: Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken face hellish odds during an enforced game of Russian roulette.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The Vietcong want to play actual roulette but, since the Americans have no money, they will have to find other ways to pay.
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Moment: Disfigured John Merrick stands his ground against a mob of tormenters, sobbing "I'm not an animal" and proving it as John Hurt's emotional performance punches through the prosthetics.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Merrick goes all Jackie Chan on their asses.
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
The Moment: Yes, they've finally made a monkey out of Chuck Heston as he clocks the Statue of Liberty emerging from the shore and figures out the home he's trying to get back to is the same planet as the one he's trying to escape.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The dolphins choose that precise moment to launch their attack on the apes.
Kill List (2011)
The Moment: Troubled hitman Jay (Neil Maskell) takes a lump hammer to his weirdly compliant victim, the Librarian. We're all expecting the camera to cut away, so it's a hell of a shock when the hammer makes contact and bits of skull flap around under its force.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Jay realises he's got the wrong man and has to try and put the damage back together.
The 400 Blows (1959)
The Moment: The French New Wave is defined as Jean-Pierre Léaud’s Antoine Doinel, escaping from borstal, races for the shore - and then turns back hesitantly, Francois Truffaut capturing his adolescent confusion in a heart-stopping freeze-frame.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: He keeps running into the sea and the frame freezes only when his head goes under.
Black Swan (2010)
The Moment: Natalie Portman's crazed ballerina Nina Sayers completes her metamorphosis into the Black Swan as she sprouts feathers and wings on stage.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Instead of Tchaikovsky, she's dancing to The Birdie Song .
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
The Moment: The T-1000 shows off its liquid metal design by walking through the bars of a prison door and changing cinema special effects forever.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If we later found out that Robert Patrick wasn't an actor, but a real Terminator.
The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)
The Moment: The film might be close to ninety years old, but Lon Chaney's expertise with prosthetics makes the reveal of the Phantom's ghoulish visage a nightmare that's impossible to forget.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the Phantom could speak, especially as he'd pre-empt Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer by two years.
Requiem For A Dream (2000)
The Moment: Aronofsky's addicts try to outdo each other in a downward spiral of degradation. Jennifer Connelly edges it with by sharing the stage at a sex show with a double-ended dildo and another equally luckless lady.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the other main characters followed Connelly's example.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Moment: Oh, right, of course, because he sees dead people. Bruce Willis finally twigs why everybody's been acting so weird towards him.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Bruce Willis isn't dead at all. People just don't like him.
Bambi (1942)
The Moment: Not so much a jaw-dropper as a lip-trembler, as numerous generations of kids learn that parents can die. Sob.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If Disney had animated the killshot in all of its gory detail.
The Fisher King (1991)
The Moment: Terry Gilliam might be known for creating fantasy worlds but his loveliest, most delicate creation sees Grand Central Station transformed, momentarily, into the most romantic dance venue in cinema.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If Gilliam chose King's Cross as his preferred train station of choice.
The Godfather (1972)
The Moment: Headstrong Sonny, clearly being groomed as the next leader of the Corleone clan, is ruthlessly dispatched in a tollbooth ambush, his body jerking like a ragdoll under the hail of bullets.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the gunman turned up to be Michael Corleone. Especially as he was in Sicilian exile at the time.
Do The Right Thing (1989)
The Moment: The combustible atmosphere in Bed-Stuy ignites as Mookie (Spike Lee) "does the right thing" - namely chucking a trash can through the window of Sal's Pizzeria to start a race riot.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If Oscar the Grouch was in the trash can.
The Artist (2011)
The Moment: Sound enters the life of silent film star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) in a nightmarish dream sequence where everyday objects bang like klaxons but he remains mute.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: He's tormented by the Wilhelm Scream.
Jurassic Park (1993)
The Moment: A game of two halves - Spielberg hints at a T-Rex's approach by showing ripples in a water glass, but then he shows the dino in all of its gobsmacking glory. Just because, at last, thanks to modern FX technology, he can.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Due to a genetic snarl-up, it's a friendly T-Rex.
Throne Of Blood (1957)
The Moment: Shakespeare was never like this in school. Toshiro Mifune's feudal lord, modelled on Macbeth, watches in horror as his opponents chuck spears at him until he's turned into a human pin cushion.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Mifune is forced to get a job as a pin cushion.
Fight Club (1999)
The Moment: If the first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club, what number is the rule that says, "Nobody tell Ed Norton that he's Tyler Durden?" The narrator finally figures out why he doesn't have a name.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Actually, Tyler Durden is real and he's imagined the Narrator.
Blade Runner (1982)
The Moment: What does the future look like? Ridley Scott convinces within seconds, as he unveils the industrialised beauty of the L.A. skyline circa 2019. Betcha it doesn't really look like that in seven years.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: A caption reveals that this isn't Los Angeles, but Milton Keynes.
Goodfellas (1990)
The Moment: Muffled cries from the trunk. Frenzied stabs and shots to make sure he's dead. "Ever since I was little, I always wanted to be a gangster." That's how you begin a film.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: "Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a chartered accountant."
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The Moment: The battle of Helm's Deep, so prolonged, fraught with peril and bursting with character development, it totally justifies its status as the trilogy's centrepiece.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the battle was even longer.
The Shining (1980)
The Moment: Jack Torrance has been beavering away on his latest novel, but all work and no play make Jack a dull boy, right? Timid wife Wendy realises her hubby has gone gaga.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: It turns out that Jack has been writing the Twilight Saga all of this time.
Carrie (1976)
The Moment: Yes, the final scene's more of a shocker, but the split-screen, neon-soaked 'disco of death' set-piece remains the event that you can't quite believe you're watching.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: There's another telekinetic teenager in the crowd, and now it's war.
When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
The Moment: Who says Americans are prudes? Sally's (Meg Ryan) full-blown public faked orgasm becomes the dish of the day at a New York diner, as everybody wants what she's having.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: There's a midget under the table, and the orgasm is real.
Don't Look Now (1973)
The Moment: Donald Sutherland finally catches up with the red-coated apparition he's been chasing along Venice's canals. Is it the spirit of his late daughter? Nope: it's a midget serial killer. Uh-oh.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The figure is his daughter and the killer.
Psycho (1960)
The Moment: Yes, yes, the shower, we know. But no matter how well you know the film, the surreal reveal of emaciated Mrs Bates remains a masterful, audacious sting in the tail.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: It's Janet Leigh in the chair.
Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
The Moment: Everybody knew it was coming, but nobody expected this - Bonnie jolting like a rag-doll, Clyde collapsing in super slo-mo, as cinema violence caught up with the atrocities reported on the evening news.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The lovers can't resist crawling back to each other for one last, albeit bloody, embrace.
Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
The Moment: A family is massacred by grizzled gunmen. Their leader orders the execution of the remaining child. As he emerges into the gleaming sunlight, we realise in horror that this cold-blooded killer is blue-eyed Western hero Henry Fonda.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The killer is Shirley Temple.
Audition (1999)
The Moment: Successful auditionee Asami sits and waits for her suitor Shigeharu to call, as behind her a thing in a sack gurgles and writhes. Hang on a minute, isn't this supposed to be a romance?
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Oh, trust us, it gets worse.
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The Moment: Private Pyle completes his metamorphosis into a killing machine in the loo, that reliable barometer of bad things happening in a Kubrick film. It's not quite how Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann thought it'd pan out, mind.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If Pyle poured jam over the Sarge and ate him like a jelly doughnut.
Les Diaboliques (1954)
The Moment: Fragile murderess Christina (Vera Clouzot) isn't the only one who is faint of heart when she discovers the corpse of her husband re-awakening in a bathtub.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the ghoul's mad eyes popped out of their sockets, Tex Avery-style.
The Matrix (1999)
The Moment: "We need guns. Lots of guns." Neo and Trinity take on the Matrix's lobby security in an orgy of stylised, slo-mo destruction.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Neo and Trinity don't use guns but boomerangs and bananas. Hey, it's the Matrix. They can do anything.
Deliverance (1972)
The Moment: Four city slickers realise how out of their depth they are in the wild when their holiday degenerates into an ordeal at the hands of hillbilly rapists. "Squeal like a pig, boy."
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the roles were later reversed, Lisbeth Salander-style.
Ghostbusters (1984)
The Moment: Ray Stantz seals Manhattan's fate by deciding Gozer the Destroyer's form - a giant marshmallow man. The most leftfield special effect ever.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The film ends with everybody eating toasted marshmallows.
Scanners (1980)
The Moment: "So, David Cronenberg, please tell us - what is a Scanner and what can it do?" The director replies, "It's easier if I show you."
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Scanning power doesn't cause heads to explode, but simply balloon into freakishly giant proportions.
Close Encounters Of the Third Kind (1977)
The Moment: The mothership descends - and it's not the wobbly plate on a wire that UFOs used to be but a monster of light and sound.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the motherland miscalculated its co-ordinates and squashed the cast.
Braindead (1992)
The Moment: Remember your dad warning you not to mess about with lawnmowers? Zombie killer Lionel Cosgrove shows us why by wiping out an army of the undead with a Flymo.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If somebody mowed across the Flymo's electricity cable.
United 93 (2006)
The Moment: Real-life horror revisited, as the passengers aboard the ill-fated airplane realise there's no turning back. "Let's roll."
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If Paul Greengrass' sensitive docudrama approach was replaced with Hollywood cliché.
Last Tango In Paris (1972)
The Moment: Method-man Marlon Brando finds a new use for his spread. Cue a thousand dinner party innuendos about passing the butter.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: He uses I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
The Crying Game (1992)
The Moment: Femme fatale Jaye Davidson turns flasher in the movies' ultimate "chick with a dick" moment.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: He'd have lady bits as well as a penis.
Inception (2010)
The Moment: Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) fights the militarised subconscious in a surreal, revolving hotel corridor.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: He fights giant hamsters in a wheel. He is in a dream.
The Third Man (1949)
The Moment: The zither starts to quither as Holly Martins finally gets proof that his buddy Harry Lime isn't dead, as star Orson Welles smirks from a shadowed doorway.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the zither was suddenly replaced on the soundtrack by some heavy metal power chords.
Fargo (1996)
The Moment: The Coens' commitment to faking their "based on a true story" tale extends to an ending you never, ever saw coming, as Peter Stormare's psycho does half of Marge Gunderson for her by feeding Steve Buscemi into a wood-chipper.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: It's an elaborate ruse, and now a one-legged Buscemi is on the hop.
Saw (2004)
The Moment: Jigsaw plays possum. What better way to assess how your victims are doing than by hanging out in their cell for the entire film?
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If, a hundred sequels later, it turns out that Jigsaw is still alive.
Monty Python's Life Of Brian (1979)
The Moment: The Pythons show the unshowable, and whistle the unwhistleable, as Brian and crucifixion chums decide to Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life .
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If the sing-song was laced with the same amount of bloodshed as The Passion Of The Christ .
Steamboat Bill, Jr (1928)
The Moment: An inch either side, and Buster Keaton would be flattened by the housefront collapsing towards him. Fortunately, he's standing in the exact spot where an open window lands.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: It's the steamboat that falls on him.
Drive (2011)
The Moment: Ryan Gosling's Driver experiences the quickest mood swing in modern movies. One second, he's locked in a passionate snog with Carey Mulligan; the next he's stomping an assassin's head into mush.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: He switches back to romantic mode and takes Carey out on a date.
Oldboy (2004)
The Moment: Hammer-time, as Dae-Su smashes his way along a corridor of minions in a stunning single-take.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: His weapon of choice is an octopus.
L.A. Confidential (1997)
The Moment: Kevin Spacey's Jack Vincennes picks the wrong guy to confide in, but has the last laugh by using his dying words - "Rolo Tomassi" - to pass on the fake clue that will lead the good guys to the killer.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Dudley Smith mishears, and sends his last Rolo to Lionel Messi.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Moment: Gene Kelly never expected this, as Malcolm McDowell's droog appropriates Singin' In The Rain as the soundtrack to a gang-rape.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Hearing the song reminds the gang of happier times and they decide to renounce ultraviolence.
Being John Malkovich (1999)
The Moment: John Malkovich discovers what happens when he enters the portal into his own head. Meta-Malkovich weirdness ensues.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: A single Malkovich breaks off-script to shout "Gary Oldman!"
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Moment: The end of one era - the old West - signals the beginning of another - the squib-bursting Hollywood bloodbath as Peckinpah's bunch goes bananas with a machine gun.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: An awkward moment when they can't get the gun to work.
The Exorcist (1973)
The Moment: Linda Blair masturbates with a crucifix, snarls profanities and then twists her head around 180 degrees. How much proof do you need that the girl's possessed?
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If she crawled down the stairs like a spider. But that would be silly.
Avatar (2009)
The Moment: James Cameron's 3D epic has more spectacular scenes but none showcase the medium's possibilities so much as the enchanting night-time encounter amidst woodsprites so tangible you want to reach out and touch them.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: You really can touch them, because Cameron has spent millions ordering things to be dropped down from cinema ceilings.
King Kong (1933)
The Moment: The giant ape kidnaps the girl and carries her up the Empire State Building to swat flyers. It hardly matters if you're watching the stop-motion original or Peter Jackson's CGI makeover, the fact that somebody thought of doing this at all astounds.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: King Kong himself starts to fly.
An American Werewolf In London (1981)
The Moment: Breaking with horror film tradition, David Naughton's transformation into a lycanthrope is shown in all its full, bone-breaking agony in a brightly lit lounge.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: In an unexpected twist, it turns out he wasn't bitten by a wolf, but a ferret. He was in Yorkshire, after all.
Irreversible (2002)
The Moment: As if being disoriented by the back-to-front chronology, deafened by the cacophonous din of the soundtrack and made nauseous by the spinning camerawork wasn't bad enough, just look at what Albert Dupontel's Pierre is doing to that bloke's head with a fire extinguisher.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If Gaspar Noe ditched the flashy style and let us see and hear the gory details.
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
The Moment: T.E. Lawrence waits and waits, as the shimmering mirage in the mid-distance gradually reveals itself to be Omar Sharif arriving across the desert towards him.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: It turns out to be a Tusken raider.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
The Moment: Mr Blonde shuffles over in time to Stuck In The Middle With You to slice off the ear of kidnapped cop Marvin, in a scene even the camera doesn't want to watch.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: We see it happen.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Moment: What's Quentin Tarantino got against people called Marvin? This one's with friends, apparently safe, until Vincent Vega waves a gun towards the backseat and - BLAM! - Marvin's face comes off.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The ricocheting bullet bounces back and kills Vega.
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Moment: Heath Ledger's Joker shows Gotham City's assembled criminals his party trick, involving a pencil and a hapless goon's face. We've seen worse - but never in a 12-certificate.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The Joker cuts his head off, and really redefines the boundaries of modern-day film ratings.
The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Moment: The plot unravels like so much Verbal diarrhoea as Agent Kujan realises he's been told a load of porky-pies based on names and places on bulletin boards and coffee mugs.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Keyser Soze comes back in and shoots Kujan.
Children Of Men (2006)
The Moment: Alfonso Cuaron reinvents the single take by shooting an action sequence from inside a car. It's so nonchalant that you'll be too busy reacting to the shock death of a major character first time around to register just how jaw-dropping this is.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If Cuaron did an even more impossible single take later in the film… Oh, he did.
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Moment: The shock and aww-shit of the Normandy landings is replayed with trembling, terrifying realism, for an immersive baptism of fire unlike anything else in combat cinema.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If we were actually there.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Moment: In a film ricocheting from risk to risk, Paul Thomas Anderson saves the best for last - an apparently low-key ending that suddenly explodes into OTT, operatic excess as Daniel Plainview starts slurping milkshake.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Plainview severs Eli Sunday's head and uses it as a bowling ball.
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
The Moment: Getting to the golden idol was difficult enough, but when Indiana Jones switches it for a bag of sand he discovers just how fiendish the traps in this place are.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The idol itself is booby-trapped and tries to bite Indy's fingers off.
The Thing (1982)
The Moment: Antarctic base doctor Copper attempts to revive Norris with a defibrillator. At which Norris' chest opens and bites off the doc's arms. Proof that The Thing has a (sick) sense of humour.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: The Thing spits the arms out like arrows.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Moment: Stanley Kubrick achieves the impossible in the blink of an eye, fast-forwarding from the dawn of man to the space age in a match-cut from bone to spaceship.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: We cut back to the bone, which promptly bangs an ape on the head.
Alien (1979)
The Moment: John Hurt-by-name, Hurt-by-nature ordered the wrong takeaway, as facehugger becomes chestburster. One of the few scenes on this list where you can see the cast's jaws drop, too.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: If it was the singing, top-hatted alien from Spaceballs .
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Moment: The ultimate Oedipal nightmare, as Darth Vader reveals his paternity to shell-shocked son Luke. Never mind the revelation, the same thirty seconds also see the hero lose his hand and throw him to almost certain death.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Darth Vader turns out to be Ben Kenobi wearing a mask.
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Moment: The war movie goes Wagnerian as helicopters assault a Vietcong village to the strains of Ride Of The Valkyries... and all Robert Duvall fancied going surfing.
The Only Way It Could Be More Shocking: Duvall's music taste isn't classical; instead, he whacks on some Cliff Richard.
