Open Forum Friday: Can Spoilers Actually Make You Enjoy a Movie More?

Posted by on August 12th, 2011   Filed under: Open Forum Friday

As production continues on The Dark Knight Rises, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this could end up being one of the most scrutinized movie shoots ever. The hype of trying to follow up a critical and commercial hit like The Dark Knight, combined with the public nature of many of the locations in Pittsburgh are leading to 24/7 surveillance from fans, paparazzi and bloggers alike. It is becoming impossible to escape the set photos and other bits of information leaking out online, and for people who are overly cautious about spoilers, it’s turning into a nightmare. But allow me to ask a radical question here: what if, for some reason, Christopher Nolan were to lay out his entire plan for the movie and give us daily updates on every single thing being shot? Would The Dark Knight Rises be any less successful? Would viewers enjoy it any less?

A recent psychological study on spoilers at UC San Diego came to a strange and unexpected conclusion: people actually enjoy stories more when they already know what’s going to happen. It seems hard to believe, but their explanation is that plots are mostly irrelevant and “just excuses for great writing.” Granted, the study focused only on literature as opposed to film, but one would expect the outcome to be the same regardless. In a way, it kind of makes sense because any movie that relies solely on plot twists will ultimately be empty and unfulfilling anyway. This goes contrary to an article that Chuck Klosterman wrote on Grantland back in May, where he suggests that Hollywood screenwriters are avoiding writing movies with twist endings because they can so easily be ruined nowadays. What do you think? Do spoilers ruin movies or can they add to the enjoyment? Are we getting too sensitive about spoilers nowadays? Do the best movies all succeed regardless of how much you know ahead of time? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.



  • Robin

    The Dark Knight Rises will be amazing regardless of any spoilers. As long as I don’t know all the storybeats I’m a happy camper.

  • Tomoo

    I think it depends. I remember one of my more standout movie watching moments was watching From Dusk till Dawn without knowing anything about it, I had never even heard of it and because of that I enjoyed the hell out of it.

  • MikeH

    Thats the one thing about this day and age for movies, there are no surprises anymore. How would people react to the movie Se7en if they knew Kevin Spacey was the killer, and what about The Usual Suspects. Even The Sixth Sense would have been ruined. So I can do without the daily updates on the going ons of movies. I think that is why I rarely go to the theaters anymore because why shell out 10 or so bucks to see a flick that you already know everything about it.

  • Aaron F.

    Personally, I’d rather be surprised. But it also depends on the type of spoiler. I was genuinely surprised when I saw The Sixth Sense in theaters. I absolutely had the rug pulled out from underneath me and it only added to the thrill of that movie. It also invited repeat viewings in the theater and DVD where the “surprise” doesn’t hold up unfortunately. But the twist in The Crying Game, for example, didn’t exactly blow me (pun, I know) outta the water. That reveal didn’t really change what I had just seen. Then again, I haven’t watched that movie in ages either.

  • Jonny Ashley

    I agree with Tomoo. One of the best twists ever. But the only thing better than watching Dusk Till Dawn for the first time, is watching it with someone else and seeing their reaction to the film for the first time.

  • Rick Vance

    I don’t think it matter. What matters is the quality of the film and the atmosphere it presents.

    I watched The Wicker Man for the first time and it is near impossible to avoid the twist in that one considering how much it has inundated pop culture but the movie lures you in just like the bumbling cop so when plays it hands you are still surprised even if you went into it knowing what all the cards were.

  • Anthony

    Saw movies come to mind as good spoilers. Especially #4.

  • Do spoilers ruin movies or can they add to the” enjoyment?” Depends on the movie and on the spoiler.

    “Are we getting too sensitive about spoilers nowadays?” Definitely.

    “Do the best movies all succeed regardless of how much you know ahead of time?” Yes, most of them.

    I watched Fight Club after the twist was spoiled for me. It was spoiled during a class in film school, and by none other than the teacher. By that point the movie has been out for six years so it was fair game. I watched it sometime later and enjoyed it despite the fact I knew the twist, and perhaps *because* I knew it. I knew the famous twist for the The Crying Game waaaay in advance and it didn’t hurt my enjoyment of this masterpiece. The twist ending for Psycho was made before the word “twist ending” was invented and knowing it before watching the movie didn’t hurt my appreciation for it.

    I would say though that first viewing of a movie like The Sixth Sense or The Usual Suspects will be compromised by knowing the twist in advance, I think, simply because their twists are to mind-blowing and well-constructed.
    It’s very hard to tell, because after being spoiled you never know what you would have thought if you didn’t know the twist in advance.

    I do think we live in an age where it’s too much of a good thing when it comes to movie information. But on the other hand, here we all are at Film Junk, reading about (new) movies months and sometimes years before they’re even made. It’s there, so we grab it. Is information the same as spoilers? Depends on your level of sensitivity. There’s a huge difference between knowing some plot points in advance and knowing a twist ending in advance. Trailers these days are chock full of spoilers, the thing is watching a trailer you never know where in the movie the footage is taken from. It can become obvious only while watching the film (GI Joe, anyone?)

    There’s no clear-cut answer. If there’s a movie you’re sure you’d want to check out, like Dark Knight Rises, you’re the one who needs to decide what’s the level of exposure you want to subject yourself to. At the end of the day, it’s about finding a balance.

    And yeah, plots are overrated. They mainly exist to put something in the synopsis and to sell how-to screenwriting books.

  • Niklas

    I prefer to watch movies with as little spoilers as possible. I don’t mind them with older movies though and I think if you listen to FilmJunk for example you should expect that older movies get spoiled. In that way I think you guys can be a bit sensitive with “spoiler alert”.

    I think the attention of the dark knight rises and other movies are way over the top though and don’t quite understand why people want to find out so badly what the story is going to be before the movie is out? I’d rather just find out the way Nolan intended than to have a blog reveal it to me moths before its out.

  • kyri

    NO. no spoilers.

  • curtis talls

    how old is old enough to spoil on Filmjunk?

  • Pam Blome

    Depends. I wanted to see Sixth Sense a second time, after seeing it originally, to see what I’d missed the first time. It was fun both ways, but I’d have been sorry, if I had known the end before I ever saw it. The suspense of not knowing is important to me…

  • Matt McNeely

    I think it’s strange that people do seem very sensitive about spoilers these days and yet, have insatiable appetites for every inkling of information leading up to the release of a film (or video game for that matter). I never understood the whole “frame-by-frame analysis” of trailers and whatnot. Are our lives so unfulfilled that we have to wring every bit of info we can from every scrap of news about a film? Is there not a huge wealth of entertainment available to at least tide us over until its release?

    I personally like to avoid reviews altogether before watching a film. I think the best review is relevant after you’ve seen it yourself. I prefer more analytical reviews that provide an insight that I might not have been able to articulate myself. I like to go in “fresh” any time I can. However, I don’t mind having things spoiled if it sells me on the film. Sometimes these juicy spoiler bits are the things that lure me to see it in the first place.

    It’s true that plot is secondary to story. Ultimately a twist is only as good as the thematic resonance it has; its text and subtext. Twists are mostly lazy script-writing anyway. I say, who cares if something’s spoiled. I knew the twist to Sixth Sense going in and still enjoyed the film a great deal. I knew that From Dusk till Dawn wasn’t just a road movie going in, but still found the twist jarring (if not entirely satisfying – I’m not much of a Robert Rodriguez fan).

    I agree with Lior. It’s up to the individual to decide what the “level of exposure you want to subject yourself to” is. I suppose there is no stopping the gratuitous information drip that is the Internet, but maybe we should learn to just not look at everything. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that.

  • rob

    absolutely not, imo if a spoiler ruins a film then it hasnt been very well crafted. Even mind fuck twist films should work (even work better) on the re-watch

    i listen to several film podcasts and watch trailers etc and dont find it takes away from many/any films