10 Unluckiest Sci-Fi Movie Characters Ever

Picture the scene: you're going about your day, riding the same escalator in the same subway station you have for years, when you suddenly become ground zero for a massive shootout and get peppered with bullets while being used as a human shield.

That's what happened to this unfortunate soul in the fantastic Total Recall. When hero Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is being chased through said subway by the villainous Richter (Michael Ironside) and his gun-totting comrades, Quaid gets caught short on a subway escalator.

The bad guys open fire, brutally decimating the poor sap standing in front of Quaid, prompting a callously quick-thinking Quaid to grab the man and use him as a human shield.

As the gunfight continues, the man is turned in veritable Swiss cheese by the ensuing bullet exchange, with director Paul Verhoeven making the darkly hilarious most of it by having comically over-the-top squibs explode from the guy's wounds.

And because that's not enough indignity, even when the guy's expended his usefulness as a shield, Quaid throws his corpse down the escalator at Richter in order to buy himself a few extra seconds to escape.

We salute you and your involuntary sacrifice, Escalator Guy.