25 Films That Intentionally Spoil Other Films

For many of us, spoilers are the bane of our filmgoing experiences. How many times have we had that big moment ruined for us before we've seen the film, just because someone couldn't keep their trap shut? But when we're kicking back alone in the dark with a new movie, we assume we're safe. Right?

Wrong. That's because a whole pile of films are in the business of spoiling other, bigger, better films. Certain directors and writers seemingly just can't help but drop narrative, plot, and character details from the broader canon into their own movies, sucker punching unsuspecting audience members. 

Yep, these are features that refuse to keep it to themselves about other films' plots, intentionally and unavoidably dropping serious spoilers. Sometimes, this actually serves a function in the story, sometimes it's to play a prank on the audience, sometimes the references manage to illuminate a theme or idea through some neat intertextuality, and sometimes it really is just for the hell of it.

Do you know what secrets are lurking behind the opening monologue of Swordfish, which film spoilers Anna Kendrick rattles off in Pitch Perfect, and what big movie references make a Mooby's customer vomit in Clerks II? Well, you're about to. 

Spoilers ahead (duh!).

Teen rom-com Easy A takes direct inspiration from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in its premise and title, as Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) develops a false reputation as a hoe, and decides to affix herself with a scarlet letter in order to own it and throw it back in her critics’ faces. But it also draws on the rich history of the teen movie in the process, with particular reverence for John Hughes and his contemporaries who made the genre-defining flicks of the '80s.

Unfortunately, this also means it spoils them.

In one fell swoop, Olive rattles off spoiler moments from a bunch of classic teen movies, including Say Anything (1989), when she says, "I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window"; Can’t Buy Me Love (1987), "I want to ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey";  and Sixteen Candles (1984), "I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me."

And, in case we’re in any doubt as to what’s being spoiled, Olive’s voiceover is presented alongside the actual clips from the films! Intertextuality is great, but this takes things a little too far.