Most Jarringly Tragic Scene Ever

I find the word “jarring” funny. It’s not quite “shocked,” not quite “shaken”, and certainly not simply “unpleasant.” It’s not so uncommon that it’s a unique fit in crossword puzzles. However, it’s uncommon enough that, when used figuratively as an adjective, it tips the sentence towards something uncommonly unsettling. When factoring tragedy into things, describing something as “jarringly tragic” can repulse or horrify.

Cinema has a history of “jarring” scenes. Examples include Hereditary’s telephone pole, Alien’s chestburster, Parasite’s birthday party, The Mist’s murder/suicide, or the entirety of Mother.

However, one scene takes the cake as the most jarringly tragic in film history – the ending of An American Werewolf in London.

John Landis directed a movie initially met with controversy and confusion. Released in 1981, Landis’s previous three films were 1977’s Kentucky Fried Movie, 1978’s National Lampoon’s Animal House, and just one year prior was The Blues Brothers. Already established as a genre icon, Landis films were silly, absurd, and carefree. An American Werewolf in London was anything but.

We follow David and Jack, early 20-something Americans backpacking across rural England. Attacked by a werewolf, Jack is killed while David is left alive, but severely maimed. Awaking weeks later in a London hospital, he is cared for and falls in love with local nurse Alex. Initially skeptical of David, she is taken by his genuinely charming personality while also expressing pity for his tragic situation and grief. Due to the attack, a now lycanthropic David transforms into a werewolf and gruesomely kills several people whose ghosts later taunt him into contemplating suicide. Unable to prevent a second transformation, werewolf/David is cornered by a tactical police unit. Alex, now aware that David and the werewolf are one, puts herself between the police and David, expressing her love for him. However, when werewolf/David lunges forward, the police are prompted to shoot and kill him. We hard cut to credits as Alex holds David’s naked, bloodied, and lifeless human body, greeted by the upbeat harmonies of “Blue Moon” by The Marcels. The abruptness of this climax leaves one feeling hollow and stunned.

Audiences did not know how to respond to this juxtaposition of jarring and tragic. This was John Landis, not John Carpenter. Instead of a pirate-clad Bluto making off with the beauty queen or Jake and Elwood singing Jailhouse Rock, they were left with Jenny Agutter holding David Naughton’s corpse.

An American Werewolf in London features the most jarringly tragic scene in movie history. Come at me, Bruh.

Do you have a more jarring scene you think is better? Let me know in the comments which scene is more tragic than mine (you’re wrong, just so you know).