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Mass Oh Crap / Live-Action Films

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  • Straddling with Real Life, the reactions of the majority of witnesses and the people involved in the September 11 terrorism - whether its United 93 or 9/11.
  • In Airplane!, this happens because the stewardess is asking if anyone knows how to fly a plane. In the sequel, it's because they're out of coffee.
  • Apollo 13: "Houston, we are venting something out into space." All the frantic discussions in the spacecraft and Mission Control stop dead upon hearing Jim Lovell make that announcement.
  • A very somber and iconic example occurs at the climax of Avengers: Infinity War. When it seems like Thor has Thanos at his mercy and the day will be saved once again, Thanos manages to pull a Badass Fingersnap to end them all, complete with Thor's Big "NO!", before escaping with some minor injuries. While nothing seems to have changed at first, Bucky collapses and crumbles to dust in front of Cap's eyes. Only then does the full weight of what's just happened sink in and those who weren't "chosen" to die in the snap can only watch in abject horror and shock as countless people, some of our heroes included, turn to dust in front of their eyes, powerless to stop it. Exaggerated as it's on a universal scale and Nick Fury uses his last moments before being dusted to call Captain Marvel for help.
  • Back to the Future:
  • The Bank Job: Once the bank is robbed, quite a few people with valuables or compromising material in the vault are shown panicking.
  • Black Mask: This is the police's reaction to Jimmy's hospital rampage. They may be wearing balaclavas, but their fear can be seen in their eyes...
  • In the 2010 Clash of the Titans, when Hades makes his appearance in the throne room scene, you can tell every person in the room just thought "Oh, Crap!", or some variant of it, most especially the queen who had just finished saying that they were the new gods.
  • The Dark Knight: Every mobster in the room loses their shit when the Joker reveals that he's wearing a suicide vest underneath his coat.
  • The Day Britain Stopped, a BBC 2003 Mockumentary about the over-burdened transport systems, many eyewitnesses have this response when two airplanes collide in mid-air over a residential area.
  • Deep Rising: In the kitchen scene every character in the room has an unspoken "holy fuck!" etched across their face when they see one of the monsters rise up behind an oblivious Mulligan.
  • Dumb Money: Both r/wallstreetbets being shut down and Robinhood disabling the buy button for GME causes all of the small investors to panic, which was the point. Enough people are rattled into selling their stock to tank the investments of those that held: GME drops to about a third of its peak value (which admittedly is still about forty times higher than its price at the start of the film, so people who got in early still made out like bandits).
  • Every Godzilla movie is usually required to have this. Besides the MonsterVerse example listed below, Shin Godzilla sees the people working on a plan to stop Godzilla react this way to learning that the U.S. government has their own plan—which involves dropping a nuke onto Tokyo.
  • In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), after the Vogons announce to the entire Earth that it is to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, we get shots of various locations indicating that every single person on earth is screaming in terror, from places like New York and Rio De Janiero, then a flock of sheep merely bleating in their pasture as Vogon construction ships come into the atmosphere. This lies somewhere between hilarious and utterly terrifying.
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade plays this for laughs when Indy and his father Henry are on an airship trying to sneak out of Nazi Germany. They don't have tickets, though, and a Nazi officer is on board trying to find them. He finds Henry at a table near an open window and revels just a bit too long in satisfaction at getting him when Indy returns dressed as an attendant and punches him out before tossing him through the window — in front of all of the stunned passengers. Indy explains it with a simple "No ticket" — cue all the passengers in the gondola frantically pulling out their tickets to show to him at once.
  • At the end of Jaws 3-D, when everyone sees the shark heading their way.
  • Jurassic Park:
  • In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, while in Moria, the Fellowship all become very unnerved as the Goblins surrounding them flee in fear and the sounds of the Balrog grow louder. The look of terror on Gandalf and Legolas's faces show they both know full well what is coming and it is an enemy beyond any of them.
  • The Matrix Revolutions: Thousands of Sentinel drones are attacking Zion, and have finally overwhelmed its defenses, when the hovercraft Mjolnir crashes back into the docking area, equipped with an EMP device that can disable all of them simultaneously. Every single Sentinel breaks off its attack and hurtles its way back up the shaft they invaded through, trying to escape - without success.
  • The McKenzie Break: During a violent riot, the prisoners all become quite rattled when Connor has several firetrucks brought in to use the hoses against them.
  • MonsterVerse:
    • Kong: Skull Island: The reactions of the team when they see a hundred foot tall gorilla ready to attack them.
    • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): The entire Monarch crew on the Argo has this reaction when they realize that Alan Jonah and the ORCA are in Antarctica, and thus with the only other Titan on Earth who's in Godzilla's weight class. Later, the Monarch brass, their G-Team and even one of the human bad guys have this reaction when Ghidorah awakens.
    • Godzilla vs. Kong: Team Godzilla have a pretty good one when the three of them discover the skull of Ghidorah's decapitated left head in Apex's headquarters, wired up and being used as the hub of Mechagodzilla's neural pathways. Everyone has one in quick succession when Ghidorah possesses Mechagodzilla and it goes on the rampage.
  • The Naked Gun: 33 1/3: From the same creators as Airplane above, this film showcased this during a confrontation on-stage at the Oscars between Drebin and Rosco. Rosco's got a gun, Drebin has the bomb Rosco wants to trigger. Drebin's solution? Trade the gun for the bomb. Cue FacePalms from everyone with their hands free.
  • A mass chorus of "Oh, shit!" in National Lampoon's Class Reunion immediately follows the shrink's revelation that, yes, the class prank pulled on Walter really had been nasty enough to turn him into a vengeful serial killer.
  • In No Kidding, Tandy warns the Robinsons that the children have dug a tunnel under the lake, and the three adults rush outside to stop them from hurting themselves. When the tunnel collapses and Angus is believed to be inside, they panic and jump into the lake to try and save him.
  • Oily Maniac has this as the reaction of a group of mobsters when they're stalked by the titular monster. One of them managed to hack off the monster's head...only for it to regrow a new one in seconds. Cue collective panicking.
  • In Once Upon a Warrior, this is how the entire village responds to the news of Sorceress Irendri's awakening.
  • Pacific Rim: When Mako activates Gipsy Danger's plasma caster inside the hangar.
    • Also, when Mutavore breaches the anti-kaiju wall without any sort of problem at all, pretty much everyone had this sorta reaction.
    • Slattern's appearance.
      "It's a Category 5...the first of its kind."
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. At first when the pirates saw the first ship of the company they started cheering to attack, but they soon stop when the fog reveals the rest of the armada.
  • During the Roundhouse sequence in Pokémon Detective Pikachu, Pikachu kicks a Magikarp while trying to get it to hold off the Charizard that's threatening them... triggering its evolution into Gyaradosnote . Everyone in the building panics and bolts for the door; Tim and Pikachu only don't because the Gyarados is between them and the door.
  • In Repossessed, the voice of the exorcised Satan bellows "I'll be back!", to which everyone proclaims "Oooh, shit!"
  • Revenge of the Nerds has one where the Alpha Betas' Partygoers realize a fire-breathing reveler has just set their dorm on fire
    Everyone: Oooooh, shit!
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Caesar speaks. The camera jumps around the room, showing that everyone — even the apes — can't believe it. If you saw it in theatres, the audience probably had the exact same reaction. What makes it so effective is that the audience is still laughing at the "get your stinking hands off me you damn dirty ape!" line that they are caught completely off-guard by the Wham Line.
  • Happens in Singin' in the Rain; everyone's excited at the prospect of turning Don and Lina's next film into a "talkie"...until Lina opens her mouth, and they all remember that she has a voice that could peel paint, leading to this trope.
  • In the movie Speed 2: Cruise Control, there's several different shots of people looking out and saying "Oh, shit!", because they realize the ship is going to crash into a port.
  • Star Wars:
    • A New Hope:
      • A planetwide version happens offscreen, but sensed by Obi Wan Kenobi:
        "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."
      • The movie's manga adaptation makes a point of portraying that one exact Mass "Oh, Crap!"
    • The Force Awakens provokes this reaction across the galaxy when Starkiller Base fires its weapon for the first time. Not only do we see the Mass "Oh, Crap!" from the people in the Hosnian system, but because it's a hyper light speed weapon, the blast is visible from outside the system. The people on Takodana aren't fully aware of what's just happened, but they can tell it's bad. Only Finn, Han, Chewbacca and Maz have any idea what that light in the sky was, and they are horrified.
    • Rogue One: The rebels have successfully gained the Death Star plans and ready to leave Scarif orbi- Wait, who turned out the li- OH SHIT.
  • Scary Movie 3: After emerging victorious from a rap battle, George bows before the cheering crowd and pulls the cap of his hoodie up...which ends up making him look like a Klan member. The whole crowd goes quiet and you can even hear people uttering "Oh...oh shit...".
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990):
      • The three robbers get one shortly before the Turtles rescue April at the start of the film.
      • All of the Turtles, especially Raphael, get one upon realizing the Foot has ransacked their sewer den and kidnapped Splinter for good measure.
      • April, Leo, Mikey and Donnie get one when they realize the Foot has just invaded her apartment and attacked Raph.
      • Mikey, Donnie and the Foot mooks when they realize the floorboard in April's apartment is about to give way.
      • The Foot teens are shocked upon learning from Casey and Splinter what the Shredder's personality really is.
      • Mike, Donnie and Raph in the final battle when they throw away their weapons, only for the Shredder to taunt them and deliver the Coup de Grâce on Leo.
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze:
      • The robbers at the start of the film when the Turtles rescue Keno and help even things out.
      • Tatsu and the Foot refugees in the junkyard get one upon realizing the Shredder has survived.
      • Donatello, Michelangelo and Leonardo when they fall victim to the Foot's trap in the junkyard. And that the Shredder's alive.
      • The Turtles when the Shredder summons Tokka and Rahzar to fight them.
      • The Turtles again when they encounter the Foot again and later when they realize their donut plan didn't work.
      • The Turtles once again when they encounter Super Shredder at the docks.
  • Ultra Series:
    • Ultraman Cosmos 2: The Blue Planet: This is the reaction of the Earth Defense Force, the United Nations, military, civilians, the Alien Gyashis, basically EVERYONE, when the Scorpis army breaks through the planetary shield and starts making their way into the city.
    • Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers have Ultraman Mebius and the four Ultra Brothers (sans Zoffy and Ultraman Taro) reacting in shock at the revival of Yapool.
    • Ultraman Taiga The Movie: New Generation Climax: You know the movie's at it's Darkest Hour when the "Oh Crap!" comes from the New Generation Heroes - twelve Ultramen, reacting in panic at the Malicious Demonic Monster Grimdo's awakening.
  • Unforgiven: The climax features a flawless but understated one when the Little Bill is addressing the posse he's gathered together to hunt down the remaining pair of outlaw assassins- then William Munny stalks up to the saloon door, past the corpse of his best friend who Little Bill had beaten to death and put on display as a warning. At first only a few people see him, but Little Bill himself notices when Munny cocks the double-barelled shotgun he's carrying and the whole room follows his gaze and stares at him in shock. After that, barely a man dares move a muscle or breath a word until the fireworks start.
    Little Bill: We're gonna divide up into four parties, and we'll get all the farms and the trails and make a big circle, and we're bound to come across some*CLICK*body that's seen these...skunks...
  • WarGames: David hacks into WOPR, the NORAD Master Computer, believing he's gotten into the computer system of a video game company, and starts its "Global Thermonuclear War" tactical simulation, thinking it's one of their games, and panic ensues among every single officer at NORAD who thought that the missiles that David "launched" (he was "playing" as the Soviet Union) were real missiles coming from a Soviet first strike.
  • X-Men Film Series:
    • The Wolverine: Three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, two B-29's fly over Nagasaki. Everyone knows what's coming.
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • Erik's coworkers are visibly distressed at the sight of Apocalypse.
      • Numerous citizens who are in the vicinity of nuclear launch sites are freaked out when all the missiles shoot upwards.
      • Something goes terribly wrong while Xavier is linked to Cerebro because he is screaming in agony and cannot sever the connection. Raven, Hank and Moira are unable to help him, so in desperation, Alex is forced to use his power to disable the supercomputer.
      • They are later shocked when Magneto snatches the unconscious Charles, wheelchair and all, flanked by Apocalypse and the other Horsemen.
      • A worldwide oh crap once Apocalypse relays a message of destruction to the entire world through Charles.

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