History FaintInShock / Film

* ''Film/Annie1982'': When the orphans come to Warbucks' mansion to warn him that Annie's "parents" were really kidnappers, Molly faints at the sight of the imposing bodyguard Punjab, and then again when Warbucks exclaims [[BorrowedCatchphrase "Leaping lizards!"]] in response to their bad news.

* ''Film/TheFifthElement'': Vito Cornelius drops stiff after realizing that the unconscious woman Corben Dallas has brought to his office is in fact the Fifth Element.

''[both faint simultaneously]''[[note]]This faint lasts a ridiculously long time: Doc predicts that Jennifer would stay unconscious for several hours based on the severity of the shock, which very rarely happens in real life. Jennifer is placed on her house's front porch swing just after 9 at night, and it is already almost ''noon the next day'' by the time she finally wakes up in ''Part III''[[/note]]

* ''Film/HomeAlone2'': Kate faints at the airport upon realizing that her entire family has somehow neglected to bring her son Kevin along on their trip for a ''second time''.

* In ''Film/DoctorInTheHouse1954'', medical student Simon Sparrow passes out the first time he sees an operation in person.

* ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'': Gomez does this in ''Addams Family Values'' when baby Pubert turns "normal". A slightly unusual example since Gomez is a skilled swordfighter and knife-thrower and MadeOfIron rather than the kind of weak and cowardly character the trope is usually associated with (though in the 60s show he was apparently much weaker and quite sickly when he was younger), but then, he is also a LargeHam and to some extent parodies Victorian gothic/romantic novel tropes with his melodramatic behaviour, complete with offscreen coughing up blood that doesn't seem to affect his ability to swordfight.

* ''Film/APlaceInTheSun'' has what is widely considered perhaps the best faint in film history: Angela is told that her LoveInterest George is likely to be sentenced to the electric chair. She calmly thanks her mother for allowing her to hear this information before walking back into her room. There, she stands dazed for a few seconds, and crashes ''hard'' and limp onto the floor without even the tiniest movement to break her fall, as though already utterly out like a light before she began to plunge down.

[''{{beat}}'']\\

* ''Film/Frankenstein1970'': Judy faints when she opens the door of her bedroom, expecting to see Mike, and is instead confronted by the monster. [[spoiler:It is possible that she actually dies of fright at this point, as in the next scene she is lying dead in Victor's lab with no indication of how she died.]]

* ''Film/{{Home Alone 2}}'': Kate faints at the airport upon realizing that her entire family has somehow neglected to bring her son Kevin along on their trip for a ''second time''.

* In ''Film/IThinkIDo1997'', Bob faints when [[spoiler:the fact that he slept with Brendan]] is about to be exposed. A few seconds later, Sterling and Sarah both faint from the revelation.

* ''Film/TheKid2000'': As Amy realizes Russ and Rusty are the same person, she notes "I wish I was standing on a carpet." before fainting.

* ''Film/Legend1985'': When she first meets the terrifying villain Darkness, Lili faints and collapses to the ground. She wakes up a few seconds later and has a long conversation with him.

** Parodied during "The Time Warp" and "Sweet Transvestite," when Janet Weiss faints three times during the songs. Perhaps all the pelvic thrusting was too scandalous for her.

* ''Film/SleepyHollow1999'': The 'cowardly' Ichabod Crane is the hero and can't very well show true cowardice, so he tends to stick out any dangerous situation (like, say, any time the Headless Horseman shows up and makes with the [[OffWithHisHead headchopping]]) and then pass out once it's over.

* ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'': Upon seeing Sonic for the first time, Maddie's sister Rachel barely has enough time to ask her young daughter to catch her before passing out.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In''Film/ANewHope'', while he probably didn't actually ''faint'' (being a droid and all), Threepio topples backwards when he first sees the Tusken Raider. He is found some time later just recovering the droid equivalent of consciousness. He seems to have slipped in surprise at the Raider, tumbled down a rough incline, and took damage that knocked him offline for a time. In presentation, it very much captures the feel of "weak character fainting when confronted with sudden, surprising danger."

* ''Film/SupermanTheMovie:'' Superman deposits Lois on the top of a building after catching and saving both her and the helicopter that she fell from. She watches him fly away before collapsing atop the helipad in a dead faint.
* ''Film/{{Superman II}}'': In the Director's Cut, Lois tries to force Clark to expose himself as Superman by jumping out of the window of her office right in front of him. He breaks her fall in a way that doesn't break his disguise, allowing her to land safely on top of a fruit vendor's stand on the street below. He appears back upstairs as Clark at the window by the time Lois looks up again. The (incorrect) realization that Clark ''isn't'' Superman after all, embarrassment, and the realization of how easily she could have killed herself cause Lois to pass out cold on the pile of watermelons and tomatoes.
* ''Film/SupermanReturns'': In an homage to the original faint scene from the 1978 film, an aircraft malfunction almost kills all of the passengers, including Lois. Superman makes his first public reappearance by saving the aircraft and landing it safely in a packed sports arena. He then personally speaks to Lois, echoing their conversation on the helipad in the original film. Completely overwhelmed, Lois follows him out of the aircraft's exit and once again watches speechlessly as he flies off into the sky before she drops and slides limply down the plane's inflated evacuation slide, unconscious.[[note]]The {{Novelization}} cuts the part where Lois faints, but adds an original part where a nurse faints when discovering that Superman has fully healed and left the hospital on his own.[[/note]]

** Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze: Keno faints when he first meets Splinter.
** Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII: In a callback to "II", Kenshin also faints when he meets Splinter. Lampshaded:
-->'''Donatello:''' You sure have a strange effect on people, don't you, Master?\\

** Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014: [[MythologyGag True to more than one previous animated incarnation of the character]], April O'Neil faints upon meeting the turtles for the first time. Unlike them, however, she does not stay unconscious for very long.
-->'''April:''' ''[hyperventilating, already in great shock from seeing the turtles]''\\

'''April:''' … Haah. ''[eyes glaze over and roll back]''\\

* ''Film/TheThreeStooges'': in [[Recap/TheThreeStoogesBridelessGroom "Brideless Groom"]], Shemp dramatically faints into a chair when he hears the terms behind his inheritance. It's Parodied in that he makes sure that the chair is there first and immediately snaps out of it when Moe mentions a catch to the terms of the will.

* ''Film/{{Superman}}:'' Superman deposits Lois on the top of a building after catching and saving both her and the helicopter that she fell from. She watches him fly away before collapsing atop the helipad in a dead faint.

** The Joker goes to Vicki Vale's apartment and scares her out of her wits, including apparently killing Bruce Wayne. After the Joker leaves, Vicki Vale opens the box he left her. A hand holding a bunch of weeds pops out, and she collapses to the ground.

''[both faint simultaneously]''[[note]]This faint lasts a ridiculously long time: Doc predicts that Jennifer would stay unconscious for several hours based on the severity of the shock, which very rarely happens in real life. Jennifer is placed on her house's front porch swing early on in the night, and it is already almost ''noon the next day'' by the time she finally wakes up in ''Part III''[[/note]]

* ''Film/{{Honey I Shrunk The Kids}}'': Diane faints once per film in the series (as well as in the theme park ride) upon learning of the latest shrink ray disaster. Several other characters in the series also contribute to the faint count upon witnessing examples of the machine's results.
* ''Film/{{The House On Skull Mountain}}'': Thomas has to render Lorena unconscious first in order to possess her to join in a voodoo ritual. He does this by getting a snake (which has been planted under the bed on which she is sleeping) to slither onto the bed and over her sleeping body. The movement wakes Lorena from her sleep, upon which she sees the snake on top of her, inches away from her face. She stares in abject terror for a few seconds, and then noiselessly faints right there in her bed.