History BungledSuicide / Film

** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Bruce Banner mentions that he tried to kill himself by putting a gun in his mouth, but "[[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk the other guy]]" just spat the bullet back out. This is also a reference to a deleted scene from ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'', where you actually see the attempt.

* ''Literature/AScannerDarkly'': Charles Freck tried to commit suicide by taking a bunch of downers with some wine. He fails, hallucinating a rather... bizarre experience, and is eventually seen at New Path. In the book, he never appears again after the suicide attempt, so he may have succeeded.

* ''{{Film/Bit}}'':
** Mark mentions how Laurel attempted suicide multiple times in the past.
** Andy also makes an attempt after being ignored by Laurel.
* ''Film/SideEffects'': Emily attempts suicide early on by driving straight into a wall, but survives with only minor injuries. [[spoiler:Then {{subverted}} when it's discovered she staged it simply to take a new antidepressant in a plot for another purpose, and kept her seat belt on specifically to survive.]]
* ''Film/{{Damage}}'':
** Veronica slits her wrists in the bath tub after the only clinic considering performing her daughter's heart transplant turns her down. She survives thanks to John, Frankie and Reno finding her in time.
** After taking Veronica to the hospital, John notices scars on Frankie's wrists as well. She later explains that she was once a SexSlave to Mr. Veltz and Reno bought her from him. Not knowing that Reno was trying to free her, she couldn't handle what her life had become any longer and tried to end it all. She was near-dead from blood-loss when she was sent to Reno, but he still freed her and saved her life.
* ''Film/TrappedTheAlexCooperStory'': Alex, a teenage lesbian, attempts suicide after months trapped with [[HeteronormativeCrusader the Simms]] in their brutal [[CureYourGays conversion therapy camp]]. Thankfully, she fails. More TruthInTelevision as this is sadly common for victims of conversion therapy.
* ''Film/AbsolutelyAnything'': Neil tries drowning himself when the power grows to be too much, but fails fairly miserably.
* In ''Film/TruthOrDare2012'', Justin is telling the truth when he says that Felix [[HangingAround hanged himself]] after receiving the postcard. However, the groundskeeper found him and cut him down before he died, but Felix had suffered brain damage from oxygen deprivation and is now permanently paralysed.
* In ''Film/ASafePlace1971'', Bari recounts waking up in the hospital after taking a bunch of [[SuicideByPills sleeping pills]]. Although she didn't remember taking the pills, when she heard that her attempt had failed, she truly wanted to die.
* ''Film/TheatreOfBlood'': Reviled theatre actor Edward Lionheart jumps into the Thames taking the critics' prize with him, and ends being saved by a bunch of methanol-drinking CrazyHomelessPeople. Though in this case he was unconscious in the water in such a position that he would have inevitably drowned had the homeless people not taken him out of the water.
* ''Film/IngridGoesWest'': Ingrid attempts suicide at the end when she ends up broke and alone. Dan gets her medical attention quickly, allowing her to survive.
%%* ''Theatre/ForColoredGirls'': Crystal, after being catatonic, tries to [[SuicideByPills kill herself with pills]].
* ''Film/TheGirlFromMonday'': Jack hates that he helped the ruling Triple M, and so nearly kills himself twice. However, in the first case he stops before doing it. In the second case he overdoses before planning to also shoot himself. He survives, simply passing out then waking up later.
* ''Film/TheAlphabetKiller'': Paige, unable to cope with hearing and [[ISeeDeadPeople seeing the dead girl]], attempted suicide by cutting her wrists.
* In ''Film/Jailbait2014'', Anna cuts her wrists in solitary after having discussed the possibility earlier with other inmates. Of course, she was also naked in solitary while suffering from crack withdrawal, so she may not have been trying to kill herself.
* ''Film/SuddenImpact'': [[spoiler:After his participation in the rape, Alby Jannings, the police chief's son, tried to kill himself by driving headlong into a brick wall, [[{{Irony}} leaving him in a state not unlike Jennifer's sister.]] As a result of this, he winds up being the only rapist to survive, as Jennifer recognizes that he'd been remorseful (and had been pressured into it) unlike all the rest.]]
* ''Film/TheDisappearanceOfEleanorRigby'': [[spoiler:Eleanor]] attempts suicide by jumping from a bridge. The cause and the aftermath of it, is what drives the story of [[spoiler:''Her'']].
* ''Film/AManWithAMaid'': SpurnedIntoSuicide, Jack attempts to hang himself and take a photograph of it at the same time: to be delivered to Alice on her wedding day. It fails when the beam he attaches the rope to gives way.

* Happens ''twice in a row'' with Winthorpe in ''Film/TradingPlaces'': first, he lifts his gun to his head and it fails to go off (but does fire when he throws it away), and Ophelia and Valentine save him after he [[SuicideByPills takes a bunch of pills]]. In both cases, the aftermath is PlayedForLaughs.

* Happens in ''Film/{{Anchorman 2 The Legend Continues}}''. After a failed stint at [=SeaWorld=], Ron tries to [[HangingAround hang himself]] over a fluorescent spotlight. It collapses due to his weight.
* Happens once in ''Film/FinalDestination2''. Eugene tries to shoot himself in the head, but all the bullets fail because it wasn't his time to die yet. He dies later in the film of an explosion after '''[[FailsafeFailure mass equipment failure]]''' and bad luck at the hospital.
* Happens again in ''Film/FinalDestination4,'' George tries to off himself multiple times later in the movie, but fails for the same reason. He gets killed by an ambulance exiting a hospital.
* ''Film/GroundhogDay:'' Phil kills himself on a few occasions during his GroundhogDayLoop, but he keeps waking up in that damn bed and breakfast.
* The Narrator in ''Film/FightClub''. Although it could be argued that this was less a Bungled Suicide and more a successful murder.
* Jude Law's character in ''Film/{{Gattaca}}'' attempted suicide after the "accident" (which may or may not have been attempted suicide in itself) that crippled him. But he eventually did succeed after the main character, who had taken over his identity, finally got to go into space.

* In the fratboy comedy ''Film/BachelorParty'', a supporting character, despondent over his girlfriend dumping him, tries to slash his wrists... with an electric shaver.
* Harold in ''Film/HaroldAndMaude'' repeatedly attempts (apparently fake) suicide attempts, usually involving {{Rube Goldberg|Device}}-style complicated processes.
* In the final third of ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'' it's revealed that Gary had tried to commit suicide some time before the movie by slitting his wrists.
* Stanley Moon in ''Film/{{Bedazzled 1967}}'', feeling like a failure, unable to even talk to the woman he pines for, puts a noose around his neck, steps off a chair - and the pipe he's tied it to promptly snaps, dribbling water over him and making him out to be a ''total'' failure.
* Creator/SteveCarell's character in ''Film/LittleMissSunshine'' comes into the film fresh out of one of these.
-->"So that's when you tried to kill yourself?"
-->"Yep. And I failed at that as well."

* Woody Allen's character in ''Film/HannahAndHerSisters'', despairing over the meaninglessness of life, tries to shoot himself with a rifle, but is so nervous and sweaty, he slips and misfires. He later finds a reason to go on watching a Creator/MarxBrothers movie.
* In ''Film/TaxiDriver'', after the final shootout, Travis tries to shoot himself, but all of his weapons are out of ammunition.
* Nick tries to kill himself in ''Film/TheInvisible'', but it fails because of his ghostly state.

* Creator/HaroldLloyd did this in two movies.
** In the short ''Film/HauntedSpooks'', the main character tries to kill himself by 1) Shooting himself with what turns out to be a water gun, 2) standing in front of a tram that takes a different track, 3) tying a rock to himself and jumping off a bridge into a river that ends up being ankle-deep, 4) jumping from another bridge, only to end up in a boat, and 5) standing in front of a car that stops in time.
** In the film ''Film/NeverWeaken'', he has a Rube Goldberg setup that malfunctions, leaving him alive.
* Herbie the Volkswagen in ''Film/TheLoveBug'' actually tries to leap off the Golden Gate Bridge. He's partially saved by the fact that his wheels won't let him climb the railing very easily, giving his owner time to reach him, so this is also something of a InterruptedSuicide.
* Richie in ''Film/TheRoyalTenenbaums'' cuts his wrists after learning the romantic history of Margot, with whom he is in love. Complete with ImportantHaircut and some great music.
* In ''Film/BringingOutTheDead'', the main character -- a paramedic -- responds to a suicide attempt where the victim has sliced his veins horizontally rather than vertically, thus ensuring that he's got plenty of time to be healed. Since the main character is going through something of a nervous breakdown at that point, he merely uses this as the starting off point for a rant in which he instructs the surprised and now-terrified victim how to do it ''correctly'' next time.
* Averted in ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'': in RealLife General Beck botched his suicide rather painfully, and [[MercyKill had to be finished off by a sergeant]]. Removed from the film to prevent [[{{Narm}} the touching final scene becoming comical.]]

* Chuck of ''Film/CastAway'' tries to commit [[HangingAround suicide by hanging]] when stranded on an island, but he does a test run with a dummy and the tree branch snaps. He later says that was the moment when he hit rock bottom -- he couldn't even die on his own terms.
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** At the end of ''Film/{{Thor}}'', Loki lets himself fall into the abyss below the Bifrost after his father Odin rejects his actions, but TheStinger reveals that he survived the fall [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat despite his family's expectations]].
** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Bruce Banner mentions that he tried to kill himself by putting a gun in his mouth, but "[[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk the other guy]]" just spat the bullet back out. This is also a reference to a deleted scene from ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'', where you actually see the attempt.
* One of the main characters in ''Film/CosyDens'' (''Pelíšky'') attempts suicide by gas poisoning. Problem was that the oven he had put his head into was electric oven.
* PlayedForLaughs in the Korean film adaptation of the manga ''Film/AntiqueBakery''. Min Seon-woo, after having his love confession to a male classmate rejected and a cake shoved in his face, attempts to [[HangingAround hang himself]] in his home and fails miserably. This happens in the opening credits.
* In ''Series 7'', a terminal cancer sufferer named Jeff is selected by lottery to compete in a DeadlyGame reality show. As soon as he's given a gun he tries to blow his brains out, but it isn't loaded. Later on, towards the end of the film, Dawn and Jeff agree to shoot each other, in essence committing suicide. Dawn dies, but Jeff falls into a coma, then later, to his horror, wakes up.
* In ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', BigBad Silva's StartOfDarkness happened when M sold him out to the Chinese, who tortured him for months. Silva then used his CyanidePill but it didn't work, horribly disfiguring his jaw and teeth. He then dedicated the rest of his life to getting revenge on M.
* In the Creator/BusterKeaton film ''Film/HardLuck'', Keaton's character tries to commit suicide but has no luck at it. For instance, he once saw approaching headlights and put himself between them for the car to hit him, only to learn that it was actually two motorcycles running along side by side and avoided him easily.
* A character in ''Film/{{Detox}}'' is revealed to have stuck a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, but only succeeded in blowing a hole in his cheek.
* In ''Film/KillYourDarlings'', Lucien Carr attempts to [[HangingAround hang himself]] in a jail cell with his sheet, but the knot undoes itself.
* ''Literature/AScannerDarkly'': Charles Freck tried to commit suicide by taking a bunch of downers with some wine. He fails, hallucinating a rather... bizarre experience, and is eventually seen at New Path. In the book, he never appears again after the suicide attempt, so he may have succeeded.
* Seong-yeun tries to kill himself by jumping off a bridge in ''Film/CastawayOnTheMoon''. Instead of drowning, he finds himself washed up on an island in the middle of the river, under the bridge. A {{Robinsonade}} commences from there.
* In ''Film/{{Mermaid}}'', Alice has one leg over the side of the bridge when Aleksandr pushes by her to jump. She jumps in after him and saves him. Later, Aleksandr attempts to get hit by cars, but Alice again saves him.
* In a flashback to Teddy Daniels' war service in ''Film/ShutterIsland'', Daniels, who took part in the liberation of Dachau concentration camp, found the camp commandant shot himself, but failed to kill himself, leaving the commandant with a horrific facial wound and desperately trying to reach out for the gun so he could finish himself off. Daniels took a moment to consider the horror of the concentration camp that he could see from looking out the window, [[PayEvilUntoEvil then moved the gun away and out of the commandant’s reach to prolong his suffering]]. Teddy’s narration says it took the commandant another hour to die after Teddy first found him.
* In ''Film/{{Home Room}}'', Deanna discovers Alicia's suicide attempt scar on her wrist when attempting to take off Alicia's glove. It is implied she did it [[spoiler:after her baby died]].
* ''Film/ManchesterByTheSea'': Almost immediately after being told by the police that he's free to go home following the deaths of his kids, Lee grabs a gun from a nearby officer and attempts to shoot himself in the head. However, he can't fully pull the trigger because the safety is still on, and several more officers end up tackling him to the ground before he can successfully remove it.
* In Creator/IngmarBergman's ''Film/SmilesOfASummerNight'', Henrik tries to [[HangingAround hang himself]], but fails to do so.
* ''Film/ManOnFire'': [[ShellShockedVeteran John Creasy]] attempts to shoot himself in the head with a pistol after he goes through a spell of depression and [[DrowningMySorrows drinking]] while remembering his past, but the bullet turns out to be defective and doesn't go off. He's so surprised that he checks the gun and ejects the bullet, then calls his buddy up about it, who reminds him "a bullet never lies." It's actually enough to convince him to keep living.
* ''Film/DTox'': Jaworski attempted to [[AteHisGun eat his gun]] but failed: shooting out his cheek and leaving him with a jagged scar down one side of his face.

* ''Film/TheLostWeekend'' is about an alcoholic wannabe writer. When he's confessing his bad habits to his girlfriend, he mentions that he bought a gun and bullets to kill himself on his 30th birthday, only he ended up pawning the gun [[TheAlcoholic to buy more booze,]] instead.
* In ''Film/{{Detention}}'', Riley attempts to [[HangingAround hang herself]] but slips off the chair before she is ready and starts slowly strangling herself. She is only saved when Cinderhella, attempting to kill her with an axe, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain winds up cutting her down instead]].
* ''Film/{{Darlin}}'': At one point, Darlin' attempts suicide [[spoiler:or tries to force a miscarriage]] by drinking bleach. It doesn't work; she just becomes sick.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/{{Gigi}}:'' "Liane d'Exelmans has committed suicide--again!" Apparently she's used "insufficient poison" several times before. This happens right after she's caught cheating on her boyfriend, Gaston. It becomes big gossip around town, with people congratulating Gaston on his "first suicide."
* ''Film/RiseBloodHunter'': Sadie decides to kill herself after having been turned into a vampire, and jumps from an overpass. It doesn't work though-she survives with only cuts and bruises, as vampires regenerate from a lot of damage. She seeks vengeance against them instead after this.