Warning! This article contains spoilers for several major movies!
Some movies require audiences to keep quiet about the final twist, so others can enjoy the experience as well. There is something extremely satisfying about a twist ending in a movie. As expectations are built and audiences begin to learn about the world of a film, often, viewers will guess or predict what the final outcome will be. A romance movie will often end with the couple together, a mystery may end with the mystery solved, and action movies see the hero come out on top.
However, some movies choose to subvert expectations and drop a huge twist at the end that changes everything up to that point. There are the most famous examples of this, such as Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back when Vader declares that he is Luke’s father, and the moment at the end of The Sixth Sense when it’s revealed that Bruce Willis’ character has been dead all along. These moments are incredibly satisfying and deserve to be preserved for people watching a movie for the first time.
10 The Prestige (2006)
How The Magic Happens
Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige is a spectacular film about two rival magicians, played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. When Bale’s character, Borden, begins performing a trick that has no clear explanation, Jackman’s Angier, envious and determined, does all he can to try and replicate the trick. Angier employs Nikola Tesla to create a machine to help him. During the final scenes, the truth about Borden’s secret twin and Angier dropping into a disturbing watery grave for the sake of his magic trick is revealed, and it suddenly reframes everything that came before.
9 Psycho (1960)
Who Is Behind The Murders
Norman Bates runs a quiet motel off the highway in Psycho, where a series of mysterious disappearances take place. A young woman in possession of a large sum of stolen money is on the run and stops over at the Bates Motel. While there, the quiet and shy owner appears to frequently have loud disputes with his mother. Marion, the young lady staying at the motel, encourages Norman to have his mother placed in a facility. Later, Marion is murdered and Norman finds her.
8 The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Real Criminal Mastermind
Kevin Spacey plays a small-time criminal in The Usual Suspects by the name of Roger “Verbal” Kint. Kint is interrogated by police about a major incident that resulted in many deaths, as they attempt to uncover the true identity of the criminal mastermind, Keyser Söze. As Kint tells the story, the police piece together the information and believe it to be Keaton, another career criminal. As Kint leaves, it quickly becomes obvious that he was the real killer, and he had made up his entire story on the fly with inspiration from the interrogation room itself. The ending for The Usual Suspects is one of the best of all time.
7 Fight Club (1999)
Who Is Tyler Durden
Edward Norton plays an unnamed narrator in Fight Club who meets the mysterious Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt. Norton’s character envies the free and wild Durden who lives in a chaotic and rebellious way, while Norton is stuck in a rigid and dull routine. Durden influences Norton’s character to commit crimes and essentially organize a cult until the conclusion finally reveals the twist. Norton’s nameless narrator was Durden all along. He had separated his personality into two fragments in order to live out his wildest fantasies unrestricted by his sense of responsibility and obligation.
6 Inglourious Basterds (2009)
On A Mission To Kill Hitler
Quentin Tarantino frequently draws inspiration from history when creating films, and on the face of it, Inglourious Basterds looks to follow this same trend. The movie follows a group of individuals plotting an assassination against the leaders of the Nazi party. Obviously, in life, these groups were unsuccessful in trying to eliminate Hitler. However, the end of Inglourious Basterds provides an alternative version of those events. This twist was unexpected for fans of Tarantino as it marked a change in his style and that surprise should be preserved for new audiences as well.
5 Saw (2004)
Where Is The Killer Hiding
Saw follows the sick games set up by the mysterious Jigsaw to force people to learn twisted moral lessons. In the first movie in the franchise, two men are pitted against each other in an old abandoned bathroom. They are forced to inflict injuries on themselves, make life or death choices and solve the mystery that could potentially free them from this nightmare in a room where their only other company is a corpse in the middle of the room. In the final scene of the film, Adam searches for a key to free himself, the corpse stands up, revealing himself to be the real mastermind behind the games.
4 Planet Of The Apes (1968)
An Alien Planet, Far, Far Away
Planet of the Apes is a sci-fi action movie from 1968. The movie sees a crew of alien astronauts crash-land on a mysterious planet where they soon learn things work very differently. Apes rule the planet and humans are viewed as slaves, prey, or things to be experimented upon. The crew is understandably disgruntled and upset with the odd societal structure that seems so alien to them and eventually they escape and travel away from the ape community. As they travel, they stumble upon the remnants of the Statue of Liberty, revealing that this is in fact Earth in the distant future after nuclear wars ravaged the planet.
3 Scream (1996)
Who Is Ghostface
The Scream franchise prides itself on flipping the slasher genre tropes and creating a genuine mystery tale. Each movie keeps viewers guessing who the killer, Ghostface, really is. In the first entry, a tight-knit group of friends do all they can to keep safe when the killer targets them. But, the ultimate reveal that Ghostface was actually the boyfriend’s of Sidney and Tatum, Billy Loomis, and his best friend Stu Macher, is a great twist making the killer such a close and personal connection.
2 The Others (2001)
There Are Ghosts In This House
The Others, starring Nicole Kidman follows a young mother and her two children as they deal with supernatural encounters in their old manor home. The mysterious events that keep happening, from footsteps, to the piano playing itself, cause Grace (Kidman) to believe the home is haunted, so she looks for help. In the final scenes, it is revealed that Grace and her children are actually the ones who died and are now haunting the house. The hauntings she was experiencing were the living family who now reside in her home, with the walls between the living and dead becoming thin.
1 Shutter Island (2010)
Escape From The Island
Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Deputy Daniels, and directed by Martin Scorsese, is a psychological thriller. When one of the patients at a facility for the mentally unstable and dangerous escapes, Daniels is called in to investigate. As the story progresses and more information is revealed about the escapee, it appears that the facility and its staff are hiding something and working against Daniels. However, the final act of the movie reveals that Daniels is in fact the missing patient. His real name is Andrew Laeddis, and the story up to that point was his a delusion. Another twist that deserves to be seen without spoilers ruining the surprise.
