If major spoilers are of concern to you, now is the time to look away. Here are some of the most iconic plot twists in cinema history...
Fight Club
When the Narrator (Ed Norton) meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), all hell breaks loose, culminating in the formation of an underground cult known as the Fight Club. However, the audience eventually learns that Durden is nothing more than a figment of the sleepless Narrator's imagination. The film ends as Project Mayhem bombs detonate across the city, destroying millions of credit records and launching a new era of "financial equilibrium."
Parasite
After the poor Kim family attempt to escape poverty by secretly infiltrating the home of the wealthy Parks, a series of events leads them to uncover a dark secret: the Parks' former housekeeper, Moon-gwang (Lee Jeong-eun), has been hiding her husband in the basement. In the end, a backyard birthday party becomes the site of a bloody massacre, forcing the Kim patriarch, Ki-taek (Kang-Ho Song), into hiding. The final twist reveals that Ki-Taek has been living in the now-vacant basement of the Park home.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: Episode V easily features the most quotable plot twist in cinema history: "Luke, I am your father." Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Darth Vader (David Prowse and James Earl) engage in a lightaber duel that ends with Vader severing Luke's right hand. Vader tempts him to join the dark side, but Luke refuses, claiming that Vader killed his father. Vader then reveals to Luke that he is his biological father. Oh, the drama!
Gone Girl
This stunning adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl tells the ultimate revenge story. Amy (Rosamund Pike) stages her own murder in order to frame her husband Nick (Ben Affleck), whom she caught cheating with one of his younger students. However, events backfire, and Amy returns home in the end—with the news that she's pregnant. Nick solemnly realizes that he can never leave her.
Shutter Island
In the last act of Shutter Island, former U.S. Marshal Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) learns that his entire stay at Shutter Island was an elaborate roleplay orchestrated by his doctors in order to make him remember who he really is—Andrew Laeddis, a man who murdered his psychotic wife after she drowned their three children. The movie concludes with Laeddis reverting to his old persona, leaving doctors with no choice but to lobotomized him. However, Laeddis' final line led audiences to believe that he simply refused to live with the pain of his past: "Which would be worse; to live as a monster or to die as a good man?"
Black Swan
Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis play rival ballet dancers with a strange connection that is only revealed toward the end of the film. After Nina (Portman) stabs Lily (Kunis), she steps on stage to dance in Swan Lake—only to realize that Lily was a stress-induced hallucination, meaning Nina has actually stabbed herself. Although Nina's fate remains a mystery, she certainly gave the performance of a lifetime.
The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense features one of the most popular twists of all time when Cole (Haley Joel Osment) delivers the most ominous line in cinema history: "I see dead people." As it turns out, Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) has been dead all along, killed by the vengeful patient Vincent Grey in the film's opening. If you pay close attention, you might notice a variety of clues alluding to this—look for the color red.
The Shawshank Redemption
In a surprising turn of events, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) was innocent all along. Andy had been planning his escape since the day he entered prison. It took him two decades to chip away at the wall with a small rock hammer, which allowed him to access the prison's sewage system, where he crawled through the pipes to freedom.
American Psycho
Christian Bale plays one of the most meticulous and unhinged serial killers of all time in American Psycho. After the murderous Patrick Bateman confesses to his lawyer, Harold (Stephen Bogaert), the story begins to unravel. The body parts that Bateman had once been storing in Paul Allen's (Jared Leto) apartment have vanished, and a realtor says that nobody by that name ever lived there. Later, Harold explains that he just saw Paul Allen in London, meaning that Bateman couldn't have actually killed him.
Hereditary
Ari Aster's debut horror film, Hereditary, made waves upon its release for its shocking twist in the first act. After the death of their grandmother, Peter (Alex Wolff) is forced to bring his younger sister, Charlie (Milly Shapiro) with him to a house party, where she has an allergic reaction to nuts. While racing to the hospital, Charlie is decapitated by a telephone pole. In a second twist, Peter and Charlie's mother, Annie (Toni Collette) contacts what she believes to be Charlie's spirit, but in reality, she has summoned King Paimon, a demon who serves Lucifer. Their grandmother was in a cult all along, and Peter's entire family dies in various, gruesome ways. Peter is then made into a vessel for King Paimon by members of the cult.
Arrival
Renowned linguist Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is recruited by the U.S. government to decipher an alien language after a dozen of their aircraft land on earth. Throughout the film, Banks is suffering from what appears to be vivid flashbacks of her young daughter's life and death, but what we eventually learn is that Banks is seeing her future with fellow scientist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner); the hetapods' language is that of nonlinear time, and they have come to Earth in order to share the language with humans and prevent widespread disaster.
Knives Out
Rian Johnson's stellar whodunnit Knives Out introduced audiences to the concept of Evil Chris Evans in a ratty cable-knit sweater, which was a gift within itself. Evans plays Ransom, the spoiled and manipulative antagonist of the Thrombley clan. Ransom tries to "help" Marta (Ana de Armas) escape his family's wrath after she is left the entirety of Harlan's (Christopher Plummer) wealth and estate in his will, but he is really attempting to frame her for his murder, which was committed by Ransom after Harlan revealed that he was cutting Ransom from the will.
The Wicker Man
This 1973 British horror film follows Sgt. Neil Howie (Edward Woodward), who has been sent to a British isle known for its pagan rituals in order to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. As it turns out, there is no missing girl, and the residents of the island lured the officer there to use him as a human sacrifice in their ceremony, where he is burned alive inside of a gigantic "wicker man" statue.
Us
The Wilson family's beach vacation takes a violent turn when they find that they are being stalked by their own murderous clones. Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o), the Wilson matriarch, is determined to keep her skeletons in the closet—until it is revealed that she is a doppelgänger named Red from the underground world. Red abducted the real Adelaide Wilson decades ago and assumed her identity, leaving Adelaide to wander aimlessly among Tethered.
Primal Fear
In the final act of Primal Fear, the young and stuttering 19-year-old Aaron (Edward Norton) is not found guilty, but a gut-wrenching twist reveals that Aaron faked his alternate personality and his speech impediment. Even his defense attorney, Martin Vail (Richard Gere), fell for the deception, which left him shaken to the core. When Vail asked if there was ever a "Roy," Aaron replies that "there was never an 'Aaron.'"
Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko is one of the most mind-bending films of all time. The plot of this film involves a number of complex timelines, events, and universes, not all of which can be condensed into a single coherent paragraph. In essence, Donnie had to die in the Tangent Universe to send the jet engine through a wormhole back to the Primary Universe. Time travel theory is extremely confusing, but there are plenty of resources to explore the topic more in-depth.
The Departed
You can always rely on Martin Scorsese for an ending that will keep you at the edge of your seat. In the final moments of The Departed, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is gunned down in his own home by Sgt. Dignam (Mark Wahlberg). Sullivan's cover had been blown by Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) shortly before the incident, so it makes sense that Dignam would be ready to take him out.
Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes features one of the most iconic endings in cinema history. A group of astronauts awakens from deep hibernation after a space voyage, and their spaceship crashes into a lake on an alien planet. At the end of the film, as Taylor and the formerly-captive Nova follow the shoreline on horseback, they discover the remains of the Statue of Liberty—meaning that the "alien" planet upon which the astronauts crash-landed was actually Earth after a nuclear war.
Get Out
Jordan Peele's debut horror flick was the most profitable film of 2017. Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), a Black man, visits his white girlfriend Rose's (Allison Williams) house and meets her parents, Missy (Katherine Keener) and Dean Armitage (Bradley Whitford) for the first time. Soon, he learns that he is in grave danger—the Armitages are cult members who intend to use his body as a vessel. For generations, Rose's family has been lobotomizing Black people in order to implant the consciousnesses of their white ancestors who wish to achieve immortality.
Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood
Set in the Manson-era '60s, washed-up TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) have quite the bromance. Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood offers an alternative ending to the real-life murder of Sharon Tate, where three members of the Manson family break into Rick's home, located next door to Tate's in the Hollywood Hills—only to be met with a brutal attack-dog and a flamethrower. Needless to say, the Mansonites are violently murdered, and Tate survives, hardly aware of what took place mere feet from her own residence.
Atonement
Atonement may be all about forgiveness, but that tragic twist ending was totally unforgivable. In the final moments of Atonement, the audience learns that Robbie and Cecilia were never reunited—Robbie was killed during the war and Cecilia died in a bombing. Briony was simply trying to give them the ending they deserved.
Se7en
"What's in the box?" cries Detective Mills (Brad Pitt), only to learn that it contains none of than the severed head of his pregnant wife Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow). Serial killer John Doe (Kevin Spacey) states that Mills had to pay for the sin of envy; despite the pleas of Somerset (Morgan Freeman), Mills shoots Doe, symbolizing wrath, which in turn completes Doe's meticulous plan.
Mystic River
Nobody likes to see someone go down for a crime they never committed, but that's exactly what happened when Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins) took the blame for the murder of Katie Markum (Emmy Rossum). Dave, who confessed to murdering a pedophile, was threatened and coerced by Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) into admitting that he killed Katie. Jimmy violently murdered Dave as retribution and dumped his body in the Mystic River—only a few hours before Katie's actual killers were identified.
Friday the 13th
While Jason Voorhees didn't survive Camp Crystal Lake, his mother did—at least, for a bit. Driven mad by the death of her son, Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) went on a murderous rampage in order to enact revenge upon the counselors who were too busy canoodling to notice that Jason was drowning. The final survivor of the massacre, Alice (Adrienne King), decapitates Mrs. Voorhees.
Interstellar
The third act of Interstellar is a mind-boggling one. First, Mann (Matt Damon) attempts to murder Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), cracking his helmet and leaving him to die. However, things go awry, and Cooper survives—before getting sucked into a black hole and entering a liminal space between all five of the dimensions. He manages to pass on critical information to his daughter, Murph (Jessica Chastain), who uses it to solve an equation that will allow humanity to safely leave Earth before it dies.
Saw
Many fans believe that the first movie in the Saw franchise is also the best. The film ended with two reveals—Zep, the implied mastermind behind it all, was blackmailed into working for Jigsaw. Secondly, the body in the middle of the bathroom was very much alive, eavesdropping on Dr. Gordon and Adam as they uncovered darkest secrets. Oh, and the "body" was none other than Jigsaw himself.
Perks of Being A Wallflower
In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie (Logan Lerman) had been repressing a traumatic sexual experience at the hands of his Aunt Helen. The memories returned to him after being intimate with Sam (Emma Watson), who left for college the next day. There were hints throughout the film that something tragic and unthinkable happened to Charlie as the narrative built to an anxious crescendo.
The Mist
The ending of The Mist is seriously heart-wrenching. After their escape vehicle breaks down, David mercy-kills his group of fellow survivors, including his eight-year-old son, believing that they will soon be attacked by the creatures lurking in the mist. Unfortunately, when David exits the car in order to sacrifice himself, a U.S. Army truck appears from the dense fog, ready to rescue him.
Memento
This neo-noir thriller follows amnesiac Leonard (Guy Pearce) as he attempts to track down the man who killed his wife. Leonard cannot remember anything after his accident, and his memory resets every fifteen minutes. In the end, Leonard is devastated to learn that he is the man who murdered his wife.
The Others
Although the audience is led to believe that the house is haunted by some sort of vindictive ghost, the famous twist ending of The Others reveals that Grace and her children, along with their servants, are actually the ghosts. Grace murdered her children and committed suicide after learning of her husband's death in World War II.
Psycho
Psycho is one of the most celebrated psychological thrillers of all time. When Marion is murdered in the shower by a shadow wearing a dress with their hair in abun, it appears that her killer is a woman—but later, it is revealed to be Norman Bates, who had assumed the persona of his deceased mother, who he murdered along with Marion and several others.
The Village
A cultish nineteenth-century village located deep in the forest lives in constant terror of the horrifying humanoid monsters that exist beyond the community's confines. Eventually, it is revealed that the real monster is modern society, and the village exists in the present day, after all. The Elders left civilization to cope with past traumas, raising their children to reject and fear the outside world.
Reservoir Dogs
This 1992 film was Quentin Tarantino's feature-length debut. In the end, Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) reveals himself to be an undercover cop, informing Nash that the police will arrive shortly. However, after being shot in a Mexican standoff, a devastated and betrayed Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) reluctantly kills Orange as the warehouse is stormed by law enforcement.
Jacob's Ladder
Throughout Jacob's Ladder, there are many hints that Vietnam War veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) has been dead or is dying and must learn to accept his fate in order to embrace eternal peace. Jacob is plagued by a number of hallucinations and flashbacks that warp the world around him. At the end of the film, believing himself to be a victim of chemical warfare, Jacob ascends a staircase into a bright light. The scene returns to a triage tent in 1971 as military doctors declare that he has died.
Whiplash
The third act of Whiplash sees Andrew (Miles Teller) arrive at the JVC festival concert, ready to play the drums again after a coincidental reunion (and subsequent invitation) with Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), whom Andrew got fired from Shaffer Conservatory of Music, although Fletcher is also the one who expelled Andrew. In an act of revenge, Fletcher attempts to humiliate Andrew on stage, but Andrew prevails, pouring himself into a drum solo that ends up impressing the man who set out to destroy him.
Scream
Although Scream successfully satirized its genre, it still managed to adhere to the "rules" of horror, including both a twist ending and a final girl. During the movie's climax, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) tell Sidney (Neve Campbell) that they are both the killers. Loomis pressured his best friend into helping execute a murderous spree in Woodsboro out of spite for his parents' separation caused by Maureen Prescott.
Audition
Audition has been heralded as one of the most disturbing horror films of all-time. Widowed father Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) stages a fake audition to meet a potential wife. While the movie seems like a romantic comedy during its first half, the second half is a series of gut-churning, violent, gore-filled sequences in which Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina) is revealed to be a homicidal sadist.
Citizen Kane
At the beginning of Citizen Kane, protagonist Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) dies, his last words being "rosebud." The movie follows a reporter, Thompson (William Alland), who attempts to uncover the mysterious meaning behind Kane's last words. "Rosebud" was the name of Kane's childhood sled, a representation of the innocence that Kane lost when his parents sent him into the city in hopes of making a name for himself.
The Prestige
Christopher Nolan's The Prestige follows two protagonists, rival magicians Albert Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), who make their living by deceiving audiences. In their final confrontation, Borden shoots Angier, who framed Borden's twin brother for his murder. As part of his act, Angier has faked his own death using a cloning technology purchased from Nikola Tesla (David Bowie), but Borden never finds out which Angier will perform The Prestige and which drowns in a tank beneath the stage.
Murder on the Orient Express
This adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express follows the same shocking path as Agatha Christie's infamous novel. In the end, everybody was a killer! All of the passengers on the Orient Express conspired to murder Samuel Edward Ratchett (Johnny Depp). Ratchett was actually a criminal known as Lanfranco Cassetti, who had executed a number of murders and kidnappings, including that of Daisy Armstrong.
Snowpiercer
In the final act of Snowpiercer, both audiences and Curtis (Chris Evans), a lower-class passenger, learn that Wilford (Ed Harris) staged the rebellion all along in order to reduce the train's population for the sake of manageability. Later, the two young survivors of the deadly train crash encounter a polar bear, symbolizing the permanence of nature.
Seven Pounds
A haunting secret torments Ben Thomas (Will Smith) in Seven Pounds—he caused a horrific car crash that took the lives of seven individuals, including his wife. Thomas believes he can only be redeemed for his actions by saving the lives of seven strangers. Critics were far from thrilled with the ending, in which Thomas commits suicide by allowing his jellyfish to sting himself to death in a bathtub so that his organs may be donated to the seven people he was determined to help, all of whom were in need of organ transplants.
Ex Machina
By the end of Ex Machina, Ava has passed the Turing Test with flying colors. The AI manipulates Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), her would-be proctor, into developing feelings for her—only to lock him up and leave him behind to die on the compound as she escapes. Ava, no longer a rat in a maze, passes for human in the real world.
Orphan
Orphan follows a couple, Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard), who adopt a mysterious 9-year-old girl, Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), after the tragic loss of their unborn child. However, after Esther returns home with them, the couple realizes they are in danger. In the end, we learn that Esther is an escaped 33-year-old mental patient with a hormonal disorder that stunts her growth.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is easily one of the most successful franchises of all time. In a twist that spanned the duration of the series, it turned out that Snape was a good guy all along. The Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House secretly shielded Harry from evil during his time at Hogwarts because he was madly in love with Harry's deceased mother, Lily.
A Tale of Two Sisters
In A Tale of Two Sisters, Su-mi (Yeom-Jeong-ah) watches over her timid younger sibling Su-yeon (Su-jeong Lim); both sisters hate their evil stepmother Eun-joo (Kap-su Kim), who once served as their late mother's nurse. It is revealed that Su-mi suffers from dissociative identity disorder, acting as both Su-yeon and Eun-joo after experiencing the traumatic loss of her sister, who was crushed by a wardrobe with her mother's dead body hanging inside. However, we later learn that Su-yeon actually is a ghost, who traps and kills the real Eun-joo offscreen.
Coco
The biggest twist in Coco comes when Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) discovers that Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), a great musician whom the boy idolizes and believes might be related to him, is revealed to be a villainous murderer. De la Cruz poisoned the original owner of his guitar, Miguel's real great-great-grandfather Héctor (Gael Garcia Bernal), in order to steal his instrument and songs, which allowed him to achieve fame and notoriety.
Everything, Everything
It was heartbreaking to watch Maddy (Amandla Stenberg) stuck inside her hermetically-sealed environment due to her alleged illness. Even worse, she didn't need to be! Maddy's mother, Dr. Whittier (Anika Noni Rose) had been lying to her the whole time—she was never diagnosed with a severe immunodeficiency disorder and could have been with Olly all along. Fortunately, the two end up together.
Lone Star
At the end of Lone Star, Sam (Chris Cooper) and Pilar (Elizabeth Peña) finally learn the truth about why Buddy (Matthew McConaughey) and Mercedes (Miriam Colón) were so vehemently opposed to their relationship: the two were secretly half-siblings all along. Despite this, since Pilar cannot bear any more children, the two decide to carry on with their relationship. Yuck.
The Uninvited
The Uninvited concludes with the rather depressing truth: Anna's (Emily Browning) sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel) and mother (Maya Kemp) both died in the boathouse fire caused by none other than Anna herself. Anna, who was institutionalized after their deaths, had been hallucinating Alex the whole time. After being placed under arrest for the murders of her ex-boyfriend Matt (Jesse Moss) and her father's girlfriend Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), Anna returns to the institution.
Now You See Me
Anyone who saw Now You See Me was likely surprised when FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) revealed himself to be in on the scheme all along. Rhodes was the son of the magician who drowned in a failed magical act. Daniel (Jesse Eisenberg), Henley (Isla Fisher), Jack (Dave Franco), and Merritt (Woody Harrelson) were all inducted into The Eye by Dylan after framing Thaddeus (Morgan Freeman) for stealing the money.
The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects is about mystery and speculation: Who is Keyser Söze, the mythical crime boss who only seems to exist through word of his attorney, Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite). At the end of the film, Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) has proven himself an unreliable narrator who had been faking his disability the entire time. He exits the station, no longer faking cerebral palsy, and slips into a getaway car driven by Kobayashi.
The Boy
The Boy only scored so-so in terms of critical reception, but the creepy twist is enough to keep you at the edge of your seat. Brahms (James Russell), who died in a house fire not long after venturing into the woods with a neighbor girl who quote-unquote suddenly disappeared. As it turns out, Brahms had been living in the walls of the house the entire time, spying on Greta (Lauren Cohan).
Goodnight Mommy
It's evident from the start of Goodnight Mommy that something isn't right about twin brothers Lukas (Lukas Schwarz) and Elias (Elias Schwarz). In a saddening twist, it is revealed that Lukas died in an accident that left the boys' mother (Susanne Wuest) disfigured and Elias traumatized by the grief of losing his brother. The film successfully misdirects the audience to focus on the mysteries surrounding the mother's bandaged appearance and seeming preference toward Elias.
Witness For the Prosecution
Based on a short story by Agatha Christie, The Witness for the Prosecution is a rare Christie work in which the murderer escapes punishment. In the end, Christine (Marlene Dietrich) reveals the shocking truth: Leonard (Tyrone Power) was guilty, but she loved him enough to save him from a worse fate. After being told by Sir Wilfrid (Charles Langston) that "no jury would believe an alibi given by a loving wife," Christine purposely implicated her husband on the stand, knowing it would work in her favor.
Inside Man
At the end of this "perfect bank robbery," police search the premises only to realize that no money was stolen, the robbers' guns were fake, and the execution they witnessed had been staged. Later that night, Frazier (Denzel Washington) finds a small diamond in his pocket and understands that the man he bumped into at the bank was none other than Dalton Russell (Clive Owen).
The Visit
In typical M. Night Shyamalan fashion, The Visit has a shocking twist, all summarized by a single sentence: "Those aren't your grandparents." The day before Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) video chat with their mom (Kathryn Hahn), who informs them that those people aren't actually their grandparents. Rather, they're both escaped mental patients who murdered the kids' real grandparents.
Unbreakable
Unbreakable offers a refreshing spin on the superhero genre. The film follows security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis), the sole survivor of a massive train wreck in Philadelphia that killed 131 people. Elijah Price, otherwise known as Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) caused the accident in order to find someone like Dunn; a hero to Price's villain.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
This 1962 western is told via flashback as Ransom Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart) and Hallie (Vera Miles) return to town over 25 years later to attend the late Tom Doniphon's (John Wayne) funeral. Stoddard's career in politics was built upon the murder of Liberty Valance, but in reality, Doniphon was the one who shot Valance with a rifle from across the street. Unfortunately, that didn't end too well for Doniphon, seeing as Hallie left him for Stoddard.
Open Your Eyes
At the end of Open Your Eyes, audiences find out that the main character is actually dead. Classic twist? Sure. But then it's revealed that he committed suicide and paid for a Life Extension, a fictional company that inserts one's consciousness into a longer life.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
When Nick (George Segal) and his wife Honey (Sandy Dennis) arrive at George (Richard Burton) and Martha's (Elizabeth Taylor) for a nightcap, the younger couple's arrival prompts a barrage of marital angst and verbal tirades. George and Martha talk about their son, who has been killed in a car accident—except he isn't real. Martha and George were never able to conceive and filled the void with stories of a fake boy; George declared that he "killed" their son because Martha violated the mutually agreed-upon rule that nobody else was to know of his "existence."
Toy Story 2
Once Woody (Tom Hanks) enters the Toy Museum, he realizes too late that he's made a terrible mistake. At the airport, Woody is rescued by his fellow toys, but Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer), also known as the Prospector, shows his true colors and attempts to stop them. In the end, the Prospector goes to live with a girl who paints her toys. Karma can be cruel!
Kill List
This 2011 British horror film follows a soldier, Jay (Neil Maskell), who returns home from Kiev and works alongside his friends as a contract killer. After a number of violent and mysterious events, Jay ends up face to face with a masked attacker called "The Hunchback," whom he murders with a knife—only to find that his victim is actually Shel (MyAnna Burning), his wife, with their son Sam (Harry Simpson) strapped to her back.
The Sting
In a shocking twist ending, it was revealed that during the successful "sting" pulled on crime boss Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), a complex scam had been executed by a team of pickpocketers, con artists, and grifters. Hooker (Robert Redford) and Gondroff (Paul Newman) were masquerading as rivals the entire time. Both of their murders were faked, and even the federal agents were in on the scheme!
No Way Out
In 1987's No Way Out, it is revealed that Navy Lt. Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner was actually "Yuri," a Russian mole gathering information on the Department of Defense. The KGB ordered Farrell to seduce David Brice's (Gene Hackman) mistress in order to collect intelligence from her. Farrell's handler had been his quirky artist-slash-landlord Mr. Schiller (Michael Shillo) all along.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 German silent horror film that serves as a cornerstone of German Expressionist cinema. The film's epilogue reveals that the main narrative was Francis' delusion all along; the man Francis calls "Dr. Caligari" is the asylum director. In the end, Francis attacks him and is restrained in a straitjacket before being herded into the same cell where Caligari was confined in Francis' story. The director then announces that he can cure Francis, now that he understands the nature of his' delusion.
Frailty
Frailty is framed through Fenton's recollections as he reveals his father's dark past to an FBI agent regarding the "God's Hand" killings case. In the end, it's revealed that Fenton's younger brother, Adam, is actually the storyteller, who has come to kill the FBI agent for being a demon. He also murdered his own mother. In the end, it is implied that Adam really is being led by God's hand.
Don't Look Now
Don't Look Now has been hailed as one of the creepiest films ever made. This horror-slash-thriller follows John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) as they grieve the loss of their daughter. The Dwarf Killer forces John to reconcile with his own grief and recognize that his daughter has died—right before slashing his throat.
Soylent Green
Soylent Green made moviegoers think twice about buying canned food. Detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigates the murder of the director of the Soylent Corporation while navigating an overpopulated, starving New York City of the future where the lower echelons are forced to survive on a processed food called Soylent Green. Thorn discovers, much to his horror, that Soylent Green is made from human corpses.
The Secret in Their Eyes
FBI agent Jess Cobb's (Julia Roberts) daughter is murdered, and the lead investigator on the case is Jess's best friend, Ray Kasten (Chiwetel Ejiofor). After 13 years of obsessive searching, Kasten returns to the city, believing he has successfully identified and located the man who killed her. Cobb goes along with it until the final act when it is revealed that she has been holding the killer prisoner in her backyard shed for 13 years.
Fallen
Philadelphia Police Detective John Hobbes (Denzel Washington) visits serial killer Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas) before investigating a string of murders assumed to have been executed by a copycat killer. As it turns out, the killer is a fallen angel named Azazel (Renee Spie) who can possess the bodies of the innocent. In the end, Hobbes sacrifices himself to kill Azazel, but Azazel is able to possess a cat and return to civilization, thwarting his plans.
The Game
Wealthy, depressed banker Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is gifted a strange voucher on his birthday by Conrad (Sean Penn), his outgoing brother. He is then psychologically tortured and robbed by a company known as Consumer Recreation Services, but by the end of the film, it is revealed that Conrad and Christine (Deborah Kara Unger) were both in on it the whole time. Shockingly, the whole orchrestation had a purpose—to make Nicholas a better person.
Chinatown
Private investigator J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is hired by Evelyn Murray (Faye Dunaway) to investigate her husband's death. When he thinks he's getting close to uncovering the mystery, he learns that Evelyn's sister is somehow involved... except her sister is actually her daughter, borne from an incestuous relationship with Evelyn's father, whom Evelyn attempts to murder. Talk about a plot twist!
Les Diaboliques
This 1955 french horror film blends various elements of the thriller and horror genres, following a wife and mistress who plot to kill the man who serves as their shared connection. Michel (Paul Meurisse) and Nicole (Simone Signoret) set Christina up from the beginning, scaring her intentionally so that she will die of a heart attack. However, at the end of the film, it is implied that Christina is still alive, and a final title card tells the audience not to reveal the twist to anyone else.
The Parallax View
Warren Beatty carries this drama all the way up to the main character's death. Joseph Frady (Beatty) realizes he's being framed for the murder of the Senator upon whom he's been reporting. Unfortunately for Frady, it's too late, and a shadowy Parallax assassin shoots him dead, after which he is mistakenly declared to be Senator George Hammond's (Jim Davis) killer.
The Orphanage
The Orphanage follows Laura (Belén Rueda) who returns to her childhood home, an orphanage, which she plans to transform into a home for disabled children. After an argument, her adopted son, Simón (Roger Príncep), goes missing. Although Laura initially believes that the ghosts who haunt the orphanage are responsible for her son's disappearance, she learns that Simón fell to his death in the basement, breaking his neck.
The Wizard of Oz
In this classic, we find out the Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan) isn't much of a wizard at all—he's just a regular guy who stands behind green curtains, a fraud who operates machinery and capitalizes on the naivety of the Munchkins. The Wizard says that he is "a good man, but a bad wizard." In the end, he gives the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) a diploma, the Lion (Bert Lahr) a medal, and the Tin Man (Jack Haley) a heart-shaped clock.
Vertigo
Judy (Kim Novak) resembles the dead Madeleine a little too much for Scottie's (James Stewart) comfort. It is revealed that "Madeleine" is a role played by Judy who has been impersonating Gavin Elster's (Tom Helmore) wife. In order to cure himself of his vertigo, Scottie forces Judy to reenact the scene that traumatized him—pitching the dead body of the real Madeleine Elster from the bell tower of the Mission San Juan Bautista by her husband, with Judy as his accomplice and lover.
Twelve Monkeys
In 1996, a deadly virus wipes out most of humanity; James Cole (Bruce Willis) is a surviving prisoner who lives beneath the city of Philadelphia in 2035. 12 Monkeys asserts that the past cannot be altered, and we can only prevent for the future. Although its ending is ambiguous, we know that Cole witnesses his own death as a child, and ends up dying in the same way.
The Vanishing
In The Vanishing, young Dutch couple Saskia (Johanna Ter Steege) and Rex (Gene Bervoets) are road-tripping to their vacation spot in France; while stopping to stretch their legs, Saskia vanishes. In a stunning twist, the killer, a sociopath named Raymond (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), reveals himself to Rex and offers him the same fate as Saskia without telling him what it is. Rex agrees and, after consuming drugged coffee, wakes up to find himself buried alive underground; Raymond is never suspected and continues on with his life.
The Crying Game
Fergus (Stephen Rea), a Provisional IRA volunteer turned day laborer after a traumatic event that allowed him to assume a new identity, carries out Jody's (Forest Whitaker) final wish: to find his girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson). Fergus and Dil strike up a romance, and Fergus learns that Dil is a transgender woman. Later, he takes the fall for Dil and ends up in prison. When she asks why, he responds, "As a man once said, it's in my nature," and tells her the story of the scorpion and the frog, which he had originally heard from Jody.
Oldboy
This violent thriller begins with Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), who has been locked in a room for 15 years with no knowledge of why he's been imprisoned or who is holding him captive. Once freed, Dae-su pursues a relationship with a young sushi chef (Kang Hye-Jung) and discovers the identity and motive of his captor—when he was young, he witnessed an act of incest between Woo-jin, his captor, and Woo-jin's sister. Rumors spread, and the sister took her own life. Woo-jin then reveals that the sushi chef is none other than Dae-su's daughter. Yikes.
Secret Window
Novelist Mort (Johnny Depp) heads upstate to work on his next book after a messy breakup with his wife Amy (Maria Bello). Mort encounters Shooter, who begins to antagonize him in increasingly unhinged ways. Amy finally goes to the cabin along with her new fiancé, to confront Mort with divorce papers, where it is revealed that Mort and Shooter are the same people; Mort suffers from dissociative identity disorder. He murders Amy and her beau, buries them in the yard, and gets away it.
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Although it seems like womanizer Jacob (Ryan Gosling) and Cal (Steve Carell) know each other only by happenstance, their real connection lies with Cal's daughter, Hannah, or "Nana" (Emma Stone), with whom Jacob falls in love. At first, Cal refuses to accept their union, since Jacob is the one who taught him how to pursue casual, meaningless relationships in the first place. Thanks to his son's eighth-grade graduation speech, Cal changes his mind. He allows Jacob to continue dating his daughter and commits to winning back the affections of his wife Emily (Julianne Moore).
10 Cloverfield Lane
Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up after a car accident to find herself trapped in an underground bunker with Howard (John Goodman) and Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), where she is informed that a chemical attack has polluted the outside air beyond breathability. In reality, Howard is a dangerous man who once abducted a young girl and was likely responsible for running Michelle off the road in the first place. Howard kills Emmett after a display of rebellion; Michelle manages to escape, but she discovers that aliens have overtaken earth.
High Tension
Alex (Maïwenn Le Besco) leaves the country to visit family with her friend Marie (Cécile de France). Alex's parents are brutally attacked by a psychotic truck driver (Philippe Nahon), who begins to stalk the two women. The killer kidnaps Alex and Marie attempts to rescue her... except that Marie is the killer. Delusional, murderous, and in love with Alex, Marie was the one who slaughtered Alex's family. After a violent struggle, Marie ends up in a psychiatric hospital while Alex observes her through a one-way mirror.
The Gift
Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) have recently moved back into Simon's childhood California town. They run into a former classmate of Simon's, Gordo (director Joel Edgerton), who develops an obsession with the couple. Robyn, addicted to sleeping pills, becomes pregnant. We learn that Simon used to ruthlessly bully Gordo, having made up a rumor that Gordo was molested, which effectively ruined his life. Robyn asks for a separation. Later, Gordo sends Simon a recording of him standing over Robyn, implying that he may have assaulted her while she was unconscious. Gordo refuses to admit whether or not the baby could be his.
Malice
Andy (Alec Baldwin) and Tracy (Nicole Kidman) Safian are a newlywed couple whose lives are turned upside-down after renting part of their restored Victorian home to Dr. Jed Hill (Bill Pullman), Andy's colleague at a local women's college. A deadly complication leads Tracy to lose an ovary at Jed's recommendation; the couple wins $20 million in a lawsuit. Tracy leaves Andy, heartbroken that she cannot have children. However, the audience soon learns that Tracy is a con artist who has made a living through deceit and treachery. She conspired with Jed to overdose on fertility medication that would cause her to lose her ovaries in order to win the lawsuit.
Remember Me
Tyler Hawkins (Robert Pattinson) isolates himself in the aftermath of his brother's suicide, rebelling against his father (Pierce Brosnan) and wandering aimlessly through life. He finds new meaning after meeting Ally (Emilie de Ravin). In the final act, Tyler wins back Ally's affections after a heated argument and seems to be on the precipice of reconciling with his father. Tyler heads to his dad's workplace, which happens to be the World Trade Center. And the date? September 11, 2001.
Serenity
Serenity is known for featuring one of the most ridiculous plot twists in history. Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is a fisherman looking to catch a tuna he has named Justice; he spends every day on his boat, Serenity, off the coast of an island called Plymouth. Dill's ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) offers him $10 million to kill her abusive new husband. It is finally revealed that the entire narrative was a simulation; a 13-year-old boy has developed a video game based on his life, in which his father is a deceased war hero, and his mother is being abused by the boy's stepfather.