Not everything is what it seems, and these movies make sure of that. Whether a character has been dead the whole time or is actually two different people, some films surprised us more than others. No one predicted any of these famous and shocking plot twists…
Shutter Island
At the end of this Leonardo Dicaprio classic, it is revealed to viewers that although were led to believe he is a US Marshal, his character is actually a patient in the confines of an insane asylum.
The Village
This Amish-style community lives deep in the forest to protect themselves from the scary humanoid monsters that exist beyond the confines of the village. It’s eventually revealed that the monsters are just people and that the Elders left civilization to escape their past traumas, and raised their children under a false belief.
Get Out
After meeting his new girlfriend’s weird parents, Chris Washington tries to convince his girlfriend to leave the house. However, when he goes to leave, Rose and her family block him, revealing that they put caucasian brains into black men's bodies and that he's going to be a vessel.
The Usual Suspects
Five men are being investigated for a crime they didn’t commit. It is slowly demonstrated that a man named Keyser Soze is behind all of it. The men die off until only Roger “Verbal” Kint remains. As Kint leaves the police station, the view and Kujan realize at the same time that Keyser Soze was Verbal the whole time.
Ex Machina
Ava is artificial intelligence, who looks and acts like a real person. It seems like she and Caleb form a connection That is until it all goes wrong. Eventually, Ava traps Caleb in the house and escapes on his helicopter, ignoring his screams, showing her to be truly heartless all along.
Orphan
Once the nice couple adopted a nine-year-old, no one expected that the little girl was secretly a 33 year old with a growth disorder. She’s a wanted killer and takes off her mask, showing her true identity to the audience.
The Prestige
Stage magic is rarely a dark and murderous mystery, but that's the plot of The Prestige. The twist ending comes when Angier learns that Borden is a pair of identical twins doing the act. Angier, by comparison, was several clones of the original, now drowned, Angier.
Murder on the Orient Express
Fans should probably go into an Agatha Christie novel expecting a twist, so it’s no wonder that the murder mystery had a killer no one expected: everyone. All the people on the train conspired to kill Edward Ratchett for different reasons.
Atonement
Atonement is a movie all about forgiveness, but could anyone forgive the tragic twist ending? At the end of atonement, viewers learn that Robbie and Cecilia never were together. Robbie died at war and Cecilia died in a bombing. Briony was a writer trying to repent by writing the ending they never got.
Seven Pounds
Will Smith shines in this emotional drama, but the most real emotion comes from viewers shock at the dark twist ending. Will Smith exposes himself as a killer when we learn that he killed seven people while texting and driving.
American Psycho
One of the craziest serial killer stories of all time, American Psycho sees the worst of psychology. It all sees the best of twists, like when Patrick visits Paul expecting to find a room full of blood, but it's perfectly clean.
Interstellar
Sci-Fi is a genre known more it’s special effects, but the plot doesn’t always go by the wayside. In this film, Mann lies about the planet’s ability to sustain life and surprisingly kills Cooper to protect himself.
Perks of Being A Wallflower
Coming of age stories usually have a pretty predictable structure, but fans of Perks of Being a Wallflower learned alongside with the main character about his tragic past sexual abuse that had been repressed.
The Departed
If you like heavy Boston accents, this movie might hold a special place in your heart. Even more special is the movie’s deadly ending. Colin is happy to be done with the whole mess until Sean Dignam appears and ends him for good.
The Boy
Fans of horror know that this movie got okay reviews, but the creepy twist makes up for an otherwise lacking movie. The doll is revealed to be a cover for Brahms, who has been living in the walls of the house ever since the night of the fire that supposedly killed him.
Whiplash
This movie made viewers stressed and anxious for Andrew, who just couldn’t live up to the task. When he finally has his big recital, after almost missing it completely, his teacher ambushes him with the wrong music, but he still succeeds in the end.
Black Swan
Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis gave stellar performances as ballet rivals, but the duo also gave one of the most haunting twist endings. After stabbing Lily, Nina goes out to perform Swan Lake but reveals that Lily was a hallucination, and she actually stabbed herself. She slowly dies on stage noting it as her best performance yet.
Toy Story 2
Woody finally found pals of his own franchise, but he also found an enemy. The kind-hearted Stinky Pete is revealed to be the one who prevents Woody and the gang’s escape. The real villain was under our nose the whole time!
The Visit
The movie itself got subpar reviews, but The Visit really bumped it’s rating up with the reveal of the grandparents. Or at least, who they thought were the grandparents. Once Mom comes on the screen to say “Those aren’t my parents” the audience realizes that the kids are in a house with strangers. Yikes!
Psycho
This is one of the most famous movies of all time, creating spin-offs, mini-series’ and more. The claim to fame? Norman Bates is his mother. The creepy hotel owner dresses up as his dead mother, the body he keeps in the house.
Mystic River
No one likes to see someone go down for a crime they didn’t commit, but that’s what happened when Dave took the blame for Katie’s murder. The worst part was shortly after when the real murderer was revealed. Jimmy killed Dave for nothing.
Planet of the Apes
Maybe one of the most well-known twists of all time, no words need to be said for this ending. As Taylor walks along the beach, he stumbles upon the top half of the Statue of Liberty. They were on Earth, millions of years after a nuclear war. He falls to the ground, defeated.
Harry Potter
This franchise is arguably the most successful of all time. Even better, a twist that would last several books and movies. In the end, villainous Snape turns out to be a good guy who has been protecting Harry throughout his time at Hogwarts.
Everything, Everything
Watching the fresh-faced teen be locked inside due to her illness was heartbreaking for audiences. More heartbreaking? Learning she didn’t need to be. Her mother had been lying to Maddy for her entire life. She had no allergy to the sun and could have been with Olly the whole time.
Fight Club
Men fighting, a crazy leader, a man gone off the deep end, where does it all end? In an explosive exposition, viewers learn that Tyler Durden is a figment of the protagonist’s imagination. It was him the whole time.
Coco
Who knew children’s movies could be so enthralling? At the end of Coco, kids find out that Ernesto was the one who murdered Hector, and Coco was really Hector’s daughter.
The Uninvited
Anna’s flashbacks reveal the sad truth. Her sister has been dead since the night of the fire. Everything since then was a hallucination. All their interactions were in her head.
The Shawshank Redemption
Everyone was a little confused when Andy asked for a spoon, but once the team pulls back the poster to reveal an Andy-sized hole. The hole goes all the way outside of the prison, and we learn that Andy is on his way out of town.
Saw
In a twist that nobody saw coming (ha, get it?) the game goes on for the entire movie until the body rises from the floor. The dead body wasn’t dead at all, it was Jigsaw himself. Many movies have tried something similar, but nothing was quite like the first.
Goodnight Mommy
Elias is a very sweet young boy, which made this plotline ever sadder. Elias’ brother died in an accident. Lukas was never in the movie, he hadn’t been alive, and was only a hallucination.
Now You See Me
Whoever thought the FBI agent was the good guy all along? Dylan is right beside the Four Horsemen all along, and for good reason. He’s the one who orchestrated the whole heist. Now you see him, now you don’t…welcome to the Eye.
The Others
A ghost story always makes for a good movie. When Grace realizes at the end of the movie that she is a ghost, she also learns that she killed her children and then herself. Spooky…
Snowpiercer
No one thought life existed beyond the train. Everything was extinguished, but once the passengers are all killed, Yona and Timmy are the last two alive. They emerge from the train to see a polar bear, proving life exists beyond the train. They stayed there for 15 years for no reason.
The Mist
Maybe one of the more heart-shattering twists on this list, The Mist ends with David sparing the group by killing everyone. This way, they avoid a painful death. Only minutes after this action, the Army shows up to save the people. Too late…
Gone Girl
This movie shocked readers and viewers alike. Amazing Amy proved to be more amazing than anticipated when she successfully frames Nick for her murder, revealing halfway into the movie that he didn’t do it, as we so expected.
Gone Girl (again)
An even more surprising turn around was when Amy and Nick, the most spiteful couple in cinema and literature, decide to stay together. Nick, to protect his unborn child from Amy, and Amy to retain success. Eerie…
The Sixth Sense
Viewers were aghast at how poorly Malcolm Crowe was treated by his wife, who refuses to look at him, speak to him, or acknowledge him. The truth: he was dead the whole movie, moving in and out of his old house.
Lone Star
A long-dead skeleton is the center of this mystery until Sam and Pilar meet. Although we wish they didn’t because they’re related. Gross.
Inside Man
Spike Lee’s dramatic thriller is narrated inside a prison cell. Or is it? At the end of the story of the “perfect bank robbery”, Clive Owen’s crawls out of a secret room in the bank. He exits through the front door with all the money.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
This thoughtful look at American culture comes with an interesting twist. Though Jimmy Stewart built his campaign on killing the outlaw, it was Doniphon all along. A secret between the two to protect the girl they both loved.
Unbreakable
Though viewers are led to believe that the movie is a thriller, it turns out to be a superhero origin story. Samuel L. Jackson plays Mr. Glass, the evil villain who engineered terrible events to find a superhero.
A Tale of Two Sisters
Teenager Su-mi believes her mother is going to kill her and her sister. All along though, the mom and sister were hallucinations. The mom was killed by a ghost because she caused the death of the sister.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The classic play created a classic movie which created a classic twist. George and Martha’s night comes to a halt when it’s shown that their son is a mutually enforced delusion.
Open Your Eyes
A bit ahead of its time on the notion of virtual reality, this film follows a man until the end of the movie, when we find out he’s dead. Classic twist, right? Until we learn he committed suicide and paid for a Life Extension, a fictional company that put consciousness into a longer life.
The Sting
Newman and Redford originate the bromance genre in the 1973 movie. The two best bros discover the rat on the inside and then fake their deaths, surprising audiences, and the FBI-officer.
Kill List
This one is a bit confusing, but the end of the Ben Wheatley film reveals that the Hunchback is also his wife. He’s also his son. Uh, what?
Witness For the Prosecution
Did they do it? Did they not? Oh, wait they definitely did. In the end, we find out that Leonard was really the killer after all. The surprise was no surprise at all.
Don’t Look Now
This creepy look at humanity shows at the end that Donald Sutherland is not crazy. He really is seeing someone like his daughter, but it’s a murderous dwarf. Wild.
Jacob’s Ladder
Dead All Along is a favorite for the twisting genre, but this one is creepy and nightmarish. It also shows him still kind of alive on the operating table. He unravels what’s happening at the end of the movie and the end of his life.
Frailty
Matthew McConaughey, the Alright-alright-alright guy, plays a son and brother of serial killers. The ending gives us two twists. One– Matthew is Adam, not Fenton. Two– he’s able to sense demons and kills the agent.
Soylent Green
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “Soylent Green is people!”, you probably know this twist. The miracle famine food is discovered to be made of human bodies, not kelp. Soylent Green really is people.
The Secret in Their Eyes
This movie won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Maybe it should have won for best plot twist because we learn that Morlaes doesn’t just know who the killer is, but he’s held him captive in a countryside cell for the past few decades. Dark.
Reservoir Dogs
Whoever expects the bad guy to be a good guy the whole time. In this iconic Quentin Tarantino movie, Mr. Orange is not another heist man. In fact, he’s an undercover cop. Even more shocking? The response: I know.
Scream
Though the slasher movie genre is known for the murder of teenagers, the plot doesn’t disappoint. Even though Billy is the suspected killer, he dies, so who could it be? How about– Billy! With Stu, of course. They’re both killers. Yikes!
The Parallax View
Warren Beatty leads this drama all the way until his death when Beatty realizes that he’s being framed for the murder of the Senator he’s reporting on.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
This horrific classic is a tale of twists and turns that, oh wait, are all made up by a man who is stuck in an insane asylum. The characters are other people inside the asylum.
The Orphanage
Once her son dies, Laura finally finds out what eventually leads to her suicide. She didn’t know it, but her choices caused her son’s death. Tragically, she’s unable to live with the guilt…
Primal Fear
Edward Norton has a knack for tricky characters, and this multiple-personality disorder character is very tricky. Except he didn’t have the disorder at all! He faked it to get his ending.
No Way Out
In this movie, Kevin Costner reveals himself to be a Mole for the KGB. He’s the traitor all along.
Twelve Monkeys
As a child, he witnessed his death as an adult. We don’t get it either, time travel movies, you know?
The Wizard of Oz
One of the best franchises ever, the Wizard is not a wizard at all! He’s a man behind a curtain capitalizes on the munchkins naivety. A fictional look at how fame is created and corrupted.
The Vanishing
In an effort to understand his former girlfriend, the man is buried alive by her killer, mimicking her experience until his last breath.
The Wicker Man
There’s a human fear to this film, which pompous policeman is looking into a cult. He realizes he is the virgin to be sacrificed to the gods the cult worships.
The Crying Game
Before the open-mindedness of 2019, people were still scared and amazed at changing identities. It is revealed that Dil is transgender and the movie that follows centers around that shocking moment.
Audition
In this twisted twist, mysterious men pursue this young girl. It’s already creepy, but then we learn she is a vengeful killer.
Oldboy
After finally catching up to his captor, Oh-Dae-Su learns that he’s slept with a woman who is related to him. Specifically, his daughter. The moment is scary and uncomfortable, making it a perfect and terrible twist.
Vertigo
Though this film is a bit confusing, in the end, it becomes clear that Judy and Madeline are the same people, despite their difference in appearance.
Chinatown
The famous line says it all: “She’s my sister and my daughter.”
Memento
We follow Leonard as he tries to piece together who killed his wife, which he’s forgotten since he has amnesia and woke up in prison. We find out why at the end: Leonard killed his wife.
Se7en
Brad Pitt cries out “What’s in the box!?” Viewers and Pitt learn that inside sits Paltrow’s head. The reaction has been meme’d in later years, but that initial shock still sits with audiences.
Les Diaboliques
Mousy wife Vera is manipulated into a heart attack that kills her, revealing that this is not a ghost story as suggested. It’s a killer story, and we just saw it.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
A phrase that changed cinematic history and Luke Skywalker’s identity: “Luke, I am your father.”
Citizen Kane
What could rosebud mean? Follow the journalist as he tries to understand the celebrity’s last word. The answer is that Rosebud is the name of his childhood sled. He was sentimental after all.
Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees didn’t survive Camp Crystal Lake, but his mother did, and she’s responsible for the many deaths that follow at the camp. She blames negligent counselors and is only defeated by a very vigilant counselor.
The Game
The Game is exactly what it sounds like: a game. Conrad is alive. Nicholas is alive. The whole thing was to prevent Nicholas from ending up like his father.
Fallen
Hobbes kills himself so he can finally defeat Azazel, except Azazel isn’t dead. He inhabits a cat’s body, and then Hobbes’, and he was the real narrator the whole time.
Donnie Darko
A cult classic, this movie ends when the world does. Donnie is supposed to be in the apocalypse, but instead wakes up at the start of the movie and dies in the crash.
Secret Window
Mort suffers from dissociative identity disorder. Shooter and Mort are one. When Mort’s wife comes to the door to divorce him, he kills her and her lover.