A great plot twist is what makes a decent film memorable. Surprising twist endings can be found in nearly any genre: horror films and dystopian thrillers are obvious examples, but romance films and cosmic adventures can also benefit from them. Here’s a list of the most unexpected story twists we’ve ever seen:
1. Saw
The twisted and inventive deaths in the debut installment of this modern horror franchise captivated people. Saw may have devolved into a mindless gorefest, but the first film included a surprising twist that no one saw coming. Throughout the film’s unraveling mystery, Jigsaw, the cunning serial murderer, was lying down in plain sight, pretending as a dead man. Everyone was surprised when Jigsaw, aka John Kramer, stood up at the end of the film. Every viewer was left perplexed when they realized the perpetrator had been present at the crime site all along. The finale went down in horror film history as one of the most ingenious revelations.
2. The Sixth Sense
This climax is now conventional knowledge in pop culture, but when M. Night Shyamalan‘s The Sixth Sense was released in 1999, it stunned moviegoers completely. For several weeks, the picture topped the box office, probably because everyone decided to return and re-watch it to locate all the indications that Bruce Willis’ child psychologist Malcolm Crowe has been one of the “dead people” his young patient Cole Sear claims he can see and communicate with.
3. Memento
This Nolan story follows Leonard, an insurance claims investigator with anterograde amnesia, as he searches for the murderer of his wife. He sets off on this voyage armed only with his long-term memory, his paperwork, and a collection of tattoos on his body that serve as reminders of events from his life and mission. The storyline twist brings the movie full circle and the film ends where it began, as an unforgettable thriller replete with plot twists.
4. The Prestige
In this 2006 suspense, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play magicians who are feuding. Angier becomes consumed with figuring out how Borden does his “Transported Man” trick. To understand, he builds his own version using a contraption built for him by scientist Nikola Tesla. This device duplicates Angier every time he enters it. By the time Angier understands that the guy he knows as “Borden” is actually a set of identical twins who have been sharing one life, he has drowned an unknown number of replicas of himself.
5. Se7en
A David Fincher masterpiece, Se7en follows retiring detective Somerset on his final assignment, coupled with novice Mills on a search for a killer who uses the seven deadly sins as blueprints for his killings. It’s a true David Fincher film, combining philosophy, murder, the nature of man, and religious doctrine in a disturbing mix. As the detectives battle against time to uncover a merciless psychopath hell-bent on killing. However, the genuine twist emerges near the end of the film, which bringing all of the seven sins full circle.
