Most films have a twist somewhere in their runtime. A twist stops the plot from becoming predictable and changes the course of the entire movie. Some twists go down as their film's signature moment, even if these reveals are right at the end of the movie.
A well-done twist ending can force the viewer to re-evaluate everything they've just seen. This could be an unexpected change, a sudden betrayal, or the reveal of crucial information. Some twist endings stand out above the rest, going down in history as iconic and shocking dénouements.
10 The Others Flips The Script On The Haunted House Trope
The Others plays out like a conventional ghost film for much of its runtime. The Stewart family hires new servants, but things start going wrong in their house. They begin to see people they don't recognize, who appear and disappear at will. The servants hint at long-gone tragedies and conspire to hide the house's secrets.
For much of The Others, the audience thinks the Stewarts are ordinary people beset by ghosts. The ending reveals the truth: the servants and the Stewarts are dead. The people they've seen are the living inhabitants of the house. This reveal changes the film's entire story and demands a rewatch.
9 The Sixth Sense's Ending Is Iconic
M. Night Shyamalan is infamous for his twist endings. The Sixth Sense is the film that put him on the map and made this habit widely known. The Sixth Sense follows Malcolm Crowe, a psychologist, and his patient Cole Sears, who's haunted by ghosts. Months before the film, Malcolm was attached by a former patient, which has caused his marriage to suffer.
Malcolm and Cole form a bond and help each other with their problems. Malcolm guides Cole into helping the ghosts resolve their problems. In return, Cole suggests Malcolm talk to his wife while she's sleeping. When he does, he realizes the truth: he died in the attack and only Cole has been able to see him throughout the film.
8 American Psycho Casts Its Entire Story In Doubt
American Psycho follows Patrick Bateman, a businessman by day and a vicious serial killer by night. The movie focuses on his increasing acts of violence as he loses the ability to function day-to-day. Throughout American Psycho, his crimes become increasingly horrific. The entire time, a detective looking for one of Bateman's victims closes in.
This escalation continues right up until the end. Bateman tearfully confesses his crimes to a colleague, who laughs it off. When Bateman presses, the colleague tells Bateman that he's seen the very same victim recently. All other evidence of Bateman's crimes disappears. In just a few moments, the film calls its entire story into question.
7 Arrival Plays With Time In A Stunning Way
Arrival begins with its protagonist Louise Banks losing her daughter to cancer. This suits the beginning's somber tone perfectly but goes unmentioned for much of the film. Banks focuses totally on establishing communication with the aliens, but it seems odd that she never mentions her daughter. When Louise has flashbacks to time with her daughter, she never seems to dwell on it.
The end of Arrival provides a perfect explanation. The aliens' language alters the psychology of those who know it, so they experience time non-linearly. Louise doesn't have a daughter by the time of Arrival's plot. Instead, she foresees losing her daughter before she ever meets the aliens. She meets the father over the course of the film and marries him while knowing what will happen.
6 The Mist Has The Cruelest Twist Possible
The Mist is an incredibly bleak horror film, but things get increasingly worse throughout its third act. The survivors lose their shelter to increasing extremism and flee into the mist. They run out of fuel and their death seems inevitable. Protagonist David Drayton shoots his loved ones, including his young son, to spare them a horrific death.
The Mist seems like a somber exploration of human behavior in a crisis, but it gets so much worse. The military arrives moments later, fighting back the monsters and saving David. The Mist ends with David screaming as he realizes he killed his loved ones for nothing.
5 The Prestige Makes The Most Mundane Twist Extraordinary
The Prestige documents the rivalry between a pair of magicians. Protagonist Robert Angier becomes obsessed with reverse-engineering Alfred Borden's Transported Man trick. In it, Borden appears to travel between two wardrobes instantly, going into one and appearing in the other.
Angier does anything he can to replicate the trick. When using a body double proves unsatisfying, he turns to science. Nikola Tesla invents a duplicating machine, which Angier uses to both recreate the trick with a double of himself and frame Borden for murder. After Borden's death, an exact double of him shoots Angier. Borden had a twin brother all along, and his magic trick was the most mundane thing imaginable.
4 Shutter Island's Protagonist Isn't Who He Thinks He Is
Shutter Island appears to be a crime conspiracy thriller. It follows detective Edward Daniels as he investigates a mental health institution on the titular island where a patient has escaped. The patient, Andrew Laeddis, is the man who killed Daniels' wife. A sense of conspiracy builds throughout the film. The hospital's staff clearly aren't telling the truth and Daniels begins to suffer odd symptoms.
Shutter Island's ending explains everything: there is no Edward Daniels. Edward is Andrew, and he's suffering from grief following the murder of his wife and their children. The film's events are an experiment in indulging Laeddis' reality. Shutter Island then offers another twist on top. Laeddis reverts to Daniels, prompting the staff to lobotomize him. However, he hints it may be a conscious choice, choosing to die as a good man.
3 The Usual Suspects Is Narrated By Its Antagonist
The Usual Suspects is structured as a police interrogation. The film's narrator is Verbal Kint, a petty criminal who gets caught up with the crime lord Kaiser Söze. Kint tells a story of how he and several other criminals ended up in Söze's debt. To pay off this debt, the criminals attack a boat containing a rival drug lord's shipment, which lands Kint and fellow criminal Dean Keaton in police custody.
It seems like a straightforward enough story, only for the ending to undo it all. Kint pays his bail and leaves the police station. At that exact moment, his interrogators get a sketch of Söze that looks exactly like Kint. The story was made up from clues around the interrogation room, and Kint/Keyser Söze escapes.
2 Se7en Plays A Cruel Trick On Its Protagonist
Se7en deals with detectives Mills and Somerset on the trail of a serial killer. The killer uses a motif of the Seven Deadly Sins. He finds people he thinks have committed sins and kills them in horrific ways. Mills and Somerset get closer to the killer throughout Se7en.
However, the killer surrenders before they uncover his identity. John Doe, as he's known, offers to take Mills and Somerset to the final two bodies. It looks like the detectives are too late, but once they're out in the desert, Doe reveals the truth. He murdered Mills' wife before surrendering, so Mills kills Doe in anger. This turns Doe into Envy and Mills into Wrath, completing the seven sins.
1 The Planet Of The Apes Is Earth All Along
Planet of the Apes follows human astronaut Taylor, thousands of years in the future. He believes himself to have come to another world, far from Earth, that's ruled by intelligent talking apes. Humans on this planet are depicted as less intelligent, so Taylor's status as an advanced human shocks the society.
Throughout the film, Taylor tries to prove that he's from another world. However, the ending proves him wrong. When exploring the Forbidden Zone, he finds the ruins of the Statue of Liberty. He never left Earth. Instead, mankind wiped themselves out and apes came to rule the world.