A staple in several film genres and several top directors, film plot twists have been used with mixed success over the years. Granted, this whole list might just be M. Night Shyalaman, who himself is a good microcosm of good, bad, and terrible movie twists, but there’s a wider range of him included. Full disclosure, spoilers ahead…
Shutter Island (2010)
Leonardo Di Caprio plays Detective Teddy Daniels, sent to an asylum on a remote island to investigate a crime. Anyone who paid close attention to the trailers would have guessed the twist a mile away, but that didn’t make it any less fun.
The twist: Teddy Daniels is no detective at all. He is the 67th inmate on the island, sent there after murdering his wife. In a more unique method of rehabilitation, the island staff plays a kind of game with the detective side of things in hopes of snapping Daniels out of his madness or he will be lobotomized.
Saw (2004)
A film twist that isn’t hinted at or with any foreshadowing is rare, but it definitely ticks those boxes. Settled in a room with a dead man between them, two men believed to be complete strangers fight to escape.
The twist: The man in the room isn’t dead, in fact, he’s the man who’s incapacitated and locked them away for their own twisted lessons.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The film that started M. Night Shyalaman’s trend of cinematic twists and certainly his finest. Starring Bruce Willis as Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist whose new patient believes he can see dead people.
The twist: Malcolm is dead. In fact, we saw him die in a previous altercation with a house invader we thought he fought off. Over multiple re-watches, you’ll catch so many clues towards this twist that you won’t believe you missed the first time.
Related: Bruce Willis Spotted With Friends For The First Time After Aphasia Interrupted His Career
Fight Club (1999)
A film with an ever-changing storyline, the film begins with an aimless man who finds himself starting a fight club for like-minded men with a new friend of his own. The group then takes it upon itself to fight the capitalist and consumerist ideas on which the world is based, thus becoming terrorists.
The twist: Edward Norton as Narrator and Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden are one and the same. A figment of his imagination, Tyler Durden is everything the narrator wanted to be, and every time we see Tyler, he’s actually the narrator in his place.
We (2019)
Jordan Peele’s second feature film, Us follows a family of four on vacation. As with most movies on this list, things don’t go as planned and things start to go downhill, first with a home invasion and then with a shocking revelation.
The twist: House invaders are family doppelgangers from an underworld where everyone has their own clone. The real twist is that as a child, Lupita Nyongo’s doppelganger switched places with her, and the original little girl spent decades underground planning her revenge.
American Psycho (2000)
In a cult classic, Christian Bale plays the charismatic and horrifying Patrick Bateman. A stockbroker with a penchant for hookers, skincare routines, and business cards, we follow her descent into madness and murder.
The twist: At the end of the film, after killing four police officers and escaping capture, we find Bateman in his office admitting his crimes to his lawyer… except the lawyer thinks it’s a big joke because the one of Bateman’s supposed victims dined with him a few days before. . So, did Bateman commit these murders or not?
Also Read: I Made A Deal With Nolan: Christian Bale Reveals Secret Dark Knight 4 Deal With Christopher Nolan
Remembrance (2000)
Christopher Nolan’s breakthrough feature, Memento is Nolan’s pinnacle. A unique film with a great premise and fantastic storytelling device, Memento tells the story of a man played by Guy Pearce with no short-term memory, constantly reminding himself of his story as he follows his own clues in an effort to find his wife’s killer.
The twist: Guy Pearce’s character was to blame for his wife’s death, having overdosed her on insulin. He was also manipulated by an undercover cop who used him to kill other criminals, claiming he was the person responsible for his wife’s death. Committing to the path that we see culminate at the beginning of the film, he assures that he no longer trusts this cop and therefore will kill him too, thinking that the cop is the killer of his wife.
There are plenty more movies with twists and turns that you can enjoy and leave your jaw dropping, so what other twists did I miss?
I hope you watch the show a little more informed!
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