Warning: Spoilers ahead for 38 movies. And they’re big spoilers. Consider yourself warned!
Seriously, we’re warning you. (We aren’t kidding around in the headline for this piece!)
OK, this is your absolute last warning….
Now that we’ve taken care of that business, let’s dive into the biggest movie plot twists of all time!
“No, I am your father.” “Soylent Green is people!” “Rosebud.” “What’s in the box?” “I see dead people.”
Those are all lines of dialogue related to some of the most shocking revelations in film history. They might have been the clue to the twist, or perhaps they were the twist itself, but either way, they packed a punch with audiences.
In an interview with Jake Hamilton, The Sixth Sense and Split filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan — the master of twist endings — explained his process to creating an impact. “What you’re left with at the end of the movie should tell you what you saw…. When you stick the landing you’re giving them the keys to say, ‘This is how to interpret everything that you watched,'” he said.
Below, take a look at some of the most memorable film twists ever.
Written by Patrick Brzeski, Tyler Coates, Ryan Gajewski, James Hibberd, Hilary Lewis, Kimberly Nordyke, Lexy Perez, Christy Piña, Carly Thomas and Etan Vlessing
'American Psycho' (2000)
Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman is a finance bro by day and serial killer by night in American Psycho. At one point, Bateman confesses all his crimes to his lawyer, but when he approaches the lawyer later in the movie, the latter has no idea what Bateman’s talking about. By the end of the film, audiences are led to believe that all the murders took place in Bateman’s head. —C.P.
'Arrival' (2016)
Talk about time-shifting in a movie. As Dune director Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 sci-fi pic Arrival opens,linguist Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, is grieving the death of her young daughter, Hannah. It turns out that’s no memory, but a vision of her daughter from the future, not the past. That’s because Louise — learning and eventually understanding the language and concept of time held by extraterrestrial visitors — can see and live in the past, present, and future simultaneously. So, despite flashbacks of Louise and her daughter throughout the movie, she knew what was to happen to Hannah in the future all along — that her late daughter was to die before she was born. “Despite knowing the journey, and where it leads, I embrace it,” Louise says at the movie’s end, while the aliens depart Earth to return to space. This movie twist turns tragic with the realization that Ian, Louise’s husband played by Jeremy Renner, asks as they tenderly embrace if she wants to have baby. Louise says yes, even though, at that moment, she knows the late Hannah’s eventual fate. —E.V.
'Atonement' (2007)
Joe Wright’s 2007 film, based on the book of the same name, follows the heartbreaking romance between Keira Knightly’s Cecilia and James McAvoy’s Robbie. A series of misunderstandings cause Cecilia’s sister Briony (played by Saoirse Ronan as a child) to accuse Robbie of rape. He ends up in prison before fighting in World War II. Still viewers see Robbie and Cecilia reunite as Briony tries to apologize to them for what she said. It’s only at the end of the film that viewers realize Robbie and Cecilia’s rekindled romance was a lie. An older Briony (now played by Vanessa Redgrave) is being interviewed about her new semi-autobiographical novel, Atonement, in which she seeks to give Robbie and Cecilia a happy ending despite the fact that they were never able to reunite. Instead, they both die, separately, during the war, Robbie of septicemia (blood poisoning) at Dunkirk and Cecilia months later during a bombing in London. — H.L.
'Coco' (2017)
Coco (Anthony Gonzalez), a 12-year-old boy, goes on a search for his great-great-grandfather after being transported to the Land of the Dead. Thinking his dead relative is famous musician Ernesto de la Cruz, Coco ultimately learns that a skeleton named Héctor, who appears to have no family, is in fact his great-great-grandfather — and Ernesto had poisoned Héctor and stolen his songs, passing them off as his own creations. — K.N.
'Chinatown' (1974)
The film’s ending is among the most memorable in cinematic history, albeit not the most uplifting. Jack Nicholson plays private investigator Jake Gittes, who has been hired by Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) to investigate her husband’s death. Jake discovers that teenager Katherine is not only Evelyn’s sister, but also her daughter, as Evelyn was raped by her father, Noah Cross (John Huston), who is the property developer behind a scheme to control L.A.’s water supply. After a final confrontation with Noah, Evelyn attempts to drive away to protect her daughter but is shot and killed by police, leading Jake’s colleague to deliver the cynical final line: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” — R.G.
'Citizen Kane' (1941)
Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece focused on Charles Foster Kane, a tycoon who was inspired by, among others, real-life media mogul William Randolph Hearst. On his deathbed, Kane utters the word “Rosebud” and dies. Throughout the movie, a reporter takes on the task of discovering who “Rosebud” is, to no avail. But in the final moments of the movie, Kane’s staffers are shown throwing his items into a fire; among them, a sled with the trade name “Rosebud,” a reminder of the day his parents transferred guardianship of an 8-year-old Kane and he was taken from home. —K.N.
'The Crying Game' (1992)
Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Miranda Richardson and Forest Whitaker star in Neil Jordan’s film, set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. Rea plays Fergus, a member of the IRA, who bonds with Jody, a British solder (Whitaker) the group is holding hostage. Jody, realizing death is likely, asks Fergus to find and take care of his girlfriend, Dil (Davidson). He does, and soon begins to fall for her. The twist that had audiences talking comes midway through the movie, when Fergus and Dil get intimate, and Dil reveals herself to be transgender, which she thought Fergus already knew. This revelation initially upsets Fergus before he realizes his love for her. In the end, he takes the fall for Dil when she kills an IRA agent seeking to kill Fergus for not following an order to help assassinate a judge, and goes to prison. Jordan’s film was nominated for best picture, director (Jordan), actor (Rea), supporting actor (Davidson) and editing (Kant Pan), and won the Academy Award for best original screenplay for Jordan. —K.N.
'The Descent' (2005)
Neil Marshall’s 2006 survival horror pic The Descent— about six women exploring a cave, only to be hunted down by humanoid monsters —has two endings. The U.S. movie version has a bloodied Sarah (ShaunaMacdonald)escape the cave and its skeletal remains to commandeer a car and drive away. Once free, a traumatized Sarah pulls to the side of the road and vomits out the window. But a passing truck startles her and Sarah turns to see the frightening image of a bloodied Juno — one of the slain cave explorers and her nemesis — in the passenger seat. Then the movie’s credits roll. But in the U.K. version of The Descent, Marshall has the passing truck wake Sarah from what suddenly becomes only a hallucinatory dream of escape. Now she’s back in the darkened cavern, raising herself from a pile of skeletal bones, with the shrieks of humanoid creatures drawing ever closer. The twist: The U.S. movie has Sarah survive the cavern horror, but the U.K. version has her set to die as the final credits roll. —E.V.
'Donnie Darko' (2001)
The end of Donnie Darko sees Jake Gyllenhaal’s Donnie rewind time and do things differently with his choices. Instead of burning down Jim Cunningham’s (Patrick Swayze) house, which leads to his arrest, Donnie goes back in time and allows himself to die, in order to save his family and Gretchen (Jena Malone). — C.P.
'Fight Club' (1999)
Fight Club follows Edward Norton’s nameless narrator after he befriends a strange man named Tyler, played by Brad Pitt. The two quickly connect, moving in together and beginning a club underneath a bar where people beat each other up. The final moments of Fight Club reveal that Tyler was a figment of the narrator’s imagination, from when he suffered a mental break and created his idea of a perfect alternate self. — C.P.
'Friday the 13th' (1980)
While almost the entire movie follows Jason Voorhees’ slasher storyline, the majority of it is told from the perspective of an unknown person. The final moments reveal that the killer is actually Jason’s mom Pamela, who is avenging her son’s death. —C.P.
'Get Out' (2017)
Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror film begins with a white woman, Rose (Allison Williams), taking her Black boyfriend, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), home to meet her parents. As Chris interacts with two Black household workers and guests at a party, he starts to sense that there’s something off. He ultimately realizes Rose’s family has been surgically transplanting white people’s brains into young Black bodies. But there’s a twist within a twist as Chris, catching wind of something sinister afoot, plans to escape with Rose before she reveals that she’s been in on her family’s plan the whole time. — H.L.
'Gone Girl' (2014)
Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike star in David Fincher’s 2014 adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s best-seller as a seemingly happily married couple. But not everything is as it appears, especially when Pike’s Amy Dunne goes missing and Affleck’s Nick Dunne is a prime suspect. While Nick can appear guilty, it is revealed that Amy is perfectly fine and alive. In fact, Amy plotted to frame Nick for her disappearance as revenge for failing as a husband, giving a new meaning to the saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” The two later share a rather bloody reunion when Amy, covered in blood, purposefully hugs Nick in front of the paparazzi outside their home. Amy then lies to the detectives, framing her ex-boyfriend Desi (portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris) for her kidnapping — she had murdered him as well. Aware of what Amy did, Nick threatens to leave her but she proves to have the last laugh — Amy reiterates that there is not only any evidence to back up claims that she is lying, but also that she’s pregnant with his child, another element of her overall plan. (Amy inseminated herself with the sperm sample he provided to a fertility clinic years prior.) In order to remain a part of his child’s life, Nick decides to stay with Amy, leading them to forever have a dysfunctional, toxic relationship and their version of a happy ending. — L.P.
'Gone Baby Gone' (2007)
Boston-based private investigator Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) helps Helene McCready (Amy Ryan) track down her missing 4-year-old daughter, Amanda, whose beloved doll Mirabelle was also taken. After finding out that Helene has been working as a drug mule, Patrick realizes that the girl was kidnapped by the retired police captain played by Morgan Freeman, who framed Helene’s drug lord boss and hoped to give Amanda a better life. Patrick makes the painful decision to return Amanda to her mom but learns it may have been the wrong choice and that Helene isn’t as caring as she claimed to be, as she didn’t even know the doll’s actual name, Annabelle. — R.G.
‘Last Night in Soho’ (2021)
In Edgar Wright’s film, fashion student Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) attempts to carry on with her student life in London, but ghosts continue to haunt her — literally. Throughout the film, viewers are transported back and forth between two eras, the 1960s and the modern day, as Eloise begins having visions of an aspiring singer named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy). When her visions lead her to become obsessed with Sandie, wanting to be like her (cue the new wardrobe and hair dye), she also learns of Sandie’s deadly dark fate and quickly becomes determined to discover the truth. However, danger lurks closer than she realized (no, really, right downstairs) when she learns that her landlady, Mrs. Collins, is the actual Sandie she has seen in her flashbacks. Mrs. Collins attempts to kill Eloise for discovering her secret: She murdered her manager when she was pimped out by him and killed every man who forced themselves upon her — even hiding their bodies in the walls and floors of the house that has become her own cemetery. —L.P.
'The Matrix' (1999)
Between the special effects and the twist at the heart of this story, audiences were blown away by this groundbreaking film. Thomas Anderson, aka hacker “Neo” (Keanu Reeves), is offered a choice between two pills, one of which will reveal the truth about something called the Matrix. It turns out that humans are living in a simulated reality created by intelligent machines that are harvesting their bioelectric and biothermal energy to keep the machines running — in other words, they’ve become human batteries. —K.N.
'Memento' (2000)
Christopher Nolan’s film is told with two timelines — one in chronological order (in black and white) and the other in reverse order (in color) —that come together at the end to reveal the full picture. It tells the story of Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), a man who suffers from short-term memory loss and cannot form new memories, and his quest for vengeance against the men who attacked him and raped and killed his wife (Jorja Fox). He must rely on tattoos (on his own body), notes, help from people he may not be able to trust and Polaroid pictures as he tries to solve the crime. In the end, it turns out that Leonard actually got his revenge more than a year earlier, and a corrupt cop named Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) has been taking advantage of his memory loss to manipulate him and basically use him as a hitman. Before he can forget his discovery, Leonard creates clues for himself that will later lead him to Teddy to exact his revenge. Mementoreceived two Oscar noms, for best original screenplay and best film editing. —K.N.
'Oldboy' (2003)
The movie that did more to put Korean cinema on the global map than anything before, Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy features both an unforgettable, single-shot fight scene — the film’s star, the inimitable Choi Min-sik, battling dozens of thugs down a corridor while wielding only a claw-tooth hammer — and one of the most deviously sad*stic twists in movie history. In a searing climax that entails the protagonist cutting his own tongue out with a pair of scissors, we learn that our hero was falsely imprisoned for decades and manipulated into falling in love and committing incest with his own adult daughter, the movie’s love interest up until this final, devastating moment. And it was all an act of revenge by a childhood classmate, whom the hero exposed decades ago of having an incestuous sexual relationship with his sister. Depravity — and, double yuck! — P.B.
'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' (2019)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in three different time frames, tells the stories of aging actor Rick, his driver and former stuntman Cliff and up-and-coming actress Sharon Tate’s marriage to Roman Polanski. The film ends in August 1969 — which in real life is when Sharon, her friend Jay Sebring and three others were brutally murdered by the Manson Family — but Quentin Tarantino’s take on the historical story leaves Tate alive and happy. —C.P.
'The Others' (2001)
Nicole Kidman stars as Grace Stewart, a mother living with her two young children in a large, isolated home along the coast of France in the 1950s. After periodically seeing strange visitors, Grace becomes convinced that the house is haunted. However, it is finally revealed that Grace is actually the one haunting the estate, as she had previously killed her children and herself, and the visitors are really the abode’s new owners. — R.G.
'Parasite' (2019)
The 2020 best picture Oscar winner focuses on two families: the wealthy Parks and poor Kims, who infiltrate the rich enclave by taking on a number of household jobs for their affluent counterparts. The twist comes when the Parks’ former housekeeper returns and reveals that her husband has been living in a secret bunker under the Park house for years. Near the end of the film, the husband escapes, sparking a chain of violence that ends with the Kim patriarch stabbing the Park father and running away. Later, it’s revealed that the Kim father ran into the bunker, where he’s been hiding from the police. After his son learns of his father’s whereabouts, he proclaims that he’ll make enough money to buy the house, now occupied by a German family, so the two can reunite. And there’s even a scene of the two of them doing so before viewers are snapped back to the Kims’ half-basem*nt apartment where the son is writing a letter detailing these goals. It becomes clear that his dream won’t come true. — H.L.
'Planet of the Apes' (1968)
When a crew of astronauts crashes their spaceship on a distant planet, they quickly learn it’s inhabited by intelligent apes, with humans being held captive and experimented on. In the film, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, the remaining crewmembers fight for their lives only to later learn the planet isn’t mysterious at all – it’s actually Earth in the future. — C.T.
'The Prestige'(2006)
Often underrated among Christopher Nolan’s films, 2006’s The Prestige wove a twisty tale of dueling magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) in late-19th century London. For a story about two illusionists, it was only appropriate the film’s ending had two twists, with each man revealing his fateful secret: Jackman’s Angier was killing countless clones of himself in order to pull off his greatest stage trick, while Bale’s Borden had a twin brother hiding in plain sight whom he used to accomplish a similar act. Their rivalry and respective secrets came at tragic costs and, like most movies with great plot twists, have inspired fans to rewatch the film which plays rather differently upon second viewing. — J.H.
'Primal Fear' (1996)
Richard Gere plays a defense attorney who specializes in winning cases for high-profile clients based on legal technicalities. He takes on the case of Aaron Stampler (Edward Norton), a teenage altar boy accused of killing an archbishop, offering to defend him pro bono because of his confidence in Aaron’s innocence. Aaron, who has a stutter, is diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder after years of abuse. After the judge decides Aaron is not guilty by reason of insanity, Aaron reveals to the attorney that he faked the whole thing — from the stutter to the dissociative identity disorder —and in fact murdered the archbishop along with his own girlfriend. —K.N.
'Psycho'(1960)
Director Alfred Hitchco*ck’s horror masterpiece had two twists, but the first was so shocking that the 1960 film can still deliver a jolt today. Psycho killed off its protagonist, Janet Leigh’s Marion Crane, at the end of the film’s first act. Moviegoers reportedly screamed and even bolted for the theater exits; Crane wasn’t merely killed, but butchered in a creepy motel shower amid a flurry of knife stabs by a shadowy figure. The three-minute scene is a masterpiece of sleight-of-hand editing to appease censors, requiring 60 camera setups and a week to shoot. It also completely upended the film’s narrative, leading viewers to search for a new protagonist. Psycho’s anybody-can-die twist was like something out of Game of Thrones, except five decades earlier. The film then delivered its second twist at the end when sympathetic momma’s boy loner Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) was revealed to be the killer. — J.H.
'Saw' (2004)
In the cult classic, Adam and Dr. Cordon are kidnapped, tortured and forced to play twisted games in a bathroom with a corpse in the middle of the room, allegedly all organized by a man named Zep. When Adam kills Zep, it seems like the movie is over, until the corpse on the floor awakes, and it turns out he was the one behind it all. —C.P.
'Secret Window' (2004)
Based on Stephen King’s novella Secret Window, Secret Garden, David Koepp’s film stars Johnny Depp as Mort, a mystery writer who retreats to his lake cabin after learning his wife, Amy, is having an affair. Months later, a man named John Shootershows up at the cabin and accuses Mort of plagiarizing his story, becoming harassing and threatening toward Mort. During the course of the film, Shooter blocks evidence that would prove Mort’s innocence, while Mort’s dog, a local resident and a private investigator hired by Mort turn up dead, with Shooter framing Mort for the murders of the latter two. In the end, Mort realizes that Shooter is a figment of his imagination due to his mental health issues; as “Shooter” takes over control of Mort, he kills Ted, and Amy realizes the name Shooter actually means “Shoot Her.” But the revelation comes too late, and Mort kills her, too. (The ending differs from the novella, in which Mort dies but Tied and Amy live.) — K.N.
'Seven' (1995)
“What’s in the booooox!?” Anybody who’s seen David Fincher’s 1995 serial killer opus still has the wail of Brad Pitt’s anguished Detective Mills somewhere in their mind just waiting to be recalled with a shudder. As the film’s moral compass, Morgan Freeman’s Detective Somerset, bluntly warns near the start of the film’s third act, “This isn’t going to have a happy ending.” And it sure didn’t, did it? Angelic Gwyneth Paltrow’s head in a box perfectly completed psycho killer John Doe’s (Kevin Spacey) Seven Deadly Sins murder tableau, but during production studio New Line reportedly didn’t want to use the ultra-dark ending. Thankfully, the studio and Fincher eventually agreed that writer Andrew Kevin Walker’s script was so tightly constructed that any major compromise would have broken the story’s structure (sorry, Gwyneth!).— J.H.
'Shutter Island' (2010)
Shutter Island follows Leonardo DiCaprio’s Edward “Teddy” Daniels, a U.S. marshal who is investigating the psychiatric facility on the mysterious island. At the end of the film, it’s revealed that Edwards is actually an inmate at the facility, who was committed after murdering his wife because she killed their children. —C.P.
'The Sixth Sense' (1999)
“I see dead people.” The truth was right there all along, but it still came as a shock to unsuspecting audiences. Haley Joel Osment plays a boy who can see ghosts. Coming to his aid is Malcolm (Bruce Willis), a child psychologist who had been shot months earlier during a home invasion. At the end of the movie, Malcolm returns home to his wife, who is asking why he left her. Noticing that she has his wedding ring in her hand — and not on his finger — he realizes he didn’t survive the shooting and has been dead all these months. —K.N.
'Soylent Green' (1973)
Set in 2022, the dystopian sci-fi film centers on Detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigating the murder of a board member for the Soylent Corporation, known for producing wafers called Soylent Green on which humans subsist. By the end of the movie, Robert realizes that the murder stemmed from the company’s big secret — that the food item is actually made from human corpses — leading Heston to shout the enduring catchphrase, “Soylent Green is people!” — R.G.
'Split' (2016)
James McAvoy plays a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder, who has 23 different personalities and a secret one called the Beast, who finally comes out in the third act and is a mythical, murderous being. But the biggest plot twist comes after the end credits title card, with Bruce Willis reprising his Unbreakable role of David Dunn, making Split the secret sequel no one expected. — C.P.
'Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back' (1980)
During a battle with Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker finally learns the truth about dear ole dad. Trying to convince Luke to join forces (pun intended) with him, Vader tells him: “Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.” Replies Luke, “He told me enough. He told me you killed him.” Then Vader delivers one of the most memorable lines in cinematic history: “No. I am your father.” — K.N.
'Tully' (2018)
In Jason Reitman’s 2018 dramedy —his third feature with Oscar-winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody and the pair’s second collaboration with star Charlize Theron following Young Adult —Marlo (Theron) is in the throes of postpartum depression after the birth of her third child with her husband, Drew (Ron Livingston). Overwhelmed by her kids and at the end of her rope, Marlo finds a guardian angel in a night nanny named Tully (Mackenzie Davis), paid for by Marlo’s wealthy brother. Tully’s presence livens the household, with Marlo once again free to engage with herself and her family. The big reveal, however, comes after Marlo experiences a mental breakdown — and it turns out her supernanny was a figment of her imagination due to extreme exhaustion. — T.C.
'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2' (2012)
In the final installment of the Twilight saga, directed by Bill Condon, the Cullens have one last fight on their hands. After the birth of Bella and Edward’s child, they must gather other vampires to protect her from the Volturi that’s coming after her due to false allegations. Once they arrive, several Cullen family members and friends die in the battle — or so it seems. The fight scene ends up being just one of Allison’s visions. —C.T.
‘Us’ (2019)
In the opening scene of Jordan Peele’s film, viewers watch as a young Adelaide wanders away from her family at the beach into a carnival maze, where she unexpectedly meets her doppelgänger “Red.” Years later, when adult Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) returns to the maze with her family, she is confronted once again by her doppelgänger, only this time she learns the truth about her identity. While viewers may have believed Adelaide was traumatized from the event in her childhood, it is revealed that when the two girls originally met, they switched places. But this isn’t a Parent Trap fun switcheroo because the real Adelaide is kidnapped, with Red replacing her in her old life. Meanwhile, underground Red has plotted her revenge and becomes the leader of an uprising of the underground people where they kill their human doppelgängers and unite to re-create the public fundraising event Hands Across America from the 1980s. —L.P.
'The Usual Suspects' (1995)
Who is Keyser Söze? Throughout the film, viewers learn that this mysterious, unseen crime lord is the one pulling the strings behind the job that led to a massacre at the movie’s start. However, once con man Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey in his first Oscar-winning role) is finally finished getting interrogated, it dawns on the audience and the customs agent played by Chazz Palminteri that Kint — who has just walked out of the precinct, suddenly sans limp — is actually Söze. Indeed, all the names and locations from his fictional story were taken from words that can be found throughout the interrogation room. — R.G.
'Wild Things' (1998)
Twist-a-palooza! John McNaughton’s film had them in spades. Starring Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon, Neve Campbell and Denise Richards, Wild Things starts out with a high school guidance counselor (Dillon) being accused of rape by first one student (Richards) and then another (Campbell), which is when Officer Duquette (Bacon) gets involved. It turns out they are all working in concert to scam a multimillion-dollar payout from Richards’ wealthy family, but they end up double-crossing each other. It’s truly a “wild” ride featuring one double-cross after another (The Ringer counted 12 in the span of the 108-minute film) in which the least likely person ends up being the mastermind behind the whole thing, and the other three end up dead. — K.N.
