Criteria:
Twist must be completely unpredictable
Twist must change the way you see the film upon another viewing
Also: if you haven't seen these films, I urge you to stop reading the list, just scroll to the bottom here the posters are, find out the titles, go watch them, and come back, I do not want you to spoil these movies for yourself.
Oh, and, just to let you know: SPOILER ALERT (duh)
That was the final warning, so I'm just going to get started.
#20: Sinister: Ethan Hawke plays a washed-up true crime novelist, who, when trying to restart his career, moves his family into the home where the previous family was brutally hung from a tree in their backyard. When he discovers a box of home movies in the attic, he uncovers several other brutal family killings throughout the years (in all of which a single child went missing afterward). Over the course of the film, he discovers a link between the murders and an ancient deity named Bughuul, who convinced children to trust him, so he could lure them away from their families, who he would then murder, and consume the child's soul over time. Hawke discovers that the killer of each family may be a cultist who believes in the demonic deity, and discovers the killer drugged the victims, the bound and gagged them so they could not fight back or call for help, which suggests he could not overpower them on his own. In the climax, Hawke finds out too late that the missing child from each murder were the killers themselves, possessed by Bughuul, and that his daughter has been corrupted by Bughuul and she drugs him, and murders him and the rest of her family with an axe, before painting the walls with their blood, and being taken by Bughuul back to his hellish dimension so he can feast upon her soul. The reason I chose this twist because it was so unexpected, and pretty disturbing because creepy kids are always unsettling, but murdering your own family is just a terrifying idea, and it's quite horrifying to see Hawke, who I liked in this movie, butchered by his own sweet daughter, especially after I thought he was safe from Bughuul.
#19: Who Framed Roger Rabbit: In this beloved crime comedy, Bob Hoskins plays a private detective in 1940s Hollywood, where cartoons are real and work alongside live-action humans. He hates "toons" because a villainous one killed his detective brother by dropping a piano on his head. He must take on the titular case of "who framed Roger Rabbit", a popular but somewhat stupid and childish toon star. He uncovers that Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner), Roger's beautiful cartoon wife, may have been cheating on her husband, which propelled him to murder her lover, the owner of Acme Corp. Hoskins uncovers he's innocent, and was framed by Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd), a cold and sadistic villain who wants to wipe out toons with a green waste called "Dip", and the twist is: he is in fact a crazed and terrifying toon himself, with a high-pitched voice and red eyes, the same one who killed Hoskins' brother. Unlike Sinister, the villain gets taken down in the end and the heroes get away, and Roger's name is cleared.
#18: Scream: In this teen thriller-comedy/homage to slasher films, Neve Campbell plays a teenage girl who is being stalked by a psychotic, movie-loving killer in a Halloween mask calling himself Ghostface. Everyone she trusts is a suspect, so she shuts herself off, especially since it's near the one-year anniversary of the rape and murder of her mother, who she was close with. The first twist actually is that Drew Barrymore, an actress who heavily promoted the film and was billed as a main star, is brutally murdered in the opening sequence, similar to Psycho or Nightmare on Elm Street killing the blonde-haired leads early on, revealing that their brunette friends are the real stars. The second plot twist is that Campbell's boyfriend Billy Loomis and his good buddy Steve raped and murdered her mother, framed an innocent man, and have been committing the Ghostface murders. They reveal their plan to kill her and any remaining witnesses and pin it on Campbell's innocent father. Luckily, she and the remaining good guys kill the two psycho teens before they cause any more damage.
#17: Don't Look Now: Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie take a trip to Venice to recover from the traumatizing drowning of their only daughter. Sutherland has been offered a job to renovate and restore a cathedral. During the course of the film, an elderly woman whom they encounter tells the couple she can see their deceased daughter. Meanwhile, Sutherland begins seeing strange and distressing sights, including spotting what appears to be a little girl in a red raincoat similar to the one his daughter died in. In the background of the story, there is a killer on the loose in Venice, committing grisly murders all over the city. In the climax of the story, Sutherland chases the little girl in the raincoat into an abandoned building. He approaches the girl, seeing this as the chance to redeem himself for not being able to save his daughter. The figure in the red coat turns around, revealing an ugly, dwarfish woman with a knife. Sutherland, shocked and confused, realizes too late that this dwarf is the murderer who has been stalking the streets, and the strange sights and nightmares he has been having are premonitions of his death. Not two seconds after he realizes this, he is stabbed to death by the sneering killer.
#16: Shutter Island: The year is 1954: Detective Teddy Daniels travels to Ashecliffe Asylum on Shutter Island near Boston, with his new partner Detective Aule. He is investigating the disappearance of a female patient who drowned her children. As soon as they arrive, the staff begin being aggressive towards the two detectives, and Daniels begins experiencing severe headaches, and he begins experiencing visions of his wife, who was killed by psychotic arsonist Andrew Laeddis, who is also on the island. The more the story goes on, Daniels becomes more and more terrified and paranoid, and begins suspecting Aule is plotting with the hospital staff against him. By the end, Daniels discovers that he and his partner are not actually detectives, and he is Andrew Laeddis, and his name Daniels is an anagram for Laeddis. The doctors reveal that Daniels is a patient, and that he went insane after killing his wife when she snapped and drowned their children. The events of the film were part of a complicated test to break Laeddis' insanity, and the headaches were side-effects of his medication withdrawals. It turns out that the missing patient and Aule were hospital staff, and they were part of the test. Laeddis is overwhelmed, and the doctors tell him they have conducted the test multiple times, and every time he fails, and this is his last chance to break his circular, insane logic before they are forced to lobotomize him. He reverts back into his fantasy of being Daniels, but hints to Aule (or Dr. Sheehan) that he knows who he is, but wants to be lobotomized so he can forget about the death of his crazy wife and innocent kids.
#15: The Wicker Man: Sergeant Howie, an extremely conservative British Christian police officer, is given the case of a girl who went missing on the remote British isle of Summersisle, which has had an abundance of fruit growth until recent times. When he arrives, he discovers that the people may be Pagans and the girl may be dead already. He finds the girl dead, and finds he is stranded on the island, and the people of Summersisle may have used the girl as human sacrifice for a Pagan ritual to help their fruit come back, as the selling of fruit supports their economy. Howie attempts to stop another Pagan ritual led by Lord Summersisle, but realizes too late that not only is the girl alive, but the entire case was to lure Howie, the real Pagan sacrifice, to the island, as he is a pure virgin, a man of authority and honor, who came to the island on his own will. The people of the island dress him in a traditional gown, and the women anoint him with oils as he cries. Howie pleads with Summersisle and his friends, saying that killing him won't do anything about the fruit problem. They, still being cheery and friendly to the officer, ignore his pleas of mercy. He is taken, kicking and screaming to the top of a grassy hill, to a giant "Wicker Man", a human-like statue made of sticks. He is locked inside with several types of animals, and the people of the isle happily sing ancient songs as they set the statue ablaze. Howie, whimpering, begins to frantically pray and chant, singing Bible hymns to prove to God he dies with his faith in tact. The statue burns down, crumbling, and killing Howie.
#14: Unbreakable: In M. Night Shyamalan's taught thriller/supernatural drama, somewhat depressed Bruce Willis discovers he may have superpowers after he survives a brutal train crash that kills everyone else on board. He is approached by Samuel L. Jackson, a somewhat eccentric and intelligent comic book store/fine art gallery owner who suffers from a severe bone disorder that makes his bones as fragile as thin glass. Jackson believes Willis has superpowers, including superhuman strength, durability, and some psychic powers. After Willis finds his purpose in life is to punish criminals in the city, and that his powers include the ability to see the crimes someone's committed by touching them, he attends an exhibition at the art gallery Jackson owns, and greets his kind mother. He talks with Jackson in the back room, now friends with him. Jackson and he shake hands, and Willis sees that Jackson has caused three major accidents, killing hundreds of innocent people, including the tragic train accident Willis survived. Jackson reveals this was part of his quest to find a superhuman like Willis, by causing major accidents, he could weed the normal people from the superheroes. Jackson reveals his purpose in life was to be the arch-villain to Willis' hero, and Willis runs to the police, with Jackson crying with joy at finding his life's purpose.
#13: Saw: In James Wan's twisted and thrilling debut film, two men, who are seemingly complete strangers, wake up in a dirty industrial bathroom, chained to pipes on opposite ends of the room, with a dead body (with a gun and an exit wound in the back of the head) in the center of the dilapidated and filthy room. After finding they are being held hostage by the infamous Jigsaw Killer, they must battle him in a game of wits and morals to escape and save one of the men's families. They also discover they have more ties to each other than they originally thought. For most of the runtime, one of the men (Dr. Gordon) believes Jigsaw to be an orderly at his hospital, a shy, awkward, quiet man named "Zepp" Hindle. When Zepp arrives and attempts to kill the men when their time is up, the men overpower him and brutally kill him. Dr. Gordon, who has cut his foot off, crawls away, promising the other man (Adam) he will bring help. After Gordon escapes, Adam searches Zepp's body, and finds a tape player. The tape reveals Zepp himself was part of the "game", and that he is a Jigsaw victim himself, and Jigsaw used him as a pawn. As it turns out, Jigsaw has been in the men's midst the entire time: he is posing as the dead body in the middle of the room, and the bullet wound is just prosthetics and makeup. The real Jigsaw is actually an ex-patient of Gordon's, who has inoperable brain cancer. Jigsaw leaves poor Adam, who is crying and screaming, to rot and die in the bathroom. Jigsaw turns the light off, leaving the room pitch black, says the phrase "Game Over", and seals the trapped Adam inside forever. Now, the series is known for its crazy twists, but I decided this was the best, as it's so unexpected and mind-blowing. Not only is the best twist, it's the best film in the series.
#12: Soylent Green: Charlton Heston plays a man from a dyspotian future, where the overpopulated and poor people of Earth survive on colored food cubes, the most popular of which is a green ration cube called Soylent Green. Heston investigates a murder at the Soylent Corporation and discovers something terrible: how Soylent intends to keep population under control. This is summed up in one famous line: "Soylent Green is people!!" Heston desperately screams this out to the masses of people surrounding him in the final scene, hopelessly attempting to warn them as he is dragged away at the end of this flick.
#11: A Beautiful Mind: If you know the story of John Nash, Jr., then this was no surprise, if not: this was probably a real shock. John Nash, an eccentric but highly intelligent mathematician from the Southern US, has been best friends with free-spirited Charles Herman since college. He now has a beautiful wife, a great job with his colleagues from college, and a secret job working with the US Government during the 50's "Red Scare". As it turns out, Charles and the job with the Government are all in Nash's head, as he is slowly going insane. This tragic true story make for a great movie, and Paul Bettany's performance as Charles was fantastic, so when I found out he didn't even exist, I was a bit hurt myself.
Tune in next time when I cover the Top 10 Cinema Twists of All Time (personal opinion).
(Images: Wikipedia)
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