Warning! This article contains spoilers for the тιтles referenced below.

The twist ending is an art form that, unfortunately, often gets overplayed, but sometimes, a truly spectacular unique twist ending comes along that comes as a total surprise. A happy ending can be positive and heartwarming, and a melancholic ending can cause an audience to be more reflective and thoughtful, but a twist ending can really get stuck in your head. When done right, a twist in a film is not just shocking, but illuminating, as it provides new context to everything that came before.

However, like many of the greatest film tropes, twists sometimes get overplayed, and often there is not enough substance to make them feel like a true payoff. Or, twists can follow an overused formula that makes it feel disingenuous. Despite this, there are still plenty of films that deliver a twist that knocks the audience on their backs.

10

Strange Darling

Strange Darling is a harrowing story that sees a woman being hunted down by a man who appears to be a serial killer. The film is divided into six chapters, and told in a non-linear fashion, with the truth of the situation being slowly unveiled as the movie progresses. What starts out as a cat and mouse chase between a killer and his victim eventually turns out to be much more complex when the woman suddenly kills a man who is trying to help her, and reveals that things are not as they seem.

From that point on, the woman is revealed to be the aggressor, having convinced the man to roleplay, before turning on him and brutally injuring him. This film subverts expectations and the approach to telling the story out of order makes it all the more impactful when the twist is revealed. Certainly one of the most innovative and creative twists so far in the 2020s.

9

The Wasp

Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer put on a masterful performance in this independent British film. Harris plays Heather, a dissatisfied housewife who finds herself in a loveless marriage with a man who has been having an affair behind her back. In frustration, Heather seeks out a girl she once knew in school to aid her in killing her husband, and offers her a substantial amount of money to help. As the twist rolls around, and Carla (Dormer) is revealed to be the other woman, the movie doubles down and has Heather turn on Carla, trapping her and explaining how she knew all along.

But even with both of these twists, the film appears to still follow a common pattern seen in movies of this kind. However, the unique change is how Heather pushes Carla to believe that she killed her husband, and she is intent on killing her next. In an act of self-preservation, Carla kills Heather, just as Simon returns home, and the police arrive. Heather was several steps ahead, having set up the entire conflict, and creating a situation that made Simon and Carla look guilty.

8

The Prestige

Christopher Nolan is well known for his outstanding storytelling and his tendency to approach stories in a non-linear fashion. The Prestige was released when Nolan was still building his reputation as an outstanding award-winning filmmaker. However, it stands out as potentially one of Nolan’s best twists in any film by the talented director. Two competing magicians, played by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, find themselves constantly trying to outperform each other.

However, the most elaborate trick they both seek to create versions of is known as the disappearing man. Bale’s Alfred Borden is revealed to have simply been a twin, and the pair swap with each other to pretend they are the same person. Meanwhile, Jackman’s Robert Angier pursued a much darker method to pull off his trick. With the aid of advanced technology, Angier clones himself each night, but to ensure the trick remains pure, one of the bodies is drowned in order to allow the other to advance.

7

Get Out

Speaking of advanced and terrifying technologies, Get Out is a mind-bending psychological horror film by Jordan Peele that also includes some weird tech. When a young Black man goes with his girlfriend to attend a family gathering, he quickly notices that those attending are behaving strangely. Not only is he the only Black man among a sea of white guests, but the only other people of color behave strangely, and appear to be zombie-like.

As it turns out, the family and locals are in possession of technology that allows them to transfer their consciousness into the minds of others, and they have opted to transfer into younger, stronger bodies, targeting Black people specifically. The movie is a wild ride from start to finish, with the reveals about the girlfriend and her role in recruiting possible candidates making the entire film all the moree terrifying and tense.

6

Oldboy

The original South Korean film from 2003, based on the comic book of the same name, was a masterpiece. The film is an action-packed thriller with dark, gritty crime elements and a spectacularly fast-paced narrative. However, when the twist is revealed late in the film, it comes as a total shock that immediately causes the audience to feel intense discomfort.

The main protagonist, a man named Oh Dae-su, has been imprisoned for 15 years, and now seeks revenge against the man responsible. Along the way, he meets a young woman, Mi-do, who he begins a romantic relationship with. However, in the film’s final act, it is revealed by the antagonist through the use of a pH๏τo album that Mi-do is Dae-su’s daughter, and he had coordinated their relationship. The twist is one of the most disturbing and unique, but it undoubtedly made for a unique narrative.

5

Fight Club

Fight Club is a remarkable film by the incredible David Fincher, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk. The story revolves around an unnamed lead, played by Edward Norton, who meets the incredibly charismatic and engaging Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt. Over the course of the film, Norton’s character undergoes an incredible transformation as he follows Durden’s guidance, eventually becoming a leader in an underground organization that operates like a cult.

The extreme lengths the group go to make for an intense and explosive resolution in the film, but this is overshadowed further by the reveal that the Narrator and Tyler Durden are the same character. Norton’s Narrator believed Durden was a separate person, but after suffering from a mental break, he divided his personality into two, and often engaged in conversations and conflicts between the two.

4

Planet of the Apes

The original 1968 film was a remarkable work of science fiction, depicting a world where ape-like creatures with advanced intelligence were the ruling class. When astronauts land on the planet, they find themselves confronted by this unusual planet and its inhabitants, but they must survive and return home. However, the film’s ending puts a firm stop to that lofty ideal.

Throughout the movie, it is interesting to see a race of highly advanced apes forming governments, and engaging one another. However, most of the movie is spent thinking this is some distant planet. When the astronauts escape their imprisonment, and make a run for their freedom, they stumble upon a discovery that shatters them completely. They spot the Statue of Liberty, partially covered by sand and sea, which confirms that this planet is not some distant world, it was Earth all along.

3

Psycho

Alfred Hitchcock was celebrated over the course of his career and in the decades since his pᴀssing as the Master of Suspense. As Hollywood was coming into formation, and the movie industry became a larger part of peoples’ lives, Hitchcock delivered outstanding stories that took viewers on a wild ride, and left them stunned. And Psycho did that perhaps more than any other film by Hitchcock.

When a young woman steals a vast sum of money from her work in the hopes of starting a new life with her boyfriend, she finds herself in the middle of nowhere, checking in to an old dilapidated motel off the highway. There, she meets a kind, though strange, man who appears to live in fear of his mother. However, the woman only ever sees the mother through the window of the house, where she watches people come and go. The mother eventually attacks the young woman, but it’s at this point that the movie reveals Norman is just dressed as his mother. His actual mother has decayed into a corpse, and Norman is clearly suffering mentally.

2

Saltburn

Saltburn is a wild ride from start to finish, as the unsettling nature of the film keeps the audience on edge. A young man, Oliver, who appears to be struggling financially, becomes enamored by a wealthy boy, Felix, at his university. Through a chance encounter, Oliver becomes a friend of his wealthy peer, and the pair begin spending a lot of time together. Eventually, Felix invites Oliver to spend some time at his family home, a large stately manor, where Oliver begins to make an impression on the family.

The film establishes how this is not Oliver’s world, and the boy is clearly out of place among the wealthy and eccentric individuals he now finds himself living with. However, in the film’s final act, it reveals that Oliver has grand ambitions, and the determination to achieve them, by whatever means necessary. Oliver appears to kill Felix, unravel the dynamics in the home, and eventually manages to take the entire property for himself, revealing that he was covering up a lot of his own life and coordinating a long con.

1

Parasite

Conversely, a film that depicted a similar con with very different results is Parasite. Parasite is a South Korean dark comedy film which follows the Kim family as they seek to elevate their own status. Having struggled financially, the son stumbles into some good fortune when he is hired by a wealthy family to tutor their child. He is paid well, and sees that the family has money to spare. So, he manipulates them to let go of their other staff, and unwittingly hires the other members of his family on his recommendation.

Soon, the entire Kim family is working for the wealthy socialites, and together, they seek to obtain as much of their wealth as possible, and exploit their employers’ kindness. However, the more significant twist comes when they learn that they are not the first people to do so, discovering the former maid’s husband is living under the house, and stealing food. Things devolve in a brilliant and bloody twist as the film ties up its loose ends in a unique and satisfying way.