A technique beloved by many of Hollywood’s best directors, a great twist can make or break a movie. However, while these jaw-dropping moments can undoubtedly serve to elevate the quality, influence, and memorability of the wider film, that’s not to say that they won’t land with a harrowing emotional impact in the process. Cinema has played host to some of the nastiest narrative curveballs conceivably imaginable over the years, movie twists that are designed to devastate their audience.

Taking the form of bombshells specifically crafted to make the film’s story more tragic, horrifying, or just generally upsetting, these heartbreaking twists serve as the cinematic embodiment of a sucker punch, gleefully primed to detonate on the chin of any unsuspecting audience member who has let their guard down. Expertly lulling their viewers into a false sense of security, many of cinema’s best movies have delighted in booting the chair out from beneath their unsuspecting audience with virtually no warning.

10

The Body Was Alive The Whole Time

Saw (2004)

While it’s decidedly not the finest movie that the genre has to offer, James Wan’s Saw still makes for essential horror movie viewing, not least of all for a deviously nasty twist during the film’s endgame. Kicking off the Saw franchise, 2004’s original installment sees two strangers awaken chained to pipes in a dilapidated bathroom next to a ᴅᴇᴀᴅ body, where they discover that they are prisoners of the depraved serial murderer known as the Jigsaw Killer.

Unfortunately, it gets even worse; the killer has been in the room with them the whole time. As Saw reaches its heart-pounding climax following Lawrence Gordon’s impromptu leg surgery, the “corpse” suddenly reanimates to reveal itself as none other than John Kramer himself. Tobin Bell’s charge then gleefully informs Leigh Whannell’s Adam that he accidentally disposed of the key to his own chains earlier in the movie, locking him in the bathroom with no company but this desolating revelation, before leaving him to die screaming. Yikes.

9

John Doe’s Endgame

Se7en (1995)

Chronicling a twisted array of serial murders based on Christianity’s seven ᴅᴇᴀᴅly sins, David Fincher’s Se7en frequently leaves viewers speechless with horror by the time the credits roll. While the 1995 crime thriller is now notorious for possessing one of cinema’s most appalling twist endings, the shock factor when the movie’s conclusion initially played out was enough to send most viewers to therapy. Depicting the twisted endgame of “John Doe,” Fincher ties up his story with the most traumatic rug pull imaginable.

Driven to a specific location in exchange for the location of the “envy” and “wrath” victims, Kevin Spacey’s killer reveals that he envied Detective Mills’ pregnant wife, before a box is delivered to the scene by courier containing her severed head. As Doe gleefully taunts Brad Pitt’s devastated charge into executing him, the pair become the embodiment of the final sins, bringing the killer’s abhorrent game full circle and wrapping up one of popular culture’s most soul-destroying twists.

8

Malcolm Crowe Is ᴅᴇᴀᴅ

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The moment that cemented M. Night Shyamalan’s reputation as cinema’s most notorious twist master, The Sixth Sense’s final narrative bombshell is a front-runner for popular culture’s most iconic reveal. Starring action icon Bruce Willis as Malcolm Crowe, a psychologist whose young patient can see and talk to ghosts, the 1999 psychological horror lulls its audience into a false sense of security before kicking their chairs out from under them with its final seismic development.

The Sixth Sense’s ending reveals that Malcolm actually died in a home invasion at the beginning of the movie. Willis’ charge has been one of Cole Sear’s “ᴅᴇᴀᴅ people” all along, while his apparent estrangement from his wife, Anna, is actually her grieving his demise. One of cinema’s most moving, bittersweet, and ultimately cathartic conclusions, Crowe makes the heartbreaking realization that he was the only one who could help this young boy, but he had to die and break his wife’s heart in order to do so.

7

Jenny Realizes She Has Been Rescued By The Killers’ Parents

Eden Lake (2008)

Doubling as one of the scariest horror movie endings of all time, 2008’s Eden Lake’s signature twist is enough to leave most viewers curled in a ball clutching their knees to their chest. Following a young couple as they are hunted through the English countryside by a gang of murderous youths, Kelly Reilly’s Jenny apparently makes her getaway in the movie’s closing act after her boyfriend is brutally killed, only to be brought crashing back down to earth in the most brutal of fashions.

James Watkins cruelly leads his audience into ᴀssuming Jenny has found refuge after crashing her escape vehicle, only to reveal that her purported rescuers are actually none other than the parents of her tormentors. The youths blame the day’s murders on Jenny, who is dragged away to another room by their parents and killed off-screen as she howls in despair. Simply put, this twist is unabashed nightmare fuel.

6

Dae-Su Discovers Mi-do Is His Daughter

Oldboy (2003)

A triumphantly harrowing piece of South Korean cinema, 2003’s Oldboy is one of the most disturbing psychological thrillers ever made, following Choi Min-sik’s Oh Dae-su as he attempts to uncover the idenтιтy of the man who locked him in a mysterious room for 15 years. Boasting a deviously nasty plot twist, Park Chan-wook’s movie is notorious for one of the most disturbing revelations ever brought to life on the silver screen, as Dae-su discovers the chilling truth behind his tormentor’s motivations.

Oldboy’s ending unveils the full extent of chief villain Lee Woo-jin’s depraved revenge. Yoo Ji-Tae’s charge reveals that he used hypnosis to engineer the romantic relationship between Dae-su and his love interest, Mi-do, but it gets even worse from there; she’s actually none other than his own daughter. It’s such a devastating twist that Dae-su is implied to remember the horrific reality, even after he has the memories removed by a hypnotist in an attempt to preserve his sanity.

5

James Is Stuck In An Eternal Time Loop

12 Monkeys (1995)

Culminating in one of the most terrifying sci-fi movie endings of all time, 12 Monkeys’ final twist consтιтutes one of cinema’s most unforgiving conclusions. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where 99% of the planet’s population has been wiped out by a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly virus, Terry Gilliam’s film follows James Cole, a former prison inmate sent back in time to prevent the disease’s outbreak. Bruce Willis’ charge is constantly plagued by mysterious visions along the way, foreshadowing one of the genre’s most morbid twists.

Attempting to chase down the virus’ carrier at an airport, Cole is sH๏τ and killed by security as a child in the crowd watches on, revealing the source of his visions in the process. The boy is none other than a younger version of himself, blissfully unaware of the fact that he is witnessing his own demise. Unsurprisingly, the sickening realization that Cole is locked in an eternal time loop, doomed to live out his failure to prevent the end of the world on repeat, is too devastating for words.

4

Shiloh Has Been ᴅᴇᴀᴅ All Along

Fall (2022)

Much like the wider movie was designed to give its audiences vertigo, Fall’s signature twist was designed to devastate its audience. Chronicling the plight of Becky and Hunter, two friends who become stranded at the top of a 2,000-foot-tall radio tower after a climb gone wrong, things were already looking pretty horrific for the unfortunate pair before the 2022 psychological survival-thriller revealed they were actually a lot worse.

After a series of failed escape attempts, Becky is revealed to have been hallucinating Hunter’s presence all along; her friend fell to her death on a lower platform in an earlier attempt to reach a backpack full of equipment. Not only is Becky still in her nightmarish predicament, but she’s been alone and delirious the entire time. While Grace Currey’s charge eventually manages to make it safely back down to earth by the time the movie ends, the revelation of Hunter’s death remains an absolute gut-punch of a twist.

3

The Rescuers Have The Wrong Coffin

Buried (2010)

A claustrophobic thriller of the highest order, 2010’s Buried remains one of Ryan Reynolds’ best performances to this day. The ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool star plays Paul Conroy, a hostage who is buried alive in a wooden coffin after being captured by terrorists. Armed with only a cellphone and a Zippo lighter, Conroy must engineer his escape before time runs out. Tragically, he appears to have done just that, only for director Rodrigo Cortés to unveil one of the 21st century’s nastiest cinematic twists.

As the coffin fills with sand, rescue appears to be imminent before Cortés whips the rug out from beneath his audience in devastating fashion. Reynolds’ charge calls his wife to tell her that everything is going to be alright, only for his purported liberators to make the soul-cleaving discovery that they are at the wrong grave. Conroy has mere seconds for the horror of his reality to sink in before he suffocates to death, concluding the movie and one of cinema’s most excruciating twists.

2

Calvin Makes It To Earth

Life (2017)

Chronicling the murderous rampage of a predatory extra-terrestrial jarringly dubbed “Calvin” aboard the ISS, Daniel Espinosa’s Life is a criminally underrated outer space horror movie. Earning largely positive reviews, the director’s nerve-jangling game of cat-and-mouse culminates with a gloriously unpleasant curveball. Remarkably for a sci-fi horror number, the 2017 movie’s twist isn’t violent or graphic, but still evokes a sensation of complete despair nonetheless.

An attempt to launch Calvin into space backfires in spectacular fashion after the station’s escape pods collide with debris, essentially swapping their courses. Rebecca Ferguson’s Miranda North is left to sail into the oblivion of deep space until her oxygen supply runs out, while Jake Gyllenhaal’s David Jordan crashes down on Earth with Calvin still in tow, presumably heralding the end of the world. To make matters worse, Espinosa waits until the last possible minute to confirm this horrifying bombshell, compounding the sense of sheer horror that suddenly envelops the viewers like icy water.

1

Robbie And Cecilia Died In The War

Atonement (2007)

Based on Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name and housing one of cinema’s most heartbreaking reveals, Atonement’s final twist has been reducing viewers to tears since Joe Wright’s war-drama debuted in 2007. The movie follows the harrowing aftermath of false Sєxual ᴀssault allegations just before WWII breaks out, a case of mistaken idenтιтy that sees James McAvoy and Keira Knightley’s young lovers, Robbie and Cecilia, torn apart by a lie told by Cecilia’s younger sister, Saoirse Ronan’s Briony.

Recounting her experiences in the тιтular autobiographical novel, Atonement eventually reveals that Briony is a devastatingly unreliable narrator. Audiences duly learn that the portion of her story chronicling Robbie and Cecilia’s eventual reunion was entirely fabricated; in reality, Robbie died at Dunkirk, while Cecilia perished in the Balham Tube Station bombing. Ronan’s charge never atoned for her younger mistake, leaving her no recourse but a ficтιтious happy ending as penance. A twist specifically designed to devastate you, Atonement’s final flourish is enough to reduce a statue to tears.