Movie twists in the 1990s became a huge thing thanks to big releases like The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, and Seven. These movies lived and died with the twists and either made the films instantly re-watchable to find the clues, or made people not want to see them again, even while declaring them modern-day masterpieces. However, getting past those movies that everyone mentions when discussing twist endings, there were several other films that had memorable twists, some coming years before the popular ones that remain talked about today.

These movies also come in a variety of genres. While most films with great twist endings are normally horror movies like The Sixth Sense or thrillers like Seven, there are also several that are science fiction releases and even some mystery dramas that drop the twist at the end that no one saw coming. There is always the chance that the movie twist becomes too much of a gimmick, which M. Night Shyamalan learned during his career, but when done right, a movie with a twist ending can provide viewers with a shocking moment they will never forget.

10

The Game (1997)

A Man’s Brother Buys Him A Twisting Game

David Fincher shocked the world with the twist in his movie Fight Club, but this wasn’t the first time that he threw a game-changing twist at the audience. In 1997, he had a movie whose entire premise was based on a twist. Michael Douglas stars as Nicholas, an investment banker who is very successful but doesn’t have much to be happy about outside his business life. His estranged brother Conrad (Sean Penn) shows up and gives him a “game” for his birthday.

Soon after this game starts, people try to kill him. Nicholas does not know what is real and what isn’t, but the twist is that the game is real, and everything that happens in the movie isn’t. The Game received mixed to positive reviews and the critics who praised it did so thanks to the way the shocking twist ending played out. Even star Michael Douglas said that he loved the movie’s twist because “you could not guess the ending” (via Collider).

9

Primal Fear (1996)

An Attorney Represents A Man With An Alternate Personality

It seems almost hard to believe that Primal Fear was Edward Norton’s first movie role. That is because he carries things in this movie as a 19-year-old altar boy named Aaron standing trial for the murder of a beloved archbishop. Aaron is a stuttering young man who has no memory of the murder, although he admits he might have done it. His attorney, Martin (Richard Gere), learns that Aaron has a split personality who goes by the name Roy, who committed the murder in defense of Aaron, who the archbishop Sєxually ᴀssaulted.

The twist in this movie was that Aaron did not have a split personality at all. The biggest shock was that Martin didn’t figure this out until he got Aaron found not guilty by reason of insanity and Aaron slipped up while talking to him. After that, Roy said that it was Aaron who wasn’t real and Martin had to leave, knowing that while he won, he also lost in the end.

8

Twelve Monkeys (1995)

A Prisoner Is Sent To The Past To Save His World

Terry Gillian directed the science fiction thriller Twelve Monkeys in 1995. Bruce Willis stars as James Cole, a prisoner in 2035 living in an underground compound in a world where a virus has wiped out most humanity. The authorities offer him a chance for a reduced sentence if he travels back in time, thanks to new technolog,y to find out more about the group that allegedly released the virus known as the Army of the 12 Monkeys. Meanwhile, Cole has nightmares about a shooting he witnessed at an airport as a child.

The movie has little to do with the twist, as it is mostly about figuring out if the Army of the 12 Monkeys had anything to do with the virus, and if so, what they used, so scientists in the future can find a cure. However, the twist helps wrap up Cole’s story. The last scene shows why he has been having these nightmares with the twist that as a child, he witnessed police gunning him down as an adult, and the younger version of Cole locks eyes with himself as he dies in the airport.

7

Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

A Vietnam Vet Finds Himself Haunted By Demons

Jacob’s Ladder is a 1990 psychological horror movie by Adrian Lyne that stars Tim Robbins as Jacob Singer, a Vietnam veteran who returns home after a traumatic attack. In 1979, he works as a postal worker and lives in a rundown New York apartment but he has nightmares and clearly deals with PTSD while having visions of daemonic creatures trying to kill him. When he has a psychic reading that says he is already ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, he believes he is in great danger.

The twist here came out of nowhere when the movie was released, and it remains one of the most shocking in any horror movie. The last scene in the film has a man explaining to Jacob that the American military gave the soldiers in his troop a dose of an experimental drug, which caused them to turn on each other. The Jacob’s Ladder twist is that Jacob never returned from the Vietnam War. Instead, he was stabbed in an attack and died in 1971, so everything that happened was in his final dying dream.

6

The Devil’s Advocate (1997)

A Young Attorney Works For The Devil

The Devil’s Advocate is a movie that follows what the тιтle suggests. Keanu Reeves is Kevin Lomax, a Florida attorney who has never lost a case, even when he knows his client is guilty. He soon piques the attention of a prestigious New York City law firm whose head of the firm, John Milton (Al Pacino), offers Kevin a spot with the company. However, soon Kevin’s wife starts having nightmares, and he eventually realizes that his new boss is actually the Devil.

The first twist ending is played out with hints, including one moment where Kevin puts his finger into holy water and watches it boil. In the end, Kevin learns Milton is his father, and he is the son of Satan, the only person his mother ever slept with before becoming a Christian fundamentalist. The biggest twist, though, came at the end when it turns out everything was a dream for Kevin, except for when he changes into Milton at the end and speaks directly to the viewers. It remains highly entertaining, even if it is slightly over-melodramatic.

5

The Faculty (1998)

A Group Of High School Students Realize Their Teachers Have Become Replaced By Aliens

The Faculty is a horror movie that has a monstrous cast of known actors, many young in their careers, and is also the only time Robert Rodriguez directed anything for a studio. A group of students (played by Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Josh Hartnett, Usher, Elijah Wood, and more) learn the school faculty (played by Salma Hayek, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, and Jon Stewart) has been replaced by aliens. It plays out similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but with a twist.

The Faculty is more about the teens finding the “Queen” of the alien race and defeating her to save their school. This leads to the big twist in the movie. With so many name actors playing the faculty, it turns out it wasn’t any of them who was the Queen. Instead, it was one of the teens (played by Laura Harris) and the kids had to defeat one of their friends if they wanted to survive. It was a nice twist that subverted the idea that authority figures were evil, and it helped the movie rise to cult classic status.

4

Funny Games (1997)

Two Young Men Torture A Couple

Sometimes, a twist in a movie can polarize the audience. A director might have an idea and then pull it out at the end and half the audience will immediately turn on the film and reject it outright because the twist didn’t work for them. However, another half of the audience will say that the twist made the movie so great. This happened in 1997 with Funny Games. Michael Haneke directed the project based on his own script, about two young men who hold a family hostage and torture them with sadistic games.

The entire film is nihilistic and cruel, and it never lets up. However, the terrifying twist ending sends it over the line, because it shows that nothing the couple could have done could have saved their lives. They actually kill one of their kidnappers, and it seems they will get away. However, the other kidnapper breaks the fourth wall and uses a remote control to rewind the movie and save his friend so they can kill the couple and win. The movie was an ᴀssault on the audience and that is what this twist represented.

3

Lone Star (1996)

A Sheriff Investigates A Cold Case Of A Former Sheriff

Lone Star is a neo-Western movie from 1996 that has mostly become forgotten over the years. Directed by John Sayles, a sheriff named Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) in a small South Texas town looks into the decades-old murder of one of his predecessors, a corrupt sheriff (played by Kris Kristofferson) who helped make Sam’s recently deceased dad, Buddy (Matthew McConaughey), a local hero for supposedly driving him off. Meanwhile, Sam has reconnected with an old flame from his teen years, named Pilar (Elizabeth Peña).

The movie is about Sam’s investigation into the decades-old murder and how it might actually connect with his father. However, the revelation of who killed the old sheriff is just solving the mystery. The actual twist comes after that. The movie ends with Sam and Pilar realizing that Buddy cheated with Pilar’s mother and the two of them are actually half brother and sister. It was a shocking twist, made even more controversial when they kept it a secret and remained together romantically.

2

Presumed Innocent (1990)

A Prosecutor Is Arrested & Charged With Murder

Harrison Ford appeared in more than one film where he played someone accused of murder despite being innocent. While the most popular version of this story came in The Fugitive, he appeared in another movie with the same theme three years earlier. In Presumed Innocent, Ford plays Rusty, a prosecuting attorney who ends up arrested when his colleague ends up raped and murdered. However, when he tries to maneuver things to eliminate the mention of him having an affair with the woman, he ends up arrested for the crime.

There are a lot of moving parts to this mystery, with plenty of twists and turns in the case. In the end, the court case ended up being dropped when key evidence disappeared and the judge decided there was a lack of motive, which also had a hint of corruption, since the judge also had an affair with the deceased woman. However, the biggest twist of the film came at the end with Rusty, cleared of all charges, learning his wife was the actual killer – and he kept that secret to protect his child’s mother.

1

Arlington Road (1999)

A Man Tries To Stop A Terrorist Attack

Arlington Road has one of the most shocking twists of any 1990s movie because it came at the very end and left audiences shell-shocked at what the film pulled off. Directed by Mark Pellington, Jeff Bridges stars as Michael Faraday, a history professor who specializes in terrorism after his FBI agent wife died in the line of fire. He lives in a small neighborhood in Virginia where he meets new neighbors, Oliver (Tim Robbins) and Cheryl (Joan Cusack). However, he soon suspects Oliver is a homegrown terrorist.

This leads to the shocking twist ending that left many viewers hating the movie, while others loved it for subverting what anyone thought was going to happen. Michael was right about Oliver, but it was all a trap. When he raced to find the planted explosives to stop the explosion at the FBI headquarters, he didn’t realize Oliver put the bomb in Michael’s truck. The truck explodes and the press labels Michael as a terrorist, while Oliver and Cheryl freely leave to plan their next attack. Arlington Road had big ideas all playing into that shocking twist ending.

Sources: Collider