We all love a plot twist at the end of the movie. Nobody sees them coming and it completely changes how we see the movie. Here is a list of the top five best movie plot twists out there. Before I even start anything however, SPOILER ALERT!!!!
#5: The Village (2004)
While director M. Night Shyamalan has been known to try and force unneeded plot twists, this is one of the few that actually worked out. The Village focuses on a secluded group of 19th century villagers that are surrounded by a mysterious forest. Inside the forest, there are strange monsters that lurk and attack those who try to venture outside it.
As it turns out, The Village is actually set in modern times. Some of the oldest members of the community secluded themselves from the world in an attempt to cleanse humanity and didn’t want any of the younger members leaving the group.
#4: The Sixth Sense (1999)
Okay, so I guess lightning can strike twice for Shyamalan as The Sixth Sense also had one of the best twist endings out there. We follow a young boy who can see ghosts and his psychiatrist, played by Bruce Willis, who helps him deal with it. As the movie goes on, the boy slowly comes to terms with his dilemma, but we learn that his psychiatrist has actually been dead the whole time. (http://bit.ly/19hzDic sorry for the poor quality) Shyamalan has tried and failed countless times to recreate the success of The Sixth Sense over and over again and we are getting a little tired of it.
#3: Psycho (1960)
While it may be commonplace in today’s movie culture, Psycho was the first time that a villain in a horror movie was suffering from a multiple personality disorder. Everybody assumed that it was Mrs. Bates who was the killer when it really was Norman dressed as his mother; he even had a taxidermy made of her dead body (http://bit.ly/1b8tmpT). This Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece had the first real plot twist that stood out in movie history. It will be a long time before anybody forgets about it too!
#2: Planet of the Apes (1968)
While Hollywood is drooling over the recent remakes leading up to Planet of the Apes, almost nobody will be as surprised by the twist ending as they were for the original. In an attempt to escape a planet where apes rule and the few humans left are merely hunted for sport, George Taylor (Charlton Heston) has finally gotten away from the apes and is looking for a way home. Here is what happens instead: http://bit.ly/Xg3iCF
Along with Psycho, Planet of the Apes was the second huge plot twist that remains a huge part of pop-culture.
Honorable Mention:
The Usual Suspects (1995): Kevin Spacey is Keyser Soze
Now You See Me (2013): Mark Ruffalo’s character set the whole thing up
SE7EN (1999): Brad Pitt’s wife is the final victim
The Prestige (2006): twist #1: Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) is the lord who will take Alfred Borden’s (Christian Bale) daughter
twist #2: Borden had a twin who helped him and posed as Fallon. He even cut off his ring finger to make it more legitimate. The “good Borden” will live and keep his daughter
twist #3: Angier found a way to clone himself and killed the clone after each trick
#1: Star Wars (V): The Empire Strikes Back
Plot twists don’t get any bigger than this. We would never see a huge cultural phenomenon today deal out such a huge twist, but George Lucas did it in 1980 and it worked perfectly. At the height of Star Wars‘ cultural prowess, Lucas revealed the twist that Darth Vader was really Luke’s father. Not a single soul on planet Earth predicted it. I wish I could travel back in time just to see the look on everybody’s face when Vader uttered the infamous, “No, I am your father!” I could watch it again and again and again: http://bit.ly/1FZVFjF We were all caught off guard by Luke getting his hand cut off a few minutes before, so nobody was expecting this.
Thought of a better plot twist? Let me know what you think.
CinemaStickler 