A great twist can enhance a movie in an instant, but the best filmmakers use foreshadowing to drop clues about their twists beforehand. While it’s always shocking to add a huge twist at the end of a movie, it’s important that a movie does the work to earn this moment. Otherwise, the twist can seem like a cheap stunt that comes out of nowhere. A good twist has to connect to the rest of the movie.
Directors and writers often play games with their audience if they know that a twist is coming at the end. This often means that they lead their audience to believe something false, so that they can cover their tracks. However, a confident filmmaker can often tell the audience what the twist is long before the dramatic reveal and still manage to get away with it. Many of the best and most satisfying twists in movie history are preceded by some clever hints that tease the audience.
10 Twists Everyone Knows But Don’t Remember What The Actual Movies Are About
When a plot twist is so pivotal it blows the rest of the movie out of the water it can be difficult for the audiences to remember anything but that.
Shutter Islandis the type of movie that everybody knows has a twist, even those who haven’t seen it. Still, it’s not always easy to anticipate what exactly the twist is. Teddy Daniels travels to a hospital for the criminally insane on a remote island to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Ultimately, the case is revealed to be nothing more than one of his own fantasies, which he has concocted to conceal the trauma of killing his wife years earlier.Shutter Island’s endinglays everything out, connecting the dots beautifully.
WatchingShutter Islandback highlights how the staff at Ashecliffe Hospital don’t take the investigation seriously, precisely because they all know it’s a sham.
Shutter Islanddrops some big hints that Teddy Daniels isn’t mentally stable. He is plagued by violent nightmares, migraines and traumatic memories from the war. WatchingShutter Islandback highlights how the staff at Ashecliffe Hospital don’t take the investigation seriously, precisely because they all know it’s a sham. Only Dr. Cawley and Dr. Sheehan commit fully to the experimental treatment.One ofShutter Island’s biggest hints comes early on, when Dr. Sheehan fumbles with his gun. He’s pretending to be a U.S. Marshal, but he has no experience with firearms.
Get Outis a remarkably accomplished debut feature, showcasing Jordan Peele’s talent for the horror genre early on. As soon as Chris arrives at the Armitage family’s home, he realizes that something is off, but the big reveal doesn’t come until much later. Chris soon learns that the Armitage family have been performing experimental brain surgery procedures to implant people’s consciousness into the bodies of Black people, and Chris is brought in as the next victim.
In particular, it’s worth watching everything that Rose does very closely.
Get Outhas many hintsand subtle details throughout the movie which foreshadow the twist. In particular, it’s worth watching everything that Rose does very closely, like the time she prevents a cop from seeing Chris' ID on the way to their home. Peele’s dialogue also gives the game away early on. For example, Dean says that the household staff were there to care for his parents and that he couldn’t let them go afterward. This sounds like he formed an emotional bond with the staff, but he’s actually saying that he couldn’t let his parents go, so he implanted their minds into the staff.
The Sixth Sensehas one of the most famous movie twists of all time, but this is just one of many great twists in M. Night Shyamalan’s filmography. Although not all of Shyamalan’s twists are effective,The Sixth Senseis pulled off with aplomb, because the movie is meticulously constructed around the reveal that Bruce Willis' character Malcolm is dead, and that he can only communicate with Cole because of the child’s special gift.
The biggest clue of all is that Shyamalan shows Malcolm’s death at the beginning.
There are plenty of subtle hints inThe Sixth Sense, like the fact that Malcolm doesn’t wear his wedding ring or Cole says ghosts don’t understand that they’re dead.There are also some clues which seem much less subtle in retrospect.Nobody ever directly interacts with Malcolm except for Cole, and his wife seems to stop acknowledging him. The biggest clue of all is that Shyamalan shows Malcolm’s death at the beginning. This ostentacious stunt should give the game away entirely, butThe Sixth Sensemoves on so quickly that it’s assumed Malcolm survived the shooting.
Psychowas one of the first major movies to hinge on a twist, and it changed the way that people watch movies forever. BeforePsycho,it wasn’t uncommon for someone to walk into a movie halfway through, so that they could watch the ending first and then catch the beginning of the next screening. This seems unusual nowadays, but it doesn’t make a huge difference to some movies.Psycho’s twist means that it must be watched from start to finish.
Norman’s mother isn’t moving, even as she screams at Norman to let her go.
The reveal that Norman Bates' mother has been dead for years is a huge shock, but Alfred Hitchcock tips his audience off early.Norman’s mother is mentioned long before she is seen, creating some mystery about her and her relationship with her son. In one scene, Norman is seen carrying her downstairs from above. More attentive viewers would be able to tell that she isn’t moving, even as she screams at Norman to let her go. Details like this contribute to makingPsychoone ofAlfred Hitchcock’s best movies.
Fight Club’s famous twist makes the entire movie more interesting, meaning that people can go back and watch it again without seeing its qualities diminish. In fact, rewatchingFight Clubcan be an even more rewarding experience, because this reveals the subtle hints that David Fincher dropped about Tyler Durden. Beyond the obvious detail that the Narrator is never explicitly named on-screen, Fincher places a few other clues that he and Tyler are one and the same.
One of the biggest hints about the twist is one of the Narrator’s earliest lines inFight Club:“I know this because Tyler knows this.”
There are several scenes which prove that Tyler isn’t a real person, although they’re easy to miss if audiences don’t know what to look for. For example,when the Narrator and Tyler get on a bus together, only Tyler buys a ticket.Also, when the Narrator and Tyler start smashing cars, the alarms only go off when the Narrator takes a swing at them. One of the biggest hints about the twist is one of the Narrator’s earliest lines inFight Club:“I know this because Tyler knows this.”
Ernesto de la Cruz is one ofPixar’s best villains, largely because of the wayCocoreveals his true identity. Miguel convinces himself that Ernesto is his grandfather, so he sets out to prove his theory and get Ernesto’s picture placed on his family’s ofrenda. During his visit to the Land of the Dead, Miguel meets a man named Héctor, who turns out to be his real grandfather. Ernesto was Héctor’s musical partner before he killed him to claim his songs as his own.
The versions of the songs that Ernesto performs are stripped of all emotion, because he misses the point of them
Cocolays a few hints that Ernesto is not the real writer of his own songs, nor is he Miguel’s grandfather. For starters, the versions of the songs that Ernesto performs are stripped of all emotion, because he misses the point of them. “Remember Me” transforms from a sad lullaby into a testament to his own ego. The biggest clue of all is the fact that the guitar Ernesto claimed was his own is decorated with a skull graphic with a gold tooth.Ernesto doesn’t have a gold tooth, but Héctor does.
Denis Villeneuve’sArrivalis one of the best sci-fi movies of recent years, and its plot twist is a big reason why. Based on a short story by Ted Chiang,Arrivalfollows a linguist as she attempts to decode the language of an alien species that touches down on Earth. Eventually, she figures out that understanding the language’s complexities gives her the key to understanding time differently, and she can see her past, future and present simultaneously.
Just like the circular shape of the heptapod language, Louise walks through a circular hallway in the hospital where her daughter dies.
Arrival’s non-linear timelineshows that the memories of Louise’s daughter are actually visions of her future which have not yet come to pass. Before she has a breakthrough in understanding the language of the heptapods,Louise never mentions her child or husband to anyone, and she doesn’t have any pictures of them in her office.Arrival’s visual design also hints at the circular structure. Just like the circular shape of the heptapod language, Louise walks through a circular hallway in the hospital where her daughter dies. This symbolizes that her future loops back into her past.
Screamis a thrilling whodunnit as well as a slasher film. Throughout the movie, the mystery over the identity of the killer makes everything much more horrifying, since Sidney and her friends know that someone close to them is secretly a murderer. Ultimately, Ghostface is revealed to be two killers working in tandem, Stu Macher and Sidney’s boyfriend Billy Loomis.Screamdrops several big hints before revealing its twist.
WatchingScreamback while knowing who the killers are reveals a few key ways that Stu and Billy manipulate everyone around them.
WatchingScreamback while knowing who the killers are reveals a few key ways that Stu and Billy manipulate everyone around them. For example, Stu is the one who asks Tatum to get a beer from the garage, knowing that Billy will be waiting there to kill her. Also, Billy has no holes in his shirt after seemingly being stabbed several times, showing that the knife was fake.Billy’s first line is also a clever hint. The big question inScreamconcerns the identity of the killer. Billy’s first line is"it’s just me".
Denzel Washington and Spike Leehave formed a dynamic filmmaking partnership over the years, andInside Manis probably their most relentlessly entertaining collaboration. Washington stars as a New York City detective called to navigate a hostage situation at a bank. Clive Owen plays the enigmatic bank robber who engages the detective in a game of wits. He states that he is going to walk out the front door of the bank unopposed. A few days later, he is proven right.
Dalton drops a few hints in his opening monologue about how exactly he pulls off the heist, but they don’t become clear until much later.
Inside Manopens with Owen’s bank robber talking to camera, detailing his crime. He drops a few hints in this monologue about how exactly he pulls off the heist, but they don’t become clear until much later. The wording is key. He says that his location"could most readily be described as a prison cell.“He also says that he"set in motion events to execute the perfect bank robbery.“These two moments suggest he’s in prison after the bank robbery, but paying close attention reveals that he never says the robbery is over at that point.Even the movie’s title could be interpreted as a hint.
Knives Outis a brilliantly constructed mystery movie, and it teases its audience by providing a false solution to its own puzzle. Initially, it seems as though Harlan’s death is caused by his nurse Marta giving him the wrong medication. He swiftly concocts a plan to slit his own throat while she prepares an ironclad alibi. Benoit Blanc finds that there are several more twists in the case, and the real culprit is revealed to be Ransom, Harlan’s grandson.
The first big clue that Marta didn’t poison Harlan is the fact that he doesn’t display any of the symptoms of a morphine overdose before his death.
The first big clue that Marta didn’t poison Harlan is the fact that he doesn’t display any of the symptoms of a morphine overdose before his death.An even more obvious clue comes from Great Nana Thrombey. When she sees Marta sneaking around outside the house, she mistakes her for Ransom, asking why he is back so soon. Great Nana is easily dismissed as senile, but this detail reveals that she saw Ransom sneaking around earlier.Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mysterywill feature a new case and a new cast for Benoit Blanc, but it will have a tough time surpassing the original.
