The following article contains spoilers.Thriller films are known for their surplus of suspense and anticipation. But what all thrillers have in common is their love for plot twists. To find a thriller without a twist is rare, but to find one with a truly shocking twist is even rarer. By definition, a plot twist is something truly unexpected, and unfortunately, more often than not, the audience can see it coming from a mile away.
Thrillers with a twist aren’t going out of style, as proven by several recent flicks. Nothing beats the classics, though, which should be considered essential viewing for daring fans.A truly successful thriller movie has a plot twist that is so out-of-pocket that it has the audience’s minds scrambled by the credits. FromMementotoFlight Club, these best movies with a twist are a must-see.
17’Primal Fear' (1996)
Directed by Gregory Hoblit
Hot-shot attorney Martin Vail (Richard Gere) takes up the defense of a young man named Aaron (Edward Norton), who is accused of the horrible murder of Archbishop Rushman. Before being taken in by the Archbishop, Aaron was a homeless child living on the streets with a stutter and shyness. Vail is certain that Aaron is innocent, but he starts to have second thoughts after watching a video that suggests Aaron might have had a legitimate reason for wanting the Archbishop killed.
Throughout the film, Martin exposes more and more secrets that point to his client as the murderer, but with a determination to win does all that he can to prove his innocence.Primal Feartruly belongs to Norton, who is simultaneously innocent and disturbed.Edward Norton’s incredible performancedelivers twists like gut punches, and audiences are in for a treat.
Primal Fear
16’Knives Out' (2019)
Directed by Rian Johnson
When celebrated crime writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is discovered dead at his house just after turning 85, Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously hired to investigate. Blanc sorts through a labyrinth of red herrings and self-serving lies, from Harlan’s dysfunctional and vulturous family to his devoted staff, to discover the truth about his sudden demise.
Director Rian Johnson sparked renewed interest in the whodunit genre with the award-winning 2019 film. This comedic thriller will have viewers suspecting every member of the family as they are all thoroughly unlikeable. But nothing is as it seems, which Blanc painfully realizes.When it comes to the moment of truth,Knives Outplays the scene out in one of the most satisfying reveals ever.
Knives Out
15’Arrival' (2016)
Directed by Denis Villenueve
When enormous spacecraft touch down at 12 different locations worldwide, linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is in charge of an elite team of investigators. Banks and her crew are racing against time to figure out how to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors as the world teeters on the brink of war. She risks her life and maybe the survival of all humanity to solve the mystery.
This movie has no murder mystery, no revenge plot, and no punchy action scenes. Instead,Arrivalis a beautifully nuanced story about the realities of what communicating with aliens looks like. The entirecerebral sci-fi thriller filmhas a tense and serious tone so that when the twist comes, it isn’t something you see coming. And instead of being overly shocking, it mostly makes the audience think long and hard about what they just watched.
14’Get Out' (2017)
Directed by Jordan Peele
One of the most twisted thriller movies of the past few years,Get Outproved thatJordan Peele(formerly known for his comedic work) was a talent to look out for in the realm of modern horror filmmaking. It’s by far one ofthe best directorial debuts of the 2010s, telling the tale of a young African American man named Chris, who’s visiting his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend. There, his uneasiness about their reception of him reaches a terrifying boiling point.
WithGet Out, Jordan Peele proved that psychological thriller movies with a twist are often the best kind.Get Outhas plenty, none less shocking or mind-bending than the others. But it’s the unexpected reveal of what the eerie family of Chris’s girlfriend is really up to that recontextualizes the narrative and really ties the horror aspect of the movie together, proving that you don’t need monsters to make a horror thriller terrifying.—Diego Pineda Pacheco
13’Mulholland Drive' (2001)
Directed by David Lynch
A naive young actress (Noami Watts) moves to Hollywood only to become involved in a sinister plot involving a woman (Laura Harring) who was nearly murdered but now has amnesia due to a car accident. Eventually, both women are pulled into a nightmare involving a dangerous blue box, a director named Adam Kesher, and the mysterious nightclub Silencio.
Many findMulholland Drivea confusing and deeply psychological film that makes them question reality, and it is indeed one ofdirectorDavid Lynch’s infamously perplexing works. While it is sometimes confusing, a patient mind will get the best from this film. With a beautiful love story and plenty of twists throughout, the ending is something no one can see coming.
Mulholland Drive
12’The Departed' (2006)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
It’s not like he ever needed to win any awards in order to go down in history as one of the best filmmakers of all time; nevertheless, it wasThe Departedthat finally earnedMartin Scorsesehis Best Director Oscar (as well as winning Best Picture). This double-crossing police procedural is about an undercover cop in an Irish gang and a mole in the police, both of whom keep trying to identify each other.
The Departedis one of the best thrillers with a twist, and what a twist that is. Plenty of them, in fact. Likea good police procedural,The Departedis full of unexpected turns that keep the narrative engaging. But it’s the twist in the third act of the movie, whereMark Wahlberg’s Sean Dignam is left as one of only three main characters still alive, that really puts a golden seal on the whole narrative.— Diego Pineda Pacheco
The Departed
11’Memento' (2000)
Directed by Christopher Nolan
After a man breaks into his home and his wife is murdered, Leonard (Guy Pierce) is left with brain injuries. As he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, Leonard’s head injury prevents him from remembering anything past several minutes. One storyline moves forward in time while the other tells the story backward, revealing more each time.
Mementois told solely from the perspective of someone who can’t remember anything. So how does therenownedChristopher Nolanfilmmake sense? By being told backward, from the end to the beginning.Constantly full of surprises,Mementois one film that keeps audiences enthralled the whole time, especially as it leads to its iconic and terrifying twist that reveals the truth about the protagonist’s wife.
10’Gone Girl' (2014)
Directed by David Fincher
On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) files a missing persons report on his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike). With the police and the media breathing down his neck, Nick’s tale of a happy marriage begins to crumble. With his strange behavior and mountains of lies, people begin to wonder, did Nick Dunne kill his wife?
A thriller about a broken marriage: one is missing, and the other is distraught. Or is he? With two main characters who live within lies and deceit,Gone Girlpresents the audience with a cast of thoroughly unlikeable characters. DirectedDavid Fincher’s trademarks work wonderfully with the thriller, which takes audiences to some unexpected places.Though some may see the twist coming,Gone Girlhas done wonders at convincing people to root for the evil within the movie.
9’The Sixth Sense' (1999)
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is confronted one night by his former patient, who he failed to help. After his ex-patient shoots Crowe in the stomach and kills himself, Crowe can’t stop thinking about it. A few months later, he is hired to help a troubled boy named Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), who has many of the same problems Vincent had including seeing ghosts who don’t know they’re dead.
This thriller is as heartbreaking as it is shocking, although most audiences today are likely alreadyfamiliar with the film’s infamous plot twist, which has been referenced and parodied countless times in pop culture. Viewed asM. Night Shyamalan’s crowning achievement,The Sixth Sensehas retained its notoriety as one of the best plot twist movie reveals in thriller history.
The Sixth Sense
8’The Prestige' (2006)
In London at the end of the nineteenth century, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), his loving wife Julia McCullough (Piper Perabo), and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are friends and the magician’s assistants. The two men become envious of one another after Robert accuses Alfred of triggering Julia’s unexpected death during a performance. Both develop into highly popular, aggressive magicians who try to outperform one another on stage.
With two strong men at the forefront of the film, the male bravado is strong inThe Prestige. Constantly butting heads, the two magicians go to enormous lengths to be on top.The film escalates to absurd levels, withThe Prestigefeaturing numerous surprises leading up to its jaw-dropping twist ending. And when the twist is revealed, it begs the question; Was it worth it?
