Team Cinemaholic
Who doesn’t love a good movie plot twists? Life is full of twists and turns, and though, we may not like them in our personal lives, somehow we have come to love them on silver-screen. For some reason, we get a sort of cinematic high when the plot of the film moves in a direction in which we least expect it to — or don’t expect at all. The fact that the storyteller was able to outwit us, somehow, makes us feel good. There’s no rhyme or reason to why we feel good about it. It just happens! Here is the list of best plot twist films that we absolutely love. You can also watch some of these really good plot twist movies on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
10. Primal Fear (1996)
The Plot: When a young man, Aaron, is charged with the horrific murder, hot-shot lawyer Martin Vail takes on his defense at no charge. Vail is convinced that Aaron is innocent but after discovering a video that shows Aaron, he begins to question that conclusion. When Aaron lashes out at the psychologist examining him another personality, Roy, is revealed. With the trial already underway, Vail cannot change Aaron plea and so has to find a way to introduce his client’s condition.
The Twist: Aaron doesn’t have the disorder. His actual personality is that of sociopath.
Read More: Best R-Rated Movies of All Time
9. The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Plot: Malcolm Crowe is a successful child psychiatrist who takes on the task to help a terrified boy, Cole, who seems to be plagued by visions of dead people. Because of this, he is called a freak in school. Crowe, at first thinks he is seeing things, but after spending a lot of time with Cole, he discovers Cole may be seeing dead people after all.
The Twist: Crowe himself was dead the entire time.
Read More: Best Movie Cameos of All Time
8. Memento (2000)
The Plot: Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers.
The Twist: Leonard’s wife survived the accident, but he murders her later.
Read More: Best Psychedelic Movies of All Time
7. Oldboy (2003)
The Plot: On the day of his daughter’s birthday, Ho Dae-su gets gets abducted and imprisoned in a room for fifteen years. One day, he is suddenly released, receives clothes, money and a cellular and meets the Japanese chef Mido, and they feel a great attraction for each other and have sexual intercourse. However, Dae-su seeks for his captor and the reason of his long imprisonment.
The Twist: Dae-su’s captor Woo-jin reveals that Mi-do is Dae-su’s daughter. Woo-jin had arranged their meeting by using hypnosis to guide Dae-su into the sushi restaurant, hoping that they would fall in love, so that Dae-su might experience the same pain which Woo-jin had.
Read More: Best Rags to Riches Movies of All Time
6. Psycho (1960)
The Plot: Stressed and under pressure because of stealing a large amount of money from her employer and running away, Marion Crane decides to stay at a motel for the night, regretting what she’s done. But on her single night at the motel, she finds out it was a mistake to choose this motel; as she finds its young depressed manager’s mother an unrelenting psycho.
The Twist: It was not Norman Bates’ mother who killed Marion Crane. In fact, it was Bates disguised as his mother, who he killed years ago, causing him to develop a split personality thinking he’s his mother.
Read More: Movies With Twist Ending
5. Se7en (1995)
The Plot: A film about two homicide detectives’ desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world’s ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins. The movie takes us from the tortured remains of one victim to the next as the sociopathic “John Doe” sermonizes to Detectives Somerset and Mills — one sin at a time.
The Twist: Doe reveals that he was so jealous of Mills, he killed Tracy (Mills’ wife), her death being a result of his envy, and that her head is in the box. Doe tries to goad Mills into vengeance, to become wrath and shoot him. Somerset desperately tries to convince Mills not to shoot Doe, but then Doe reveals that Tracy was pregnant. The revelation is too much for Mills and he shoots Doe six times.
Read More: Best Comebacks Ever in Movies
4. Fight Club (1999)
The Plot: A nameless first person narrator attends support groups in attempt to subdue his emotional state and relieve his insomniac state. When he meets Marla, another fake attendee of support groups, his life seems to become a little more bearable. However when he associates himself with Tyler he is dragged into an underground fight club and soap making scheme. Together the two men spiral out of control and engage in competitive rivalry for love and power.
The Twist: The narrator is suffering from dissociative personality disorder. He and Tyler are actually the same person.
Read More: Best Edited Film Sequences of All Time
3. Mulholland Drive (2001)
The Plot: After a brutal car accident in Los Angeles, California, Rita is the sole survivor but suffers mass amnesia. Wandering into a strangers apartment downtown, her story strangely intertwines with Betty Elms, a perky young woman in search of stardom. However, Betty is intrigued by Rita’s situation and is willing to put aside her dreams to pursue this mystery. The two women soon discover that nothing is as it seems in the city of dreams.
The Twist: The first two-thirds of the film is actually a fantasy imagined by Betty. And by the way, Betty is the name that Diane has given herself in her fantasy.
Read More: Best Slasher Movies of All Time
2. Chinatown (1975)
The Plot: JJ ‘Jake’ Gittes is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects her husband Hollis, builder of the city’s water supply system, of having an affair. Gittes does what he does best and photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray. When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit.
The Twist: Evelyn reveals that she was in an incestuous relationship with her father and therefore, her sister is also her daughter.
Read More: Best LGBT Movies of All Time
1. The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Plot: A sole survivor, Roger “Verbal” Kint, tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begin when five criminals meet at a seemingly random police lineup.
The Twist: Crime lord Keyzer Soze is the unreliable narrator himself, “Verbal” Kint.
Read More: Best Movies of the 21st Century
