Is there anything better than being taken by surprise and completely blown away by a really good film? You know what I'm talking about. You sit there in the dark, completely absorbed in the drama, your hand buried in a tub of popcorn. Then it comes, the twist, a thumping punch straight to the solar plexus that makes you either panic or jump up from the sofa. Popcorn flies everywhere, but you couldn't care less. You grab your hair in stress and just gape like an idiot in the dentist's chair.
Yes, most of us love plot twists, and after all, that's one of the reasons we watch films in the first place, to be taken by surprise, deceived, and left sitting there, stunned, and speechless. In a way, it's the filmmaking equivalent of a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But like so many other things, it also has to feel deserved. It should be a logical consequence of what has been told, not a random stone thrown straight at your face. As if the screenwriter forgot to plan for the ending and panicked and threw in a cheap shot.
No, the best twist is the one that immediately makes you want to rewind, watch the film from the first scene and study every little moment, line, and shadowy detail in the background. It's about structure, yes, but also about feeling. When the twist not only surprises but is so damn clever and unexpected that goosebumps explode all over your body. A shiver of insight, right there and then, it's magic, and in some cases even something that can cement the film in the history books. An eternal talking point that never ceases to fascinate.
For what would the world of film be without that AHA! moment? An emotional bitch-slap that completely destroys your last two hours of ingrained assumptions. A narrative right hook that sends you to the moon. Film history is full of them, and in my folly I thought I'd try to list the ten best. Spoiler alert is issued, of course, but in all honesty, you should have seen most of these films anyway.
10. Gone Girl
David Fincher's elegantly toxic thriller about the missing Amy Dunne takes a brutal narrative leap about halfway through, when we find out that she is not only alive but has staged her entire disappearance. All to get revenge on her husband. It's a psychopathic puppet show of the best kind and a modern classic that really makes you question who is actually crazy.
9. The Others
Nicole Kidman in a haunted house in the middle of the British countryside may not seem like the most exciting thing in the world. But with a clever script and small details for the observant to note, it manages to turn itself upside down when it's revealed that it's not the house that is haunted, but that it's she herself and her children who are the ghosts. Alejandro Amenábar's evocative direction and Kidman's terrified eyes when everything falls into place are equal parts tragedy and existentialist horror.
8. The Prestige
We know how much Christopher Nolan loves to play with time and space, but this epic tale of two magicians is something else entirely. A thematically dense and bitter duel of magic and trickery, whose final scenes leave a lump in your stomach. The fact that Robert Angier uses a machine to clone (and sacrifice) himself night after night, while his rival Borden actually turns out to be twins living a shared life. It's a tragic, frightening, and uncomfortable resolution that sticks with you.
7. Oldboy
No, not the worthless Hollywood remake, of course. I'm talking about Park Chan-wook's masterpiece. A spiritual swamp of discomfort that slowly pulls you deeper and deeper. When Oh Dae-su is released after being imprisoned for 15 years without explanation and discovers that it's all just a sadistic game - revenge. Followed by the truth about his daughter, his memories of the incestuous game. It's not just unsettling, it's downright devastating. In true South Korean film tradition.
6. Fight Club
David Fincher's industrial nihilism meets Chuck Palahniuk's brutal prose, and the result is a twist that shaped an entire generation of film lovers. The fact that Edward Norton's anonymous character and Tyler are one and the same person is a narrative twist that lands exactly where it should and caused all teenagers in the 90s to undergo an involuntary mental breakdown.
5. Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock's classic trips us up just 45 minutes in when Marion Crane is brutally murdered in the shower. But that is, of course, just the prelude; the real twist that brings the whole house down is when it is revealed that Norman Bates is living a double life as his mother. Completely ground-breaking for its time, and even if Psycho doesn't exactly scare anyone today, there is no denying the power of what Hitchcock achieved there and then.
4. The Sixth Sense
Of course, you can't have a top ten list of twists without including at least one of M. Night Shyamalan's films, and in this case, his remarkable directorial debut. Bruce Willis plays a child psychologist who helps little Cole deal with his visions, until we realise at the end that he has been dead all along. It's one of the most classic moments in film history and just one of the reasons why The Sixth Sense is a modern classic that will be remembered forever. Understated acting and brilliantly composed scenes that completely fool you. It's a study in manipulation, perfectly executed from start to finish.
3. Planet of the Apes
You know the scene, you know the lines. Those iconic words spoken by Charlton Heston in the role of astronaut George Taylor when he realises that the planet he has been on is not an alien celestial body far, far awa- but Earth several years into the future. A beach with the Statue of Liberty, partially buried in sand and rubble. It's a moment that set the standard for all subsequent science-fiction.
2. Se7en
So what is actually in that box? David Fincher returns, but in a much darker form in what is probably also his greatest masterpiece. Serial killer John Doe allows himself to be arrested and then leads the police to his final "work". We think it's over, at least until that box appears, and even though we never get to see its contents. That makes it all very clear. Mills' pregnant wife, or at least her head. In context, it's a terrible tragedy and a crescendo that takes your breath away.
1. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
In all honesty, what else? Probably the most iconic film line of all-time and also the most unexpected shock ever to hit cinema screens. "No, I am your father." Words that shocked and still shock those who experience them for the first time today. Darth Vader turned the entire galaxy upside down, and in the wake of the film, the world could be divided into a before and after. No other moment in film history carries more weight.
Do you agree with the list? What is your most mind-blowing film moment?