Have you clicked through our "You Got Swerved!" gallery of movies with great twist endings? (It features The Usual Suspects with Kevin Spacey, pictured, natch.) You should. You have to click on "The Twist?" in each entry to read about it, so if you’re a spoiler-phobe, it’s worry-free. (If you’re not a spoiler-phobe, you’re one click away from knowing what all the fuss was about on any of the movies you missed.)
So, which of the films on our list had the best twist ending? And is there a movie you think deserves to be on the list that isn’t? I’m only half-joking when I nominate My Best Friend’s Wedding.
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You missed the original Night Of The Living Dead I saw it as a child and the ending still bothers me to this day!!
***SPOILER ALERT (obviously)***
I’m not really sure if it counts as a “twist” ending, but how about the ending to “Casablanca.”
If you’ve never seen it before, you have to be thinking Rick and Ilsa are going to end up together, right? Right?!
For a much more low-brow choice, I’ll go with the ending for “Saw.” The guy was lying RIGHT THERE the entire time. Sure, it stretched credibility a bit (no one saw him breathing), but I dug it, and it was the last time that franchise was still a bit clever before devolving into “let’s see how many people we can make vomit.”
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Also, “Unbreakable”
I think people give it a hard time because they think it’s slow and they were expecting another “Sixth Sense”, but the ending totally blew me away. I think it’s actually my favorite Shyamalan flick.
Shallow Grave
Ceballos i couldn’t agree with you more. Unbreakable is a great movie. And the Sam Jackson saying “that’s why they call me mr. Glass” is just an awesome ending. Too bad Shyamlan stopped making interesting movies after this.
I agree on unbreakable…only time my jaw has actually dropped in a theater. I also think that the characters and their interactions were more lifelike and 3D than in any of his other movies.
abandon katie holmes. not a very good movie, but one of the only movies where i was completely shocked by the ending!!!!
I agree on unbreakable…only time my jaw has actually dropped in a theater. I also think that the characters and their interactions were more lifelike and 3D than in any of his other movies.
Primal Fear!!!!! Are you kidding me that its not on that list?!
The Crying Game. What a twist that was!
What about Atonement? The Departed?
Turn it into an Unbreakable lovefest, but I liked that movie a lot more than people gave it credit. I always thought it was a “comic book” (or graphic novel) movie, more so than some of the “let’s put guys in brightly colored rubber suits and have them punch each other” crap out there. I read somewhere that it was his intention to make it a comic book, and I think he actually pulled it off, even if it wasn’t as loud and bright as people wanted it to be. So, end lovefest (though yes, it was a bit suprising…and perfect comic book vilian).
My favorite suprise ending…Bambi vs. Godzilla…never saw it coming, shocking ending, and didn’t have to wait two hours for it…
Have to go with a (slightly dated) but nonetheless AWESOME twist ending:
No Way Out.
For those who haven’t seen it, a Naval officer (Kevin Costner) is transferred back to work in DC for the Secretary of Defense (Gene Hackman). Costner ends up dating Sean Young, who is actually the mistress of Hackman’s character. After Hackman accidentally/intentionally kills Young, Costner realizes evidence in her apartment might lead to him being charged with the murder, even though he knows Hackman did it. To complicate things, Hackman’s lackey (Will Patton) tries to cover up the murder by blaming it on a Russian spy within the Pentagon, and puts Costner in charge of the investigation…
SPOILER ALERT!!!:
In an awesome twist, Patten goes crazy and kills himself and is blamed for Young’s murder. Costner leaves the Pentagon for the woods…and is revealed to be a Russian spy all along!
WHAT LIES BENEATH – Harrison Ford turns out to be a murdering bastard!
THE THIRD MAN – Harry Lime is alive and he’s a profiteering criminal, to boot.
THE CRYING GAME – I didn’t see that one coming the first time I saw it!
Chaddogg, in case you didn’t know it, NO WAY OUT (1987) is a remake of a film-noir classic called THE BIG CLOCK (1948). As is most cases, the original is always better than the remake. Rent it.
I saw Oldboy with a bunch of my friends back in college and I guessed the ending not even half way through. No one believed me though and they were shocked in the end. Still the action sequences were awesome.
And I saw The Others back in high school and that movie freaked me out.
i loved the ending to eXistenZ- Cronenbergs video games are evil masterpiece.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar. Although the novel begins at the end, the movie doesn’t, so the shoicking ending is a surprise, even if the film’s grim tone pretty much makes the ending inevitable.
Adding another vote for Unbreakable. A superhero tale sans spandex with that punch-in-the-gut ending… that’s the kind of storytelling I watch films for.
Hellooooo? WILD THINGS of course!
YES, Sara – Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for sure. GREAT ending.
And I’ll say for the record that I really hated Unbreakable. I left that theatre shaking my head in disbelief at the simple stupidity of it all. I guess I’m not a comic book person…
What about “The Machinist”? Not only was the ending a twist, but it left you with something to think about for days… namely, it left me piecing together parts of the movie that led to the finale.
“The Illusionist” – When you find out what really happened and the truth behind the Duchess’s murder.
I agree with everyone who said “Unbreakable”. IMO, it is a very underrated movie and I loved the ending. And no I don’t like comic books or superhero movies.
Totally agree on Wild Things, even though you could argue that it goes a little overboard with all the twists.
Also agree with What Lies Beneath – The 9-1-1 thing totally got me.
The Crying Game is a classic twist ending that definitely should have been in the gallery.
Seeing as how the entire list could have been called “The Crying Game Memorial Swerve List,” not including The Crying Game was something of a blow to credibility.
On the other hand, I agree with not including The Departed. What happened there on the elevator wasn’t so much a “swerve” as a “plot development.”
I would also have included A Beatiful Mind. Pretty significant swerve about a third of the way through.
Unbreakable is a great movie! “That’s why they call me Mr. Glass.” That line sent shivers down my spine. I just sat there for a minute trying to soak it in. I also really enjoyed watching the movie again on dvd looking for clues of the outcome.
“Presumed Innocent” with Harrison Ford and (the wonderful) Bonnie Bedelia— the ending took me completely by surprise.