The 10 Wildest Movie Plot Twists

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Paul Shrodt and Mental Floss present The 10 Wildest Movie Plot Twists.  Be advised that major spoilers wait for those who venture further.  Using Shrodt’s list, here are three of my favorites and some of my thoughts to boot.

1. PSYCHO (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock often constructed his movies like neat games that manipulated the audience. The Master of Suspense delved headfirst into horror with Psycho, which follows a secretary (Janet Leigh) who sneaks off with $40,000 and hides in a motel. The ensuing jolt depends on Leigh’s fame at the time: No one expected the ostensible star and protagonist to die in a gory (for the time) shower butchering only a third of the way into the running time. Hitchcock outdid that feat with the last-act revelation that Anthony Perkins’s supremely creepy Norman Bates is embodying his dead mother.
Craig’s thoughts: Psycho makes the “twist” list for a couple of reasons.  1: It starts off with the feel of a crime movie and twists into a horror film.  Bravo!  2.  The twist ending is a classic and truly shocked audiences… still does.

2. PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

No, not the botched Tim Burton remake that tweaked the original movie’s famous reveal in a way that left everyone scratching their heads. The Charlton Heston-starring sci-fi gem continues to stupefy anyone who comes into its orbit. Heston, of course, plays an astronaut who travels to a strange land where advanced apes lord over human slaves. It becomes clear once he finds the decrepit remains of the Statue of Liberty that he’s in fact on a future Earth. The anti-violence message, especially during the political tumult of 1968, shook people up as much as the time warp.
Craig’s Thoughts: I saw the original Planet of the Apes during it’s initial run.  I was 9 years old and had no idea of the twist ending.  I. Was. Shocked.  The movie remains one of my favorites.

5. THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995)
The Usual Suspects has left everyone who watches it breathless by the time they get to the fakeout conclusion. Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey), a criminal with cerebral palsy, regales an interrogator in the stories of his exploits with a band of fellow crooks, seen in flashback. Hovering over this is the mysterious villainous figure Keyser Söze. It’s not until Verbal leaves and jumps into a car that customs agent David Kujan realizes that the man fabricated details, tricking the law and the viewer into his fake reality, and is in fact the fabled Söze.
Craig’s Thoughts: The Usual Suspects is a modern classic.  What a great mystery told to us with all the clues right there.  Then when it all comes together in the end, we’re as shocked as David Kujan.

Additional thoughts:

The Sixth Sense is a great choice, but I picked the three above because they surprised me.  I knew the Sixth Sense had a twist at the end and actually figured it out early on.  It was cool to see how M. Night put it all together though.

I also applaud the twist in Primal Fear.  That one caught me off guard.  Kudos to Ed Norton’s acting.  Fight Club and The Others had interesting twists but didn’t shock me as much as the three I chose did.

Although it didn’t make the list, The Perfect Getaway is an under-rated film with a great twist ending.  Written and directed by David (Pitch Black) Twohy it stars  Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant and Chris Hemsworth.