Thriller movies are known for keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. They play on the audience’s expectations and perceptions. This is how they deliver unexpected and unforgettable surprises.
Movies like these are able to create a kind of suspense and tension leading to a climax, only to change the audience's understanding of the plot. The best ones add an extra layer by urging their audience to reflect deeper in the narrative.
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Twists in thrillers are strong narrative techniques that reshape the whole plot, providing a new insight and perspective. This could be in the case of a character or the events that unfold. It could be an unanticipated revelation of the true intentions of a character, or the plot might shift gears that would ultimately redefine everything you believed in at the first place.
These twists amaze us and leave us wanting for more. So, here’s a list of the 12 most shocking twists in thrillers that have delivered some jaw-dropping surprises. Read on!
12 most shocking twists in thrillers, explored
1) Psycho (1960)
Any thrillers’ list is incomplete without Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking work in the film is still talked about after decades. The movie is timeless because of the major twist in it. Revolving around the encounter of Marion Crane and Norman Bates. Marion is on the run after stealing a large sum of money from her employer. She stops for the night at the Bates Motel that is managed by the seemingly polite manager, Norman Bates.
However, what is unknown in the beginning is that the seemingly nice manager suffers from a split personality disorder. The most shocking revelation comes when we know that Norman Bates’ mother, who was thought to be alive is in fact, Norman himself. Bates’ mother is just a figment of his imagination and he has been impersonating her. We come to know of this when Marion’s sister finds Norman hiding in the attic, dressed as his mother, who had died years ago.
2) Fight Club (1999)
Based on Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, David Fincher’s Fight Club is one of the thrillers known for its mind-boggling twist. It’s about a character played by Edward Norton, who is disappointed with his life and so finds comfort in an underground fight club that is led by Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). However, with time, Edward’s character becomes heavily involved in Tyler’s anarchistic plans. This also includes creating Project Mayhem, a large organization.
However, it is revealed that Edward’s character suffers from split personality and Tyler is just a manifestation of it. There is no separate entity called Tyler. He is a manifestation of Edwards’s character’s psyche that wants to rebel and start chaos. This revelation comes when the character realizes that he and Tyler are in fact the same person and that Tyler is just representing his own desires that have been repressed for a while.
3) Oldboy (2003)
This South Korean movie, directed by Park Chan-wook, is one of the thrillers that left everyone surprised with its twist. It is about Oh Dae-su, who is trapped in a cell without any windows for 15 years. When he is finally released all of a sudden, he goes on a revenge seeking journey to know who had captured him for all those years.
Oh Dae-su finds out that he was captured by Lee Woo-jin. It was a revengeful act and his reason was rooted in a personal and traumatic event for him. Oh Dae-su had spread a rumor about Lee Woo-jin’s incestuous relationship with his sister, unintentionally. This led to the death of his sister. Hence, Lee Woo-jin decided to imprison Oh Dae-su.
But, that’s not all. The most shocking twist is Oh Dae-su’s journey of seeking revenge is manipulated by Lee Woo-jin. It is revealed that Lee Woo-jin uses Oh Dae-su’s own daughter for his revenge scheme. He plans to make Oh Dae-su become romantically involved with his own daughter. Oh Dae-su, unaware that the girl is his daughter, falls into the tragic trap and walks right into Lee Woo-jin’s revenge scheme.
4. Shutter Island (2010)
This is one of Martin Scorsese’s psychological thrillers. It is well known for its plot twist. It is about the U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is in charge of the investigation of a missing patient from Shutter Island’s mental institution. He is haunted by unsettling dreams, and has strange things happening to him throughout the movie. He then finds out a dangerous conspiracy at the institution by the doctors.
However, the jaw-dropping twist is that Teddy Daniels is not a U.S. Marshal. He is not in charge of investigating a case. Instead, he is a patient of that mental institution himself! He had murdered his psychotic wife who had drowned their children. To overcome the trauma and guilt, he created an alternate version of himself, Teddy Daniels, who is a heroic lawman.
The doctors of the institution, as a part of a sort of an experimental therapy, have been playing along with his constructed delusion in order to help him come to terms with the reality of his past actions. What makes the movie truly unforgettable is that the ending is left ambiguous. We do not know if he is able to accept the reality or retreats back into his fabricated world.
5) Arrival (2016)
This science fiction thriller, directed by Denis Villeneuve, stands apart from the rest of the thrillers in a similar genre. It urges you to reflect and think. It revolves around Louise Banks (Amy Adams), who is a linguist hired to interact with strange aliens that arrive on Earth. As the movie progresses, and she slowly deciphers the complex alien language, she starts to have visions of her life with a young girl child. These visions are also quite vivid.
The major twist in the movie is that these visions are not memories of her past. They are actually glimpses of her future life. When she learns the alien language, it changes her perception of time. This enables her to see her life in a non-linear way.
Hence, the young girl in her visions is her daughter who she will have in the future. She also comes to know that her daughter will be suffering from an incurable illness and will die young. However, despite knowing that there is pain ahead in her life, Louise decides to embrace the love and light that her future daughter will bring her.
6) Hereditary (2018)
Directed by Ari Aster, this psychological horror-thriller dives deep into the unpleasing and unsettling experiences of the Graham family. All of this begins with the passing of Ellen, their secretive matriarch. It is about the family’s journey of dealing with grief while also facing certain odd experiences.
The twist in the movie is that everything that has been happening in the family is the result of a demonic cult’s plan. We come to know that the family is cursed. Infact, Ellen’s strange occult practices lead to disturbing events that affect the family.
Moreover, the cult is actually trying to summon their demon god, Paimon, through them. They have been manipulating the family, especially through the family’s youngest child, Charlie, Annie’s daughter. In the climax, we learn that the cult wants to transfer Paimon into a human host and that explains the deaths and odd happenings in the Graham family.
7) The Machinist (2004)
This is one of the most acclaimed psychological thrillers that shocked many with the dramatic physical transformation of actor, Christian Bale for his role in the movie. Directed by Brad Anderson, the plot of the movie revolves around Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale), who suffers from severe insomnia. He is an industrial worker and has an unstable mental health. He experiences odd events, paranoia and hallucinations.
The twist in the movie comes when it is revealed that his insomnia and unstable mental health is actually the consequence of a hit-and-run case that he was involved in a year ago. He carries the guilt from it. He had repressed all his memories relating to the incident and thus, his mental state keeps him up at night. He also created a character called Ivan in his imaginary world who tortures him.
All that Trevor sees as threats are his manifestations of the guilt he carries and also an act of self-punishment. Towards the end of the movie, we see that Trevor is able to remember the incident and also realizes the fact that he was punishing himself subconsciously.
8) The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Sixth Sense is a movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who is a master when it comes to psychological thrillers. The story is about Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis). He is a child psychologist, who starts working with a young boy, Cole (Haley Joel Osment). Cole tells him that he can see and interact with the dead and that it troubles him.
The major twist in the movie comes when we learn that Dr. Malcolm Crowe is actually dead. His efforts to help Cole are thwarted, because none of it was real at the first place. He himself is one of the ghosts that Cole can see and has been interacting with. Malcolm realizes that he was shot by a patient and that he has to now come to terms with his death and find peace in it.
9) The Prestige (2006)
This is one of Christopher Nolan’s thrillers, and is about the rivalry between two magicians, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale). Each of them wants to be a better magician. They want to create the best magic trick and this obsession with becoming better than the other leads to a string of dangerous acts.
The major twist in the movie that shocks everyone is that Alfred Borden's magic trick, "The Transported Man," was only possible because he has a twin brother and they live as one single person which means they share the same identity. This secret was known to nobody, not even Borden's wife.
However, this isn’t all. There’s another twist. Angier is no further behind than Alfred in this matter. Every night, he creates a duplicate of himself with the help of a machine that also kills the original in the process. This shows the extreme lengths that these magicians are willing to go just for the sake of their art and to outdo each other.
10) Orphan (2009)
This psychological thriller directed by Jaume Collet-Serra is about a couple, Kate and John Coleman, who lose their unborn child. So, they adopt a 9-year-old girl named Esther, who is quite polite and intelligent in the beginning. However, some odd and violent events occur that makes Kate suspect that something is not right with Esther.
Here comes the twist in the movie. It is revealed that Esther, afterall, is not a child. She is a 33-year-old woman named Leena Klammer. She looks like a child because of her rare hormonal disorder. We come to learn that Leena’s intention is always to get close to the families by posing as a child, in order to seduce her step-fathers and remove anyone who gets in her way.
11) Gone Baby Gone (2007)
This crime thriller is Ben Affleck’s directorial debut. It is about private investigators Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) who are working on a disappearance case of a four-year-old girl named Amanda McCready. They realize there is more to the case as it leads them to issues like deceit, corruption, and moral ambiguity.
This movie has a morally complicated twist. It is revealed that the young girl was kidnapped by her uncle, Lionel, and his partner, with the approval of the police chief, Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman). Amanda’s mother is involved in criminal acts and neglects her. So, her uncle believes that Amanda would be better off without her and instead, should be with a loving family.
This leaves Patrick in a tricky situation. He is forced to make a morally complicated decision of whether to return her to her mother or let her be in the care of the people who would provide her the life she deserves. The movie is open ended and the audience is left to wonder whether Patrick made the “right” decision.
12) The Village (2004)
Set in a remote village of the 19th century, this movie revolves around the residents’ fear of the surrounding woods, where they believe there are strange and mysterious creatures. The residents of the village come to an agreement with the creatures that the villagers would not enter their woods and the creatures would not enter the village.
However, the twist reveals that the period of the story is not the 19th century, but the present day. This village is not really a village, but a remote community that is self-sustained and founded by the elders of the community. It was created in order to get away from the trauma and violence that they experienced in the modern world outside.
Moreover, there are no creatures. They are not real. They were created by the elders so as to make sure that the younger generation stayed in the village and did not uncover the truth of the outside world.
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