Sometimes, a movie is rolling along relatively normally when something completely unexpected happens. In even more impressive cases, the audience is primed to seek answers and avoid confusion throughout the film, and even still they are surprised when some genius revelation is made. The art of the twist is among the most prized in entertainment tradition.
The movie social media website Letterboxd can provide a perspective into what are some of the greatest twists of all time among so many, via a completely user-based network of ratings, keyword tags, and more. Surfacing as the top ten from the site below, there are some very famous movies, some very famous twists, and a few lesser-known films with twists so intense you'll never trust a film again!
10 Perfect Blue
Appropriately kicking off this list of jaw-droppers is the type of movie that burrows its way into your mind and remains there long after it has ended. Anime masterpiece Perfect Blue re-negotiates the terms of audience expectations not just at its end, but constantly - seemingly a theme throughout this article.
It is the eerie story of a pop star transitioning into acting, the normal elements of such a life - mounting pressure, a lack of division between public and private life - eat away at the darling protagonist in fantastical ways. As the film runs on, the viewer brilliantly shares her confusion about linear time, reality vs. dream, and the stakes of taking a wrong turn in showbusiness.
9 Oldboy
From around the turn of the century, a period when innovative stories from groundbreaking new filmmakers ruled the day (Memento, Pulp Fiction), comes this now-famous mind-blower written and directed by Chan-wook Park. From start to finish, it is an exciting enigma filled with violence and led by a virtuoso performance from Choi Min-Sik.
A man gets drunk one night and awakes in mysterious captivity where he then remains for years with no idea why. Upon his arbitrary release, the viewer joins in the wild ride of solving the mystery that has taken over his life. Of the many iconic moments in this film, perhaps the pinnacle is the protagonist consuming a live, writhing squid. All of this takes place in perhaps the film's first third.
8 Ordet
Unbelievably, every decade from the 1950s through the 2020s as well as four different countries are represented on this list. Here, out of 1955 Denmark, is the haunting religious tale of the Borgen family. It is based on a stage play written and performed in the 1930s by Kaj Munk.
Evidently influenced by Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Ordet is the story of a family made up of very different individuals. With religion at the core, their philosophies and identities clash over the course of one gripping evening. Unless you're a near-expert on foreign film, this one is a forgotten gem worth checking out!
7 Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock, the so-called master of suspense, would be proud to clock a double-entry on this list. His (quite successful) life endeavor was to subvert, shock, and even tastefully horrify his audiences. Psycho, among the most famous films in history, does just those things over and over again.
A 2012 dramatization of Hitchcock's life focused on the production of this movie and in particular the great lengths the director went to achieve just such surprises. Copies of the original novel were pulled from shelves and a big-name actress was hired just to be unexpectedly killed off early. All of this, of course, is not even to mention the twist - both the true identity and the motivation of the movie's titular psychopath.
6 Rear Window
Here is one of the greatest premises for a film of all-time. A bedridden man begins peeping on his neighbors and a sinister narrative emerges. It's clear that trouble is afoot (pun intended) over there - or is it just the creative mind of a bored fellow with nowhere to go? Once the voyeur becomes involved, this question becomes all the more complex.
Back-t0-back mentions here solidify Hitchock as perhaps the all-time twist-master (although he is not the only director with two entries). Vertigo, Rope, Strangers on a Train, and Rebecca - recently remade by Netflix - might all have found their way into this conversation.
5 Whiplash
This Oscar darling and favorite of the 2010s is more highly-rated than it is twisty, but its appearance here is precisely representative of the magic of Whiplash. Through tight vision and masterful aura, it makes the story of a tough music teacher epic and even magical. When Andrew simply stands up to the tyrannical fletcher, it feels like a massive twist.
Besides 100 or so minutes of edge-of-your-seat coming-of-age musical drama, Whiplash also made Damien Chazelle a household name, earned J.K. Simmons an Oscar, and helped support the career of massive up-and-comer Miles Teller. Whether it increased or decreased viewers' interest in jazz drumming is anybody's guess.
4 The Handmaiden
The second entry here from Chan-wook Park is a long departure from Oldboy. That action-packed indie film is just the type built for twists - excitement-forward and promising of shock at every turn. The Handmaiden, on the other hand, is a Lynchian slow-burn, packing suspense and surprise into an elegant, lascivious novel of the screen.
In well-over two hours, we follow Sook-Hee who is hired into the employ of a wealthy family in 1930s Korea. It is not long before nothing is as it originally seemed and the viewer has some decisions to make in terms of their loyalties. As heart-wrenching as it is pure joy, this film is well worth braving the "one-inch tall barrier" coined by another Korean filmmaker.
3 The Empire Strikes Back
Chalk this one up for both a famous twist and one of the most famous movie lines of all time. In fact, the sheer ubiquitousness of this movie moment may actually serve to rob from it some of its impact. For unfamiliar viewers, those back in 1980 for instance, the reveal that good and evil in the galaxy, the dark and light sides of the force, were so closely linked, was absolutely shocking.
Almost as soon as the shock happens in the movie, Star Wars fans are put on the edge of their seat straight through the next movie! Luke Skywalker falls into a spaceship abyss, the evil empire has the upper hand (pun intended), and there's only a handful of minutes left before the credits roll. Fortunately, we exist long past the days of necessary cliffhanging - watch Return of the Jedi right away!
2 The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption has long been a favorite of internet film fans. It is consistently ranked highly on both IMDb and Letterboxd and has never faced much wrath on Twitter. It plays on TV quite often. Ultimately, it's simply a rip-roaring enjoyable movie. All within the walls of a prison, there are friendships formed, legends laid, shenanigans executed, and dangers travailed.
What's most impressive about the fan favorite's twist is that it shouldn't be a twist! The admirable Andy Dufresne maintains his innocence and desire for freedom from the film's opening moments. Of course, he was destined to achieve the impossible and escape Shawshank. It's the magnificent long game he plays which bamboozles the guards in frustration and us in dazzlement.
1 Parasite
Parasite would top the list for foreign films, con artist films, films with birthday parties, and films with floods. It is in fact the highest-rated movie on Letterboxd right now. In a list of movies with twists, it boasts surprises to match them all, and perhaps a higher volume of them than any other.
Indeed, what might be considered the "big twist" of Parasite takes place with about an hour left in the run time. After that, it's difficult to surmise what is another twist and what is simply a dazzlingly-exciting screenplay that you wish would never end. As if to smile upon its own brilliance, the film even includes something like a post-plot scene that really leaves you thinking until the next time you watch it.
source https://screenrant.com/best-movie-twist-ending-ranked-by-letterboxd/
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