#Top 10 Greatest Plot Twists Of All Time, Ranked

When it comes to making a good film, you have to start with a good story. Most films follow a three-act structure that sets the story up, sends your characters on a mission, and concludes with a resolution. This structure has worked for years and it is the blueprint of most of the films you watch today. With that said, a good screenwriter can incorporate their own techniques to make their story unique to them. You want to keep your audience engaged from beginning to end. A good way to do that is to incorporate unanswered questions throughout your story to keep your audience guessing until everything is concluded. The twist ending is a satisfying way to shock your audience by turning the tables and showing them something they never saw coming. Filmmakers have been incorporating this method into their films for centuries and it can either make or break a good film.

Some directors like M. Night Shyamalan are known for their twist endings. Shyamalan’s endings have satisfied his viewers and others, such as The Village, have enraged them. It all depends on the context of the twist and if it makes sense to the rest of the story. It is a story technique that has to be handled delicately. Some twist endings like Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects, define the movie and make them memorable for years to come. No matter what, you have to keep your audience engaged to make your film memorable, and using a twist ending could be the way to do it. In Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation, Robert McKee (Brian Cox) states, “wow them in the end, and you got a hit”.

Here are the top ten greatest plot twists of all time, ranked: spoilers ahead.

10
The Others

The Others is a creepy ghost story that will have you guessing until the very end. The story follows Grace (Kidman) and her two children awaiting the return of her husband towards the end of WWII. The creepy mansion that they live in, as well as the need to keep sunlight out at all times due to a condition that the children have, all adds to the perfect setting for a ghost story. The family’s lives are turned upside down due to unexplained spirits terrorizing them. In the terrifying climax, Grace and her children learn that it is actually them who are the ghosts and they are haunting the new family who now lives in their house.

Related: Nicole Kidman Opens Up on Playing Lucille Ball: I’m Way Out of My Comfort Zone

9
Oldboy

Park Chan-Wook’s crime thriller masterpiece has possibly one of the most disturbing twists in cinematic history. The film follows Oh Dae-Su (Choi Min-sik) on a gorey quest to find the person who imprisoned him for fifteen years. Along the way, Dae-Su forms a romantic relationship with a young chef named Mi-Do (Kang Hye-jeong) who becomes involved with Dae-Su’s mission. In the end, Dae-Su discovers that Mi-Do is actually his daughter and he was the center of an evil revenge plot from a wealthy man that he wronged in the past. Oldboy is a perfect showcase of the brilliance of South Korean cinema.

8
Planet Of The Apes

Planet Of The Apes is a timeless story that has launched several sequels and remakes. Franklin J. Schaffner’s original classic, starring Charlton Heston, could be considered the best of the series. After a crash landing on an unknown planet, astronaut George Taylor (Heston) finds himself up against a race of apes who are highly evolved and keep humans as slaves. After returning to Earth, Taylor sees a destroyed Statue of Liberty along the coast, discovering that the planet he was on was actually Earth after a nuclear apocalypse.

Related: Planet of the Apes Blu-ray Review

7
Se7en

David Fincher’s classic film Se7en follows two detectives (Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) trying to catch a serial killer who is carrying out seven murders based on the Bible’s seven deadly sins. The script, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, is pitch-perfect from start to finish. In the unforgettable climax, we learn that the killer, John Doe (Kevin Spacey), has murdered Detective Mill’s (Pitt) wife and delivered her head in a box in an attempt to get Mills to murder Doe, making Doe the seventh deadly sin.

6
Saw

James Wan’s horror classic was small budget and mostly takes place in one room. That didn’t stop it from becoming one of the biggest franchises of all time. The story of Saw follows two men being held captive in a deadly game to stay alive. After a rollercoaster ride of gore and torment, the two captives realize that the man responsible for their kidnapping had been lying in the middle of the room the entire time disguised as a corpse.

5
Fight Club

Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club follows a group of outcasts forming a “fight club” that eventually turns into a terrorist plot to bring down corporate America. The club’s leaders are the Narrator (Edward Norton) and the violent Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). After a series of insane events, Norton’s character realizes that he has actually been Durden all along. David Fincher’s film has gone down as a cult classic and it is beloved by many.

4
The Usual Suspects

Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects will go down as one of the most famous twist endings of all time. The story starts with the interrogation of Roger Kint (Keven Spacey) who is a survivor of a heist gone wrong. The film is told through a series of flashbacks as we watch how a group of criminals led by their mysterious leader, Keyser Soze, were brought together to carry out the heist. In the end, we learn that Kint is actually the criminal mastermind Soze and he created the story by piecing together items he saw in the interrogation room.

3
Psycho

Alfred Hitchcock will forever be known as the master of suspense. His 1960 classic Psycho shocked audiences around the globe. The film introduced audiences to the psychopathic Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). When the story begins, we are to believe that Bate’s mother slaughters Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) in the infamous shower scene. When her daughter Lila (Vera Miles) investigates her mother’s disappearance, more blood is shed and we learn that the killer is actually Norman, who has taken the persona as his mother.

Related: Hitchcock ‘Shower’ Clip and Poster

2
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back

The line from this infamous Star Wars scene will go down in history as one of the all-time best twists in history. Through the intergalactic wars, we learn that Luke Skywalker’s (Mark Hammil) arch-nemesis Darth Vader is actually his father. It is a scene with depth, emotion, and shocked audiences around the globe. Star Wars is a global phenomenon that has engaged fans for decades.

1
The Sixth Sense

M. Night Shyamalan will forever be known as the king of twist endings. His 1999 masterpiece tells the story of a boy named Cole (Haley Joel Osment) who sees dead people and seeks help from psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis). Through an emotional series of creepy events, the audience finds out that Crow himself is actually a ghost. The ending shocked audiences around the globe and proved Shyamalan’s capabilities as a storyteller. The Sixth Sense would go on to be nominated for six Oscars.

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