Like the horror genre, thrillers have the ability to alter a viewer's perception of what's to come. This can be done in a swift, abrupt manner or it can be a buildup to an unexpected path.
The best twists come from well-established characters doing something against type. Or there can be unforeseen motivations that defy audience expectations. From horror-thrillers to the more straightforward in the genre, there are plenty of movies that have thrown outright surprising curveballs at the viewer. Furthermore, these curveballs aren't always thrown in the third act. And while most fans of the genre will already be aware of these twists, it goes without saying that spoilers abound in the following entries.
No Motive – The Strangers (2008)
Like Michael Myers before them, the masked killers in The Strangers have no real method behind their genuine madness. The movie actually has two legitimately surprising turns in its narrative. The first is the jarring fate of Glenn Howerton's (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) Mike. He arrives at the house and realizes something is very wrong.
He enters the house, where co-lead character James mistakes him for an intruder and shoots him in the head with a shotgun. It's very swift and devastating. Compounding the horrid impact of the carnage is the fact that there's no reason behind it. The couple merely was at home.
It Was Melissa Leo – Prisoners (2013)
Denis Villeneuve's grim but compelling "Missing Persons" movie, Prisoners, has a doozy of an ending. The loveable Melissa Leo plays Holly Jones, who seems cold and distant throughout the movie, but there are no real tells about her past.
The audience is led to believe it's Alex Jones (Paul Dano) who kidnapped the two little girls. Then, there's an even stronger inclination that it's Bob Taylor (David Dastmalchian) instead. Leo's performance properly conveys the character's rage, and her explanation of how she's kidnapped and abused children for years (as a revenge tactic against God) never feels anything less than chillingly organic.
The Zodiac Killer Got Away – Zodiac (2007)
David Fincher's historically accurate true-crime thriller, Zodiac, is a movie that almost gives the audience an answer. The fact that the Zodiac killer was never caught in real life is baffling, and the lack of surety about Arthur Leigh Allen's guilt is atypical cinema.
Thrillers tend to end with actors like Clint Eastwood or Morgan Freeman catching the serial killer before the credits roll. Zodiac found a middle ground and offered the audience a hint while taking no official stance. It's an unorthodox twist on an established formula that somehow makes Fincher's modern classic even more rewatchable.
For Once, An Effective Use Of "It Was All A Dream" – The Descent (2005)
The Descent is a horror-thriller that is not for the claustrophobic. It follows six women who dive down beneath the surface of the earth, navigating a complex cave system. Unfortunately, there are more than jagged rocks or high falls to contend with. There are also vicious, bald creatures.
The truncated U.S. ending is fairly standard, with protagonist Sarah Carter escaping the cave. Then, she drives down the road until the movie closes with a standard jump scare. The U.K. ending is far better, as the impact of that jump scare is flipped on its head. Instead of it just being one final fright, it's actually Carter's hallucination. She's still in the cave, and the creatures will be on top of her in seconds.
Amy Dunne Isn't Gone So Much As She's Hiding – Gone Girl (2014)
David Fincher's imminently rewatchable thriller movie adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel, Gone Girl, follows the same beats as the original work. However, for those who had not read Flynn's book, the movie's twist was a major shock.
Rosamund Pike plays the role of Amy Dunne with clinical efficiency. The audience never doubts that not only is she capable of coming up with her plan, but she's also capable of pulling it off. Amy's framing of Nick (Ben Affleck) doesn't go according to plan, but that's only because she got sloppy. Before the reveal that she's in fact alive, soaring down a highway, the audience is positive that she's actually gone.
The Promising Young Woman's Promising Sacrifice – Promising Young Woman (2020)
Cassie Thomas's fate in Promising Young Woman is a gut-punch. Carey Mulligan carries the film extremely well, so her character's death is a moment that makes the viewer rewind the film to make sure they saw what they saw.
It's a narrative turn that also holds poignancy. Maybe the audience didn't see it coming, but Thomas did, and it's a final, major twist of the knife into the despicable men who sexually assaulted her friend from med school. Furthermore, Ryan Cooper's (Bo Burnham) being a bystander to the assault is a shock as well.
Charlie Dies – Hereditary (2018)
Ari Aster's horror-thriller Hereditary is rarely predictable, and the death of 13-year-old Charlie is a sterling example. Heavily featured in the marketing materials, the audience had reason to believe Charlie would at least last until the third act.
Instead, Charlie swiftly and gruesomely dies in the first. It's an incredibly tense scene that begins with anaphylactic shock. The viewer gets the sense that Charlie's older brother, Peter, will get her to the emergency room on time. Her struggle to breathe is palpable, and the viewer thinks nothing of her sticking her head out the window. Then, in an instant, she's beheaded by a telephone pole. It's a moment that makes every viewer come to the realization that all bets are off.
Bruce Is A Ghost – The Sixth Sense (1999)
Featuring several of M. Night Shyamalan's 10 best-written characters, The Sixth Sense also has a twist that is the stuff of cinematic legend.
Even with the ending being widely publicized, public knowledge, it works impeccably within the film. Cole's doctor being a ghost himself should be scary, but it's actually a reinforcement that the things terrorizing him aren't all bad. They're in pain just like Cole. Furthermore, considering the film was released in Bruce Willis' 1990s heyday, no one considered the fact the A-Lister's character might die at all, much less have been dead throughout the past 120 minutes.
The Mother's Identity – Psycho (1960)
Back when Psycho was released, there was no way that the viewing public could have guessed that Norman Bates was taking the place of his mother. It's a narrative that couldn't be shown in modern films due to a developing social landscape.
For its time, though, and even still, Psycho's ending is masterful. Bates shows no real signs of psychopathology throughout the film, and the audience was in no way prepared for her existence being fictional. Instead, it's not Norman Bates' mother who killed Marion Crane in the shower, but rather Bates himself. Furthermore, Bates' running down into the cellar dressed as his mother is so perfectly timed that it's just one reason why Psycho is the greatest thriller ever made.
What's In The Box? – Se7en (1995)
"What's in the box?!" has become an iconic line, and even those who haven't seen David Fincher's film probably know the answer. Casting Kevin Spacey (a popular star at the time) as John Doe was in and of itself a twist, especially considering the exclusion of his name from the opening credits.
However, it's the contents of the box that makes Se7en a startling and unsettling experience even after the credits have rolled. By putting Tracy Mills's head in that box, Doe completed his master plan in a way that couldn't have been predicted by either the viewers or the characters. When Brad Pitt's Detective David Mills sobs, with gun shaking in hand, the audience feels his pain.