Greatest Twist Endings

[Diocletian]

What are some of the greatest twist endings you've ever seen or read in movies, books, comics, etc. Let's exclude anime for this thread.

Sleepaway Camp has one of the greatest twist endings. It's so odd and out of nowhere that makes it great. You simply need to watch it to know what I mean.

[International 4-8818]

Ew, sleep away camp. Spoiler alert: Penis.

For me, i recently just saw shutter island. It was like having M. Night Shamalamamadaba right next to me saying WAT A TWIST the whole time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Sephiroth]

Secret Window (2004)

From its IMDb page, "A writer is accused [of] plagiarism by a strange man, who then starts haunting him for 'justice'."

I enjoyed this movie a lot, when I saw it.

[Lily Rock]

Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children had a cool ending, also the Lord of the Rings thrilogy were awesome...

[unruley700]

kids.

"jenny, its me, casper"

[3pleT]

Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children had a cool ending, also the Lord of the Rings thrilogy were awesome...

kids.

"jenny, its me, casper"

in what way are those twist endings?

[daft]

Oldboy's twist ending. The entire movie is really great, but the conclusion, oh my... I don't wanna spoil anything.

[Eris]

Soylent Green's twist ending is so epic nobody remembers the movie, but everyone knows the twist.

Another Charlton Heston twist ending that's pretty epic is Planet of the Apes (the original, that is).

[MangaFanGuy]

Original planet of the Apes was one of the Best twists ever

[Anime Forum]

Final Curtain. Its a movie made in 2000's and seriously the ending of it was explosive, literally. At the end, the heroes in the movie were fighting off the killer and then out of nowhere! In the wild blue the theatre blew up. Then the credits rolled. Seriously shocking.

Most of you won't know this movie, so check if up on google if your interested.

[unruley700]

in what way are those twist endings?

i didn't see the movie ending that way. therefore, twist ending. at least for me

[3pleT]

i didn't see the movie ending that way. therefore, twist ending. at least for me

so, any unexpected scene is to be considered a plot twist? in that case, my favorite twist ending is taxi driver :/

also, this may worsen m. night shyamalan's delusion that he is actually doing something meaningful by replacing the movie's overall quality with twist ending.

[IFS]

I would say Clannad/Clannad after story, that thing had a really nice twist in the end, I love it, although it was very random at some points

[SGI]

Night of the Living Dead

 

The jerk, albeit pragmatic Cooper would be proven right in just 'hiding in the basement' after all that occurs, and our lone survivor, Ben, after surviving the night is shot by his 'rescuers'. Who think he is a Zombie.

Carlito's Way

 

The movie opens with our hero being wheeled off dying on a stretcher. As the movie occurs and reaches the climax our hero Carlito is ruthlessly pursued by Italian mobsters. It looks like Carlito has gotten away from his enemies and he'll finally escape to a peaceful life with his girlfriend, but right before he makes it into the departing train, he is shot by Benny Blanco, a pathetic gangster wannabe who swore revenge on Carlito about halfway into the movie, and is long forgotten.

[unruley700]

so, any unexpected scene is to be considered a plot twist? in that case, my favorite twist ending is taxi driver :/

also, this may worsen m. night shyamalan's delusion that he is actually doing something meaningful by replacing the movie's overall quality with twist ending.

yes. i would call an unexpected scene at the end of a movie a twist ending. the thread is about endings is it not?

[3pleT]

yes. i would call an unexpected scene at the end of a movie a twist ending. the thread is about endings is it not?

But that's just not what it is. Twist ending is an unexpected scene that changes (twists) your view on the large portion of the plot by challenging some things you thought you knew about it. Some examples:

 

In Sixth Sense, when it turns out that Bruce Willis was a ghost all along.
In Fight Club, when Tyler turns out to be Norton's alter ego.
In Memento, when it turns out that Leonard actually conned himself.
In Saw, when they find Jigsaw's tape in Zepp's pocket, the supposedly dead guy rises and turns out to be the Jigsaw.

See the pattern?

edit: I see now that Wikipedia also wrongly lists poetic justice, cliffhanger and such as twist endings. They can't be twist endings in and of themselves, but rather have to be combined with another form of plot twist to work as such. They don't even fit Wikipedia's definition of twist ending.

[Fabala]

Atonement, hands down.

I love a good twist as much as the next person. Unfortunately I almost always see them coming, which colors my perspective on preceding events. There are exceptions (The Sixth Sense and of course Atonement...perhaps others that aren't coming to mind), but while I enjoy the clever writing behind The Sixth Sense, it hasn't the emotional impact of Atonement. I'll attempt to sum it up (this goes for book and movie):

 

In a moment of childhood folly a young girl manages to utterly destroy the lives of her elder sister and the family's servant's son, who have just come to terms with their longtime love for each other. They are separated for years. The girl, meanwhile, grows up and later attempts to apologize for the wrong she did them. While they don't forgive her, the mending has clearly begun and the seeds for a happy ending planted. Then, in a heart-wrenching twist finale we learn that the preceding story was penned by the same girl, who is now an old woman. She admits that the last part of the story was made up, as her final act to atone for what she did. In reality, her sister and her sister's lover died during those years apart. There was no happy ending, never can be a happy ending, and subsequently no way for her to redeem herself within their eyes.

I felt absolutely gutted after finishing both the book and movie. What's more, with repeated readings/viewings those feelings only intensified when I knew what was coming. The story lost none of its appeal, which I find most impressive.

[Masked Mantis]

The usual suspects has the greastest ending twist imo.

Other then that the sixth sense and snatch.

Hannibal the second film to the hannibal the cannibal lecter serires has a pretty cool twist with the butchers knife.

Oh and Se7en. How could I ever forget se7en lol.

[Gero50]

hmm well I guess the first Shrek Movie has a pretty good twist to its ending.

[BurntHouse]

I enjoy films that have twists in them... But every so often, there's a film out there that has a twist that just pisses me off.

"The Forgotten"
The twist:
Julianne Moore's kid was taken by aliens. Goddamn aliens.

"Basic"
The twist:
whole thing was a meticulously planned con


"Planet of the Apes"
I would have enjoyed the twist it if wasn't printed on the COVER OF THE GODDAMN MOVIE!

"Planet of the Apes (2001)"
Twist:
I still have no idea. I guess he goes back to Earth...? Or he was on Earth all along...? Or he goes back to the planet he was already on, which wasn't Earth...? Except it's further in the future...? And they've somehow replicated Washington, D.C. in this place that may or may not be Earth..? And the place has magically... uh... Screw it. Nevermind.

Oh... the thread was called "Greatest Twist Endings"... dammit! Oh well, I more or less agree with the ones listed above... except Advent Children, Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Shrek... pretty standard hollywood endings to me.

[Eris]

"Planet of the Apes"
I would have enjoyed the twist it if wasn't printed on the COVER OF THE GODDAMN MOVIE!

Well, it isn't. At least, it wasn't. It's possible some nincompoop added spoilers to the DVD-cover or something, thinking everyone had already seen it.

[BurntHouse]

Well, it isn't. At least, it wasn't. It's possible some nincompoop added spoilers to the DVD-cover or something, thinking everyone had already seen it.

Producer: "So... what should be on the advertising cover?"
Dumbass: "The movie actually takes place on Earth right?"
Producer: "um... yeah, they find that out at the en-"
Dumbass: "Lets put that **** on the cover, gives them time to figure it out while they watch the movie..."
Producer: "... Sounds like a champion idea! Lets do it! Add in Cornelius looking really pissed off for good measure!"

[zansa]

Bambi.

[Eris]

Producer: "So... what should be on the advertising cover?"
Dumbass: "The movie actually takes place on Earth right?"
Producer: "um... yeah, they find that out at the en-"
Dumbass: "Lets put that **** on the cover, gives them time to figure it out while they watch the movie..."
Producer: "... Sounds like a champion idea! Lets do it! Add in Cornelius looking really pissed off for good measure!"

That's a DVD cover. The film wasn't direct-to-DVD. Here's the original poster.

[Sephiroth]

As for the original Planet of the Apes, maybe it was just me, but I wasn't surprised by the so-called twist.

 

The planet is inhabited by lifeforms from Earth, like, especially, humans. Throughout the movie, I was thinking that the astronauts probably traveled through time to the Earth as it was in the past or will be in the future.