I remember seeing The Usual Suspects for the first time shortly after it came out and really being blown away by the ending.
Now the whole Keyser Söze thing is part of movie history, but that was a pretty shocking conclusion when no one knew what to expect.
What are some other movies that have very unexpected endings?
Here’s what people on AskReddit had to say.
1. Primal Fear.
“Primal Fear.
Edward Norton was phenomenal in that.”
2. A classic!
“The Sting.
This was the first time I remember being blown away by a twist. So much so that I rewound the vhs and watched the last few scenes again. Like everyone else, I missed all the foreshadowing.”
3. One of my favorites!
“Psycho (1960) it’s a classic for a reason.
The original mindfuck ending.”
4. A creepy one.
“The Others.
First time I watched it, was in uni with the missis. Lying on bed in pitch black with surround sound. The scene when the ‘ghost’ boy runs down the room abs opens the curtains scared the shit out of us. The surround effect started right by my bedroom door ending by the curtains. Bricks were shat!”
5. What’s in the box????
“Seven for sure.
A lot of twist ending movies feel like they were written just for the twist ending. Seven was a great movie with a great twist.”
6. A crime story.
“The Departed.
The whole cast was amazing. I thought Mark Wahlberg was the icing on the cake for me.”
7. This is a great, underrated movie.
“Frailty.
That movie hits you with a double mindfuck.”
8. Teaching the young kids.
“The Empire Strikes Back.
My son only recently got into Star Wars. When we got to watching Empire for the first time the thought that he didn’t know what was coming, or the impact it would have, didn’t even occur to me. I wished it taken a video of his reaction.
He was beyond shocked, like absolutely gobsmacked. He also bombarded me with questions for about an hour straight afterwards. It blew his mind!”
9. This was a big one.
“The Sixth Sense.
For everyone that saw this movie 20 years ago and know the twist, don’t feel like you can’t see it again. I rewatched it recently and was blown away by how great a movie it is particularly Osment’s performance. Scary stuff.”
10. Pretty cool.
“Planet of The Apes.
It was super surprising seeing the Statue of Liberty at the end. When I first saw it, my 9 year old brain just exploded. The movie doesn’t really make sense up until the ending because of the reveal, but even if you saw it coming, it’s execution was still phenomenal.”
11. A great movie.
“Memento. Absolutely incredible.
The ending made the beginning scene even more disturbing.”
12. Shocked!
“The Cabin In The Woods.
Never has a movie shocked me more than this one.”
13. Silenced.
“I tagged along with a group of friends to see Saw. Didn’t know anything about it. Never saw a trailer. Didn’t even know what genre it was. Just went because I had nothing else to do.
Walked out of the theater two hours later completely terrified. I remember my friend didn’t even turn the radio on, on the way home. We all just sat in silence.”
14. From Wes Anderson.
“The Grand Budapest Hotel.
I didn’t expect the ending to be so bleak compared to the rest of the movie. Other Wes Anderson films may apply but this one hurt.”
15. Now considered a classic.
“Fight club was one of those movies where you just didn’t know what was going to happen next. There are still some parts of it I try and figure out.
Tyler and the Narrator was beautifully done.”
16. Check it out.
“The Butterfly Effect and I say this purely as someone who didn’t realise there were two different endings and I had only seen the bad one…
So when I watched it again and got the good ending I was so pleasantly surprised!”
17. A very bleak movie.
“The Mist.
Such a brilliant ending. Heart breaking, but it spoke volumes for the message of the film with regards to hope, faith, paranoia, and perseverance.”
18. A scary Dutch film.
“A 1988 Dutch movie called “The vanishing”. If you don’t know anything about it I’m not going to tell you how it ends but holy s**t. Not the American version. The Dutch version.
“ A young man embarks on an obsessive search for the girlfriend who mysteriously disappeared while the couple were taking a sunny vacation trip, and his three-year investigation draws the attention of her abductor, a mild-mannered professor with a clinically diabolical mind.
An unorthodox love story and a truly unsettling thriller, Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer’s The Vanishing unfolds with meticulous intensity, leading to an unforgettable finale that has unnerved audiences around the world.””
I’m gonna have to add some of those movies to my list to watch soon!
Now we want to hear from you.
In the comments, tell us about some more movies that have unexpected endings.
Please and thank you!
