Will it really shock you if you're expecting a shock, though?
This is going to sound like bragging, but I kind of wish that I didn't see twists coming so often. I love the feeling of being surprised, but it's pretty rare for a film to have a twist that genuinely catches me off guard. I will say that I was lucky enough to see The Sixth Sense before its ending was blasted into pop culture awareness and it did genuinely shock me. These days it's hard to recommend a film with a twist because there are so many "Top 20 Greatest Plot Twists of All Time!" lists out there. Most people already know "the big twist" before even seeing a film.
Movies with plot elements that surprised me or took me off-guard (but please note I'm not saying that these are necessarily good movies and in some cases I'm just describing something I didn't see coming): The Prestige (I guessed one big reveal early thanks to a ton of foreshadowing, but there are two or three surprises and one of them really got me) The Invitation Identity The Visit Dead Silence Witness for the Prosecution In the Dark Half Shutter Island Memento Arrival Ex Machina Oldboy The Invisible Guest Upgrade Session 9 Predestination
Oldboy really shocked me. I didn't understand the twist at first and someone else had to explain it to me after, but it was stills shocking.
For me, the sign of a good plot twist is that it's really rewarding to rewatch the film knowing what's coming. This is a reason that I really champion The Sixth Sense. Yes, it's really fun to get smacked by that twist. But even if you know what's up, it is a well-acted, well-written, and compelling film.
Oldboy definitely falls into this category. Rewatching it, knowing what's really going on, is borderline painful.
the obviously unstable man who had already murdered at least five people by that point in the movie would kill a guy who was antagonising him on live television. At least that's a better choice than the "imaginary relationship" twist they tried to pull as well.
the obviously unstable man who had already murdered at least five people by that point in the movie would kill a guy who was antagonising him on live television. At least that's a better choice than the "imaginary relationship" twist they tried to pull as well.
Anyway, I guess I can pull some titles of my own, but I'm going to put them in spoiler tags for obvious reasons. You've been warned.
The Skin I Live In's twist really shocked me to, although, I did see it coming about 30 minutes in advance. But I was still shocked that they went for it, even though I saw it coming, which is weird.