15 Best Movie Plot Twists Of All Time, Ranked

What makes a great plot twist? Perhaps the most important part of this plot device is the twist's ability to shock or surprise the viewer. On a narrative level, a plot twist often changes your perspective on the entire movie, particularly when it comes at the end. Many of the best plot twists pull the rug out from under you, re-contextualizing earlier events in the film and upending your understanding of what really happened.

Unsurprisingly, many of the most famous plot twists come from horror movies. But plot twists can resonate in myriad ways. Sometimes, they're gut punches, making what you've just watched more devastating. Other plot twists are mind-benders, prompting the viewer to try and put these new puzzle pieces together. Others are straight-up horrifying, revealing to the audience that the truth is even more upsetting than they previously thought.

Whatever context they emerge in, plot twists are one of the most riveting narrative tools filmmakers have at their disposal. At the same time, some of them can feel overwrought, particularly if there are too many of them or if they appear obvious or cliché. But we're not talking about those misfires today. Instead, take a look at our ranking of the 15 best movie plot twists of all time. 

Note: In case you haven't guessed, MAJOR SPOILERS are below for these 15 movies.

Kicking off our countdown, "Primal Fear" isn't just one of the best legal thrillers of the 1990s; it also has a twist ending that's too good to pass up. Richard Gere plays Martin Vail, a showboat defense attorney who thinks very highly of himself. When Archbishop Rushman is found murdered and a 19-year-old altar boy named Aaron (Edward Norton) is caught fleeing the scene, Vail decides to represent the boy. What follows is a series of shocking revelations involving another murder, abuse, and multiple personalities.

When Vail admonishes Aaron for not telling him about Rushman's sexual abuse, the normally timid Aaron suddenly turns violently angry. This new personality calls himself Roy and admits to killing the Archbishop. A doctor concludes that Aaron has dissociative identity disorder, and Vail succeeds in getting the judge to declare him not guilty by reason of insanity.

Sounds thrilling enough, right? Then comes the bait and switch. After getting off easy, Aaron gleefully tells Vail that he killed both Rushman and his girlfriend Linda and that he faked having multiple personalities. When Vail asks if he made up his Roy personality, the young man responds, "There never was an Aaron, counselor." It's a disturbing twist for both Vail and the audience, and it's played perfectly by Norton in his first film role. It may not be the most original or un-guessable twist – particularly since the multiple personality trope has become increasingly common — but it's a well-executed kicker.

Our next entry is a science fiction movie that left many viewers scratching their heads. Even so, there's a method to this madness. Denis Villeneuve's 2016 film "Arrival," which stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, is a science fiction movie that shows more than it tells. Adams plays Louise Banks, a linguist who has recently lost her daughter. Recruited by the U.S. Army to investigate the arrival of alien spacecraft on earth, Banks eventually learns to communicate with the seven-limbed creatures.

Banks' partner on the project is Ian Donnelly (Renner), a physicist. Together, they decipher what the aliens are trying to tell them while governments around the world prepare for an unnecessary battle. Banks finds out that the aliens' gift for humans is their language, and they are imparting this gift to humanity because they will need humans' help in 3,000 years.

Banks discovers the secrets behind the alien language. It allows them to experience time non-linearly, which means they have access to "memories" that haven't happened yet. What we presumed were flashbacks of Banks' daughter are future events. In the "current" timeline, as perceived by humans, Banks' daughter hasn't been born yet, nor has she gotten involved with Donnelly, her daughter's father. Banks can now experience the past, present, and future all at once, which means she knows her daughter will die but continues down the same path regardless. The viewer now interprets the rest of the film in an entirely new light, though they may leave the theater with more questions than answers.

Joe Wright's Atonement pulls the rug out from under the viewer by making a point about unreliable narrators. In 1930s England, 13-year-old Briony (Saoirse Ronan) witnesses a sexual dalliance between her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and the housekeeper's son, Robbie (James McAvoy), and mistakes their affair for assault. Later, when her cousin Lola is raped, Briony blames it on Robbie despite having no evidence for this.

Briony's accusations essentially ruin Robbie and Cecilia's lives, and Robbie is sent to prison. After the war (during which Robbie fought at Dunkirk and Cecilia was a nurse), Briony learns that Robbie and Cecilia have reunited and are now living together, and she attempts to apologize for her actions. The movie skips forward several decades, and we see Briony as an older woman (now played by Vanessa Redgrave) and a successful novelist. Briony gives an interview about her book, "Atonement," an autobiographical novel that tells the plot of the film.

While most of the novel is true, the portion where Robbie and Cecilia are living together and Briony visits them is a total fiction. In actuality, Robbie died from an infection at Dunkirk, and Cecilia died just a few months later in a bombing during the Blitz. Briony has written this fictional portion of the book to assuage her guilt, and the final scene of the film –- which depicts Robbie and Cecilia living in a house by the sea –- is yet another impossible dream.

Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" is full of twists and turns. Our protagonist is J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson), a private investigator in 1930s Los Angeles. Hired by Evelyn Murray (Diane Ladd) to expose her husband's affair, Gittes runs into the first twist: The woman who hired him was an impostor named Ida Sessions, and the real Evelyn (Faye Dunaway) isn't happy. Later, Evelyn's husband is found dead, and Gittes works with her to find the culprit. Meanwhile, Gittes discovers that someone has been siphoning water from the reservoir, even though L.A. is experiencing a drought.

Gittes finds out that Evelyn's father, Noah Cross (John Huston), is responsible for the water shortage and the drought as part of a real estate plot. But the most shocking twist concerns their family tree. Gittes learns of the existence of Katherine (Belinda Palmer), Evelyn's sister. Gittes gets Evelyn to admit that Katherine is not only Evelyn's sister, but also her daughter –- the product of Cross assaulting her at age 15.

If this isn't upsetting enough, Gittes, now intent on saving the two women, witnesses his plan fall apart. Evelyn is shot and killed by police while trying to escape with Katherine, and Cross gains control of his daughter/granddaughter. This horrific turn of events leads to the film's immortal final line: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." With a masterful screenplay by Robert Towne, "Chinatown" clinches a spot on this list due to the sheer cynicism and brutality of its twists.

Christopher Nolan loves twists and turns, but when it comes to showstopping finales, nothing beats his 2006 film "The Prestige." The movie is set in the 1890s and it follows two feuding magicians, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman). Borden creates a trick called the Transported Man, in which he seems to teleport, and Angier obsesses over finding his secret.

Angier then visits Nikola Tesla, played by David Bowie. Tesla creates a teleportation machine for Angier but warns him against its use. Angier ignores his advice, and when Borden sneaks backstage, he sees Angier drown in a water tank and is arrested and hanged for murder.

Later,. Borden –- who is somehow still alive? –- returns to the theater and shoots Angier. Here, we learn his secret: Borden is a pair of twin brothers who each live half of one life, all in order to achieve the perfect magic trick. But Angier has a secret as well. His teleportation trick works because the machine clones him every night. The "original" Angier falls through the stage and drowns in a water tank, and a clone replaces him every single night.

The film is named after the final act of a magic trick, which occurs when the magician brings back the disappeared object. The prestige in "The Prestige" is a masterful way to end a film that's all about illusion, proving that sometimes it is satisfying to uncover the secrets of magic.

The climax of Jordan Peele's smash hit "Get Out" is one of the most discussed -– and most spoiled -– twists of the 21st century, but that doesn't make it any less brilliant. Daniel Kaluuya plays Chris, a Black photographer dating a white woman named Rose Armitage (Allison Williams). Rose takes Chris to meet her well-to-do parents, and Chris senses something off about them pretty quickly. Several unsettling events transpire, and Chris decides it's time to leave.

Rose helps Chris at first, but then he notices several photos of Rose posing with different Black men, meaning she lied about Chris being the first Black man she's dated. Suddenly, Rose's demeanor changes, and Chris realizes she has stolen his keys, so he can't leave. After being trapped in the basement, Chris finally learns the whole truth: The Armitages transplant the brains of their wealthy friends into other bodies –- usually those of Black people.

The twist about the Armitages' horrible secret is cleverly executed, but the moment most likely to make viewers gasp is the revelation that Rose has been in on it all this time. Because she's an attractive white woman and we've been conditioned to sympathize with her –- or we want to believe at least one of these people isn't evil –- the twist hits like the crest of a rollercoaster.

In her review of the 1968 film "Planet of the Apes," Pauline Kael urged readers to see the film as soon as possible so the ending wouldn't be spoiled for them. "It has the ingenious kind of plotting that people love to talk about," she wrote. Widely considered a classic, "Planet of the Apes" contains arguably the best twist of the decade –- with one significant exception.

The film follows a group of astronauts who wake up after 2,000 years of hibernation and crash into an unknown planet. They happen upon a hierarchical society of talking apes populated by gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees. The group also encounters primitive humans, who are considered pests to be hunted. The apes think the astronauts are also primitive humans, and only George Taylor (Charlton Heston) survives among them. Taylor and another human captive, Nova (Linda Harrison), set out to prove they are intelligent humans, not primitive ones.

They find evidence, but they also encounter something they were not prepared to find. Taylor and Nova venture off on their own, only to come across the remains of the Statue of Liberty washed up on the beach. Taylor has been on Earth the whole time, but civilization has been destroyed by nuclear war. Though the original movie got four sequels followed by a remake in 2001 and a reboot series with four films at the time of writing, the film that started it all has the best twist, sticking the landing with an immense emotional impact.

Several of Denis Villeneuve's films contain great plot twists, and his very best comes not from a science fiction movie but from a harrowing family drama. In "Incendies," Nawal (Lubna Azabal), a Middle Eastern immigrant in Canada, dies while swimming at the pool. Her children, twins Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette), discover that she doesn't want to receive a proper burial unless they help her keep a mysterious promise –- tracking down a brother they never knew existed and a father they long believed to be dead.

Through flashbacks, we learn Nawal's story. While in her home country, she fell in love and became pregnant, but her family didn't approve, so she fled and gave the baby up for adoption -– but not before her grandmother tattooed his foot. Years later, Nawal joins the resistance and is imprisoned by Christian Nationalists. To break her, they bring in a famous torturer, Abou Tarek (Abdelghafour Elaaziz), who rapes Nawal.

Jeanne and Simon determine that Tarek is actually their father. But the real shock takes place during a flashback just minutes before Nawal's death. At the pool, Nawal sees a man with a tattoo on his foot, and when he turns around, she sees his face. Abou Tarek, also known as Nihad, is both her son and her rapist. Nawal then has a stroke and dies. Without any gimmicks or magic, the end of "Incendies" is just as disturbing as any gory horror movie.

Park Chan-wook's 2003 film "Oldboy" is best known for two things: Octopus eating and the famous one-shot hallway fight scene. But many forget the movie's plot, which is full of twists and turns and a gut punch of a finale. Choi Min-sik plays Oh Dae-su, a businessman kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years. When he's finally released, Dae-su has no idea who imprisoned him but sets out to seek revenge, a classic Park Chan-wook plot point.

While getting his bearings, Dae-su begins a sexual relationship with Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung), a young sushi chef. He attempts to locate his daughter, who was four years old when he was kidnapped, but it's a dead end. Finally, he uncovers the identity and motive of his captor. In high school, Dae-su gossiped about the promiscuity of his classmate, who later died by suicide. What Dae-su didn't know was that she was having sex with her brother, Lee Woo-jin (Yoo Ji-tae). Woo-jin blames Dae-su for his sister's death, hence the imprisonment.

Though shocking, that revelation is not the film's biggest surprise. In his final act of revenge, Woo-jin reveals that Mi-do is Dae-su's daughter, and he used hypnosis to arrange their incestuous relationship. This horrifies Dae-su, and he returns to the hypnotist to erase this knowledge. In the final scene, Mi-do goes to hug Dae-su, and we watch his expression go from a smile to a grimace. There's little solace to be found here, and we're left with nothing but a sinking feeling.

Alejandro Amenábar's "The Others" contains one of the greatest horror movie endings of the 21st century. Set in 1945, the film follows Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman), who lives in an old house on the island of Jersey with her two children, Anne and Nicholas. Anne (Alakina Mann) tells her mother she's been seeing ghosts –- a boy named Victor, his parents, and an old blind woman –- and Grace doesn't believe her until she begins experiencing strange phenomena herself.

After searching for answers about this supernatural activity, Grace finds out that their housekeeper, gardener, and maid all died of tuberculosis 50 years ago. Finally, Grace recognizes the situation for what it is. Victor's parents hired the old blind woman –- a psychic –- to hold a séance, discovering that after her husband died in the war, Grace had a mental breakdown and killed herself and her children. Thus, the "ghosts" they referred to as "the others" are actually the current residents of the house, and it is Grace and her children who are haunting them.

The they've been dead all along trope is old hat at this point, but when it's done right, it packs a real wallop. In "The Others," you're forced to confront the worst possible answer to the mystery, and with the great Nicole Kidman at the helm, the final scenes are some of the best the genre has to offer.

One of the most popular – and sometimes derided – horror franchises of our time, the "Saw" series had humble beginnings. Still, despite the relatively tame violence of the first film compared to its nine sequels, the original deserves the top spot in any "Saw" movie ranking. The first of many collaborations between James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the 2004 film follows two men captured and imprisoned by a man known as the Jigsaw Killer (Tobin Bell). In between them lies a man who presumably died by suicide.

Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) surmises that Jigsaw is the culprit because he was once a suspect. Meanwhile, Adam (writer Leigh Whannell) is hired by a disgraced detective to photograph Gordon. Via cassette tapes, Jigsaw instructs Adam to survive and Gordon to kill Adam, using Gordon's wife and daughter as collateral. After surviving for some time, Zep (Michael Emerson), an orderly at Gordon's hospital and presumably their captor, comes in to kill Adam. Adam kills him instead, and the two men determine that he was another one of Jigsaw's victims just trying to survive.

The final twist is a jaw-dropper. The dead man rises from the floor, and we learn he is John Kramer, the real Jigsaw Killer. Gordon escapes after sawing off his foot, and Jigsaw leaves Adam to die. It's a relatively simple, no-frills twist, but it's impossible to predict and deeply satisfying to witness. The birth of the "Saw" franchise defined horror in the 2000s, and it all started with Jigsaw's perfect trick. 

The line "The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club" is by far the most famous part of David Fincher's controversial film, but do you recall what happens at the end? Let's talk about it. Edward Norton plays an unnamed narrator. He's depressed, works a mindless office job, and attends various support groups for conditions he doesn't have to cure his insomnia. There, he runs into Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), who seems to have the same habit.

The narrator's life changes when he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a charming soap salesman. The narrator moves into Tyler's apartment when his explodes, and together, they start an underground fight club. Tyler scales up the group into what he calls Project Mayhem, using terrorist tactics to destroy capitalism and curb the feminized effects of consumerism. The narrator tries to stop Tyler's plans, but he can't. Why? Because Tyler and the narrator are the same person.

The multiple personality plot is frequently used in film and television (in fact, Norton tackled this subject in his very first movie), but "Fight Club" remains the gold standard. There are several reasons why the twist is so effective –- great performances, an evocative style and tone, thought-provoking themes, and clues that hint toward the final surprise. The final scene, soundtracked by Pixies' "Where Is My Mind," endures as one of the great mind-blowing movie endings, even though we're left with plenty to ponder.

"The Empire Strikes Back" contains one of the most quoted lines in cinema history. Even if you've never seen a single "Star Wars" film, you probably know Darth Vader's (James Earl Jones) iconic proclamation to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Indeed, the film's climax is one of the most well-known twists across film history, and you'd have to literally be living under a rock to be surprised by it. Still, while it's no longer shocking, there's a reason why the "Empire Strikes Back" twist remains legendary: Because it's darn good.

The second film in the "Star Wars" series continues the battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) board the Millennium Falcon while running from Vader. Meanwhile, Luke seeks out Yoda (Frank Oz) to begin his Jedi training. We all know how it ends. During a climactic duel, Vader reveals that he is Luke's father –- a secret George Lucas kept from the cast and crew.

Interestingly, though most remember the line as being, "Luke, I am your father," what Vader actually says is, "No, I am your father." Mandela effect aside, it's a shrewd twist that boils the galaxy-wide conflict down to an emotional family saga. In the next film, we find out that Luke and Leia are twins, lending the story even more pathos. If you can't remember the details of all the characters or the political factions, this twist assures that you always know the heart of the story.

Though "I am your father" places high on the list of memorable movie twist lines, it has competition in the form of "I see dead people" from "The Sixth Sense." Like several other films on this list, almost everyone knows the twist in this film, but let's get into it, nonetheless.

Bruce Willis, star of three M. Night Shyamalan films, plays Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist. Rattled by the return of a former patient who shot Malcolm and then himself, Malcolm takes on a new patient named Cole (Haley Joel Osment). Cole confesses to Malcolm that he sees ghosts in that immortal line, but that's only the first twist of the movie.

Malcolm doesn't believe Cole until he discovers that his former patient had the same gift. When Cole tells his mother, Lynn (Toni Collette), about his ability, she is similarly incredulous until he tells her things about his late grandmother that he couldn't have known otherwise. At Cole's urging, Malcolm goes to visit his despondent wife. This is when he confronts the truth: He's been dead all along.

These twists work so well because they're not loud or bombastic. Instead, they're quietly devastating, as the film leans into the emotional nature of ghosts rather than their horrific connotations. Shyamalan's favorite plot twist in "Planet of the Apes" has a similarly crushing conclusion. Though critics famously hate Shyamalan's movies, his first big hit proves that he has what it takes to make an excellent film.

The blueprint for both great movie twists and the broader horror genre, "Psycho" clinches the top spot on this list. Although the movie is best-known for its famous shower scene and the attendant spine-tingling soundtrack, its plot also warrants discussion. Janet Leigh plays Marion Crane, a real estate secretary. She steals $40,000 from her boss in order to pay off her boyfriend's debts and then leaves the state.

She arrives at the Bates Motel, a family business run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). She hears Norman speaking with his mother, whom he claims is ill. A shadowy figure murders Marion while she's in the shower –- the first twist, as we thought she was the protagonist. Meanwhile, Marion's sister Lila (Vera Miles), her boyfriend Sam (John Gavin), and a private investigator named Arbogast (Martin Balsam) set out to find Marion and the money.

Lila enters the Bates house and hides in the cellar. She sees a woman in a rocking chair, and when she turns her around, she sees it's Norman's mummified mother, just as Norman rushes in dressed as her. After a (frankly unnecessary) explanation from a psychologist comes the iconic final shot of Norman grinning up at the camera. Arguably the most influential horror movie ever made, "Psycho" inspired countless films in the decades to come, with filmmakers constantly looking to recreate Hitchcock's brilliance – a near impossibility.