“The whole theater gasped and clapped at the end because no one saw that coming at all.”

I'm a Senior Staff Writer based in New York City, where I've been covering classic BuzzFeed-style content since 2020.

*We also used replies from these threads.

🚨🚨WARNING: SPOILERS (obviously) AHEAD!!!🚨🚨

"Predestination is a slow burn, and then you get to the end, and you become mentally unstable for hours/days afterward."

"I was figuring it out, and then it just kept going!"

"The Cabin in the Woods got me good. I wasn't expecting a twist in a run-of-the-mill horror film."

"I showed this movie to my girlfriend, who was watching it for the first time. I tried to say it was a horror movie, but couldn't be very convincing about it because of how different it is; the best I could say was that she'll probably be saying 'What the fuck?' during this movie more than any other movie she's ever watched."

"If you're looking for a literal 'plot twist' — as in, the entire plot of the film twists into an entirely different direction, this is a good one. If somehow you've never seen it, don't read about it. Just watch it blind, enjoy it like we did when it came out."

"This is probably the best twist in any movie I’ve seen. Watch the original, of course."

"The first time you watch it, it's literally an experience because when it came out, it was literally so different from anything you've seen before. And in the last moments of the movie, everything is put together, and your mind is blown. This is one movie I wish I had never watched, just so I could watch it again for the first time."

"The scene where that maid tried to get into that secret basement just turned the movie upside down. That was so unexpected!"

"The twist wasn’t only a twist; it freaking changed the film's GENRE."

"I was high as hell and eating some drive-thru Del Taco the first time I watched it. My bean burrito legit dropped out of my hand when I realized what was in the box."

"I loved the twist in Arrival! Watching it start to all come together was awesome."

"My wife and I had just had a baby girl when we watched it, and we bawled when that twist was revealed."

"I wish I could forget I ever watched it just to experience the second half of the film again."

"When I got to the end of the book, I legit gasped out loud and yelled out of shock 😂😂"

"12 Monkeys is so good, and the ending was just mind-blowing and sad at the same time."

"First time I watched Shutter Island, I was so floored."

Like, six reveals happen in this scene: that Nick was the man Goodkat killed at the start of the movie, that Slevin has orchestrated this whole thing, that Slevin is the son of the man (Max) who was killed after bad betting on a horse race, that Goodkat was the one that killed Max and was meant to kill Slevin, too, but instead raised him as his own, and that the Rabbi and the Boss were the mobsters from the story. Each one is given its own moment to shine, and together they comprise this truly glorious twist that you realize has been in the making for the entire movie without you even realizing it. 

"Rod Serling wrote the screenplay for Planet of the Apes. The man knows his twists. His essays on writing are phenomenal to this day."

"I talked to some older folks who saw it in theaters when it was released. It caused loud gasps, from what I'm told. The way it played on the still palpable Cold War fear of nuclear destruction only made it that much more shocking."

"Such a brilliant movie. I think the fact that it’s presented backward sometimes overshadowed how good the plot twist actually is."

"In a high school film and literature class, we had to show movies and talk about symbolism, artistic choices, etc. I chose The Sixth Sense. No one in the class had ever watched it before. The teacher (who liked my choice a lot) and I were on the edge of our seats the entire time. When the twist hit, everyone lost their shit."

"The first time watching Fight Club is way up there for me."

"I’m amazed I didn’t get it the first time around. It seemed so obvious in hindsight, yet I was oblivious. Amazing writing and cinematography."

"Such a brilliant movie. They give you clues throughout the movie that you don’t even realize until the end or on rewatch."

"What's great is that it's actually a nontwist. Cutter could tell how the trick was done right from the beginning. He didn't suspect a twin specifically, but he knew it was a double."

"My favorite thing about Moon is that everything is pretty much exactly as it seems.

They get the twist out of the way about 30 minutes in, and from that point on, you're expecting another twist, but no. The plot from that point on is just, 'Well, what are we gonna do about it?'"

"It was and still is the most brutal twist in a movie, and I didn't see it coming at all."

"Yes! Fortunately, I knew absolutely nothing about this movie when I saw it. I was totally along for the ride and believed all of his delusions. I believed that he was working undercover and was making drops at the freaky old house. I believed he was deciphering codes. I even believed it the second time when he was working in the garage behind his house. To learn that it all wasn't real totally blew my mind."

"I took a film class in high school, and this was one of the films we watched. I think most of us in the class hadn't seen it, so it blew us all away. 😂 Looking back through the movie, I don't know how I didn't see it ( like how the girl doesn't age, despite years going by, and one scene where she's running through a flock of birds, but the birds aren't reacting to her by flying away)."

"When the 'corpse' gets up, it threw me for a loop."

"The music builds that up so well too. I think it was the first twist I saw in the cinema that got gasps, shrieks, and some nervous laughs from people who knew they were caught hook, line, and sinker."

"I did not see that ending coming at all. Awesome!"

"The last minute completely turns the movie on its head. I went with a buddy, and we had to completely rehash the entire movie as we walked home."

"I still wonder if I’m already dead after watching that movie. It’s a mind-bender."

"I'm mentioning this movie not because it is the best but, rather, because it is hard to find digitally, for some reason: The movie The Others with Nicole Kidman has a great twist for its time."

"This is one that's great to watch again after knowing the twist. So many scenes are recontextualized when you know 'the others’' perspective of what is happening in the house."

And the most frustrating thing was that I convinced my parents to watch it, but they stopped watching it halfway through because my mom doesn't like dark, suspenseful movies, and it was getting too intense for her, so they never saw the ending!

As far as they're concerned, it's just a story of a guy who gets horribly tricked into a living nightmare."

"Crazy Stupid Love has not one, but two of the best twists ever for a rom-com! I had randomly put it on one night, thinking it would be a generic run-of-the-mill comedy, but the setups are so good that those twists come out of nowhere but are still fantastic."

"This still freaks me out sometimes. Not long ago, I got up to get a drink, and when I got back into bed, I lay there for a bit and then had to feel my husband's face to make sure it was him. Slightly embarrassing explaining that to him, lol."

"I knew Sorry to Bother You was going to go differently than expected, but I really had no idea."

"I watched it a few months ago with my husband, expecting some clever writing and laughs, but, fuck man...I was not ready for that last quarter of the movie. Had to watch it a few times to catch all the easter eggs and hidden details. Fucking brilliant."

"Witness for the Prosecution is just wild. Once you see it, you want to watch it again right away."

"It starts out being about a woman on the run with a suitcase full of money and then turns into a completely different movie a third of the way in."

I think Psycho was probably the second horror film I watched, and I found it a lot less scary. Still, the reveal that Norman's mother is dead and that he's actually just been dressing as her and talking to her is such a classic and chilling reveal that I had to include it on this list. 

"Horrifying ending for an otherwise goofy and eccentric movie."

"Even if you guess right about who the killer is, you're probably wrong."

"I did not see that one coming at all, and it makes it very rewatchable because it makes you wanna go back and see if you can spot the hints."

"Basically the moment near the end of the film when Edward Norton’s character starts to slow clap right as Richard Gere’s character (and the audience) figure out what’s really going on. I remember getting chills the first time I watched it. Edward Norton’s performance in that film is absolutely incredible."

"The ending was terrible, but in a good way — like, the twist was heartbreaking, but it was so good."

"I saw this in the theater, and it took me so long to process what had just happened. I legitimately haven’t watched the movie again because it just fucked me up so bad."

"No one ever talks about The Usual Suspects — such a good movie, and the twist had me so fucked up."

"The whole theater gasped and clapped at the end because no one saw that coming at all."

"The whole film is phenomenal, and the ending was like, omg, what the fuuuuck."

"The great thing about 10 Cloverfield Lane is that eventually you stop thinking about the initial reason they're in the bunker but, rather, focus on the story about two people stuck with a psychopath. However..."

"I didn't trust kids for a solid week after watching this movie."

"Snape not being evil in Deathly Hallows. I was all set for retribution for him killing Dumbledore."

"Scabbers in Harry Potter being Peter Pettigrew all along blew my mind as a kid."

"Overall, the film has some rough spots. But I was really tripped up by the twisted ending. Did not see that coming."

It's a common horror trope: the hero thinks they've escaped some demon or curse (usually by doing the right thing), only to realize they definitelyyyyy didn't (Drag Me to Hell, anyone?). But this one stands out to me because she's not even the one that pays the price — this scene leads to heart-pounding anticipation and truly one of the scariest horror film deaths EVER.

I normally dislike "it was all a dream" reveals, but this one just works. The whole movie is trippy and creepy and weird, and this reveal fits in perfectly. The jaunty music that plays over this reveal is just perfect.

"Made me go back and watch the entire movie over again."

"The first time I saw that, I was like, WHAT."

"My friends gasped, which took me by surprise because I assumed they understood from the beginning that he was blind. He moved like a blind person (such as that scene where he didn't shoot until the cat meowed, how he constantly touched things, and how he didn't react when someone was reaching out to touch him). Never even occurred to me that I wasn't supposed to know he was blind. This makes a different kind of twist. ... I'm now realizing Denzel really did his research for that film. Great actor."

"Terminator 2. It is implied that Arnold is again the villain, up until he says 'get down' to John in the mall hallway. However, this twist was ruined by the movie trailer.

"Never watch a trailer. The best way to see a movie is with zero knowledge. This is how I experienced T2. Mind blown."

"I wasn't allowed to watch many violent films when I was a kid, so I'd never seen Terminator 1 or 2 back then and hadn't really had any desire to see them as an adult. I didn't really know a whole lot about them beyond the 'I'll be back' line.

So one day my husband sat me down, and we watched both of them.

That scene — the 'get down!' — genuinely blew my mind."

"When the Warden rips the poster off the wall, and you see the tunnel. Such a great moment."

"He throws a pebble at the poster, which goes clean through. That was the moment everyone's mind was blown."

Even these screenshots freak me out. I'm not always a fan of movies ending on cliffhangers, but I think this film improved upon its predecessor by leaving us with an intensely chilling ending.

Harry spends the entire movie looking for the man that ends up being him all along — I mean, how can a twist get better than that? I'll tell ya how: by also having the character realize they're a murderer and their soul belongs to the devil. It's a horrifying scene that makes you want to yell at the screen, wondering how you didn't see this coming. 

"Samuel L. Jackson getting eaten by sharks in Deep Blue Sea. The biggest star in the movie, just taken out in the middle of this inspirational speech."

"It just gets better once they leave the set."

"It began as a spoof of a western, but then Mel Brooks went, 'Agh, screw it, no one's ever filmed their set on another set before."

Look, it's the Avengers. You expect the heroes to win. So to see them lose so horribly, with no last-minute save, was genuinely shocking at the time. SO many fan-favorite characters just literally faded into dust. The movie plays against superhero film expectations so well to deliver an utterly shocking ending.

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.