Top 10 Plot Twists That Turned the Hero Into a Villain

In this sizzling neo-noir political thriller, Kevin Costner plays Lt. Commander Tom Farrell, a Naval Intelligence officer. His life is in danger when the woman he’s having an affair with is murdered, and he’s wrongly misidentified as a Russian agent. He must clear his good name as a patriot. But then, the movie drops a bomb on us. Farrell really is a Russian agent. Finally fed up with his assignment, he confronts his handler, who reveals himself from behind a two-way mirror. Although some critics weren’t as taken with the twist, it was a huge surprise for contemporary audiences.

The long-awaited sequel spends most of its runtime setting up original final girl Sidney Prescott’s young cousin, Jill, as the “Scream” series’ new ingénue. In the climax, she reveals herself as the new Ghostface. Her motive is simple. Jill wants to be famous. While Sidney has had to find a way to deal with the unwanted fame, Jill was in the shadows, envying every bit of attention her traumatized cousin received. Her twisted reasoning for her killing spree is a truly scary reflection of post-Internet narcissism. It brought the “Scream” series into the digital era and made for a truly iconic unmasking.

In this Stephen King adaptation, Johnny Depp plays novelist Mort Rainey, who’s spending time in a secluded cabin after his wife leaves him for another man. When a stranger named John Shooter arrives and accuses him of plagiarizing his short story, things take a turn for the bizarre. The dead bodies pile up, and Mort’s estranged wife arrives at the cabin where she realizes the truth. John Shooter is fictional. He’s actually a manifestation of Mort’s dissociative identity disorder. His last name takes on a very specific double meaning as Mort attacks her.

Marie is staying with her friend Alex’s family when a brutal serial killer arrives. He dispatches the family and kidnaps Alex, with Marie in pursuit. The killing spree continues at a nearby gas station, and Marie is finally able to put a stop to the homicidal maniac’s crimes. She and Alex escape, but all is not well. Once we leave Marie’s point of view, we see cops watching surveillance footage back, revealing that Marie has been the killer the whole time. Her obsessive love for her friend has led her to kill her family and kidnap her.

Anyone with any knowledge of the original comics would have seen it coming, but it’s still pretty depressing to watch the idealistic district attorney go down the wrong path. Harvey Dent starts as a clean-cut crusader for justice. A vicious and ingenious plot by the Joker ends up killing his girlfriend, Rachel Dawes. Dent’s face is disfigured in the resulting explosion. Traumatized and disillusioned, he forgets his nice guy persona. He assumes the identity of the dreaded Two-Face. He swears revenge on those who have wronged him, and this time, he’s doing it outside the confines of the law.

The first half of this mystery movie hinges on an obvious premise. Amy Dunne, the woman who is missing and presumed dead, is the victim. Why wouldn’t you sympathize with her? Peeking into her diary gives us a taste of how in love she was with her husband, who’s now the prime suspect in her murder. But then, she reveals that everything we know about her is a smartly constructed lie. Not only is she alive, but she masterminded her own disappearance and framed her husband. Every little detail has been accounted for, and she is one step ahead of everyone. The reveal is so insane, that it’s enough to give an unsuspecting viewer whiplash.

Edward Norton’s Narrator meets and becomes fascinated by Tyler Durden, a modern-day philosopher with some pretty strong opinions about modern masculinity. The Narrator realizes too late he’s in league with a monster. Starting a fight club was one thing, but working its members up into a righteous mob to carry out terrorist actions is where our hero draws the line. Charismatic Tyler Durden has one more trick up his sleeve. He reveals to the Narrator that they are the same person. Durden is merely the more uninhibited side of his personality, the person he wishes he could be.

This inverted haunted house tale follows Grace, a war widow, and her two young children as they begin to experience a poltergeist in their gothic English estate. Grace’s daughter insists she’s been contacted by a ghost named Victor. Frightening set pieces and eerie suspense scenes give way to the revelation that their house is haunted, only they are the ones haunting it. Grace and the children stumble upon a séance being held to summon them. They find out that years before, Grace smothered her children and took her own life soon after. Tragic, shocking, and completely ingenious, it changed the entire movie.

Martin Vail may be the protagonist, but he’s not exactly an angel. Martin is a swaggering, headline-chasing defense attorney who only takes cases that will bolster his own profile. So, when he takes up the case of Aaron, a mild-mannered teenage boy accused of murder, he’s so charmed by the young man that he almost threatens to become a decent guy. He builds a temporary insanity defense when he realizes Aaron suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and committed his crime when he was under the influence of his violent alter-ego, Roy. Vail realizes too late that Aaron never existed. Vail let a cold-blooded killer fool him, and he’s just scored him the most lenient sentence possible.

Halfway through Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, the audience is expected to shift its sympathy from the now-dead Marion Crane to Norman Bates. Actor Anthony Perkins makes it easy. Bates is a lonely, haunted motel proprietor who lives under the thumb of his domineering mother. What’s more, we’re led to believe he’s such a devoted son to this monstrous woman that he covers up her murders. In truth, the ending reveals that Mrs. Bates has been dead for years. Norman, driven over the edge by her abuse, was so wracked with guilt after murdering her that he donned her clothes and a wig to carry out more murders. Even after this revelation, it’s hard not to feel bad for Norman.

Which of these plot twists did you see coming a mile away? Let us know in the comments.