Top 50 Best Horror Movie Plot Twists
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VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
WRITTEN BY: Joe Shetina
Horror is all about the unexpected! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most shocking or just plain well-executed plot twists in horror movie history. This list is full of spoilers, so beware. Our countdown includes scenes from movies "The Mist", "The Wicker Man", "Us" and more!
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most shocking or just plain well-executed plot twists in horror movie history. This list is full of spoilers, so beware. What’s the last horror movie twist that really surprised you? Spoil it for us in the comments.
#50: Mary Was Dead All Along
“Carnival of Souls” (1962)
This surreal indie film from the early 60s sees a young woman named Mary surviving a deadly car accident, only to be preyed upon by a gray-faced ghoul. As several other ghoulish figures start cropping up, she is relentlessly pursued through a nightmarish world that seems to defy logic more and more. There’s a reason. In the epilogue, it’s revealed that Mary actually didn’t survive that car accident at the start. The ghouls were presumably there to take her to the afterlife. Critic Roger Ebert likened its shocking but inevitable ending to a lost “Twilight Zone” episode.
#49: Who’s the Dummy Now?
“Dead Silence” (2007)
As they did in “Saw,” filmmakers James Wan and Leigh Whannell came up with yet another layered and twisted ending. “Dead Silence” sees the ghost of a vicious ventriloquist named Mary Shaw enacting her revenge on the bloodline of a boy who humiliated her. One of her targets, Jamie, discovers that Mary was there the whole time. In fact, she was disguised as his new stepmother, puppeteering his father’s corpse like a puppet in every scene he was in. This realization is delivered with a hypnotic montage replaying scenes we’ve already watched, this time from Mary’s perspective. Ventriloquism was never so creepy. And that’s saying something, because it’s already pretty creepy.
#48: Simón Was Trapped in the Walls
“The Orphanage” (2007)
In this twisted and captivating supernatural horror movie from J.A. Bayona, Laura moves her family into the orphanage where she grew up, intent on turning it into a school. After her son, Simón, goes missing one day, she begins uncovering the orphanage’s deadly secrets. But it would be more of a twist if the place wasn’t haunted by the spirits of dead people. The real twist is that Simón’s death was not supernatural. He had become trapped in the old house’s walls and died. Laura’s reaction and tragic ending made “The Orphanage” one for the ages.
#47: The Killer Is In Your Bed
“When a Stranger Calls” (1979)
Carol Kane stars in this horror thriller as Jill, a babysitter who is terrorized by a killer calling from an extension. But “the calls are coming from inside the house” is only the first act twist. Years later, when she’s married with her own children, Jill is targeted by the mad killer, Kurt Duncan, once again. After the police leave and she’s alone in bed with her sleeping husband, she’s sure the killer is in the closet. But surprise, he’s actually in bed next to her. It’s a clever inversion of that first twist, but the intimacy of it feels even more frightening.
#46: Johnny Is Harry
“Angel Heart” (1987)
In this stylish, neo-noir horror film, Harry Angel is a private eye hired by a mysterious man to track down a missing singer known as Johnny Favorite. Cyphre tells Angel the singer welched on an unspecified contract. The case leads the detective down a twisting, turning path that leaves a trail of bodies behind. In the end, Angel realizes that the man he’s looking for is himself. He is Johnny Favorite, a man who murdered and tried to consume another man’s soul, condemning his own soul to Hell. And if that weren’t enough, Louis Cyphre turns out to be Lucifer himself.
#45: Sarah’s Escape Was a Hallucination
“The Descent” (2005)
A group of women find out there’s something scarier to exploring caves than tight spaces. One by one, they are devoured by humanoid monsters known as crawlers. Sarah is the last remaining member of her group at the end of the movie. We watch as she makes the desperate and terrifying climb to safety, only to be wrenched back into her nightmare. Her escape was only a dream. She hallucinates an image of her deceased daughter as we leave her underground, doomed to be finished off by the carnivorous cave dwellers. This movie was already bleak to begin with, but the way it ups the ante in its last minutes made it legendary.
#44: They Could’ve Been Friends
“What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962)
Not a traditional horror movie, this unforgettable film features classic movie stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as two fading Hollywood actresses. Their careers ended ostensibly as a result of a car accident caused by Jane and her alcohol use, after which she needed to care for her sister, Blanche, who was left with paralysis. But in the last act, Jane has lost her grip, and drags a starving and neglected Blanche to the beach. It’s here that Blanche reveals the big twist. She was responsible for the accident that broke her own spine, and only let Jane believe it was her fault. Jane isn’t even sane enough to be angry. She makes the heartbreaking realization only too late that their years of mutual resentment were a waste.
#43: Maggie Is Freddy’s Daughter
“Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” (1991)
The “Nightmare on Elm Street” sequels were largely an example of diminishing returns. While the sixth movie was seen as one of the worst in the franchise, it did have a pretty killer twist on Freddy Krueger’s backstory. Maggie Burroughs, the psychiatrist trying to help Freddy’s new targets, learns that she is Krueger’s daughter. After watching him slice and dice the teens of Springwood, Ohio for almost a decade, it was kind of refreshing to see more of what makes the dream killer tick. While it did add some shading to the dream killer’s motivation, it couldn’t save the movie from some pretty terrible 3D effects.
#42: Gabriel’s Identity
“Malignant” (2021)
If you want unhinged horror and bonkers twists, look no further than this James Wan thriller. “Malignant” is the story of Madison Mitchell, a woman who fears a serial killer who killed her abusive husband might just be Gabriel, her childhood imaginary friend come to life. But the truth is even stranger than that. He actually turns out to be her parasitic twin, a monstrous twin brother who was removed from her skull as a child. His brain still lives in Madison’s cranium, and takes over her body to commit his murders. Yes, that’s two big twists, and maybe it’s a hat on a hat, but when you’ve got a parasitic twin living in your brain, you probably need two hats.
#41: Not His Daughter
“Don’t Look Now” (1973)
John and Laura are a married couple traveling to Venice after the death of their daughter, who drowned in a creek while wearing a vivid red raincoat. Amid psychic visions, grief, and spooky happenings, John becomes obsessed by a figure he thinks is his daughter running through the streets of the flooded city. Coincidentally, and as it turns out, ironically, a mysterious serial killer is also stalking the streets. At the climax of the movie, having cornered the girl, he realizes too late that it’s not his daughter, but the serial killer, who quickly dispatches him. It’s a cruel and creepy ending that feels especially tragic.
#40: Lady Van Tassel Controls the Horseman
“Sleepy Hollow” (1999)
We all probably heard “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” as kids. But that didn’t stop us from being shocked by the plot twist in Tim Burton’s 1999 adaptation of the short story. In the film, Ichabod Crane is sent to the small town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders. Halfway through the movie, Lady Van Tassel, the stepmother of Ichabod’s love interest, is decapitated by the Headless Horseman. Or is she? Lady Van Tassel faked her own death and is the reason this whole beheading business started in the first place. Her revenge plot necessitated a bit of murder, and she made a deal with Satan to get her way.
#39: Inside Job
“You’re Next” (2011)
We don’t need a motive for why crazed killers do what they do. So when masked assailants storm the Davison household and start knocking off family members, we hardly bat an eyelash. But, it’s eventually revealed that the intruders aren’t just bloodthirsty - they’re being paid, and by some of the family, no less. At first, it seems like the edgy Felix and his girlfriend Zee hired the men to take out the former’s family for the inheritance. And they totally did. But it’s later revealed that the demure Crispian is in on it, too. Our lead protagonist Erin initially has trouble accepting her boyfriend’s shady dealings, but considering what she went through, we don’t blame her for breaking things off in the bloodiest way possible.
#38: You’re in a Cult
“Kill List” (2011)
If you missed one of the strangest and most upsetting horror movies of the last 20 years, don’t worry. You’re not alone. “Kill List” didn’t even make back its $800,000 at the box office, but the folks who did see it experienced a wild ride. The movie follows Gal and Jay, two British military guys turned hitmen who take on a contract that ends up proving disastrous. “Kill List” doesn’t have just one big twist at the end. It’s more of a slow burn with multiple twists along the way, and a plethora of gory, disgusting horror to boot. The violence will leave even the most strong-stomached reeling, and the end will leave you gobsmacked.
#37: Lori is Also a Killer
“Happy Death Day” (2017)
“Groundhog Day,” but make it horror. “Happy Death Day” is a fun, twisty romp of a horror movie. It centers around a girl named Tree who is stuck in a time loop where she is murdered by a masked stranger before waking back up at the start of the day. She eventually begins using her situation to identify her killer. She eventually does, believing him to be a serial killer on the loose. After she kills her would-be killer, she celebrates with a cupcake from her roommate Lori and goes to bed… only to wake up still in the loop. The cupcake was poisoned, and Lori was trying to kill her the entire time. Talk about a bad roommate.
#36: The Man in the Walls
“The Boy” (2016)
Little children in horror movies are scary enough. But little doll children? Yeah, count us out. In 2016’s “The Boy,” Greta travels to the United Kingdom to be a nanny to an elderly couple and their 8-year-old son Brahms. Turns out, however, Brahms is not a human child at all, but a porcelain doll the couple treats as though he were alive. As strange events begin to happen around the house, Greta starts to believe that the doll does have a human spirit. But when someone smashes the doll, the truth comes out. The real Brahms, who died in a fire decades ago, had been living in the walls of the house controlling the actions of the doll the whole time.
#35: Josh Is Possessed
“Insidious” (2010)
The things that happen to us as children really do follow us to adulthood, don’t they? “Insidious” explores that theme of lingering childhood trauma and takes it to its natural, twisty conclusion. When they discover that their son Dalton can astral project and is being possessed by demons, parents Josh and Renai learn something terrifying about Josh’s own past. He has the same ability as Dalton, and when he was a child, he was tormented by the ghost of a terrifying old woman. Josh has to face the old woman again to save Dalton, and once he does, it seems like everything is fine. But at the last moment, we learn that Josh didn’t win. Possessed by the old lady, his reign of terror begins.
#34: Howard Was Right
“10 Cloverfield Lane” (2016)
What would you do if you woke up chained in a room with some guy you’ve never met telling you that you can’t leave because of the poisonous air outside? Would you believe that guy? That’s the central question that “10 Cloverfield Lane” puts forth. After a car accident, Michelle wakes up to find herself in an underground bunker, with only her captor and his assistant for company. Her captor, Howard, insists that a world-changing event is underway and she cannot leave the bunker. Michelle doesn’t trust him, and as an audience member, it's doubtful whether we should either. Michelle eventually escapes … and comes to learn that Howard was 100% right. Also, aliens exist.
#33: It Was the Devil All Along
“Fallen” (1998)
“Fallen” begins with Detective John Hobbes telling us about the time that he almost died. Or so we think. This Denzel Washington supernatural horror film takes themes of possession to the world of police work. The voiceover at the beginning of the film is said in Washington’s voice, so as we watch Hobbes investigate a series of occult killings, we think he is the narrator. The killer is revealed to be a demon named Azazel, who can possess most human bodies. In the end, we think that Hobbes has overcome Azazel, concluding the story of how he almost died. But no! The voice that’s been speaking has actually been Azazel the entire time. The demon didn’t die, taking over a nearby cat.
#32: No Happy Endings
“Drag Me To Hell” (2009)
You can’t always get what you want. Sometimes, what you get is a giant hand dragging you straight to hell. In Sam Raimi’s 2009 comedy horror masterpiece, happy endings are not in the cards. But that doesn’t stop you from hoping that maybe, just maybe, our protagonist will get away from the cursed button that haunts her. Christine’s curse involves a three-day torment before a demon drags her down to the fiery pits below. But at the end of the film, you do really believe that she’s figured out how to beat it. It’s only when her boyfriend attempts to propose to her, and gives her back her cursed button in the process, that we realize that she has actually lost.
#31: Sequel Prequel
“Final Destination 5” (2011)
“Final Destination 5” mainly follows the characters of Sam and Molly as they try to outrun the inevitability of death. The plot takes them through bridge collapses, meat spits, and more before they believe that they have finally survived. At the end of the film, they end up on a plane. Volée Airlines Flight 180, to be exact. Onboard, Sam overhears a flight attendant telling someone that a passenger who was removed from the flight said they had a premonition that the plane would explode. This is, of course, Alex, the main character from the first “Final Destination” movie. A surprise prequel is the best kind of prequel!
#30: The Alien Makes It to Earth
“Life” (2017)
When “Life” came out in 2017, it didn’t necessarily receive rave reviews from critics or audiences. But this sci-fi, light horror film deserves a second look, in particular for the way it handles its last act. Toward the end of the film, only two members of a crew sent to investigate life on Mars are left. David and Miranda are fighting against a dangerous alien life form. They decide David will kill the alien in space, and Miranda will return to Earth. A pod crashes on Earth. It turns out to be David and the alien instead of Miranda. The last thing we’re left with is David pleading with the people who find him not to open the door and unleash the alien’s havoc.
#29: Lukas Is Dead
“Goodnight, Mommy” (2014)
A clever movie twist is one that fools you in the moment, but opens up the world of the movie once you understand what has been going on. And “Goodnight Mommy” has one of the cleverest, saddest twists of the last 20 years. The movie centers around twins Elias and Lukas who become convinced their mother is not their mother after she returns from surgery wrapped in bandages. Strange events lead them to trap the mother in the house and threaten to burn it down. The mother then reveals to Elias that Lukas died in an accident before the film’s beginning, and Elias has been hallucinating him the entire time. The reveal changes every idea you have about each character and makes you reconsider everything.
#28: The Narrator Is the Real Mad Man
“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920)
If you’re going to dip into the world of silent cinema, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is a wonderfully twisted place to start. The movie functions as a long flashback, as a man named Francis tells the story of a hypnotist named Dr. Caligari who manipulates a man with a sleep disorder into committing murders. The story ends with Dr. Caligari in a mental health hospital, but that’s not the real ending. After the story, we learn that Francis, our very own narrator, is actually the true madman. Dr. Caligari is the asylum director, and Francis is the patient actually living in the fictional Caligari’s cell.
#27: The Husband Isn’t Really Dead
“Les Diaboliques” (1955)
Obviously “Psycho” is one of the most important horror films of the last century. But what about the film that helped inspire “Psycho?” At first, the 1955 French film “Les Diaboliques” seems to be about two women, a wife and a mistress, who band together to kill the man who causes them both so much pain. But the crime at the center of “Les Diaboliques” turns out to be much more sinister. The husband, who we believe to be dead fairly early on in the film, actually never dies at all. The truth is that he and the mistress have concocted a twisted plan to torment the fragile wife to death. Diabolical, indeed.
#26: The Mother Appears
“Barbarian” (2022)
When it comes to twists that blew our minds, “Barbarian” is near the top of the list. Zach Cregger’s wild ride of a film starts out like a regular horror movie, but quickly changes gear. When Tess arrives at her Airbnb to find it booked by a man named Keith, we think we see where things are going. But despite everything we know about horror movie tropes, Keith isn’t actually the villain here. The twist comes when Tess follows Keith down into the bowels of the home’s basement. She finds Keith, but she also finds a naked, terrifying-looking woman simply known as Mother. The film immediately smash cuts to Justin Long of all people, leaving us to wonder what just happened.
#25: Su-yeon Was a Ghost the Whole Time
“A Tale of Two Sisters” (2003)
The secret ghost is a well-worn horror trope, from “The Others” to “The Sixth Sense.” But it takes a smart movie to do the trope well. “A Tale of Two Sisters” is one of the better films to do it. At the beginning of the film, Su-mi leaves a mental health hospital and heads home to her father, stepmother, and sister Su-yeon. The family’s dynamics are complex and often terrifying, but not as terrifying as the reveal that comes towards the film’s end. Su-mi learns that she has dissociative identity disorder and that her sister Su-Yeon is a figment of her imagination. Su-yeon has been a ghost the whole time.
#24: Black Phillip Is Satan
“The Witch” (2015)
Throughout the course of “The Witch,” we’re left wondering what’s real and what’s not. But in the end, writer/director Robert Eggers lets us know exactly what to believe. The film follows a family who is banished from a Puritan settlement, after which strange, possibly witch-induced events begin to occur. Furthermore, the young twins of the family start to say that the goat, Black Phillip, is speaking to them. We’re led to believe that the twins might be making this up, until the very end of the movie. Black Phillip materializes into the devil while speaking to the family’s eldest child, inviting her to live deliciously.
#23: It’s All in Patrick’s Head
“American Psycho” (2000)
Investment banker, serial killer. What’s the difference, really? Not much, when it comes to “American Psycho.” Throughout this 2000 satirical horror masterpiece, Patrick Bateman tortures and kills a number of people in brutal ways. One of these people is his colleague Paul Allen, who he murders with an ax. But toward the end, as Patrick tries to confess to his murder spree, we learn that Allen is actually alive. Patrick might have never actually killed anyone, and has been hallucinating his crimes for the entirety of the movie. This twist drives home the film’s commentary on yuppie culture and toxic masculinity.
#22: Jacob Is Dead
“Jacob’s Ladder” (1990)
When it comes to war movies, horror goes hand in hand. And the 1990 film “Jacob’s Ladder” really drives that comparison home. The film stars Tim Robbins as Jacob, a Vietnam War vet, and flashes back and forth between his life during and after his service. A number of strange, disturbing events occur throughout the film, leading to the most terrifying reveal of all. We learn that due to a military experiment gone wrong, Jacob was killed by friendly fire. Everything that we’ve seen after his time in Vietnam has been some hallucinatory, horrifying fever dream.
#21: The Cult
“Rosemary’s Baby” (1968)
Throughout “Rosemary’s Baby,” Rosemary starts to suspect that her neighbors belong to a Satanic cult that wants to use her unborn child for evil. She’s almost there, but not quite. This 1968 horror flick is one of the very best, and its twisted ending is one of the reasons why. After Rosemary gives birth, she’s told that her baby was stillborn. But in the last scene, she discovers not only that her baby is alive, but that her husband Guy is not the father. When she discovers a Satanic cult honoring her child, she notices that he has unusual eyes. The Devil’s eyes, one might say. Rosemary has given birth to the Antichrist.
#20: Esther Is Actually an Adult Woman
“Orphan” (2009)
We wouldn’t be at all surprised if this 2009 horror movie turned a lot of prospective parents off the idea of adoption, especially when you consider the terrifying twist. After Kate and John adopt a young girl named Esther, the two struggle to get their new family member to open up. Tensions mount as Esther manipulates her new family, with only Kate suspecting something is wrong. In a truly shocking moment, Kate learns too late that Esther - or perhaps we should say Leena - is really a 33-year-old woman who suffers from a medical disorder that stunts her growth. Not only that, but Leena is a cold-blooded killer. Suddenly, the kid from “Problem Child” doesn’t look so bad….
#19: Tom Was the Invisible Man All Along… Or Was He?
“The Invisible Man” (2020)
Leigh Whannell reinvented one of Universal’s classic horror characters for the modern era in this 2020 film. After barely escaping the clutches of her cruel tech mogul partner Adrian, protagonist Cecilia begins to believe that her ex is using cutting-edge invisibility technology to stalk her. Her terrifying suspicion proves correct, but with a twist. After the unseen assailant is shot and unmasked, he’s revealed to actually be Adrian’s brother Tom. But even this revelation is thrown into doubt, with Cecilia insisting this is just another facet of Adrian’s twisted plot. It just goes to show that you can’t always believe what you see, or don’t see in this case.
#18: Marie Unmasked
“High Tension” (2003)
What begins as a quiet weekend of studying quickly turns nightmarish in this French horror-thriller, and if the shocking violence doesn’t leave an impression, the twist definitely will! The story follows two college girls, Marie and Alex, who stay with Alex’s parents in their secluded home to study. But a sadistic killer arrives on their doorstep, taking out Alex’s parents and kidnapping her. It’s seemingly up to Marie to save Alex from certain death, until we learn that almost the entire scenario has been a fantasy playing out in Marie’s head, and she’s been the one maiming her way through numerous victims. It’s a shame, besides the whole ‘being the killer’ part she was a great protagonist!
#17: The Old Couple Is Possessed
“The Skeleton Key” (2005)
Being a live-in nurse is a demanding and often thankless job under the best of circumstances, nevermind when there are paranormal shenanigans going on. After being taken on to care for an elderly man living with the after-effects of a stroke, nurse Caroline begins to suspect the man’s wife Violet of foul play. This comes after Caroline finds a secret room filled with the tools of Hoodoo magic in the attic, which is generally a red flag that something hinky is going on. But rather than simply a practitioner of Hoodoo, Violet is revealed to be possessed by the spirit of a Hoodoo magician from nearly a hundred years prior. Yep, we’d quit too!
#16: It’s All Staged
“April Fool’s Day” (1986)
A typical twist in a horror movie involves the identity of the killer or killers, but the twist in this 80s slasher takes a different route by revealing that there isn’t a killer at all! Things seem par for the course as far as slasher movies go when the bodies begin to pile up at a fancy party thrown by a group of old college friends. But imagine the audience’s surprise when it turns out that the events of the movie were just an incredibly elaborate rehearsal for a murder mystery night, and nobody was ever in any danger! How’s that for a twist: this slasher movie wasn’t a slasher movie at all.
#15: The Ancient Ones
“The Cabin in the Woods” (2015)
After their cabin trip is spoiled by some pesky zombies, friends Marty and Dana discover a massive facility full of monsters beneath the cabin. And after a surprise appearance by Sigourney Weaver herself, the pair learn the deeper truth: that the events of the film were an elaborate ritual to appease a group of elder gods who want nothing more than to see groups of teenagers meet their messy demise again and again. You don’t need a film degree to figure out that the ancient ones’ craving for routine carnage is a somewhat scathing commentary on horror audiences, crystallizing the film’s deconstruction of tired horror tropes and imploring filmmakers to try something new. [“It’s time to give someone else a chance”]
#14: Those Aren’t the Real Grandparents
“The Visit” (2015)
Director M. Night Shyamalan’s reputation as the king of the twist ending is somewhat well deserved, as most of his movies contain at least one shocking twist. Heck, this isn’t the only movie of his on this very list. The twists can get more than a little stale, but there’s just something about this one that gives us the creeps. After an odd yet seemingly innocent weekend at their grandparents’, teens Becca and Tyler receive a shocking revelation: that those aren’t their grandparents. This reveal comes hot on the heels of a number of strange occurrences the pair had experienced, suddenly ratcheting up the already high tension to stratospheric levels.
#13: Red Is Adelaide
“Us” (2019)
Jordan Peele’s electrifying follow-up to “Get Out” did not disappoint, mixing great horror movie scares with a powerful undercurrent of social commentary even before you get to the shocking final reveal. After narrowly escaping her “Tethered” doppelganger with her life and family intact, mother Adelaide seems to be in the clear. Except the audience is clued in via flashback that the woman we’ve been following for the whole film IS the Tethered. Adelaide and her Tethered were switched during childhood, meaning the raspy-voiced Red was actually the original, out for revenge after being exiled below ground. It’s a twist that casts the entire movie in a new light, just like a great twist always does.
#12: Samara Is Now Free
“The Ring” (2002)
We’re betting that up until this infamous moment in the 2002 remake of the Japanese horror sensation, the protagonists were patting themselves on the back. After all, it’s not every day you get to put the vengeful spirit of a dead child to rest. But you forgot that you made a copy, didn’t you? Now your ex is dead and you have to continue passing the curse on in order to save your child. Great job! In all seriousness, the twist that the terrifying Samara was NOT put to rest by uncovering her grave and will continue to wreak vengeance on the living is still one of our favorites, and we still can’t see TV static without shuddering.
#11: The Call Is Coming from Inside the House
“Black Christmas” (1974)
In this 1970s Canadian slasher flick, the residents of a sorority house are plagued by a string of obscene and disturbing phone calls. But things just get worse when several of the residents are found dead, and the killer is behind the obscene calls. In the film’s most iconic scene, a telephone company employee frantically traces the location of the mysterious caller, and eventually discovers that the calls are coming from a second line inside the sorority house! It’s a terrifying reveal, one that kicks the tension in the film into overdrive with the revelation that protagonist Jess is far from safe despite being indoors and under police watch. And sure, the reveal’s similar to “When a Stranger Calls,” but this film did it first.
#10: The Coagula Procedure
“Get Out” (2017)
Once again, Jordan Peele manages to pull off a twist that’s not only terrifying on the surface, but casts the entire film up to that point in a new light. After meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time, Chris begins to suspect something is amiss with the seemingly friendly couple. Following a series of unnerving encounters with the family, Chris is hypnotized and wakes up bound to a chair, a videotape informing him of his fate: to have his brain removed so that a rich old white person can have his body instead. This twist, itself a commentary on how black bodies and physicality are commodified by seemingly well-meaning white people, cemented Peele and the film as horror royalty.
#9: It’s All in the Killer’s Head
“Identity” (2003)
In this horror/thriller from “Logan” director James Mangold, a group of strangers find themselves stranded in a secluded motel and stalked by a mysterious killer. But this isn’t your run-of-the-mill slasher movie. It’s revealed late in the film that almost everything we’ve been seeing has been taking place inside the mind of a convicted serial killer. The “victims” are actually the killer’s multiple personalities, and they’re being killed off as part of his treatment. The “it was all a dream/hallucination” twist is honestly a little bit played out, but this version offers an admittedly fresh spin on the well-worn idea, to great effect.
#8: Mrs. Voorhees Is the Killer
“Friday the 13th” (1980)
The machete-wielding, goalie mask-wearing Jason Voorhees is without a doubt one of the biggest slasher icons. But as horror aficionados are fond of pointing out, he wasn’t the primary villain in the first film in the “Friday the 13th” series. After a number of her fellow camp counselors are brutally murdered, the film’s protagonist Alice discovers that the killer is in fact Mrs. Voorhees, the mother of a deformed boy who drowned while the counselors were...shall we say….distracted. Needless to say, the revelation that the seemingly kindly old lady in a sweater is a crazed killer doesn’t do much to make Alice’s day better.
#7: The Girl Isn’t Missing
“The Wicker Man” (1973)
Before it was remade with Nicolas Cage and turned into an internet meme, this 1973 horror film was a darling of British horror cinema. The film begins when a police detective arrives at a small town on a secluded island after a local girl goes missing. But it quickly becomes clear that something is terribly wrong, and that the villagers are part of a dangerous pagan cult. The detective suspects the girl might have been taken as a human sacrifice, but it’s worse: The girl was never kidnapped, and it was all a ploy to lure him to the island to serve as the sacrifice himself.
#6: Jigsaw Is the Dead Body in the Bathroom
“Saw” (2004)
This infamous horror flick not only kicked off an entire franchise, but arguably started a whole new subgenre. While the sequels went on to more gruesome and elaborate gore, the first one keeps it fairly simple. Two men find themselves chained in a bathroom, with a corpse between them and a hacksaw each. The only way either of them can escape is to take that hacksaw to their own ankle. After much bloodshed, it’s revealed that Jigsaw, the mysterious killer who orchestrated the whole thing, has been in the room the whole time, posing as the corpse lying between his two unlucky victims. Shocking, effective, and oh so twisted.
#5: The Family Are Ghosts
“The Others” (2001)
This spooky, atmospheric horror gem stars a woman named Grace and her two children, who live in a secluded mansion following World War 2. As anyone might if they lived in a house this creepy looking, Grace begins to suspect that her home is haunted. It turns out she’s right, but not in the way she expected. After a series of terrifying encounters with what seem to be spirits, it’s revealed that Grace and her children are the ghosts haunting the house, and the visions they’ve been seeing are the new residents. It’s a clever inversion of the classic haunted house scenario that caught most cinemagoers completely by surprise.
#4: What David Needlessly Does to His Group
“The Mist” (2007)
Things look about as grim as they can possibly get for painter David Drayton and his family. After a strange mist envelops their sleepy New England town, monsters begin emerging from the strange fog and exterminating everyone they can get their tentacles, pincers, and claws on. David and his son flee in their car along with some other survivors in a desperate bid for safety. Eventually, the car runs out of gas, leaving David to shoot his friends and son to keep them from a grislier fate. With not enough bullets to go around, David leaves the car to be eaten by the monsters, only to find the military has arrived to save the day. Talk about too little too late...
#3: Billy & Stu Are the Killers
“Scream” (1996)
This trend-setting slasher movie revitalized the genre for a new generation by injecting a dose of self-aware meta-commentary to liven things up. This mainly takes the form of the teenage characters, who recognize that the mysterious killer stalking them is following the traditional rules of slasher films. Namely stuff like if you have sex, do drugs or say “I’ll be right back,” you’ll be the next one to die. But rather than just two horror movie fans familiar with the tropes of the genre, the characters of Billy and Stu turn out to be the killers themselves, making the horror movie awareness of the Ghostfaced-killer suddenly make a whole lot of sense.
#2: Malcolm Crowe Is a Ghost
“The Sixth Sense” (1999)
The twist so infamous that it started an entire meme remains a fan favorite, even if it turned a promising new director into “the twist ending guy.” The film tells the story of a young boy with the ability to see ghosts, which obviously leads to a near non-stop parade of terrifying encounters with the unquiet dead. Things look to be getting better when he meets a child psychologist determined to help the boy, to make amends for a previous failure. But in the end, it’s famously revealed that Bruce Willis’ Doctor Crowe is a ghost himself, having died after the film’s opening scene. For cinemagoers in 1999… it was one blown mind after another!
#1: Norman Bates Is the Killer
“Psycho” (1960)
Even before the shocking reveal at the film’s climax, Alfred Hitchcock’s horror opus already had audiences scared out of their minds. But that ending just made things worse. After watching numerous characters seemingly die at the hands of the apparently demented Mrs. Bates, audiences were stunned to learn that the killer was in fact her soft-spoken son Norman, who had preserved his dead mother’s body and taken on her identity. Even decades after the film’s release, and subsequent enshrinement in popular culture, the reveal at the end of this legendary film still remains the most shocking and memorable twist ending in the history of horror cinema.
#50: Mary Was Dead All Along
“Carnival of Souls” (1962)
This surreal indie film from the early 60s sees a young woman named Mary surviving a deadly car accident, only to be preyed upon by a gray-faced ghoul. As several other ghoulish figures start cropping up, she is relentlessly pursued through a nightmarish world that seems to defy logic more and more. There’s a reason. In the epilogue, it’s revealed that Mary actually didn’t survive that car accident at the start. The ghouls were presumably there to take her to the afterlife. Critic Roger Ebert likened its shocking but inevitable ending to a lost “Twilight Zone” episode.
#49: Who’s the Dummy Now?
“Dead Silence” (2007)
As they did in “Saw,” filmmakers James Wan and Leigh Whannell came up with yet another layered and twisted ending. “Dead Silence” sees the ghost of a vicious ventriloquist named Mary Shaw enacting her revenge on the bloodline of a boy who humiliated her. One of her targets, Jamie, discovers that Mary was there the whole time. In fact, she was disguised as his new stepmother, puppeteering his father’s corpse like a puppet in every scene he was in. This realization is delivered with a hypnotic montage replaying scenes we’ve already watched, this time from Mary’s perspective. Ventriloquism was never so creepy. And that’s saying something, because it’s already pretty creepy.
#48: Simón Was Trapped in the Walls
“The Orphanage” (2007)
In this twisted and captivating supernatural horror movie from J.A. Bayona, Laura moves her family into the orphanage where she grew up, intent on turning it into a school. After her son, Simón, goes missing one day, she begins uncovering the orphanage’s deadly secrets. But it would be more of a twist if the place wasn’t haunted by the spirits of dead people. The real twist is that Simón’s death was not supernatural. He had become trapped in the old house’s walls and died. Laura’s reaction and tragic ending made “The Orphanage” one for the ages.
#47: The Killer Is In Your Bed
“When a Stranger Calls” (1979)
Carol Kane stars in this horror thriller as Jill, a babysitter who is terrorized by a killer calling from an extension. But “the calls are coming from inside the house” is only the first act twist. Years later, when she’s married with her own children, Jill is targeted by the mad killer, Kurt Duncan, once again. After the police leave and she’s alone in bed with her sleeping husband, she’s sure the killer is in the closet. But surprise, he’s actually in bed next to her. It’s a clever inversion of that first twist, but the intimacy of it feels even more frightening.
#46: Johnny Is Harry
“Angel Heart” (1987)
In this stylish, neo-noir horror film, Harry Angel is a private eye hired by a mysterious man to track down a missing singer known as Johnny Favorite. Cyphre tells Angel the singer welched on an unspecified contract. The case leads the detective down a twisting, turning path that leaves a trail of bodies behind. In the end, Angel realizes that the man he’s looking for is himself. He is Johnny Favorite, a man who murdered and tried to consume another man’s soul, condemning his own soul to Hell. And if that weren’t enough, Louis Cyphre turns out to be Lucifer himself.
#45: Sarah’s Escape Was a Hallucination
“The Descent” (2005)
A group of women find out there’s something scarier to exploring caves than tight spaces. One by one, they are devoured by humanoid monsters known as crawlers. Sarah is the last remaining member of her group at the end of the movie. We watch as she makes the desperate and terrifying climb to safety, only to be wrenched back into her nightmare. Her escape was only a dream. She hallucinates an image of her deceased daughter as we leave her underground, doomed to be finished off by the carnivorous cave dwellers. This movie was already bleak to begin with, but the way it ups the ante in its last minutes made it legendary.
#44: They Could’ve Been Friends
“What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962)
Not a traditional horror movie, this unforgettable film features classic movie stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as two fading Hollywood actresses. Their careers ended ostensibly as a result of a car accident caused by Jane and her alcohol use, after which she needed to care for her sister, Blanche, who was left with paralysis. But in the last act, Jane has lost her grip, and drags a starving and neglected Blanche to the beach. It’s here that Blanche reveals the big twist. She was responsible for the accident that broke her own spine, and only let Jane believe it was her fault. Jane isn’t even sane enough to be angry. She makes the heartbreaking realization only too late that their years of mutual resentment were a waste.
#43: Maggie Is Freddy’s Daughter
“Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” (1991)
The “Nightmare on Elm Street” sequels were largely an example of diminishing returns. While the sixth movie was seen as one of the worst in the franchise, it did have a pretty killer twist on Freddy Krueger’s backstory. Maggie Burroughs, the psychiatrist trying to help Freddy’s new targets, learns that she is Krueger’s daughter. After watching him slice and dice the teens of Springwood, Ohio for almost a decade, it was kind of refreshing to see more of what makes the dream killer tick. While it did add some shading to the dream killer’s motivation, it couldn’t save the movie from some pretty terrible 3D effects.
#42: Gabriel’s Identity
“Malignant” (2021)
If you want unhinged horror and bonkers twists, look no further than this James Wan thriller. “Malignant” is the story of Madison Mitchell, a woman who fears a serial killer who killed her abusive husband might just be Gabriel, her childhood imaginary friend come to life. But the truth is even stranger than that. He actually turns out to be her parasitic twin, a monstrous twin brother who was removed from her skull as a child. His brain still lives in Madison’s cranium, and takes over her body to commit his murders. Yes, that’s two big twists, and maybe it’s a hat on a hat, but when you’ve got a parasitic twin living in your brain, you probably need two hats.
#41: Not His Daughter
“Don’t Look Now” (1973)
John and Laura are a married couple traveling to Venice after the death of their daughter, who drowned in a creek while wearing a vivid red raincoat. Amid psychic visions, grief, and spooky happenings, John becomes obsessed by a figure he thinks is his daughter running through the streets of the flooded city. Coincidentally, and as it turns out, ironically, a mysterious serial killer is also stalking the streets. At the climax of the movie, having cornered the girl, he realizes too late that it’s not his daughter, but the serial killer, who quickly dispatches him. It’s a cruel and creepy ending that feels especially tragic.
#40: Lady Van Tassel Controls the Horseman
“Sleepy Hollow” (1999)
We all probably heard “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” as kids. But that didn’t stop us from being shocked by the plot twist in Tim Burton’s 1999 adaptation of the short story. In the film, Ichabod Crane is sent to the small town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders. Halfway through the movie, Lady Van Tassel, the stepmother of Ichabod’s love interest, is decapitated by the Headless Horseman. Or is she? Lady Van Tassel faked her own death and is the reason this whole beheading business started in the first place. Her revenge plot necessitated a bit of murder, and she made a deal with Satan to get her way.
#39: Inside Job
“You’re Next” (2011)
We don’t need a motive for why crazed killers do what they do. So when masked assailants storm the Davison household and start knocking off family members, we hardly bat an eyelash. But, it’s eventually revealed that the intruders aren’t just bloodthirsty - they’re being paid, and by some of the family, no less. At first, it seems like the edgy Felix and his girlfriend Zee hired the men to take out the former’s family for the inheritance. And they totally did. But it’s later revealed that the demure Crispian is in on it, too. Our lead protagonist Erin initially has trouble accepting her boyfriend’s shady dealings, but considering what she went through, we don’t blame her for breaking things off in the bloodiest way possible.
#38: You’re in a Cult
“Kill List” (2011)
If you missed one of the strangest and most upsetting horror movies of the last 20 years, don’t worry. You’re not alone. “Kill List” didn’t even make back its $800,000 at the box office, but the folks who did see it experienced a wild ride. The movie follows Gal and Jay, two British military guys turned hitmen who take on a contract that ends up proving disastrous. “Kill List” doesn’t have just one big twist at the end. It’s more of a slow burn with multiple twists along the way, and a plethora of gory, disgusting horror to boot. The violence will leave even the most strong-stomached reeling, and the end will leave you gobsmacked.
#37: Lori is Also a Killer
“Happy Death Day” (2017)
“Groundhog Day,” but make it horror. “Happy Death Day” is a fun, twisty romp of a horror movie. It centers around a girl named Tree who is stuck in a time loop where she is murdered by a masked stranger before waking back up at the start of the day. She eventually begins using her situation to identify her killer. She eventually does, believing him to be a serial killer on the loose. After she kills her would-be killer, she celebrates with a cupcake from her roommate Lori and goes to bed… only to wake up still in the loop. The cupcake was poisoned, and Lori was trying to kill her the entire time. Talk about a bad roommate.
#36: The Man in the Walls
“The Boy” (2016)
Little children in horror movies are scary enough. But little doll children? Yeah, count us out. In 2016’s “The Boy,” Greta travels to the United Kingdom to be a nanny to an elderly couple and their 8-year-old son Brahms. Turns out, however, Brahms is not a human child at all, but a porcelain doll the couple treats as though he were alive. As strange events begin to happen around the house, Greta starts to believe that the doll does have a human spirit. But when someone smashes the doll, the truth comes out. The real Brahms, who died in a fire decades ago, had been living in the walls of the house controlling the actions of the doll the whole time.
#35: Josh Is Possessed
“Insidious” (2010)
The things that happen to us as children really do follow us to adulthood, don’t they? “Insidious” explores that theme of lingering childhood trauma and takes it to its natural, twisty conclusion. When they discover that their son Dalton can astral project and is being possessed by demons, parents Josh and Renai learn something terrifying about Josh’s own past. He has the same ability as Dalton, and when he was a child, he was tormented by the ghost of a terrifying old woman. Josh has to face the old woman again to save Dalton, and once he does, it seems like everything is fine. But at the last moment, we learn that Josh didn’t win. Possessed by the old lady, his reign of terror begins.
#34: Howard Was Right
“10 Cloverfield Lane” (2016)
What would you do if you woke up chained in a room with some guy you’ve never met telling you that you can’t leave because of the poisonous air outside? Would you believe that guy? That’s the central question that “10 Cloverfield Lane” puts forth. After a car accident, Michelle wakes up to find herself in an underground bunker, with only her captor and his assistant for company. Her captor, Howard, insists that a world-changing event is underway and she cannot leave the bunker. Michelle doesn’t trust him, and as an audience member, it's doubtful whether we should either. Michelle eventually escapes … and comes to learn that Howard was 100% right. Also, aliens exist.
#33: It Was the Devil All Along
“Fallen” (1998)
“Fallen” begins with Detective John Hobbes telling us about the time that he almost died. Or so we think. This Denzel Washington supernatural horror film takes themes of possession to the world of police work. The voiceover at the beginning of the film is said in Washington’s voice, so as we watch Hobbes investigate a series of occult killings, we think he is the narrator. The killer is revealed to be a demon named Azazel, who can possess most human bodies. In the end, we think that Hobbes has overcome Azazel, concluding the story of how he almost died. But no! The voice that’s been speaking has actually been Azazel the entire time. The demon didn’t die, taking over a nearby cat.
#32: No Happy Endings
“Drag Me To Hell” (2009)
You can’t always get what you want. Sometimes, what you get is a giant hand dragging you straight to hell. In Sam Raimi’s 2009 comedy horror masterpiece, happy endings are not in the cards. But that doesn’t stop you from hoping that maybe, just maybe, our protagonist will get away from the cursed button that haunts her. Christine’s curse involves a three-day torment before a demon drags her down to the fiery pits below. But at the end of the film, you do really believe that she’s figured out how to beat it. It’s only when her boyfriend attempts to propose to her, and gives her back her cursed button in the process, that we realize that she has actually lost.
#31: Sequel Prequel
“Final Destination 5” (2011)
“Final Destination 5” mainly follows the characters of Sam and Molly as they try to outrun the inevitability of death. The plot takes them through bridge collapses, meat spits, and more before they believe that they have finally survived. At the end of the film, they end up on a plane. Volée Airlines Flight 180, to be exact. Onboard, Sam overhears a flight attendant telling someone that a passenger who was removed from the flight said they had a premonition that the plane would explode. This is, of course, Alex, the main character from the first “Final Destination” movie. A surprise prequel is the best kind of prequel!
#30: The Alien Makes It to Earth
“Life” (2017)
When “Life” came out in 2017, it didn’t necessarily receive rave reviews from critics or audiences. But this sci-fi, light horror film deserves a second look, in particular for the way it handles its last act. Toward the end of the film, only two members of a crew sent to investigate life on Mars are left. David and Miranda are fighting against a dangerous alien life form. They decide David will kill the alien in space, and Miranda will return to Earth. A pod crashes on Earth. It turns out to be David and the alien instead of Miranda. The last thing we’re left with is David pleading with the people who find him not to open the door and unleash the alien’s havoc.
#29: Lukas Is Dead
“Goodnight, Mommy” (2014)
A clever movie twist is one that fools you in the moment, but opens up the world of the movie once you understand what has been going on. And “Goodnight Mommy” has one of the cleverest, saddest twists of the last 20 years. The movie centers around twins Elias and Lukas who become convinced their mother is not their mother after she returns from surgery wrapped in bandages. Strange events lead them to trap the mother in the house and threaten to burn it down. The mother then reveals to Elias that Lukas died in an accident before the film’s beginning, and Elias has been hallucinating him the entire time. The reveal changes every idea you have about each character and makes you reconsider everything.
#28: The Narrator Is the Real Mad Man
“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920)
If you’re going to dip into the world of silent cinema, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is a wonderfully twisted place to start. The movie functions as a long flashback, as a man named Francis tells the story of a hypnotist named Dr. Caligari who manipulates a man with a sleep disorder into committing murders. The story ends with Dr. Caligari in a mental health hospital, but that’s not the real ending. After the story, we learn that Francis, our very own narrator, is actually the true madman. Dr. Caligari is the asylum director, and Francis is the patient actually living in the fictional Caligari’s cell.
#27: The Husband Isn’t Really Dead
“Les Diaboliques” (1955)
Obviously “Psycho” is one of the most important horror films of the last century. But what about the film that helped inspire “Psycho?” At first, the 1955 French film “Les Diaboliques” seems to be about two women, a wife and a mistress, who band together to kill the man who causes them both so much pain. But the crime at the center of “Les Diaboliques” turns out to be much more sinister. The husband, who we believe to be dead fairly early on in the film, actually never dies at all. The truth is that he and the mistress have concocted a twisted plan to torment the fragile wife to death. Diabolical, indeed.
#26: The Mother Appears
“Barbarian” (2022)
When it comes to twists that blew our minds, “Barbarian” is near the top of the list. Zach Cregger’s wild ride of a film starts out like a regular horror movie, but quickly changes gear. When Tess arrives at her Airbnb to find it booked by a man named Keith, we think we see where things are going. But despite everything we know about horror movie tropes, Keith isn’t actually the villain here. The twist comes when Tess follows Keith down into the bowels of the home’s basement. She finds Keith, but she also finds a naked, terrifying-looking woman simply known as Mother. The film immediately smash cuts to Justin Long of all people, leaving us to wonder what just happened.
#25: Su-yeon Was a Ghost the Whole Time
“A Tale of Two Sisters” (2003)
The secret ghost is a well-worn horror trope, from “The Others” to “The Sixth Sense.” But it takes a smart movie to do the trope well. “A Tale of Two Sisters” is one of the better films to do it. At the beginning of the film, Su-mi leaves a mental health hospital and heads home to her father, stepmother, and sister Su-yeon. The family’s dynamics are complex and often terrifying, but not as terrifying as the reveal that comes towards the film’s end. Su-mi learns that she has dissociative identity disorder and that her sister Su-Yeon is a figment of her imagination. Su-yeon has been a ghost the whole time.
#24: Black Phillip Is Satan
“The Witch” (2015)
Throughout the course of “The Witch,” we’re left wondering what’s real and what’s not. But in the end, writer/director Robert Eggers lets us know exactly what to believe. The film follows a family who is banished from a Puritan settlement, after which strange, possibly witch-induced events begin to occur. Furthermore, the young twins of the family start to say that the goat, Black Phillip, is speaking to them. We’re led to believe that the twins might be making this up, until the very end of the movie. Black Phillip materializes into the devil while speaking to the family’s eldest child, inviting her to live deliciously.
#23: It’s All in Patrick’s Head
“American Psycho” (2000)
Investment banker, serial killer. What’s the difference, really? Not much, when it comes to “American Psycho.” Throughout this 2000 satirical horror masterpiece, Patrick Bateman tortures and kills a number of people in brutal ways. One of these people is his colleague Paul Allen, who he murders with an ax. But toward the end, as Patrick tries to confess to his murder spree, we learn that Allen is actually alive. Patrick might have never actually killed anyone, and has been hallucinating his crimes for the entirety of the movie. This twist drives home the film’s commentary on yuppie culture and toxic masculinity.
#22: Jacob Is Dead
“Jacob’s Ladder” (1990)
When it comes to war movies, horror goes hand in hand. And the 1990 film “Jacob’s Ladder” really drives that comparison home. The film stars Tim Robbins as Jacob, a Vietnam War vet, and flashes back and forth between his life during and after his service. A number of strange, disturbing events occur throughout the film, leading to the most terrifying reveal of all. We learn that due to a military experiment gone wrong, Jacob was killed by friendly fire. Everything that we’ve seen after his time in Vietnam has been some hallucinatory, horrifying fever dream.
#21: The Cult
“Rosemary’s Baby” (1968)
Throughout “Rosemary’s Baby,” Rosemary starts to suspect that her neighbors belong to a Satanic cult that wants to use her unborn child for evil. She’s almost there, but not quite. This 1968 horror flick is one of the very best, and its twisted ending is one of the reasons why. After Rosemary gives birth, she’s told that her baby was stillborn. But in the last scene, she discovers not only that her baby is alive, but that her husband Guy is not the father. When she discovers a Satanic cult honoring her child, she notices that he has unusual eyes. The Devil’s eyes, one might say. Rosemary has given birth to the Antichrist.
#20: Esther Is Actually an Adult Woman
“Orphan” (2009)
We wouldn’t be at all surprised if this 2009 horror movie turned a lot of prospective parents off the idea of adoption, especially when you consider the terrifying twist. After Kate and John adopt a young girl named Esther, the two struggle to get their new family member to open up. Tensions mount as Esther manipulates her new family, with only Kate suspecting something is wrong. In a truly shocking moment, Kate learns too late that Esther - or perhaps we should say Leena - is really a 33-year-old woman who suffers from a medical disorder that stunts her growth. Not only that, but Leena is a cold-blooded killer. Suddenly, the kid from “Problem Child” doesn’t look so bad….
#19: Tom Was the Invisible Man All Along… Or Was He?
“The Invisible Man” (2020)
Leigh Whannell reinvented one of Universal’s classic horror characters for the modern era in this 2020 film. After barely escaping the clutches of her cruel tech mogul partner Adrian, protagonist Cecilia begins to believe that her ex is using cutting-edge invisibility technology to stalk her. Her terrifying suspicion proves correct, but with a twist. After the unseen assailant is shot and unmasked, he’s revealed to actually be Adrian’s brother Tom. But even this revelation is thrown into doubt, with Cecilia insisting this is just another facet of Adrian’s twisted plot. It just goes to show that you can’t always believe what you see, or don’t see in this case.
#18: Marie Unmasked
“High Tension” (2003)
What begins as a quiet weekend of studying quickly turns nightmarish in this French horror-thriller, and if the shocking violence doesn’t leave an impression, the twist definitely will! The story follows two college girls, Marie and Alex, who stay with Alex’s parents in their secluded home to study. But a sadistic killer arrives on their doorstep, taking out Alex’s parents and kidnapping her. It’s seemingly up to Marie to save Alex from certain death, until we learn that almost the entire scenario has been a fantasy playing out in Marie’s head, and she’s been the one maiming her way through numerous victims. It’s a shame, besides the whole ‘being the killer’ part she was a great protagonist!
#17: The Old Couple Is Possessed
“The Skeleton Key” (2005)
Being a live-in nurse is a demanding and often thankless job under the best of circumstances, nevermind when there are paranormal shenanigans going on. After being taken on to care for an elderly man living with the after-effects of a stroke, nurse Caroline begins to suspect the man’s wife Violet of foul play. This comes after Caroline finds a secret room filled with the tools of Hoodoo magic in the attic, which is generally a red flag that something hinky is going on. But rather than simply a practitioner of Hoodoo, Violet is revealed to be possessed by the spirit of a Hoodoo magician from nearly a hundred years prior. Yep, we’d quit too!
#16: It’s All Staged
“April Fool’s Day” (1986)
A typical twist in a horror movie involves the identity of the killer or killers, but the twist in this 80s slasher takes a different route by revealing that there isn’t a killer at all! Things seem par for the course as far as slasher movies go when the bodies begin to pile up at a fancy party thrown by a group of old college friends. But imagine the audience’s surprise when it turns out that the events of the movie were just an incredibly elaborate rehearsal for a murder mystery night, and nobody was ever in any danger! How’s that for a twist: this slasher movie wasn’t a slasher movie at all.
#15: The Ancient Ones
“The Cabin in the Woods” (2015)
After their cabin trip is spoiled by some pesky zombies, friends Marty and Dana discover a massive facility full of monsters beneath the cabin. And after a surprise appearance by Sigourney Weaver herself, the pair learn the deeper truth: that the events of the film were an elaborate ritual to appease a group of elder gods who want nothing more than to see groups of teenagers meet their messy demise again and again. You don’t need a film degree to figure out that the ancient ones’ craving for routine carnage is a somewhat scathing commentary on horror audiences, crystallizing the film’s deconstruction of tired horror tropes and imploring filmmakers to try something new. [“It’s time to give someone else a chance”]
#14: Those Aren’t the Real Grandparents
“The Visit” (2015)
Director M. Night Shyamalan’s reputation as the king of the twist ending is somewhat well deserved, as most of his movies contain at least one shocking twist. Heck, this isn’t the only movie of his on this very list. The twists can get more than a little stale, but there’s just something about this one that gives us the creeps. After an odd yet seemingly innocent weekend at their grandparents’, teens Becca and Tyler receive a shocking revelation: that those aren’t their grandparents. This reveal comes hot on the heels of a number of strange occurrences the pair had experienced, suddenly ratcheting up the already high tension to stratospheric levels.
#13: Red Is Adelaide
“Us” (2019)
Jordan Peele’s electrifying follow-up to “Get Out” did not disappoint, mixing great horror movie scares with a powerful undercurrent of social commentary even before you get to the shocking final reveal. After narrowly escaping her “Tethered” doppelganger with her life and family intact, mother Adelaide seems to be in the clear. Except the audience is clued in via flashback that the woman we’ve been following for the whole film IS the Tethered. Adelaide and her Tethered were switched during childhood, meaning the raspy-voiced Red was actually the original, out for revenge after being exiled below ground. It’s a twist that casts the entire movie in a new light, just like a great twist always does.
#12: Samara Is Now Free
“The Ring” (2002)
We’re betting that up until this infamous moment in the 2002 remake of the Japanese horror sensation, the protagonists were patting themselves on the back. After all, it’s not every day you get to put the vengeful spirit of a dead child to rest. But you forgot that you made a copy, didn’t you? Now your ex is dead and you have to continue passing the curse on in order to save your child. Great job! In all seriousness, the twist that the terrifying Samara was NOT put to rest by uncovering her grave and will continue to wreak vengeance on the living is still one of our favorites, and we still can’t see TV static without shuddering.
#11: The Call Is Coming from Inside the House
“Black Christmas” (1974)
In this 1970s Canadian slasher flick, the residents of a sorority house are plagued by a string of obscene and disturbing phone calls. But things just get worse when several of the residents are found dead, and the killer is behind the obscene calls. In the film’s most iconic scene, a telephone company employee frantically traces the location of the mysterious caller, and eventually discovers that the calls are coming from a second line inside the sorority house! It’s a terrifying reveal, one that kicks the tension in the film into overdrive with the revelation that protagonist Jess is far from safe despite being indoors and under police watch. And sure, the reveal’s similar to “When a Stranger Calls,” but this film did it first.
#10: The Coagula Procedure
“Get Out” (2017)
Once again, Jordan Peele manages to pull off a twist that’s not only terrifying on the surface, but casts the entire film up to that point in a new light. After meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time, Chris begins to suspect something is amiss with the seemingly friendly couple. Following a series of unnerving encounters with the family, Chris is hypnotized and wakes up bound to a chair, a videotape informing him of his fate: to have his brain removed so that a rich old white person can have his body instead. This twist, itself a commentary on how black bodies and physicality are commodified by seemingly well-meaning white people, cemented Peele and the film as horror royalty.
#9: It’s All in the Killer’s Head
“Identity” (2003)
In this horror/thriller from “Logan” director James Mangold, a group of strangers find themselves stranded in a secluded motel and stalked by a mysterious killer. But this isn’t your run-of-the-mill slasher movie. It’s revealed late in the film that almost everything we’ve been seeing has been taking place inside the mind of a convicted serial killer. The “victims” are actually the killer’s multiple personalities, and they’re being killed off as part of his treatment. The “it was all a dream/hallucination” twist is honestly a little bit played out, but this version offers an admittedly fresh spin on the well-worn idea, to great effect.
#8: Mrs. Voorhees Is the Killer
“Friday the 13th” (1980)
The machete-wielding, goalie mask-wearing Jason Voorhees is without a doubt one of the biggest slasher icons. But as horror aficionados are fond of pointing out, he wasn’t the primary villain in the first film in the “Friday the 13th” series. After a number of her fellow camp counselors are brutally murdered, the film’s protagonist Alice discovers that the killer is in fact Mrs. Voorhees, the mother of a deformed boy who drowned while the counselors were...shall we say….distracted. Needless to say, the revelation that the seemingly kindly old lady in a sweater is a crazed killer doesn’t do much to make Alice’s day better.
#7: The Girl Isn’t Missing
“The Wicker Man” (1973)
Before it was remade with Nicolas Cage and turned into an internet meme, this 1973 horror film was a darling of British horror cinema. The film begins when a police detective arrives at a small town on a secluded island after a local girl goes missing. But it quickly becomes clear that something is terribly wrong, and that the villagers are part of a dangerous pagan cult. The detective suspects the girl might have been taken as a human sacrifice, but it’s worse: The girl was never kidnapped, and it was all a ploy to lure him to the island to serve as the sacrifice himself.
#6: Jigsaw Is the Dead Body in the Bathroom
“Saw” (2004)
This infamous horror flick not only kicked off an entire franchise, but arguably started a whole new subgenre. While the sequels went on to more gruesome and elaborate gore, the first one keeps it fairly simple. Two men find themselves chained in a bathroom, with a corpse between them and a hacksaw each. The only way either of them can escape is to take that hacksaw to their own ankle. After much bloodshed, it’s revealed that Jigsaw, the mysterious killer who orchestrated the whole thing, has been in the room the whole time, posing as the corpse lying between his two unlucky victims. Shocking, effective, and oh so twisted.
#5: The Family Are Ghosts
“The Others” (2001)
This spooky, atmospheric horror gem stars a woman named Grace and her two children, who live in a secluded mansion following World War 2. As anyone might if they lived in a house this creepy looking, Grace begins to suspect that her home is haunted. It turns out she’s right, but not in the way she expected. After a series of terrifying encounters with what seem to be spirits, it’s revealed that Grace and her children are the ghosts haunting the house, and the visions they’ve been seeing are the new residents. It’s a clever inversion of the classic haunted house scenario that caught most cinemagoers completely by surprise.
#4: What David Needlessly Does to His Group
“The Mist” (2007)
Things look about as grim as they can possibly get for painter David Drayton and his family. After a strange mist envelops their sleepy New England town, monsters begin emerging from the strange fog and exterminating everyone they can get their tentacles, pincers, and claws on. David and his son flee in their car along with some other survivors in a desperate bid for safety. Eventually, the car runs out of gas, leaving David to shoot his friends and son to keep them from a grislier fate. With not enough bullets to go around, David leaves the car to be eaten by the monsters, only to find the military has arrived to save the day. Talk about too little too late...
#3: Billy & Stu Are the Killers
“Scream” (1996)
This trend-setting slasher movie revitalized the genre for a new generation by injecting a dose of self-aware meta-commentary to liven things up. This mainly takes the form of the teenage characters, who recognize that the mysterious killer stalking them is following the traditional rules of slasher films. Namely stuff like if you have sex, do drugs or say “I’ll be right back,” you’ll be the next one to die. But rather than just two horror movie fans familiar with the tropes of the genre, the characters of Billy and Stu turn out to be the killers themselves, making the horror movie awareness of the Ghostfaced-killer suddenly make a whole lot of sense.
#2: Malcolm Crowe Is a Ghost
“The Sixth Sense” (1999)
The twist so infamous that it started an entire meme remains a fan favorite, even if it turned a promising new director into “the twist ending guy.” The film tells the story of a young boy with the ability to see ghosts, which obviously leads to a near non-stop parade of terrifying encounters with the unquiet dead. Things look to be getting better when he meets a child psychologist determined to help the boy, to make amends for a previous failure. But in the end, it’s famously revealed that Bruce Willis’ Doctor Crowe is a ghost himself, having died after the film’s opening scene. For cinemagoers in 1999… it was one blown mind after another!
#1: Norman Bates Is the Killer
“Psycho” (1960)
Even before the shocking reveal at the film’s climax, Alfred Hitchcock’s horror opus already had audiences scared out of their minds. But that ending just made things worse. After watching numerous characters seemingly die at the hands of the apparently demented Mrs. Bates, audiences were stunned to learn that the killer was in fact her soft-spoken son Norman, who had preserved his dead mother’s body and taken on her identity. Even decades after the film’s release, and subsequent enshrinement in popular culture, the reveal at the end of this legendary film still remains the most shocking and memorable twist ending in the history of horror cinema.
