You know a movie is good when it grabs you by the balls and doesn’t let go till the end. You know a movie is great when it doesn’t just not let go till the end, but gives ’em marbles a few extra twists for good measure. Now that you’re sitting with your legs crossed, here’s something else you can do! Watch the movies below, they’re absolutely stellar as is, but take it to the next level with the way they decide to close curtains. It really is a genius way to make a movie.
Check it!
1. Predestination
Ethan Hawke stretches the time paradox to its absolute limit in this science fiction thriller. The movie itself is a mind-bending pipe dream that twists and turns through a multitude of timelines. It also gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, “go fuck yourself.”
2. The Usual Suspects
A mainstay of any list about movies with an ending twist, this rollicking crime mystery kind of started it all. A motley crew of petty thieves and con artists tell the stories of how they came to pull off a heist worth millions of dollars… almost.
3. Prisoners
A psychologically, and to an extent physically draining masterpiece, this film stars Hugh Jackman as a man desperately searching for his missing daughter. It’s relentlessly hopeless, brutal and altogether really makes you feel just as helpless as the characters.
4. The Sixth Sense
This movie blew a million minds and then some when it came out all the way back in 1999. Haley Joel Osmont is a creepy kid with some serious issues, which is weird because he’s pretty much exactly the same nowadays, except with a beard.
5. Ex Machina
Oscar Isaac plays the morally dubious AI overlord in this film perfectly, but it’s Alicia Vikander doing the spooky robot that’s got the most allure. You never really know exactly what’s been going on in Isaac’s lair, or who’s going to finally pop.
6. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Set in the 18th century, this film follows the murderous quest of a man with a superhuman sense of smell to create the perfect scent. Things quickly get pretty fucked up, and Ben Whishaw has played his part of social outcast with a cause to perfection.
7. Oldboy
An ultra-violent work of art, the original Oldboy was about a man locked in a room for 15 years for no reason. When he gets out, he breaks a lot of necks, shoots a lot of dicks and tries to get his life back. Tries.
8. Fight Club
No one saw the ending of this movie coming. And don’t believe anyone if they tell you otherwise. One of the greatest movies of the 90s, Fight Club still holds steam thanks to its unique performances, bareknuckle violence and an ‘explosive’ ending.
9. Pyscho
The quintessential horror flick, this movie’s twist ending never gets old. Norman Bates owns a motel and has some serious Oedipal issues on the side. People soon start disappearing from the motel and shit hits the fan… or the floor. I know you’re thinking of the shower scene music right now, so I’ll leave you to it.
10. Memento
Insurance investigator Leonard Shelby is left with anterograde amnesia after a home invasion where 2 men raped and killed his wife. He tries to piece together who did it using photos, notes and tattoos on his own self.
11. The Others
A mother and her 2 photosensitive children move into a remote gothic house while awaiting the return of her husband after WWII. Soon, odd events begin to occur, and the mother starts believing there’s malicious beings present (in a clearly haunted house? Who’da thunk it?).
12. Secret Window
Johnny Depp plays a soon-to-be divorced author facing an acute case of writer’s block. He withdraws to a secluded lakeside cabin, where he’s constantly stalked and harassed by a man claiming he plagiarised his work. Watch out though, you might start craving corn while watching this… but not for long! *cue Psycho theme again*
13. Shutter Island
Teddy Daniels, a US marshal, investigates the disappearance of an inmate named Rachel at a remote asylum. However, he starts to uncover a massive conspiracy involving unregulated lobotomies and unexplained experimentation in the process.
14. 10 Cloverfield Lane
A prime example of genre-bending done right, this film starts off as a pretty straightforward psychological thriller involving a girl chained in a bunker. Through a brilliant and perfectly engineered sequence of events though, it mutates into a balls-to-the-wall science fiction trip.
15. Unbreakable
Bruce Willis plays David Dunn, a seemingly ordinary man who realises his true superhuman potential under the guidance of a man named Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson). This only happens after he becomes the only person to survive a train derailment that killed everyone else on board, something that has pretty ominous implications.
16. The Prestige
In 19th century London, friends and fellow magicians Robert Angier and Alfred Borden turn bitter enemies trying to outdo each other to create the perfect illusion. The final trick doesn’t come from them however, but from the movie itself, which throws a curveball so unexpected even David Blaine would look surprised (and that dude never looks anything).
17. Cabin in the Woods
This movie is a joyride for the senses. It starts by ticking off every horror movie cliche in the book – 5 friends go to a cabin in the woods for a vacation, bad things start happening while some of them are trying to get it on – the usual schtick. But then the stakes get raised times a million, and you realise what you’ve just seen is the next stage of evolution in horror cinema.
Endings that’ll make you go, “oh, phat gayi yaar!“
