What is a movie without a little plot twist? Be it a psychological thriller or a teenage rom-com, movies strive for twists and mystery. Even though the degree varies from genre to genre, you can always expect the unexpected. However, some films went beyond the expectations and left us gobsmacked with their endings. It was not the plot twist but a possibility or an option that we never thought would happen. For instance, have you ever seen a superhero film that ends with the villain’s victory? These aren’t mere twists but conclusions that make you scream “IMPOSSIBLE!” in both good and bad ways. For those of you who haven’t seen some of these movies, SPOILER Alert! Find out the 10 movies that had the most shocking endings.
1. The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
The movie was set during World War II where a Nazi soldier’s little son, Bruno who befriends a Jewish boy imprisoned in a concentration camp. He ends up joining him in the prison and wears the prisoners’ striped pajamas to help his friend find his missing father. By the time, Bruno’s parents realize he is missing and traces him to the concentration camp, Bruno is dragged to the gas chamber with other prisoners and never sees his parents. The realistic depiction of the Holocaust, especially of the kids was extremely painful to watch.
2. Uncut Gems
Adam Sandler revived his drowning career with this outstanding movie, Uncut Gems. It’s about Adam Sandler whose character is a jeweler but also a gambler who is in heavy debt to his brother-in-law, Arno. After a twisting tale of struggle, Adam managed to win a million-dollar worth bet and clear his debts. But that turns out to be his last bet and last victory and Arno’s men shoot a bullet through Howard who dies with a smile on his face, knowing that he won.
3. Enemy
This mind-twisting thriller is about a professor named Adam, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who finds an actor named Anthony who turned out to be his doppelganger. Adam tracks down this actor and the two strike a deal to sleep with each other’s partners. But what was the deal with spiders? The film starts with Adam watching a movie where a girl steps on a spider. By the end, Anthony and Adam’s girlfriend die in an accident and when Adam pays a visit to Anthony’s wife, he finds a tarantula instead of her.
4. The Departed
This thriller was full of suspense and plot twists. What else would you expect when a criminal undercover spy and an undercover cop are in a constant battle? Just when you thought that Matt Damon’s Colin Sullivan had won after Leonardo DiCaprio’s undercover cop Billy Costigan got killed, Sullivan received a surprise visit from Mark Wahlberg’s Sergeant Dignam at his place and was shot to death.
5. Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War was the final step of the MCU Phase1-3 storyline that the studio had started crafting ten years back. The movie was supposed to be the ultimate battle where all the superheroes of the universe joined forces to stop the biggest threat named Thanos aka the Mad Titan. He was after the six Infinity Stones in order to use all of them to wipe out half the universe. The entire movie was intensely charged with heroes scattered across the galaxy to protect each stone. MCU fans who hadn’t read the Marvel Comic Books were expecting the superheroes to win the war. But to their surprise, Thanos not only accomplished his mission but also killed a majority of the MCU heroes. Marvel Studios wanted to surprise fans by dividing the Infinity War.
6. Prisoners
Prisoners is about a father, played by Hugh Jackman, who hires detective Loki played by Jake Gyllenhaal to find his missing daughter. The two manage to kill the kidnapper and rescue his daughter in the end but it is soon followed by an open-ended twist. Just when Loki begins to wrap up after solving the kidnapping mystery and is about to leave, he hears Hugh Jackman blowing his daughter’s emergency whistle as he was trapped down a hole. But does Loki go back and save Hugh’s Keller Dover? We don’t know. The scene cuts to black after the whistle and gives us the painful ambiguous ending.
7. Get Out
An African-American man, Chris visits his white girlfriend’s parents who seem welcoming at first and turn out to be darker beyond his expectations. As the suspense unfolds, he learns that the old white folks, along with his friends, were transferring their minds into the bodies of suitable Black youth. Just when he managed to save himself by slaughtering these evil souls, sirens are heard approaching nearby, indicating his arrest. But then his cousin arrives at the right moment to rescue him.
8. American History
Nothing hit so hard as the ending of American History. It depicted the story of Edward Norton’s Derek Vinyard who was serving prison for hate crimes as a neo-Nazi. His story was partly described by his brother, Danny Vinyard, played by Edward Furlong, in an essay titled American History. Danny also shared the same beliefs as his brother and aimed to follow his path. However, as he proceeded in his essay, his view began to change. By the time he and his brother became new and better people, Danny was shot at school by a Black student he had terrorized and discriminated against previously.
9. Inglorious Basterds
When it comes to the legendary Quentin Tarantino, one can expect extreme bloodshed and violence, not in a gruesome way but in a typically dramatic Hollywood style. The director is inclined to period pieces and Inglorious Basterds was one of them which was set up in World War II. Even though the Fuhrer was the head, puppeteering the Nazis, Hans Landa was the primary villain of the film as the “Jew Hunter”.
No one was expecting the plan to be successful and Hitler to die so easily but it did happen. Just when we thought that the story was over as the battle was won, the film hit us with another surprise. Hans Landa ended up giving up his loyalty and made a deal with the Americans in exchange for immunity. But when he was escaping with the Basterds, they held the once intimidating “Jew Hunter” down and brutally carved a swastika on the Nazi’s forehead.
10. Carrie
Carrie is a gripping horror story of a young girl who recently discovers that she possesses telekinetic powers and uses them against the pranksters at her high school who pour pig’s blood over her on prom night. She ends up killing her classmates and returns home, only to do the same to her abusive mother. In the end, Carrie burns her house down which makes us assume that the movie was over But when one of her classmates lays flowers over the ground where her house burnt down, a bloody hand rises from below and grabs her arm. Just when you almost drop your popcorn, the entire film turns out to be a mere dream.
