A New York native, Joe graduated from an avant-garde theater school upstate, where he was obsessed with sketch comedy. There, he and his lunatic friends founded The Sketchies — which still lives on at Skidmore College today. Living in New York City, a screenwriter friend of his then taught him how to write for film. This awakened a new passion in Joe. Since then his scripts have garnered over 200 festival selections, nominations, and wins all over the globe (including the BlueCat Best Feature award). Several of his screenplays have been made into feature films — some of them not that bad! Overall, he loves to create unique, hilarious, touching, and bizarre stories.
Let’s twist again, like we did (in the) last…scene of these 80s movies. Everyone loves a good twist ending, where expectations are completely reversed, and the cinematic rug is pulled out from under the audience’s feet. With mind-bending, twisty films released each year, perhaps no decade encapsulated the perfect twist ending more than the totally radical 80s.
Needless to say, this list is chocked full of spoilers, so if any of these movies initially appear intriguing and the end reveal is not already common knowledge in your particular orbit, it’s perhaps best to discover them all on your own. Alas, here are the best twist endings that the 80s had to offer, in all their tumultuous, gobsmacking glory.
10
‘No Way Out’ (1987)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/nowayout-5.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" />
Image via Orion Pictures</figure>
War/military movies aren’t typically known for their huge twist endings; fans of this sub-genre are really just there to watch generals strategizing and soldiers shooting at one another. Spy movies are naturally more prone to contain some mystery; they’ve got “spy” right in the name. Director Roger Donaldson‘s hit political thriller No Way Out is actually packed with tons of interesting twists and turns, but ultimately concludes with a really massive one that was truly unexpected.
Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner) is a naval officer who’s having an affair with Susan Atwell (Sean Young), a temptress who is also involved with Tom’s superior, Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene Hackman). During a jealousy-filled fight, Brice kills Susan, and pins the crime on a seemingly fictitious Russian spy named “Yuri.” The rest of the film, Tom and others in the U.S. military try to uncover the real identity of Yuri. After a thrilling climax, it finally comes out that Tom actually is Yuri, the very Russian operative he’s been allegedly hunting the whole time. This twist is pretty unexpected if only for the fact that Costner doesn’t look Russian in the slightest bit.
9
‘Angel Heart’ (1987)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/0ca71f93-f321-4105-95e9-5f152034c15f.jpeg?q=70&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1" />
Image via TriStar Pictures.</figure>
While Fight Club famously did the whole “He was him” thing in the late 90s, there was another 80s flick that basically did this first — which saw the protagonist trying to pin down an elusive rock-star type who eventually turned out to be himself. This is director/co-writer Alan Parker’s Angel Heart, and, wow, did this reveal take audiences off-guard.
The story takes place in 1955, in New York City. A good-looking private eye, Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke), gets hired by an eccentric (weird) rich guy, Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro), to locate a missing singer named Johnny Favorite, who owes Louis some cryptic debt. Harry goes on a bizarre journey from Manhattan’s sultry jazz scene to the voodoo swamps of New Orleans, and every time he interviews someone, they end up six feet under. So, the big reveal is that Harry is Johnny; well, Johnny got caught up in some voodoo mumbo jumbo and switched bodies with (the now amnesiac) Harry, a WW2 solider. In any event, Louis is the devil, and with Faustian flare he indirectly urged Harry to commit the murders and so now he’s got his soul on lock. It’s the fun type of twist where the main character and the audience are simultaneously thrown for a loop.
8
‘Miracle Mile’ (1988)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/anthony-edwards-and-mare-winningham-scene-in-miracle-mile-1988.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" />
Image via Hemdale Film Corporation</figure>
Not every twist has to come in the third act. Writer-director Steve De Jarnatt proves this with his clever subversion of genres in Miracle Mile. The movie starts out as a light-hearted romp, bursting with romcom possibilities. By the end, not only has the entire type of movie switched, the protagonist’s view of what is really happening has his head spinning (right along with the audience’s collective noggin).
The ostensibly fun tale begins with the freewheeling musician Harry Washello (Anthony Edwards) meeting and falling for a diner waitress, Julie Peters (Mare Winningham). Harry tries to catch Julia on her shift, but hears a payphone annoyingly ringing outside the diner. Instead of just letting the darn thing ring, he elects to answer the call. The person on the other line is a solider who is in a nuclear facility. He dialed the wrong number, wouldn’t ya know it, and Harry hears some pretty distressing info indeed: nuclear missiles have been deployed, and the City of Angels is about to be toast in less than an hour. So, the frantic Harry tries to find Julia so they can flee L.A. before they’re trapped there and atomized. The audience is intermittently led to believe that this may all be a big prank that the paranoid Harry has fallen for…until the bombs are seen exploding in the distance. It’s an anxiety-inducing film from the minute the phone is picked up, but the ultimate reveal is even more mind-(and metropolis)-blowing.
7
‘The Bedroom Window’ (1987)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/the-bedroom-window_aWwnwa.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1" />
Image via De Laurentiis Entertainment Group</figure>
When one thinks of the films of Steve Guttenberg, they typically conjure a string of innocuous, somewhat heartwarming dramedies, like Three Men and a Baby and Cocoon. And then, there’s the entire Police Academy franchise… So, to stick him in a steamy noir thriller is kind of a twist in its own right.
Directed by Curtis Hanson, The Bedroom Window is about an architect, Terry Lambert (Guttenberg) who is a bit of a naughty fellow. He’s having an affair with his boss’s wife, the seductive Sylvia Wentworth (Isabelle Huppert), — who gives femme fatale vibes from the outset. While at Terry’s place, Sylvia witnesses a woman, Denise (Elizabeth McGovern), get assaulted, right through Terry’s window (*paging Alfred Hitchcock). Terry is a gentleman, and tells the cops he’s actually the one who saw the attack, to not drag Sylvia’s good name into this mess (and save his own professional reputation in the process, of course). This backfires, naturally, and Terry is soon suspected of this crime and subsequent ones. Eventually, the real perpetrator is apprehended, Collin Wentworth (Paul Shenar), but during his trial, Terry’s lies are exposed and Collin is acquitted — and then tracks down and murders Sylvia. The irony is quite thick in this one.
6
‘Friday the 13th’ (1980)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/friday-the-13th-ending.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1" />
Image via Paramount Pictures</figure>
Double-twist! Aka, the twist within a twist. That’s how the film that launched a million sequels, Friday the 13th, concluded — with not just one major reveal but another, suddenly supernatural one tacked on as well (that director Sean S. Cunningham apparently OK’d toward the end of filming — inspired by the movie Carrie).
Crystal Lake was once a peaceful body of water, where little campers came to frolic for the summer. Except, one fateful day, one of the camp counselors wasn’t paying enough attention to one small guy, Jason Voorhees. He drowned, and the rest is horror history. 22 years later, a new crop of counselors find themselves being stalked and systematically slashed into the afterlife. The major question is: who is the murderer? That is revealed in the final portion of the film: it’s a woman, Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), the mother of the poor drowned boy. Now, once she gets a few more kills in, and there is just one counselor left, Alice (Adrienne King), that’s when the real humdinger happens. As Alice floats on a row boat, blood-splattered and mentally toast, and the police arrive…a seemingly undead kid pops out of the water and grabs her. It’s Jason! This unexpected event turned the straight slasher into a supernatural horror in mere seconds.
- The first film not in the English language to win Best Picture, in the Academy’s
92-year history to that point. - It took four Oscars in one night: Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and International
Feature. - It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2019 by a unanimous jury vote, the first Korean film
to do so. - The Park family’s modernist house was not a location. It was built from scratch on an
outdoor lot.
- Seven Oscars, including three acting wins for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee
Curtis. - Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win Best Actress.
- The visual effects were handled by a team of fewer than ten people, most of them
self-taught. - Ke Huy Quan had all but left acting for two decades before this role brought him back.
- Seven Oscars, including Nolan’s first wins for directing and for Best Picture.
- Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. both took their first Academy Awards for it.
- Kodak engineered a black-and-white 65mm stock that did not previously exist so Nolan could
shoot those sequences on IMAX. - A three-hour, R-rated drama about theoretical physics that passed 950 million dollars
worldwide.
- Four Oscars, among them Best Picture and Best Director for Iñárritu.
- Emmanuel Lubezki’s win here was the middle of three consecutive cinematography Oscars,
after Gravity and before The Revenant. - Antonio Sánchez’s improvised drum score was ruled ineligible for the score category,
which caused a minor uproar. - The long-take illusion was built from a handful of extended shots joined by hidden cuts.
- Four Oscars: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem.
- Adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel, with much of his dialogue carried over
intact. - Carter Burwell’s score runs about sixteen minutes and is nearly inaudible by design.
- Roger Deakins was nominated twice that year, for this and The Assassination of Jesse James,
and won for neither.
5Enjoying this article? Support our work with a small crypto donation.
‘The Return of the Living Dead’ (1985)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/the-return-of-the-living-dead-1985-1.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1" />
Image via Orion Pictures</figure>
A nuclear explosion typically means “game over.” Well, not in this zany zombified sequel. An off-shoot of the George A. Romero Dead franchise, this film, with director Dan O’Bannon at the helm, really ups the ante in terms of scope. The Return of the Living Dead may be a bit campy (talking zombies can have that effect), but it’s got one heck of a finale.
The undead tale begins with two dudes, Frank (James Karen) and Freddy (Thom Mathews), working in a warehouse. They accidentally open a canister of military gas that spreads through the atmosphere. Naturally, this toxic mist causes the local dead to rise, and go on a quest for delicious brains. So, as things descend into pure chaos, and the town looks to be completely overtaken by the gallivanting ghouls, the warehouse boss, Burt (Clu Gulager), phones the military. The head honchos decide to nuke the whole town and be done with this mess…which only ends up spreading the gas over a much wider region of the country… Ergo, atomic zombies galore.
4
‘House of Games’ (1987)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/house-of-games-40.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" />
Image via Orion Pictures</figure>
Every once in a while, a person likes to break bad. When you have a thriving psychiatric practice, but an otherwise mild social life, it just may be time to spice things up. That’s the basic premise of famed playwright David Mamet‘s cinematic directorial debut, House of Games. Yet, this movie isn’t just about engaging in some promiscuous fun; it’s a lesson in being too cocky and believing you are more clever than everyone around you.
Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) is the smart headshrinker in question. She encounters an obvious Lothario, Mike (Joe Mantegna), a dude who runs scams and lives dangerously. He’s intriguing to Margaret, and she lets herself be drawn into an illicit world of underground shenanigans. The thing is, Marge fancies herself a real smart cookie, and while Mike seems to be calling the shots, she believes that she has his number and is just along for the thrill ride. Eventually (here comes the big twist), it’s revealed that all the events that Margaret has been privy to have really all been part of an intricately woven scam to swindle her out of her own cash. When Margaret confronts Mike, and he brushes her off, her dark arc completes and she coldly shoots him dead. With deviously fun set pieces throughout, this is a great neo-noir, predicated on the concept of the inflated ego and how far people go to retain their pride.
3
‘Sleepaway Camp’ (1983)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/sleepaway-camp.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" />
Image via United Film Distribution Company</figure>
Naturally, earlier decades produced a bunch of cringe-worthy, problematic films — when viewed through a modern lens. Writer-director Robert Hiltzik‘s Sleepaway Camp is no exception, but its final reveal was so shocking at the time, it still has to be acknowledged as one of the decade’s most eye-popping, jaw-dropping twists.
The story is about a summer camp where a plucky plethora of murders takes place (shocker). At this sleep away sojourn in the woods, there is one particular girl, Angela (Felissa Rose), who is constantly mocked and bullied by her peers. Anyway, more kids die, and it’s eventually disclosed (in feral, raw fashion) that Angela is the killer. Not much of a bombshell there…except for the astonishing fact that Angela is really a boy named “Peter,” who, when his sister died, was raised by his caregiver aunt, Martha (Desiree Gould), as a wee lass. The way that this is expressed to the audience is with a shot of Angela, where she gives a snarling, lunatic smile…while “she” is stark naked. Yup. Sometimes, you have to let it all hang out.
2
‘Deathtrap’ (1982)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/deathtrap-1.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1" />
Image via Warner Bros.</figure>
Sometimes the best twists are revealed right in the film’s title. Director Sidney Lumet‘s Deathtrap really spells it all out in the very name of the movie. With some really compelling performances throughout, this twisty flick is actually not what it seems at all, with motivations and allegiances switching right up until the film’s conclusion.
The plot is centered on a successful Broadway playwright, Sidney Bruhl (Michael Caine), who has hit a bit of a career snag. When he ostensibly learns that his former protégé, Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve), has written a new work that is sure to be the next big sensation, Sidney appears to become so consumed with envy that he devises a plan to murder Clifford — and claim Clifford’s script as his own, thus returning Sidney to his former glory. But…it turns out that Sidney doesn’t really want Clifford dead…he wants him in his bed. In reality, they are lovers, and the whole “murder plot” was designed to give Sidney’s feeble wife, Myra (Dyan Cannon), a life-ending heart attack. Paying a bit of an “homage” to Les Diabolique, only now with a gay spin, this film is shocking in its ingenuity in redefining the kill-one’s-spouse plot.
1
‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/luke-and-yoda-star-wars-empire-strikes-back-featured.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1" />
Image via Lucasfilm</figure>
For good or bad, this pick shouldn’t come as a surprise to basically anyone who calls themselves a fan of film. Co-writer George Lucas and director Irvin Kershner not only supplied one of the best sequels of all time with The Empire Strikes Back, but they also delivered one of the most shocking twists in all cinema, ever, in any decade, in any galaxy.
One doesn’t need to be a Star Wars nerd to know the plot of this movie inside and out, but here’s the gist anyway. The evil Empire discovers the Rebel Alliance, and the key players are compelled to flee. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) ventures to the planet Dagobah to receive instruction from the wise little creature Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) in the wily ways of the Jedi. Meanwhile, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), the fur-ball Chewbacca, and the bot C-3PO hide out in Cloud City in Bespin. Eventually, the Empire tracks them down, and Luke (now all Jedi-ready) has a lightsaber face-off with Darth Vader (David Prowse), the dark leader of the Empire. As the gravitas-imbued James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader) delivers one of the most epic lines ever uttered onscreen, Luke’s head is spun. His greatest foe has been the very person who supplied him with his DNA (well, half anyway). It’s the type of realization that’s kind of hard to come back from (just watch any paternity-themed episode of The Maury Povich Show). Hamill handles this revelation really nicely, with just the right amount of shock and awe — but, at the end of the day, Luke’s a Jedi, and will not bow down to evil authority, no matter who is wielding it, or how many hands he has left. In one of the 80s’ best films, this twist is a true force to be reckoned with.
Discover more from NAIRAVOICE.COM.NG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
