The 8 Greatest Movies With More Than One Twist
Movie plots don’t need a twist to be successful. Some twists have even ruined movies with how they completely unravel their plots. When a movie does pull off a twist, though, it’s impressive, but when it pulls off more than one, it’s movie magic. There isn’t an abundance of movies with more than one plot twist, but those that have them and utilize them well are all great, keeping us engaged and then shocking or surprising us with their twists.
From mystery thrillers to science fiction movies to a seminal slasher, the greatest movies with more than one twist don’t conform to any one genre, and they all use their twists to vastly different effects. Whether they’re part of a larger central mystery or act as simple misdirections, they all serve a purpose within their respective plots. These are the eight greatest movies with more than one twist.
‘Witness for the Prosecution’ (1957)
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Billy Wilder‘s courtroom drama classic Witness for the Prosecution, based on the short story and subsequent stage play by Agatha Christie, is a seminal film in the history of plot twists. So determined were Wilder and the studio to keep the film’s twist ending a secret that they supposedly didn’t provide the cast with the final ten pages of the screenplay until the day of shooting. The film was also released with a message at the end imploring audiences not to spoil the surprise. It’s the kind of tactic that wouldn’t work in the current era of social media and constant spoilers, but which was a rarity for films at the time.
Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) is on trial for the murder of a wealthy widow, with his defense led by the senior barrister Robarts (Charles Laughton), and his own wife Christine (Marlene Dietrich) testifying against him. As the trial progresses, more and more secrets are revealed, the plot twisting and turning around its characters. The ending twist still has the power to shock decades later, and while it would be easy to spoil it here, that wouldn’t be in the spirit of its secrecy.
‘Psycho’ (1960)
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Similar to Witness for the Prosecution, Alfred Hitchcock‘s Psycho employed a secret-saving tactic in its release, which was borrowed from the release of the French thriller Les Diaboliques, though this one was meant to help maintain the shock of the film’s twists for audiences. Those iconic twists have long since been spoiled, as almost everyone with any pop culture awareness knows that Norman Bates is the killer in Psycho, but there’s still a distinct enjoyment in the winding journey to get there. Few films have as long-lasting a legacy as the chilling thriller, and much of that is due to how effectively it employs its twists.
Based on the novel by Robert Bloch, the film begins as any Hitchcockian suspense thriller might, with secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) stealing thousands of dollars from her work and going on the run. After stopping at the Bates Motel and meeting the mama’s boy proprietor, Norman (Anthony Perkins), Marion takes a shower and is killed in the film’s first shocking twist, and the film sharply shifts genres into full-blown horror. Even then, we’re led to believe that it’s Norman’s mother who is the killer, until the film’s second shocking twist, where it’s revealed that Norman has been keeping his mother mummified in the cellar. Psycho is great even when you know the twists, but the twists are what make it one of the greatest.
‘Sleuth’ (1972)
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Sleuth, the classic mystery thriller directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz based on the Tony Award-winning play by Anthony Shaffer, is a total two-hander between Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier, who both received Academy Award nominations for their performances. The film is all about their escalating game of deception against one another, but in order to keep audiences in the dark, the filmmakers listed non-existent actors in the opening credits. That tactic helps preserve the surprises in what is one of the most darkly enjoyable thrillers ever made, with two world-class performers at the center of it.
Andrew Wyke (Olivier) is a crime author who has invited his wife’s lover, Milo Tindle (Caine), a hairdresser, out to his country home where he makes a proposal that will allow Milo to live a life of comfort with Andrew’s wife, leaving Andrew free to be with his mistress. That proposal is all a ruse that allows Andrew to humiliate Milo and kicks off a bloody game of wits that eventually turns deadly. Sleuth takes wicked delight in its twists and how its characters turn, while Caine and Olivier bring out the best in each other.
‘Clue’ (1985)
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Comedy isn’t a genre known for its plot twists, but a few utilize them well. Most of those are comedic mystery films, which usually use their twist to increase the madcap madness swirling around their frantic characters. The best examples of this are the modern comedic thriller classic Game Night and the absolute lunacy that is Clue. The latter takes the basic premise of the classic board game and then twists it around and around itself to the point of incomprehension. Does any of it make any sense or hang together narratively? Not really, but it’s damned fun to watch.
The film’s cast includes all the usual suspects, from Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull) to Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn) to Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), who have all been called to a secluded mansion where they meet the mysterious butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry). After the requisite murder occurs, the plot thickens to the point that a ladle would stand straight up in it, as all sorts of ingredients are added, from Communist red herrings to multiple endings which were included in different theatrical releases. Clue is a mystery comedy that gets funnier with every twist.
‘Mission: Impossible’ (1996)
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Long before the franchise became a series of big-budget hi-tech stunt shows, Mission: Impossible started with a spy thriller that was just as heavy on intrigue and plot twists as it was on action set pieces. Directed by Brian De Palma and featuring a script co-written by Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne, the first film starts by subverting expectations before its plot begins getting so twisted that many complained about its convolution. Sound logic has never been the series’ strong suit, and trying to make sense of the plot misses the point in the fun, pulpy way it overcomplicates a standard spy thriller into a bewildering blockbuster.
The first big twist of the film comes when the entire Impossible Mission Force team is unceremoniously killed off during their big mission, leaving lone survivor Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) to pick up the pieces and unravel the mystery. The mystery leads him down a path where double crosses and betrayal come fast and hard, and which peaks with the famous CIA heist sequence where Cruise dangles from the ceiling. Mission: Impossible is ridiculous, and ridiculously entertaining, and while the franchise truly found its groove in later installments, there’s something special about the twist-filled original.
‘The Prestige’ (2006)
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Christopher Nolan loves a good plot twist, and almost all of his films feature at least one. From Following to Inception to almost every scene in Memento revealing some new twist on the scene that preceded it, few modern directors enjoy misdirection and reveals as much as Nolan. That might be why The Prestige is his best film, since it’s telling a story about magicians, maybe the only profession that deals in misdirection and deception more than filmmaking. Unsurprisingly, it has plenty of twists, with its dueling protagonists in a constant battle to become the better magician, leading to several betrayals and surprise reveals.
Beginning as apprentices, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) have a friendly rivalry that turns antagonistic after a death puts them on separate paths as they continue to sabotage one another and compete to craft the greatest magic trick. That pursuit is what leads the film into unexpected territory, as it suddenly becomes science fiction when it introduces Nikola Tesla (David Bowie), and that’s only one of the tricks the film has up its sleeve. The plot twists in ways different from the novel by Christopher Priest, and in the process becomes its own kind of cinematic magic act.
‘The Handmaiden’ (2016)
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For films that use genre conventions to employ their twists and constantly reinvent themselves, it’s hard to beat some of the thrillers that have come out of South Korea. Movies like Burning, Oldboy, and Parasite all make most American films seem like child’s play in comparison to the unexpected turns their narratives take. The most twisted of all of these is Park Chan-wook‘s The Handmaiden, an erotic psychological thriller that completely alters your perception of it with every plot twist.
Based on the novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, the film follows a con man who enlists a female pickpocket to help him swindle the inheritance out from under an heiress. Through its multiple plot twists and flashbacks, The Handmaiden exposes the true motivations and methods of the main characters, each one holding secrets of their own, getting ever more complex without ever becoming incomprehensible. It’s a brilliant balance of tones and twisting narratives that makes The Handmaiden one of the best thrillers of the 21st century.
‘Knives Out’ (2019)
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Most of the movies from Rian Johnson’s filmography could slot in comfortably on this list. From his teenage noir Brick to his madcap caper The Brothers Bloom to even his divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the director enjoys his twists and turns. There’s no genre more suited to plot twists than a good old-fashioned mystery, especially a whodunit, and Johnson crafted a doozy with Knives Out. It turns the entire concept of the whodunit on its head, and is all the more entertaining for it.
How mystery author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) dies is no real mystery. The circumstances that led to his death are no mystery either, and it seems like the central mystery of the film will be how Thrombey’s nurse, Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), won’t take the fall for his death. That is until gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) appears and the layers of the plot begin to peel back, revealing more and more mischief. In short, it’s a whodunit and a howdunit of sorts. Knives Out is a fantastic mystery film, and Benoit Blanc has become the cinematic heir apparent to classic characters like Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, which is the greatest plot twist of all.
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