Movies with great "twists" at the end?

[KentT]

I have this thing for movies with a twist at the end of them, preferably away from the happily-ever-after scenario. For some reason the last 5 minutes of a movie mean more to me than the first 90. In fact, whenever I see Tom Cruise in a movie I curse him for not dying in Far and Away...

A few days ago, a bunch of us were having a discussion about which movie had the best "twist-endings". Everyone had their favorites a few good ones came up, like The Usual Suspects, Arlington Road, The Sixth Sense and so on..

BUT (and here comes my query), I came up with these two short films with really great endings (or at least I remember them from my early teens as having great endings) but I can't for the life of me remember their names or what shows they were on or if they were "stand-alone" movies. I think both of them are from the early 80's if that helps.

The first one is possibly a Tales from the Crypt episode:

Some teenagers (duh!) go swimming in a lake and they get trapped on some kind of anchored wooden platform in the middle of the lake because what looks like a small oil spill starts hunting them down, well after they get picked of one by one the last survivor tries to escape by swimming for shore. So he starts swimming and the oil-spill starts chasing him, getting closer and closer and the guy makes it up on the beach just before the thing catches him. Then he sits there on the beach panting and cheering and yells something like "I BEAT YOU!" and just when you think it's over the oil spill jumps out of the water, grabs the guy and drags him back in. I seem to remember the camera then panning to an old obscured "No Swimming" sign in the bushes. Great ending.

The second one is about a prisoner who plans to escape from jail by hiding in a coffin that's about to be buried, and bribes some janitor guy to dig her up right after the funeral. So she sneaks into a coffin one night, gets carried out of the prison, is buried, and lies there waiting for the guy to come and dig her out. She gets bored and strikes a match to find out who the dead person in the coffin with her is, and naturally it's the guy who was supposed to dig her up.

So... what in tarnation are these called?

Can I rent them somwhere? Although come to think of it, I'm not sure I want to do that... I used to love "Bring 'Em Back Alive" with Bruce Boxleitner when I was a kid, and a few years ago I caught the rerun and I still shudder at the thought of it. It was exactly as I remembered it but just so undescribably bad. That's one happy childhood memory down the drain.

[Kakkerlak]

Oh, oh, oh.... read one, saw the other.

The "oil slick" on the lake was a Stephen King short story called "The Raft", which I think I read in a collection called "Skeleton Crew". I suppose it got filmed... that's likely when the stinger ending was put on.

I saw the "Final Escape" in black and white on an old Outer Limits re-run. That version's set in a prison lumber camp in the Arizona wilds. Poorly acted, I thought. Surely it's an old story, as you refer to the protagonist as "her" and in my case it's a "he".



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"You can't tell me what sucks!" - Beavis, a true Objectivist

[BoBettie]

The Raft was one of the episodes in the "Creepshow" movie. A great one...

[typertrphy]

Great Twist? The end of "The Bad Seed"..the original B&W version..she dies by the hand of god, at the end of that pier ! AMAZING !!!
Typer

[KentT]

Stephen King, eh? He does get in a few good ones amongst all the crap he dishes out. And the movie it was in was "Creepshow 2", although reading the user comments, the folks over at imdb weren't exactly raving about it. Fools! All fools!

As for the buried alive one, I'm definitely sure it was a woman. And it was in color too. I remember the very last scene when you get a birds eye view of the grave and the camera zooms out into the sky as you hear the woman screaming.

But now that you mention an older version it occurs to me that I vaguely remember it originally being a Hitchcock story. Wasn't there a remake of the Hitchcock series sometime in the 80's?


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"Holy crap! It's the children of the corn!"

[voguevixen]

Yeah, the grave one was I think re-done for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series that aired right after Amazing Stories sometime in the 80's. I remember my brother and I watching that and afterwards turning to each other and yelling "WHOA!!!!" We were so freaked out by it. ANother one was a story where a guy's wife or girlfriend is mugged and possibly raped. He's driving her home from the hospital/police station and she gasps at a pedestrian and says "Oh my God! That's him! That's him!" The enraged partner then chases the guy down and beats him to death. He gets back in the car immensely relieved and as he pulls away the woman points at another pedestrian and blurts "That's him!" then another: "That's him!" The guy realises she's gone crazy and he's just killed an innocent man. I've seen both the original and the 80's version and they are both equally horrifying.

[Satan]

L.A. Confidential totally surprised me at the end repeatedly. Great flick!

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Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis ad capul tuum saxum immane mittam.

BEST ending ever : Easy Rider .. hands down!


I HATE happy Hollywood endings. I also hate the constant flood of songs about Hollywood and brain-dead celebrities, and pretty much everything southern California has ever spewed out of its vile, smog-infested cities.

*phew*

ahh ... felt good to say that .

(no offense CA residents, unless you're a multimillionaire, obnoxious, egotistical movie star, in which case, I mean all the offense in the world)

--puff

Sorry about that little tangent, everyone.
I think somebody replaced my thorazine with tic-tacs ...

[sunbear]

Clue had two or 3 endings.

[RTA]

No Way Out

[RTA]

Oh, here's another one: Wild Things.

Two great twist endings out of left field are the 1931 gangster film "The Public Enemy," with a real nightmare-inducing ending; and the 1959 comedy "Some Like It Hot"--a hilarious and pretty famous final line, but I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it.

[Keeves]

Twilight Zone episode "How to Serve Man" --- "It's a cookbook! Aaarggghhh!!!"

[cmkeller]

RTA:

You beat me to it. I second the nomination: No Way Out has the best twist ending I've ever seen in a movie.

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Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@schicktech.com

"Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks."
-- Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective

A movie called "A Big Hand for the Little Lady" with Henry Fonda has a great suprise ending that you don't see coming.

Here's a couple more: (movie/directory)
The Game/David Fincher, 1997
Vertigo/Alfred Hitchcock, 1958
April Fool's Day/Fred Walton, 1986

The last one is only an average horror movie, but it does have a funny "surprise" ending.

Another movie I saw several years ago (but sacrebleu! I have a blank now concerning title/director) had a very beautiful mysterious ending. Does anyone remember a movie about people in New Zealand finding themselves to be the last people on Earth?
I think it was called The Last Day.

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Jacques Kilchoer
Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

[divemaster]

Does anyone remember a movie about people in New Zealand finding themselves to be the last people on Earth?

On the Beach was about an Australian community being the last humans on Earth. I only read the book; don't remember a twist ending.

There was a Sci-Fi movie I saw which may be the one you are describing. I think it was called The Quiet Earth.

As far as unexpected endings go, when I saw Return to Paradise, I was sure someone would come in and save the guy at the end (even as he was headed toward the gallows), being a Hollywood production where heroes rarely die. So, it surprised me to see him swing.

[DrFidelius]

In _Titanic_ the boat sinks and almost everybody dies. I sure as heck didn't see THAT coming...

[Boris B]

Star Wars, Episode I. I was really expecting the bad guys to win. But the good guys won! What a paradigm shift!

[VileOrb]

Brazil. One of the best movies of all time. If you think about it, you might come to the conclusion that it's a happy ending, at least for the hero, or you might not. The movie is worth watching just for the incredible volume and diversity of ductwork. Robert Deniro's cameo as an airconditioning repairman is cool too.

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If men had wings,
and bore black feathers,
few of them would be clever enough to be crows.

- Rev. Henry Ward Beecher

[Andy]

The 'two bodies/one coffin' was aired as part of a series 'Tales of the Unexpected' in the uk....Shattered had a good twist....pity it was a crap movie overall. I really liked the ending to 'Seven'...all i could think about was how the hell are those hollywood idiots gonna conjure a happy ending for this???
Platoon (my fave) surprised me with Barnes shooting Elias

[UncleBeer]

Hey, how about the ending to "Blazing Saddles?" I bet no one saw that coming.

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"The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind." - Humphrey Bogart

[divemaster]

divemaster, you're my heroin!

I don't wanna be anyone's heroin :(

Just say NO!
:)

Returning to topic... The ending to the original (foreign) version of The Vanishing had me saying "Oh, my God!" Quite unnerving. Not like the U.S. version I'm told.

[Mark Mal]

How about House of Games? I never saw it coming, even though I should have, damn it!

[Torgo]

How about House of Games? I never saw it coming, even though I should have, damn it!

Ach! I was going to suggest "House of Games"! You're right on, there are enough twists in that movie to give you whiplash.


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Tim
"My hovercraft is full of eels."

[Dirty Devil]

Nobody's mentioned the original "Planet Of The Apes." OK, not the best movie ever made, but the end is kinda' neat.

[mikehardware]

"Witness for the Prosecution", "Vertigo", and "Carrie"

[NicePete]

How about Jacob's Ladder?

Or Soylent Green?

It's PEEEEPLE! SOYLENT GREEN IS PEEEEEPLE!

Sorry about the spoiler.

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Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars.

[Stoid]

I can't remember the name of the movie, and I've seen it 3 times. I don't know if you could call the ending a "twist" ending, but I think most people are certainly not expecting it.

It stars Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham. It's in LA, late at night, and he picks up a ringing payphone and someone thinks they are talking to their dad, screaming about how the nukes have been fired. Anthony then tries to convince people that what he heard is true. Anyone remember the title?

Another movie with an ending you don't expect is "The Rapture", with Mimi Rogers and David Duchovny.

But I think the BEST twist ending I've ever seen is The Sixth Sense. I knew it's recent so it is fresh in my mind, but that was so original and completely unexpected I think it qualifies as an all-time great.

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*************
This is a non-smoking area. If we see you smoking, we will assume you are on fire and act accordingly.

[Sake Samurai]

Planet of the Apes -- Right on the money!

Two of the all time best:

Tarkovsky's Solaris
Bergman's Persona

It stars Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham. It's in LA, late at night, and he picks up a ringing payphone and someone thinks they are talking to their dad, screaming about how the nukes have been fired. Anthony then tries to convince people that what he heard is true. Anyone remember the title?

Miracle Mile by Steve de Jarnatt, 1989

The Rapture is definitely a surprising movie also.

I thought the premise was very exciting, but then the middle of the movie, where the protagonist spends all his time looking for a girl that he's met only once or twice, was a little weak.

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Jacques Kilchoer
Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

[smw]

You're describing almost every episode of The Twilight Zone.

But for movies, how about "Primal Fear"?

Arrgh! I screwed up my last post.

I thought the premise was very exciting, but then the middle of the movie, where the protagonist spends all his time looking for a girl that he's met only once or twice, was a little weak.

That applied to Miracle Mile, not The Rapture.

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Jacques Kilchoer
Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

[White Wolf]

SMW, I LOVED "Primal Fear". The first time I saw it, I was sitting down and I just automatically stood up when Aaron (Ed Norton)said that AWESOME line (I won't spoil it).

I don't think it can be called a twist, but I also like the ending of "Interview with the Vampire."

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White Wolf

"Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense."

"Half the world is composed of idiots, the other half of people clever enough to take indecent advantage of them."

[Sancho]

Hey, does anyone remember a movie called "Shattered"? I think it has to do with a guy who is in a car accident possibly has amnesia? I saw it in Junior high and remember thinking that the ending was somehow the coolest, but I don't remember any details. If someone could help me out I'd be much obliged.

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King.

[JBENZ]

I liked the twist at the end of "Angel Heart". And the bit with DiNiro peeling the egg is a classic.



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JB
Lex Non Favet Delictorum Votis

[Yankee Blue]

Try '12 Monkies'

For a less downer twist 'The Sting' -yeah, it's old now but it surprised the hell out of me when I first saw it as a kid, so if you've never seen it, rent it.

[meredith]

MikeHardware: Totally agree with you about "Witness for the Prosecution"!

Oh! And how about "Dead Again" with Kenneth Branaugh and Emma Thompson?

divemaster, you're my heroin! That's the one.

The Quiet Earth by Geoff Murphy

Yankee Blue, I totally agree with you on The Sting. Great plot twist at the end. The first time I saw it I laughed out loud.

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Jacques Kilchoer
Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

[Yankee Blue]

The Usual Suspects. I was only about five minute ahead of the detective on that one.

[JamesCarroll]

White Wolf I hafta disagree with ya Primal Fear . My friens and I call that an "odometer movie". That is you saw it coming a mile away.

I hafta go with the foriegn version of The Vanishing. It gives me chills just thinking about it and I've never even seen the movie!!!!

[theuglytruth]

I cant believe no one mentioned the ending to 1977's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". haunting, just f'n haunting.

"Something Wild" has a great ending, as well as the following not mentioned so far (as far as I know):

-"Mad Max"
-"Independence Day" (NOT the sci-fi version; this was a divorce drama from 1984 or so)
-"Fatal Attraction"
-"Carrie"

[Tengu]

I'm going to second the nomination of Vertigo. Some great twists there.


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'They couldn't hit an Elephant from this dist...!'

Last words of General John Sedgwick

[White Wolf]

How about The Devil's Advocate?

[jab1]

There was an episode of Star Trek DS9 where Chief O'Brien came back to the station and suddenly became very suspicious of everyone, degenerating into a helpless mass of paranoia. And the behavior of the rest of the cast seemed to justify O'Brien's behavior. The ending was so good and so twisted that Cinefantastique magazine refused to reveal it in their annual Star Trek issue that year.

And if you think I'm gonna give it away, you're nuts.

[JamesCarroll]

How 'bout "Body Heat" with William Hurt and Kathleen Turner...

[eggo]

FIGHT CLUB!!!!!!! oh my god that is a great movie!!

eggo

[falcon2]

Well, nobody said it so far, but Sling Blade was one of the most suprising movies I have seen, and suprisingly good.
A single mother and a small boy unknowingly befriend a criminaly insane guy that killed his mother with a harvesing shear.
Sounds like it will get ugly real fast, but there is no blood AT ALL, and by the end your just rooting for him to kill again.

[falcon2]

Oh, I seem to remember from my childhood an Issiac Azimov narration about Entropy, and the Cosmic AC.
The last line was such a twist it will hang in my mind forever.
Anyone know the name of the story?

[glee]

falcon2,
I've got a lot of Asimov's books - what was the last line? (Also what is the Cosmic AC?).

So far I've found "How it happened" with the ending '...I said firmly "Six days, Moses".

[Nickrz]

I think the balance of this discussion belongs in MPSIMS.
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Nickrz
GQ Mod