# Best Suspense Films With Surprise Endings: NO SPOILERS, PLEASE! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2003, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859 "2003-02-09T08:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clint_in_Wichita)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/21 "2003-02-10T02:17:16Z")
Primal Fear had a great ending. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/22 "2003-02-10T03:28:35Z")
[_Witness for the Prosecution_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0051201). Surprise after surprise after surprise. Great twists throughout. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/23 "2003-02-10T03:52:45Z")
[_Memento_](http://www.imdb.com/Title?0209144). Some thought the ending ruined the movie, but I thought it was great. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/24 "2003-02-10T04:34:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hrhomer \* > \*\*Maybe I’m a dumbass, but I didn’t see the ending of “Unbreakable” ahead of time, but I know that a lot of people did. And I knew that there was a twist to “Sixth Sense,” but I just sat there and enjoyed the movie, didn’t TRY to figure it out, and was surprised by the end. > > hrh \*\* The unbreakable ending didn’t really “ring true” for me. It makes sense, I guess, but there are lots of logical problems with it… it seems like it was just sort of done that way for the sake of having a twist ending. On second thought, I guess it’s really core to the whole story, but something still doesn’t really ring true about it. Don’t read if you haven’t seen it: Maybe it’s just that “Mr. Glass” was just a really frail guy. The premise of the ending relies on him being an archrival supervillain character - and he’s not. He’s just some weak guy who likes comic books. There are other reasons it didn’t really ring true with me, but I can’t think of them offhand. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/25 "2003-02-10T04:40:06Z")
“The Game” did the same thing to me. When the movie starts off, you can see the ending from a mile away. You know it’s going to end the way it actually does. Then it gets even more twisted, more intriguing… and you tell yourself “I was wrong… no way it has that predictable, blah ending”. So you watch, intrigued, wondering what the twist could be, and it turns out there’s no real surprise ending afterall - it ends exactly as you’d predicted in the first 20 minutes, the lame, predictable ending that you were dreading. I guess the surprise ending could be that that the ending was totally predictable. You expected something interesting, creating, and entertaining, and it surprised you by giving you something predictable and dull. Suprise! 2 hours of your life is gone! 🙂 Well, I don’t want to just critique, so I’ll add that I thought the endings to \*\* Fight Club \*\* and \*\* Memento \*\* were great. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/26 "2003-02-10T04:44:56Z")
That should be “creative”. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/27 "2003-02-10T04:50:35Z")
I also was going to say **Memento**. And since no one else has mentioned it yet, **The Others**. Awesome movie with a _great_ shocker at the end! ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/28 "2003-02-10T05:47:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Darth Nader \* > \*\ ***Deathtrap**. Much fun. \*\* It’s a surprise ending, alright. Lot of fun. Thank You. but I do think the ending was a cop-out. ---
**Author:** ![d\_redguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@d\_redguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d_redguy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/29 "2003-02-10T06:02:51Z")
OK, you may not believe me, but I called the ending of **The Usual Suspects**. I didn’t know why, I just called it to my girlfriend at the time. But it was still a great twist. On the other hand, **The Others** totally threw me for a loop. Of course, my wife saw it coming the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![Lear\_s\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@Lear\_s\_fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lear_s_fool)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/30 "2003-02-10T06:02:56Z")
Unbreakable Never saw that coming realy freaked me out the first time ---
**Author:** ![SadTomato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@SadTomato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SadTomato)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/31 "2003-02-10T06:07:14Z")
Hate to be nitpicky, but **Fight Club** doesn’t really have a “surprise ending”–the “surprise” actually comes about a half-hour before the movie ends. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/32 "2003-02-10T08:18:45Z")
Okay, first off, the all-time surprise ending is **The Sting**. I knew there was going to a be a surprise ending to _The Usual Suspects_, but I was so wrapped up in the story that I didn’t even think about it. And then it just instantly came to me about 90 seconds before it was revealed on screen. I felt extremely clever. Same thing with _Sleuth_, I recognized the surprise about halfway through; so I had some time being suckered and then some time knowing what was going on, and it was just right. I think if a movie reveals its secret well it can be great fun, even if you don’t have that one moment when your jaw drops. It’s not quite what you’re looking for, but there’s a surprise at the end of **Magnolia**. (Yeah, somebody tell me you saw _that_ coming.) And there’s a movie called **The Last of Sheila** that has a nice twist at the end. I have no idea if you’ll be able to find a copy, it’s from 1973, may have been made for television. ---
**Author:** ![brainfizz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/da6949/32.png) [@brainfizz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainfizz)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/33 "2003-02-10T14:48:44Z")
**Jacob’s Ladder** had me guessing all the way through it. Terrific film! ---
**Author:** ![Cormac36](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Cormac36](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cormac36)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/34 "2003-02-10T15:26:04Z")
The scene where the “trick” is revealed in The Usual Suspects never, ever fails to amaze me. Same thing with The 6th Sense. ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/35 "2003-02-10T15:44:50Z")
**SenorBeef** , I think you missed something in _Unbreakable_. “Mr Glass” was indeed a frail guy who liked comic books. But his interest in comic books bled into his real life. He wondered if there might be a person who was as strong as he was weak. So he staged a few disasters to see if anyone survived. He blew up buildings and wrecked a train. That sounds like a archrival supervillain to me ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/36 "2003-02-10T15:51:30Z")
“Best Laid Plans” “Arlington Road” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/37 "2003-02-10T16:22:06Z")
Y’know, there have been computer game threads where the “save anywhere” issue is debated, with the anti-save crowd making the argument that it destroys tension. To which I always reply: consider _Half-Life_, which allowed quicksaves anywhere, but which moved along so crisply that I frequently forgot to save because I let myself get wrapped up in the game. The best “movies with a twist” are like that. Even if you know there’s a twist, if the plot is good and the dialog crisp and the characters well-acted, as you watch you forget to look for the twist and just let yourself be absorbed into the film. And then you’re really, genuinely surprised by the twist ending because you’ve forgotten to look for it. The problem with a lot of these films is that they focus so much on the twist that they neglect the other aspects of making a good film. And that ruins the twist – the only thing the film has going for it – because the audience, instead of getting wrapped up in the film, is sitting there trying to see where the twist is coming. And they usually succeed, and then feel let down. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/38 "2003-02-10T17:56:35Z")
I also got **The Usual Suspects**. I didn’t get **Sixth Sense** , **Arlington Road** , and I didn’t care about **Unbreakable** and **No Way Out** to try to figure them out. [hijack] Did anyone else notice how M. Night Shamalamadingdong’s work in _Unbreakable_ was forgotten when pushing _Signs_? [/hijack] I very much liked the ending to **Twelve Monkeys**. ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/39 "2003-02-10T18:09:53Z")
I’m usually pretty good at figuring something out in a movie before it is revealed. Or, in the case of a movie with a twist I will have heard to expect a twist before it occurs. However, Arlington Road blew me away. I saw the movie on vide about a year after it came out. I had no idea what the movie was about. Somehow, I competely missed (or ignored or forgot) all publicity about it when it was new. The ending of it never occured to me while watching it and I was really thrown off. All in all, I really like that movie simply because it all came as such a surprise to me. ---
**Author:** ![blainer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@blainer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blainer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859/40 "2003-02-10T18:30:59Z")
It was was pretty cheezy flick, but I was pretty surprised by the ending of **Shattered** with Tom Berenger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-suspense-films-with-surprise-endings-no-spoilers-please/153859.md?page=3)