Among the vast number of films, there are those that not only keep you in suspense until the very end, asking new questions but films whose outcome is impossible to predict.
If you like riddles, watch these underrated plot twist movies with unexpected endings.
14 thrillers with unexpected endings.
Enter Nowhere, 2010
The plot centers on several people who find themselves in a deserted supernatural forest by chance. Mystical circumstances lead the heroes to an empty lodge, where their fates intertwine most cruelly.
What could be more banal than a teen forest low-budget horror movie? Entrance Nowhere definitely does not fit this description! As a result, we have a low-budget (which is a plus), dashingly twisted thriller (which is nice) with pleasant camera work and a full-fledged meaning (which you would never expect).
Searching, 2018
David Kim’s 16-year-old daughter disappears without a trace. To give the police a lead, the desperate father hacks the girl’s computer and realizes that he knows nothing about his daughter.
The film raises important issues. It is about loneliness, the inability to talk to the closest and most important people, faith, and fears. Parents should watch Searching and think about what is going on in teenagers’ heads and what can be hidden behind the facade of their smiles and cheerful laughter.
Mirage, 2019
A happy woman, Vera, moves into a new house with her husband and little daughter. There, during a severe thunderstorm, a shift in time layers occurs, as a result of which the woman tries to save a boy who lived there 25 years ago from death. But this act of goodwill leads to Vera finding herself in an altered present, in which her husband does not know her, and her daughter was not born.
In this picture, everything is built so you will never guess how it will all end. Fans of fantasy thrillers will definitely like it.
Memento, 2000
Leonard Shelby is dressed elegantly and expensively and drives a brand-new Jaguar but stays in cheap motels. He is trying with all his might to find his wife’s murderer. But he has a unique type of amnesia that affects his short-term memory- he remembers everything before the murder, but he does not remember what happened 15 minutes ago.
Memento is one of those films that, after watching, leaves no free space in your head from the thoughts bursting at it—moreover, the film shocks with its denouement.
Exam, 2009
A large corporation is holding interviews for a vacant position. Eight successful candidates have reached the final stage of the election. Everyone wants to be lucky and ready to deal with their rivals for this.
Director Stuart Hazeldine developed this idea of interviewing into something grotesque. What would happen if you locked the most successful (read: ambitious, vain, unprincipled) candidates who had passed all the previous stages of selection in one tight space, limited their time, and gave them very approximate rules of the game? That’s right – nothing good.
Nothing is good for the characters, but there is something to watch for.
Dream House, 2011
A wealthy publisher, his wife, and two daughters move to a quiet provincial town, which is not so peaceful. With the help of a curious neighbor, the family learns that their house has become the scene of a brutal murder, and the criminal is still walking free.
The film’s first half is incomprehensible, and the denouement is quite simple, which makes it dramatic. It emphasizes the absurdity of all the chaos happening in the world. It shows how simple, complex things can be explained, making it more painful. Dream House is definitely one of the great underrated plot twist movies with Daniel Craig.
The Best Offer, 2013
Virgil Oldman is an incomparable star in elite art and antiques. He is a genius art critic whom the world knows and appreciates. One day, Oldman is hired by a young heiress, Claire. She wants a man to help her sell a large collection at auction. Among the collection of paintings and figurines, Oldman finds strange mechanical parts, which he assembles into a single whole.
It is an Italian psychological thriller about love that immerses you in the world of antiques and gives pleasure to every static frame. The slowly building atmosphere enhances the impression. Such films, literally woven from allegories, always want to be watched again, admiring previously unnoticed details again and again.
Before I Go to Sleep, 2013
It is the story of a woman who has lost her memory. The last twenty years disappear from her memories every morning, and she has to piece together her life every morning.
In some places, everything that happens seems a bit naive. The film’s ending seems implausible, so the overall impression may remain vague. This movie is definitely a web of mysteries and questions, and you’ll find that each one gets answered as the story unfolds. It also seems to me that this is a very feminine film.
Time Lapse, 2014
In the house of a scientist neighbor, the friends find a strange invention—a machine that takes a photo of their living room every day at 8 p.m. through the opposite window. These pictures show what will happen tomorrow. Their dreams are starting to come true, but new photos are increasingly discouraging and frightening the friends.
Having started as an ordinary youth melodrama, the film quickly gained momentum and drew viewers into what was happening on the screen. The ending is written perfectly. Although it partly dotted all the i’s, it threw the viewer a new riddle at the last minute, which is not easy to guess.
Side Effects, 2013
When her husband is sent to prison, Emily begins to have psychological problems. Four years later, he is released, and Emily falls into depression and even seems to try to commit suicide. A therapist prescribes medication, but Emily herself wants to take a new drug that a colleague at work recommends to her.
With Soderbergh’s characteristic elegance, a puzzle about modern society’s susceptibility to mental disorders and the multi-billion dollar business of illnesses and fears unfolds on the screen. It is presented as an intricate detective thriller filmed in a noir-satirical vein.
The acting in the film is first-class – Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Jude Law. Everyone should watch it!
10 Cloverfield Lane, 2016
After coming to after a car accident, the girl finds herself in the basement of a man who claims that he saved her from a chemical attack that made the world outside the bunker uninhabitable. Only three people live the entire film. We see all the events through the prism of their feelings, and the film holds you until the last second.
The events in the film change unexpectedly so often that the viewer unconsciously and tensely searches for a way out and tries to think through the ending. However, the ending takes everything to another plane. The film completely changes the genre and atmosphere, and the transformation of the characters occurs in the shortest moments.
This part has a prequel Cloverfield 2007.
Primal Fear, 1996
A young man is accused of murdering a Chicago archbishop, who, despite the evidence, denies his guilt and convinces his lawyer of this.
Although it follows the main cliches of the genre, Primal Fear’s plot will surprise you. Each five minutes, the plot reveals more secrets. After the 70th minute, the film smoothly flows into an incredibly exciting psychological game between the two actors. I must say that the ending shocked me.
Black Butterfly, 2016
Paul is a writer living in a lonely house on the outskirts. Things haven’t been going so well for him lately. However, the hermit’s life changes dramatically when he meets a stranger and invites him to stay overnight. The stranger suddenly shows interest in the writer and offers him a new plot for his book. But who is he, and what does the mysterious tattoo of a black butterfly on his body mean?
Critics have quickly relegated the film to almost third-rate status. The main complaint is that the already hackneyed plot, this time, allegedly did not work out. But it is a solid thriller that will hook you until the end. Reese Meyers created a brilliant negative image, and I would be afraid to have such a fellow traveler even for tea!
Triangle, 2009
Jess and Greg are on a yacht when it is wrecked in a storm. A mysterious ship with nothing on board rescues them.
The director got a damn original and interesting plot. On the screen, a story that is completely connected. A story in which there are no unnecessary scenes. Most importantly, there is an absence of a love story and a gorgeous ending, which are so rare in thrillers.
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Final words.
If you start watching these underrated plot twist movies from my list, you won’t stop until the end. These tapes are really good, entertaining, and shocking.
Share this blog post if you enjoyed it. I would appreciate it!
This sounds like such an intense and gripping movie! I love a good mystery, and the idea of a father uncovering secrets through his daughter’s computer adds such a modern and chilling twist.
I’m definitely saving this post so I can go back and see if I can find some of these movies online—especially Searching (2018). It sounds like the kind of thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat!
Plot twist movies are so fun! Thankis for compiling a great list. I’ll be sure to check a few of these out.
These are the kinds of movies I like. Thanks for the recommendation- I will definitely check it out!
I’ve seen a few of these, but not all of them. I’m eager to check out the ones I haven’t seen yet. They all sound really good!
I LOVE a good plot twist movie! My favourite of all time was the ending of The Others. I wish I could watch that film for the first time again.
So many good plot twist endings here! I remember watching the end of Sixth Sense years ago and being totally floored. So good!
I’ve seen many of these and they were plot twisters and really good ones. The ones I haven’t seen is now on my list to watch and thanks for sharing these movies.
Oh wow, I haven’t seen any of these films and I’ve seen a lot of movies. I might need to see if I can watch a few. I might give Memento a go as that sounds like a great movie and one that I’d enjoy.
Love this list of underrated plot twist movies! I had so much fun reading through it—seen a few, loved them, and several more to watch. I love how you mixed in different genres—thrillers to dramas to sci-fi. A good plot twist can happen in any kind of story.