10+ Most Shocking Plot Twists That Happen In The Middle Of The Movie And Change Everything

Ever been engrossed in a movie, thinking you have everything figured out, only to be blindsided by a sudden plot twist? There's no denying the exhilaration and surprise that comes with a well-executed twist in the middle of a film. It's the moment where everything you thought you knew about the characters and plot is turned upside down, leaving you on the edge of your seat and eager to see what happens next.
Perhaps the most impressive part of a mid-movie plot twist is its ability to change the entire trajectory of a story. Everything that comes after it carries more weight and significance because of the twist, and it leaves a lasting impression on viewers long after the credits role.
So, get ready to relive some of the most jaw-dropping plot twists that have happened right in the middle of a movie, leaving audiences stunned and amazed. From unexpected character motives to shocking revelations, these twists will make you realize that in the movies, just like in life, anything can happen.

#1 Laura

Source: 20th Century Fox

The classic film noir Laura stars Dana Andrews as Mark McPherson, a detective investigating the murder of advertising executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). As part of that investigation, he interviews her close friend, gossip columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), and her wealthy, yet slightly shady, fiancé, Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price). Hearing about her life and reading through her diaries causes Mark to become obsessed with the woman, to the point where Waldo even accuses him of falling in love with her. One night, the detective falls asleep in Laura's apartment and is startled when Laura herself walks in. She's alive!
The course of the investigation changes immediately, along with the tone of the story. Mark determines the body actually belonged to one of the models Laura used for her ads. He initially arrests her for the crime but comes to believe she's innocent and Waldo is actually the killer. The remainder of Laura finds the detective attempting to collect enough evidence to charge him, as well as to establish the motive. What he finds is that Waldo was secretly in love with Laura, resented the fact that she was with Shelby, and accidentally killed the model one dark night, thinking it was her. The violence was born from his own obsession with this beautiful woman.

#2 Psycho

Source: Universal Pictures

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho begins by introducing us to Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). She's a real estate secretary who embezzles $40,000 from her place of employment in order to pay off her boyfriend's debts. They can't get married until he's free and clear. On the way to his place, she stops at the Bates Motel for a night. There, she meets Norman (Anthony Perkins), the owner of the place. He confides in her about his controlling mother. Something about the guy seems off to Marion. She's right. After a wave of guilt, she decides it would be best to go back and return the money. It's an opportunity she'll never get. As she showers, Mother rips open the curtain and brutally kills Marion with a knife.
Psycho's plot twist has gone down as the most significant and surprising in film history. That's because Hitchcock completely subverts expectations. He makes the audience believe the movie is about Marion Crane. Once she's killed off, the viewer doesn't know what to expect. The plot shifts to reveal that it's really about Norman and the psychosis that has led him to become violently demented. Marion's boyfriend Sam and her sister Lila come looking for her when she disappears, and a cop begins poking around. All of this leads to the revelation that Norman has adopted a second personality - that of his deceased mother, whose corpse sits in a rocking chair in his attic.
Killing the presumptive protagonist during the first half of a movie had never been done before, and it rocked audiences to the core. Wes Craven co-opted the idea in 1996 when he killed off Drew Barrymore in the opening scene of Scream.

#3 The Skin I Live In

Source: Sony Pictures Classics

Antonio Banderas has one of his juiciest roles in Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In. He's Dr. Robert Ledgard, a plastic surgeon who's been trying for years to develop an artificial skin that could be used to help burn victims. The idea for this came to him after his wife Gal was badly burned in a car accident. Ledgard has a new batch of the skin that he's bullish on, but he needs a test subject, given that his formal research has been shut down. To that end, he holds a woman named Vera (Elena Anaya) captive in his home. Housekeeper Marilia (Marisa Paredes) aids him in this scheme.
Partway through the movie, it's revealed that Marilia is, unbeknownst to Robert, his biological mother. That's not the big twist, though. The real shocker is that Vera is really Vicente, a young man Robert mistakenly believes once violated his daughter, ultimately driving her to take her own life. After that incident, he kidnapped Vicente, using his medical skills to forcibly put him through gender reassignment surgery. He's now a woman. Not just any woman, though. Robert has made him a virtual dead ringer for Gal. It's a delicate plot point, but yes, he expects all the things that come with marriage from his new “wife.” The twist here alters our perception of Dr. Ledgard. He is not the benevolent healer we initially believed him to be. He is instead a demented genius, using his talents for revenge and other sick purposes.

#4 The World's End

Source: Focus Features

Edgar Wright's The World's End stars Simon Pegg as Gary King, a semi-functioning alcoholic who reunites with his four teenage best friends to do a pub crawl. The plan is to hit 12 pubs in their hometown throughout one night. What's supposed to be an evening of fun ends up becoming something else. Long-buried tensions between the men come out, and it grows increasingly clear that Gary no longer has control of his drinking. Two of the guys also compete for the affection of the same woman.
The movie seems like it's going to be a story of friendship and how events from the past impact us in the present. Then one of the men gets into a fight in a bar bathroom. He punches a teenager, and the kid's head pops off, revealing him to be a robot. It's soon evident that just about everyone in town is a robot, all made to look like the local citizenry. Part of the hilarity in The World's End is that it abruptly becomes a tale about humans fighting robots, but Gary nevertheless remains intent on finishing the crawl, even though everyone's lives are in grave danger. The movie ties those things together, showing how facing down an android army spurs Gary to finally get his act together.

#5 Parasite

Source: NEON

Best picture Oscar-winner Parasite follows the impoverished Kim family, whose members con their way into working for another, extremely wealthy family. Once inside their sprawling home, the Kims treat it as their own, living the high life on someone else's dime. At one point, while the owners are away, they feast on their food and lounge around on their furniture. The house has a secret, though, and it reveals itself roughly an hour into the film. The rich family's housekeeper, whom the Kims have gotten rid of, has been hiding her husband in the basement. He's been living down there for four years to elude loan sharks. Once this situation is discovered, the housekeeper threatens to expose the Kims.
This sets off a war that consumes all three families. The Kims want to hold on to their cushy gig. The housekeeper and her husband want to keep their hiding place. And the rich family obviously doesn't want anyone leeching off them. With everyone growing increasingly desperate, violence breaks out, culminating with a birthday party in the backyard that turns bloody. Parasite uses its twist to comment on the economic disparity in the world, as well as the way poverty can occasionally drive people to do things they wouldn't normally do, simply in order to survive.

#6 The Crying Game

Source: Miramax Films

Neil Jordan's The Crying Game follows Fergus (Stephen Rea), a member of the Irish Republican Army. He's assigned to watch over a kidnapped British soldier named Jody (Forest Whitaker). The two form something of a bond, against IRA protocol. Jody asks Fergus to look up his girlfriend Dil (Jaye Davidson) if he ever makes his way to London. He does, and after meeting Dil, he begins to fall in love with her. Their relationship progresses to the point where it's about to become physical. That's when Dil disrobes, and Fergus sees that she is transgender.
The Crying Game was marketed on the fact that it had a big “secret,” and ads implored people not to reveal it to their friends after seeing the film. What happens following the twist is perhaps more surprising, though. The movie was uncommonly progressive for 1992. Although initially upset to learn that Dil is transgender, Fergus's feelings are so intense that he continues to love her after having some time to digest the situation. Both are caught up in dangerous dealings involving the IRA higher-ups, and Fergus protects Dil from harm. The story ends with Fergus in prison, where Dil comes to visit him. It's clear the feelings between them are still in full effect. The film's message is that love is love, and if you have genuine feelings of love for someone, that's a positive thing.

#7 From Dusk Till Dawn

Source: Dimension Films

From Dusk Till Dawn's twist not only shifts the plot in a different direction but also completely changes the film's genre. The first half is about two sibling bank robbers, Seth (George Clooney) and Richie (Quentin Tarantino), who make a run for the Mexican border after their most recent heist leaves several cops dead. Needing a way to sneak in, they kidnap a preacher (Harvey Keitel) and his daughter (Juliette Lewis). After safely reaching their destination, the brothers celebrate by visiting a rowdy bar that comes complete with exotic dancers. It seems they've gotten away scot-free until they discover the bar's employees and patrons are all vampires. Suddenly, they're faced with more danger than they've ever seen before.
This is the point where From Dusk Till Dawn goes from a crime thriller to a horror movie. Seth and Richie are suddenly in a fight for their lives. They need to kill all the vampires if they want to get out of that bar. All sorts of bloody mayhem occur, with the preacher and his daughter caught in the crossfire. Shifting genres midway through a movie is a gutsy move. In this case, doing so helps to make the audience feel the same shock the characters feel.

#8 The Third Man

Source: Selznick Releasing Organization

In The Third Man, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) travels all the way to Vienna because his old friend Harry Lime has offered him a job. By the time he gets there, Harry has been fatally struck by a car while crossing the street. Shocked and a little suspicious, Holly begins looking into his friend's pre-death activities, discovering he was stealing penicillin from hospitals, diluting it, and then selling it on the black market. The movie's twist comes when Holly notices Lime (played by Orson Welles) hiding in a doorway. In one of the most famous reveals in cinema history, a smirking Harry moves out of the shadow and into the light, revealing that he's very much alive and well.
The Third Man then follows what happens as Harry attempts to recruit Holly into his illicit dealings, which the faked demise was designed to obscure. The two have a lengthy private conversation on a Ferris wheel, where Holly rejects the offer. Harry threatens him and then runs off, leading to an intense chase through the sewers after Holly informs the police that the supposedly deceased man is still out there. In the end, law enforcement catches up with Harry, fatally gunning him down. The power in this twist comes from how it marks a turning of the tables. Inviting his friend to Vienna - and then revealing the artificial nature of his demise - ends up being the beginning of the normally in-control Harry's downfall.

#9 Miracle Mile

Source: Hemdale Film Corporation

Miracle Mile starts off seeming like it's going to be a romance. Los Angeles-based musician Harry Washello (Anthony Edwards) meets waitress Julie Peters (Mare Winningham). They have a spark, so he asks if he can take her on a date when she gets off work at midnight. His alarm clock fails to go off, causing Harry to oversleep. He rushes to the coffee shop, only to discover Julie has given up and gone home. How's he going to find her now?
Turns out that's the least of his problems. When the pay phone outside the shop rings, Harry answers. A panicked voice tells him nuclear missiles have been launched and will hit LA in about 70 minutes. Harry doesn't know whether this is true, the rambling of a crazy person, or someone pulling a prank. Taking the “better safe than sorry” approach, he races through the city, trying to locate Julie so he can spend his final moments with her if indeed Los Angeles is about to be obliterated. In a wicked bit of irony, Harry starts asking people if they know about the pending apocalypse, leading them to panic, too. Some of the chaos that erupts in the city might actually be his fault.
Miracle Mile stays with the idea of Harry trying to find Julie, but it uses that as part of a larger context, namely the exploration of what a person might do if they knew doomsday was imminent.

#10 Spider-Man: Far From Home

Source: Columbia Pictures

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, all Peter Parker wants is to enjoy a school trip to Venice, where he intends to confess his feelings to crush MJ. Not long after arriving, trouble appears in the form of the Water Elemental, putting him and his classmates in grave danger. Fortunately, former Stark Industries employee Quentin Beck, also known as Mysterio, arrives to defeat it, just as he previously defeated the Earth Elemental. Nick Fury then sends the two to Prague, where he believes the Fire Elemental will strike. He's right. Peter and Quentin join forces to foil it. Still eager to get back to MJ, Peter hands control of E.D.I.T.H. - Tony Stark's personal artificial intelligence - over to Quentin. Big mistake.
Peter later discovers a small projector and realizes that hologram expert Quentin has been deceiving him. He's fabricated the attacks in order to gain Peter's trust and get his filthy paws on E.D.I.T.H. It's all part of a grand scheme to make himself look like a major hero, worthy of being brought into the Avengers fold. Peter now has to fight someone he came to trust. It's a betrayal of epic proportions. Far From Home ends with Mysterio dying in battle with Spider-Man, but not before he frames Spidey for his demise.

#11 Iron Man 3

Source: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Iron Man 3 finds Tony Stark looking to defeat a terrorist known as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), who has just launched an unprovoked attack on the United States. Pal Rhodey Rhodes discourages this, telling him it would be best for the military to handle the situation. Of course, Tony ignores this advice. He goes on TV, provokes the Mandarin, and then gets dealt a heavy personal blow by his newfound enemy when the villain blows up a large swath of Stark Tower. Roughly halfway through the picture, Stark tracks the Mandarin down in Miami. Or so he thinks. It turns out the person he thought was the Mandarin is merely an actor hired to be the public face of the terrorist. And what's more, that actor had no part in the things being done in his name.
With this revelation, Stark and the audience are both surprised to realize the true Mandarin is Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a seemingly benevolent scientist and owner of the organization known as Advanced Idea Mechanics. He's hired the actor to deflect attention away from the devious acts he's been plotting. Stark has to reverse course, tracking Killian and beginning the process of attempting to bring him to justice. In terms of story, drama arises from the fact that Killian has, essentially, gotten Stark to waste his time on a wild goose chase, thereby giving him a massive head start on the nefarious scheme, part of which entails assassinating the president of the United States. The great Iron Man has been outsmarted.

#12 The Power of the Dog

Source: Netflix

In Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons play Phil and George Burbank, two wealthy cattle ranchers. Their personalities are quite different. Phil is surly and mean, whereas George is kind and compassionate. The dynamic between them changes when George marries Rose (Kirsten Dunst), a widowed restaurant owner. Phil doesn't like her, and he really doesn't like her shy, effeminate son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). He goes out of his way to torment Peter, giving the appearance that he's deeply homophobic.
Halfway through the movie, Peter discovers a stash of magazines belonging to Phil. They contain pictures of nude men. Phil also lovingly caresses a scarf that belonged to his deceased mentor and lover, Bronco Henry. The revelation that Phil is gay alters the entire scope of the movie. It's understandable why he's so hostile - he has to hide his true feelings under the guise of extreme masculinity. He's afraid of rejection if people knew the truth, so he hurts them before they can hurt him. Once Peter finds out, Phil softens toward him somewhat. Peter, on the other hand, does the exact opposite. Despite finding some common ground, he resents it when Phil lashes out at Rose, and plots a fatal revenge.

#13 funny People

Source: Universal Pictures

In Funny People, Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a comedian known for making lowbrow comedies that are nevertheless popular. He's kind of a heel, too, indiscriminately hooking up with different women and partying like there's no tomorrow. After being diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, George decides to clean up his life. He starts mentoring younger comedians and attempts to make amends with Laura (Leslie Mann), the one woman he truly loved - and the one whose heart he broke. A little more than halfway through the movie, George gets some astounding news. An experimental treatment he signed up for has worked, putting him into total remission. He's going to live.
Most films would have George continuing his self-improvement efforts. Not Funny People. The character goes back to his old ways, alienating his star protégé (Seth Rogen) and trying to convince Laura to leave her husband. Writer/director Judd Apatow clearly didn't want to go the predictable route with his story. Instead, Funny People is a searing look at the personality disorders A-list stars often have. George may show a tiny glint of lasting change at the end, but he may be too messed up of a person to ever change for real.