If the directors are hunters, we - the audience is their best prey. They lure us in with breadcrumbs of fancy camerawork and bait us with gripping storylines. Twists often come in the middle or near the end of the movies. A well-planned twist can blow viewers away, causing the audience to reassess everything they have seen in a new light. And then, when the audience expects it least, it can give them a shake-up.
Sometimes, having a twist in the movie is a good way to do, incorporating unanswered questions throughout the story to keep the audience guessing until everything is concluded. Who could forget how they felt when they learned Bruce Willis is already dead in “The Sixth Sense” or Tyler Durden and the Narrator are the same person in “Fight Club”?
Scroll through for a list of films with the best plot twists that happen right in the middle of the movie and change everything.
#1 Parasite (2019)
Source: NEON
“Parasite” is about a poor family who schemes to become employed by a rich family and infiltrate their household by posing as unrelated, highly qualified individuals. The movie has a twist that shocked millions of audiences. It is the scene where Geun-se escapes the basement, gives a head injury to Ki-Woo and kills Ki-Jung, and is killed by Ki-Take, who also kills the Park family’s patriarch Park Dong-ik. No one knows where Ki-Taek went. It turns out that he is alive and living in the basement.
#2 Us (2019)
Source: UNIVERSAL
“Us” is one of the most successful movies in 2019. It follows a family being attacked by a group of menacing doppelgängers. But all were shocked when knowing that Adelaide Wilson turns out to be an imposter doppelgänger, with Red, the uninvited murderess, serving as the actual Adelaide Wilson. Adelaide's identity was stolen as a little girl when she was abducted at the very same beach decades earlier.
#3 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Source: SONY PICTURES
The movie cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio who played Rick Dalton, the star of a western television series, Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth – Rick’s stunt double, friend, and driver, Margot Robbie as Tate – an actress with a promising career and Rick’s next door. On a fateful night, three Manson family killers storm into Rick’s mansion and Cliff is there to welcome them. Cliff brutally fights them off, assisted by his dog, Brandy, and eventually, Rick attacks one of them with a flamethrower. It is a huge surprise that Tate is not murdered at home as she was in real life. She even invites Rick inside for a drink after the mayhem.
#4 Arrival (2016)
Source: SHUTTERSTOCK
The movie stars Amy Adams as Dr. Banks, a linguist, who is recruited to work with the military to decipher the reason for their visit.
When she gives birth to her daughter, she knows how her baby’s story will end before it ever begins. She names her baby Hannah, a palindrome.
#5 Coco (2017)
Source: DISNEY
Miguel has a passion for playing guitar but his family forbids him from any kind of music. As a result, Miguel visits the Land of the Dead, embarking on a quest to find Ernesto, whom he believes is his long-lost great-great-grandfather. On his journey, he meets Héctor, a sad sap trying to reconnect with his family. It turns out that Héctor is Miguel’s great-great-great-grandfather and Coco’s father who was killed by Ernesto.
#6 Atonement (2007)
Source: EVERETT COLLECTION
In the movie, 13-year-old Briony Tallis has feelings for the son of her family’s housekeeper who loves her sister Cecilia. Because of her anger, she blames Robbie for an assault on her cousin Lola even though she didn't witness the attack. Robbie is sent to prison, joining the army and fighting in the Battle of France during the Second World War, while her sister becomes a nurse. Briony felt guilty for ruining their lives so she decided to visit them to apologize but they refused. It turns out Briony imagines everything. Cecilia and Robbie never had a life together; Robbie died in the war, while Cecilia died in a bombing in London. Briony wrote a book in which they have a happy life as repentance.
#7 The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Source: EVERETT COLLECTION
Luke Skywalker trains to master the Force so he can confront the powerful Sith lord, Darth Vader. One time when his friends are in danger, he abandons his training to save them from Darth Vader. It turns out he is Luck’s father and the line “No, I am your father” becomes the most famous film line of all time.