A Glean movie guide
Mind-Bending Thrillers with Killer Twists
Don't trust your eyes.
Masterful psychological puzzles where nothing is as it seems.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Shutter Island
A haunting investigation on a remote island where reality and delusion collide in a stunning final act.
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
- 02
Memento
A brilliant, reverse-chronological puzzle that forces you to experience the protagonist's memory loss firsthand.
Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.
- 03
The Sixth Sense
The gold standard for the narrative reveal, blending supernatural chills with deep psychological trauma.
Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.
- 04
Gone Girl
A sharp, cynical look at a crumbling marriage that shifts gears with a shocking mid-film revelation.
With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
- 05
The Prestige
A complex tale of rival magicians where the entire plot is structured like a grand, deceptive illusion.
A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.
- 06
The Usual Suspects
A legendary crime mystery built on the stories of an unreliable narrator and a hidden mastermind.
Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. Verbal lures his interrogators with an incredible story of the crime lord's almost supernatural prowess.
- 07
The Game
A relentless thriller that keeps you—and the protagonist—guessing what is real until the very last second.
In honor of his birthday, San Francisco banker Nicholas Van Orton, a financial genius and a cold-hearted loner, receives an unusual present from his younger brother, Conrad: a gift certificate to play a unique kind of game. In nary a nanosecond, Nicholas finds himself consumed by a dangerous set of ever-changing rules, unable to distinguish where the charade ends and reality begins.
- 08
Oldboy
A visceral South Korean masterpiece known for one of the most devastating psychological reveals in cinema.
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.
- 09
The Handmaiden
An intricate, three-part story of deception and desire where every perspective change reveals a new lie.
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.
- 10
Searching
A modern, high-tension mystery told entirely through screens with a perfectly executed final act.
After David Kim's 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective is assigned to the case. But 37 hours later and without a single lead, David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter's laptop.
- 11
The Invisible Guest
A sleek Spanish thriller that expertly stacks layers of deception during a high-stakes interrogation.
Barcelona, Spain. Adrián Doria, a young and successful businessman accused of murder, meets one night with Virginia Goodman, an expert interrogation lawyer, in order to devise a defense strategy.
- 12
The Others
A chilling, atmospheric ghost story that relies on psychological tension rather than jump scares.
Grace is a religious woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions.