A Glean movie guide
The Greatest Plot Twists
Don't let anyone spoil the ending.
Movies that pull the rug out from under you in the final act.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Sixth Sense
The definitive twist ending that recontextualizes every interaction in the film.
Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.
- 02
The Usual Suspects
A brilliant crime mystery built entirely on the power of an unreliable narrator.
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.
- 03
Fight Club
A visceral psychological drama featuring a major identity reveal that shifts the entire narrative.
A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
- 04
The Prestige
A meticulously crafted puzzle that treats its own plot like a grand magic trick.
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.
- 05
Parasite
A genre-defying social thriller with a shocking mid-film shift and a haunting finale.
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.
- 06
Get Out
A sharp, suspenseful thriller that uses a genre-bending revelation to expose a terrifying truth.
Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
- 07
Arrival
A cerebral sci-fi that uses non-linear storytelling to deliver a profound temporal revelation.
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
- 08
Psycho
The foundational psychological thriller that set the standard for the cinematic shock ending.
When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.
- 09
Shutter Island
An atmospheric mystery that builds intense tension toward a reality-shattering conclusion.
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.
- 10
The Others
A classic gothic ghost story with a supernatural twist that completely flips the script.
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.
- 11
Oldboy
A dark and relentless mystery known for one of the most unexpected revelations in film history.
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.
- 12
Planet of the Apes
A landmark of science fiction featuring a final visual reveal that remains legendary.
Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist.