Best Plot Twists

[GuruGuru214]

Unable to think of any bad plot twists off the top of my head, I went to TV Tropes to help jog my memory. After battling away the Wikipedia problem several hours later, I found that I wasn't finding a lot of bad ones that weren't already mentioned, but I was finding a lot of good ones (which would be great examples to start this thread with, if I could remember what they were).

So I want to hear from you guys, what are your favorite plot twists?

[Rather Dashing]

Any and every episode of The Twilight Zone(1959-1964). Seriously, pick one. Notice that twist? It was pretty great, huh? Yeah, I think so, too!

[Darth Marsden]

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Bioshock.

/endthread

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Bioshock.

/endthread

Your views of a good twist are kind of narrow, aren't they?

I mean, your winners are "I am your father" and "I am your father".

[Origami]

Basically everything from all the Locked Room murder mysteries I have read.

Final Fantasy X had a nice twist.
The main character never really existed.

[mgrant]

What I can think of at the moment (aside from The Twilight Zone classic's twists, but RD beat me to that one).
Soylent Green
Planet of the Apes
Fight Club
Hero and Rashomon do a good job of keeping you guessing until the end, but I don't know if that qualifies as a twist.

[GuruGuru214]

I hear there's a crazy good one in System Shock 2, but I probably shouldn't hear anything about it, as I've been told that game is required reading playing.

As for games I've actually played, the entire second halves of both The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood and Beyond the Alley of the Dolls. The former was the reason I came to the forums and the latter delivered the same "sucker punched and loving it" feeling. Well done, Telltale.

I'd also like to second Fight Club and toss in Memento.

[coolsome]

House sesion 5 finalie he hallucinated himself having sex with Cuddy and getting a detox off vicodin but it was his hallucination playing tricks on him he really went home alone and took vicodin like normal

[GuruGuru214]

Just posting these as I think of them.

Two of them from Super Paper Mario. First, the Sammer's Kingdom. Mario's not arriving in time and the consequences, just...wow. Second, the ending, with who the real villain is and Luigi's role.

[Icedhope]

Citizen Kane, with the sled being rosebud..well that's one of my favorites. Also Unbreakable had a good one.

[ShaggE]

Titanic. You think the ship will be unsinkable, but BOOM, iceberg!

That's why James Cameron makes the big bucks, folks.

[Icedhope]

Originally Posted by ShaggE

Titanic. You think the ship will be unsinkable, but BOOM, iceberg!

That's why James Cameron makes the big bucks, folks.

Rumor has it that is a true story!

[S@bre]

Liam Neeson in Batman Begins. Him playing a mentor character, like he so often does, then turning out to be the bad guy. Due to his usual roles, you don't really see it coming. Excellent use of casting.

[coolsome]

Originally Posted by Icedhope

Rumor has it that is a true story!

I loled hard.

[ShaggE]

Originally Posted by Icedhope

Rumor has it that is a true story!

Pish-posh. They said the same thing about the moon landing, but did you see any cheese in that footage? No swiss, no cheddar, no colby, neither Wensleydale nor pepperjack. You could hardly call it a moon at all!

[Secret Fawful]

Wall of text warning.

Originally Posted by Origami

Basically everything from all the Locked Room murder mysteries I have read.

This. If I took the time to type out every great plot twist from all the murder mysteries I've read it would take me hours. I'll name a couple though.

Murder on the Orient Express. Everyone was the killer. However this is not the greatest Poirot plot twist for me.

Young Sherlock Holmes. Professor Rathe is Moriarty.

In the Mouth of Madness. Some people consider this to be a cheesy ending but I love it. The entire world is turning into a book under the control of the Elder Ones and Sutter Cane, the horror novelist.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. For me the greatest Poirot twist. The story's narrator and the man who has assisted Poirot in his investigation the entire story is the murderer. That twist blew my mind.

Fullmetal Alchemist. Apart from The Philosopher Stone being made from hundreds if not millions of people, and the fact that Envy single-handedly brought about a massive genocide that ruined hundreds of lives and affected every single main character, there was one major plot twist that really stood out to me, and I really did not see it coming. In fact it's one of the few plots twists that really made my jaw drop to the floor because of how well hidden it was.

The Furher King of the entire country is a homunculus.

Up until that point he was so sweet and innocent and helpful, but little did anyone know it was just because he was under orders not to kill any of the heroes. When the shit hit the fan it was no more mister nice guy.

The manga had a nice equivalent of this when Selim Bradley, the Furher's cute little son, was introduced as the most powerful homunculus. Even though Bradley is more powerful in the manga, hell a complete badass, I kind of prefer the first anime version because of how well done his character was and how suspenseful it became once you found out the truth; the surprise was gone in the manga when it happened again and frankly Brotherhood didn't handle suspense very well. The homunculi were also suspenseful in the manga because you never knew when they would decide to break orders, get piss your pants scary, and kill your shit. Brotherhood, mostly, kept ruining the mood.

Psycho. It's not Norman Bates mother. It's Norman Bates play-acting as mother.

After the Thin Man. This is more of a funny plot twist than a great one but I'll count Nick Charles not being able to spot Nora's pregnancy just for the line "You call yourself a detective?"

American Psycho. Patrick Bateman may have hallucinated his murders and may just be completely insane.

Big O. Wikipedia sums it up better than I can. "The series ends with the awakening of other "Big" megadeus and the revelation that the universe is a simulated reality created by advanced virtual reality technology. A climactic battle ensues, after which the universe is systematically deleted and reset."

Mask of the Phantasm. Andrea Beaumont is the Phantasm.

Death Note. Ryuk kills Light.

Some others I liked-

Perfect Blue.

Vertigo.

Jacobs Ladder.

Paranoia Agent.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Batman: Under the Red Hood.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Batman: War Games.

Twin Peaks.

Missing.

I could keep going but those are some good picks I think.

[divisionten]

Snape killing Dumbledore was a good twist. Finding out that Dubmledore had asked him to was a great one. But fining out that Dumbledore was sexually experimental during his youth shocked the crap out of me.

Also, finding out that the Furher's son in the manga shocked me some, but what shocked me more was that someone on the internet ACCURATELY PREDICTED IT two years before, with scraps of evidence collected from the manga that had been revealed up to that pint. Before it was revealed, everyone thought she was pulling at straws. Now she's something of an internet hero.

Lastly, the twit that the mice in Hitchhiker's Guide were the ones responsible for both creating Earth and destroying it was quite a surprise.

[GuruGuru214]

I would've mentioned Psycho a long time ago, but somehow it didn't feel right naming one that even most people who haven't seen the movie already know about. Anyway, I've got another, from one of my favorite old films.

Charade - Not only is Walter Matthau's character the real killer, posing as a CIA agent, but Cary Grant's character is really a CIA agent who has been posing as a civilian posing as one of the crooks...I think. His four identities throughout the film get confusing and it's been a while, so I'm not sure which of them was layered on top of which, or even who the third one was supposed to be.

[Javi-Wan Kenobi]

The first Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic game.
The plot twist on the second one was more predictable and less impressive to me, but still a good one.

[JedExodus]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

Your views of a good twist are kind of narrow, aren't they?

I mean, your winners are "I am your father" and "I am your father".

I laughed, but in fairness I think he's reffering to "would you kindly" in Bioshock