Top Five Horror Movie Twists

Call it hackneyed, cliche and overused or call it creative, ingenious and original. No matter which way one sides, it's hard to deny the impact of a twist ending. A ludicrous twist ending can destroy a movie just as easily as a fantastic twist can elevate a film into classic status.

While some of the best twists to ever appear in cinema, such as the twists featured in Fight Club, The Usual Suspects and The Empire Strikes Back have happened in other genres, it's horror that fits the mold perfectly to dramatic twists, turns and all of those "Oh, I never saw that coming" type stories.

Considering the subject of the content it should go without warning that potential spoilers are ahead.

5 - Se7en

Se7en was an absolutely brilliant movie from beginning to end, one that didn't need a twist ending to "save" it. But what an ending it was, huh? From the minute that John Doe (excellently played by Kevin Spacey) turns himself in after committing five murders symbolizing the deadly sins - gluttony, lust, greed, sloth and pride, one immediately can't help but ask - "What about envy and wrath?" - while being thrust onto the edge of their seats. Needless to say, John Doe has plunged the protagonists into a trap, involving a certain character's loved one, which all leads to a stunning conclusion that's hard to forget.

4 - Angel Heart

This is a lesser known, very underrated one so I'm going to try to avoid giving it away, as many summaries of this film often do. Regardless, Angel Heart is the story of private investigator Harry Angel as he is hired by the wealthy Louis Cyphre to locate an old crooner by the name of Johnny Favorite, who was injured in WWII. At first glance and then throughout the film, it hardly seems apt to describe this movie as horror; it's just a hard boiled, occasionally gruesome detective story, isn't it? However, in the final act, just as the viewer is convinced they've figured things out, the revelation comes completely out of left field and Angel finds himself in a gut-wrenching predicament.

3 - Saw

Saw is a fairly recent movie, but that doesn't disqualify it from the rankings. Even if one disagrees with the direction of the later sequels or dislikes the series all together, the ending of the original film is worth commending for its sheer shock value. When that presumed corpse that's been lying in the room from the start of the film stands up, fully alive and reveals himself to be the true Jigsaw Killer, it's a senses-shattering moment. As Jigsaw slammed the door shut on Adam and left him to die, he simultaneously gave birth to the biggest ongoing franchise in horror today.

2 - Friday the 13th

Okay, so these days a "gotcha" ending like this is practically an expected part of any horror movie. But it's only become so traditional because Friday the 13th did it so perfectly. Sure, the series didn't really kick off until Jason got his hockey mask in Part 3--but the ending of the first film, where the previously thought dead Jason Voorhees launches himself from the water, is a true classic.

And finally, that brings us to numero uno...

1 - Night of the Living Dead

Really, the number one spot just has to go to George Romero's 1968 masterpiece. There's a huge amount to commend about Night of the Living Dead, from its creation of those undead zombies, to the eerie black and white atmosphere and especially to Romero's undercover social commentary. Nowhere is this commentary more evident than the ending of the film. After all the survivors except one, Ben, are killed, Ben takes refuge in the basement as the zombies flood into the house. The next day a glimmer of hope seems to arrive, as a band of rednecks are going across the country shooting up all the undead creatures roaming the field. Finally, they arrive at the house and kill all the remaining zombies and Ben, finally saved, rushes out to freedom...only to mistaken for a zombie himself and shot instantly. The social implications of this act alone are fascinating, made only more bleak by the fact that Ben was an African American and his death by other humans can easily be seen as a sly comment on racial attitudes of the time. Romero would take his social commentary and ideas even farther in Night of the Living Dead's four sequels but truly, his first movie made the strongest statement of them all.

Honorable mentions go to Psycho, as well as Scream and The Sixth Sense.