Over the course of the last year, we asked our BuzzFeed Community two separate, conflicting questions: First, what is a plot twist that you freely admit you never saw coming? And second, what was a movie plot twist you saw coming from a mile away (like down the street and around the corner)?
Well, comparing the two lists and seeing what you all felt was predictable versus well done was so interesting that we decided to merge 10 of the most popular responses from each list to see how these plot twists compared side by side!
Ready? I sure hope so! Here we go:
1. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": Malignant (2021)
THE TWIST: A woman who believes she’s seeing premonitions of murders discovers that she’s actually seeing memories of the murders being committed by the previously dormant twin living in her brain and on the back of her head — no, really.
"It was just way too obvious from the first scene that there was either a parasitic twin or D.I.D. situation going on, and the first time we see the killer in action it was very clear it was a parasitic twin."
2. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": The Prestige (2006)
THE TWIST: Two competing magicians can't figure out how the other is pulling off an impossible teleportation-style trick. Well, Christian Bale has a twin and Hugh Jackman has clones.
"Not only the reveal that Christian Bale’s character was a twin, but the ending: finding out exactly how Hugh Jackman’s character pulled off the 'Transported Man' gave me chills."
3. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": Frozen (2013)
THE TWIST: The royal love interest is the bad guy.
"I knew that Prince Hans would be the bad guy. What Disney princess falls in love and gets engaged in the first 10 minutes of the movie?! As soon as Kristoff made his appearance, I knew that was who she’d actually end up with."
4. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": Us (2019)
THE TWIST: The character we've been following is actually one of the tethered the entire time, having stolen the life of our main character at the beginning of the film.
"It was already such a great horror movie before the twist was revealed, and the twist just took it over the top."
5. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": Sleepy Hollow (1999)
THE TWIST: It was that one guy's wife controlling the Headless Horseman the whole time.
"Miranda Richardson was a big name in the opening credits, but had very little screen time prior to the big reveal that she was the one controlling the Headless Horseman. This proved to me that, in a mystery, the biggest name in the movie with the least amount of screen time is the one behind it."
6. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": Saw (2004)
THE TWIST: The serial killer behind the trap (and all of the murders throughout the film) is the "dead" body that's been lying motionless on the floor of the room the entire time.
"I had absolutely no idea, no guess, no remote thought that the 'dead' body that was on the floor since the very first scene would actually be the mastermind of the entire series of events! The Saw franchise has gotten more and more gory and nutty over the years, but the first (and second) film are honestly still very strong. What a great reveal!"
7. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": What Lies Beneath (2000)
THE TWIST: The husband did it.
"I remember telling my parents that Harrison Ford was definitely going to try to kill his wife with that paralytic drug they introduced early on. They were shocked I figured it out, but come on, if they introduce a horrific drug in Act One, they're going to use it. It's Chekhov's paralytic pharmaceutical."
8. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": Primal Fear (1996)
THE TWIST: We're led to believe the defendant is innocent and suffering from a violent dissociative personality disorder the entire film, only to discover that he's been lying and is, in fact, aware of everything he's doing.
"Edward Norton gave a brilliant performance in that movie and I truly NEVER saw that ending coming."
9. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": The Uninvited (2009)
THE TWIST: Dead the whole time (bad).
"You can literally see the twist from a mile away. Of course the other one is dead, and of course the one the main character killed is not the right one. The original version was much better (but it was too bad that I had already seen this American version first, so I knew what was coming)."
10. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": The Others (2001)
THE TWIST: Dead the whole time (good).
"Finding out Nicole Kidman killed her children, then herself, and that they were the ghosts. It gave me a stomach ache for a week."
11. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": Shutter Island (2010)
THE TWIST: Our main character, who we believe is a detective on a case for the length of the film, is revealed to be a patient at the very mental hospital he's investigating.
"I predicted the ENTIRE plot when I saw the first trailer. I was in the theater with my mom, saw the trailer, leaned over to her and said, 'He’s the murderer all along. It’s an asylum and he’s imagining he’s a cop.' I never saw it in theaters, but my friend did and came back and told me, 'OMG, you called the WHOLE THING!' I never understood why people always cite that movie as having a great twist. If I called it from the trailer, other people must have, too."
12. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": Soylent Green (1973)
THE TWIST: Soylent Green — a delicious, eco-friendly food source — is, in fact, made of people.
"I somehow made it through my entire life without knowing the twist until I was in my very early twenties. If you've somehow made it this far without knowing about Soylent Green, watch it right now."
13. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": The Happening (2008)
THE TWIST: It was the trees!!!
"There was a shot that made me turn to my friend and say as a joke, 'Gasp, the trees are doing it!' He got mad at me later for spoiling the surprise. I didn’t actually think it was that simple!"
14. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": Planet of the Apes (1968)
THE TWIST: An astronaut who believes he landed on a planet run by apes is actually on a futuristic version of Earth the entire time.
"I lived my whole life (until I was 18) without knowing the plot of Planet of the Apes. I was watching it in my parents basement and was totally shocked — SHOCKED — that they were on Earth the whole time. I ran upstairs and immediately told my parents, 'They were on earth the whole time!' They laughed."
15. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": Scream (1996)
THE TWIST: There are actually two killers the entire time, and they're the final girl's boyfriend and close friend.
"In the original, there were parts early on in the movie where the masked killer would seem to be in two places at the same time. I remember watching it with some friends who had already seen it, and — about a third into the movie — I made a comment that there must be two killers. I got a strange look, and then no one believed me when I said I had never seen it."
16. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
THE TWIST: While staying together in a mansion during a hurricane, a group of friends believe that one of their own was murdered by someone in their group — but he actually accidentally killed himself by being an idiot (ie: by playing with a large machete, slitting his own throat), setting off a chain of events that ends with most of the group murdering each other.
"The ending had me making the same shell-shocked face as the characters. It was funny and smart, and made me want to go back and watch the movie all over again."
17. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": The Visit (2015)
THE TWIST: Two kids go to stay with their estranged grandparents who they've never met, only to discover the elderly people who picked them up from the station aren't their grandparents at all.
"What mother would send her children to visit their grandparents — who she herself hasn't seen in 20 years — without talking to them at least once beforehand and introducing them to the children?!"
18. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": Parasite (2018)
THE TWIST: A maid who was fired from working in a rich family's home is revealed to have been hiding her husband in a bunker in the basement of said rich family's home the entire time.
"I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it definitely was not the housekeeper's husband living in a hidden bunker in the Park family's house."
AND FINALLY — two complete strangers who completely disagree on the same major plot twist:
19. "THAT WAS SO PREDICTABLE!": The Sixth Sense (1999)
THE TWIST: The kid sees dead people. Our main character is a dead people the whole time.
"10-year-old me was like, 'Oh, he’s dead right? Is that why his wife keeps ignoring him?' We didn’t even make it halfway through the movie. My mom was so pissed that I spoiled it for her."
20. "THAT CAME OUTTA NOWHERE?!": Also, The Sixth Sense (1999)
THE TWIST: (The twist here is that I already told you the twist! See above!)
"I saw The Sixth Sense the day it opened in theaters (I was only 13 and still full of hope). It was mind-blowing for every single person in the theater. I remember a ton of people bought tickets (or snuck in) to see it a second time the same day. At the mall, that's what we did in 1999. Also, baby Mischa Barton scared the shit out of me."
You've read all of their opinions, but now it's your turn! How do you feel about what these readers wrote? What's a plot twist you called from a mile away? How about one you never would've guessed? Share in the comments below!
Some responses were edited for length and/or clarity.