15 Movies That Should Never Be Spoiled [Spoiler Free!]
It’s getting harder and harder to avoid spoilers. Even the directors of Avengers: Endgame lifted the spoiler embargo after two weekends. Some of the greatest movies in the history of cinema have amazing surprise endings, yet movie buffs talk about them all the time.
Showbiz Cheat Sheet will attempt to talk about the greatest twist endings of all time without giving them away, although just knowing that there’s a twist may be a spoiler. So if you’ve managed to go this long without having any of these movies, watch them as soon as you can before someone ruins them.
15. Primal Fear
Edward Norton’s feature film debut was a stellar showcase for his talents. He plays Aaron, an altar boy Richard Gere is defending for murder. Aaron has multiple personalities so it’s a chance for Norton to shine, but there’s even more to Aaron than his lawyer can discern.
14. No Way Out
You may have heard about Kevin Costner and Sean Young’s love scene in the back of a limousine. That’s great, but this is an exciting ’80s thriller stars Costner as a naval officer on the run from KGB agents. The twists and turns come until the very last scene.
13. Citizen Kane
Often cited as the greatest movie of all time, Orson Welles’ masterpiece stars himself as Charles Foster Kane. Kane was a wealthy newspaper magnate who was always in pursuit of Rosebud until his death. The movie does reveal what Rosebud was, if you haven’t heard by now.
12. Jacob’s Ladder
Tim Robbins plays a returning Vietnam veteran who has haunting psychedelic visions when he’s back in the U.S. What Jacob is going through is surreal, but the very last scene gives you a definitive answer about what he’s going through.
11. The Others
Nicole Kidman stars as the mother of children with a sensitivity to light, so she has to keep the shades drawn at all times. That makes it easier for spirits to haunt them. In the end, you won’t believe who’s doing the haunting.
10. The Usual Suspects
Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollack and Kevin Spacey play five criminals who get embroiled in a perfect score. Like all perfect scores in the movies, it goes bad and most of them die. Wait ‘til you find out who’s really pulling the strings.
9. Oldboy
There’s an American remake but stick with the original. Oh Dae-Su (Choi Min-sik) spends 15 years a prisoner in the hotel Oldboy. When he gets out, he goes on a rampage, but even he can’t guess what’s coming.
8. Se7en
A killer is murdering victims based on the Seven Deadly Sins. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are trying to catch him before he kills all seven, but he’s one step ahead of them until the very end.
7. Planet of the Apes
Considering there were four sequels to the 1968 films, a remake and a new trilogy, if you still don’t know the twist of Planet of the Apes, enjoy it. The 2001 Tim Burton remake tries a different twist that does not make any sense at all, but the original is haunting.
6. Psycho
Psycho, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and Mother are such a part of our history it would be a surprise to find someone who doesn’t know. If you find such a person, sit them down in front of Psycho and see how they react.
5. The Prestige
In between Batman movies, Christopher Nolan made a tail of dueling magicians. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale keep one upping each other. A magician never reveals his secret, but The Prestige will tell you how it pulled off the biggest trick in the end.
4. The Crying Game
Another movie where the twist became more well known than the movie itself, maybe enough time has passed that someone could still see it fresh. Stephen Rhea plays an IRA assassin who gets to know the girlfriend (Jaye Davidson) of his victim (Forest Whitaker).
3. Saw
When people dismiss the Saw movies as “torture porn,” they ignore that each one has an intricate mystery that pays off. Even the sequels have legitimate twists, but none are probably as surprising as the original game.
2. Fight Club
You don’t talk about Fight Club, and you should definitely not spoil the twist of Fight Club. It’s a brilliant movie anyway as Edward Norton falls under Brad Pitt’s spell rebelling against modern society.
1. The Sixth Sense
Every M. Night Shyamalan movie has a twist ending. You’d also do well to see Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, The Visit and maybe even The Happening and Lady in the Water fresh. It all started with this tale of a therapis (Bruce Willis) trying to help a boy (Haley Joel Osment) who sees ghosts.
