A good surprising cinematic twist in the final moments of a story can make or break a movie. This has become a lasting trope in Hollywood and borne a number of iconic moments in film history that still surprise new fans. Unfortunately, there are quite a few iconic twists that grew bigger than the movie and became a part of known pop culture.
Whether these twists became known through common sayings, repeated jokes or even frequent parodies, the brilliance of the surprises have lost a bit of power over the years due to the fact that even people who haven’t seen the movies might know the big reveal.
10 Everyone Knows About Norman Bates And His Mother From Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1960 horror Psycho took place at a roadside motel where a series of murders were committed. The truth was eventually revealed about Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates and his dark relationship with his mother, and over time this has become public knowledge.
Not only has the Psycho movie franchise further explored Norman’s obsession with his deceased mother which drove him to become a serial killer, but TV series like Bates Motel explored their origin, while other stories have paid homage to the twist for years in popular culture.
9 Nobody Believes The Wizard Of Oz And His Tricks From Behind The Curtain
1939’s The Wizard of Oz is a classic pre-code film from Hollywood that helped propel Judy Garland to stardom. It became a lasting nostalgic hit that can be found playing somewhere on TV at any given time, making it next to impossible for movie fans to have missed.
However, even if they did miss out on watching the actual movie to learn that the twist that the Wizard is just a man hiding behind a curtain, movies like Oz: The Great and Powerful and numerous parodies and homages have removed the surprise over the many years.
8 The Planet Of The Apes Surprise Ending Reveal Has Been Parodied For Decades
A long-running franchise like The Planet of the Apes, which first surprised audiences when it hit theaters in 1968, has lost the impact of its biggest twist due to both the longevity of the series as well as the many comedic takes on the film’s final moments. The surprise ending has even been used as spoiler-filled DVD cover art for years.
While projects like The Simpsons or Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back have mocked the dramatic reveal that the planet is actually Earth in the far future, modern fans who never saw the original would have already learned the twist thanks to reboots of the series that take place before the time of the first film.
7 Citizen Kane’s Big Reveal Is Public Knowledge And Frequently Used For Comedy
For a movie that was once considered to be the greatest movie ever made, it can be surprising how few modern movie-lovers have actually seen Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane. The film famously begins with a mystery about the final word “Rosebud” which is uttered from the dying lips of the movie’s lead media tycoon.
Not only has the twist been hilariously and anti-climactically spoiled in series like Family Guy (“It’s his sled. It’s his sled from when he was a kid.”), but Citizen Kane‘s themes and elements have gone on to influence so many different movies over the years that it can feel familiar to modern viewers watching it for the first time.
6 Se7en’s Big Twist Was Shocking To Theater-Goers But Has Lost Its Edge Since
Another movie twist that has suffered from pop culture success is David Fincher’s Seven, which managed to successfully hide the involvement of actor Kevin Spacey until his big reveal in the finale as John Doe, the demented serial killer obsessed with the seven deadly sins.
Not only has Spacey’s role in the movie become public knowledge, but his final series of kills that fulfill the sins of Envy and Wrath are spoiled anytime somebody receives a package and hears “what’s in the box?!”
5 The Usual Suspects Final Twist Has Been Paid Homage A Number Of Times
While he’s been mostly canceled since revelations about his true character came out, Kevin Spacey’s roles in movies like The Usual Suspects continued the ongoing trend of incredible twists featuring his characters that have become well-known.
While names like Verbal Kint and Keyzer Soze might sound instantly familiar to some fans who have never seen the movie, it’s really the final revelation by Agent Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) as he puts the pieces of Kint’s fabricated story together from items on his back wall, slowly realizing that he just let the biggest criminal of the story get away with everything.
4 The Sixth Sense’s Big Reveal Is Spoiled By The Numerous Comedic Parodies
M. Night Shyamalan is well-known by movie fans for his twists in movies like The Village or more recently The Visit. One of his first was in 1999’s The Sixth Sense starring Bruce Willis, which featured the oft-repeated line “I see dead people.”
While it’s that line that has gained the most prominence among movie fans who haven’t seen The Sixth Sense, the ultimate twist that the main character is one of those dead people has been spoofed, paid homage to and copied so many times over the years that it’s hard to find many still surprised by the reveal.
3 Nobody Ever Listens To The First Rule Of Fight Club Which Has Spoiled Tyler Durden’s Reveal
David Fincher is another director who is no stranger to twists with movies like Gone Girl. But it’s the big reveal in Fight Club that really proves nobody actually listened to the first rule of Fight Club, which is that you do not talk about Fight Club.
However, the final twist revealing that “Jack,” the narrator, and his best friend/criminal partner and co-creator of Fight Club, Tyler Durden, are one and the same is one of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood. It’s been spoofed and referenced many times since the adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel, the first true spoiler.
2 Friday The 13th’s Killer Reveal Has Become Known And Forgotten Over The Years
Slasher movies like Scream bait fans with the mystery of who is behind the mask. But fans of the Friday the 13th franchise are secure in the knowledge that Jason Voorhees will be under the hockey mask when murders start happening at Camp Crystal Lake.
The big twist of the original movie is that his mother Pamela Voorhees was the real murderer. This not only became public knowledge due to the success of the movie, but was soon forgotten and is now often used as a trivia question thanks to the overwhelming popularity of her son Jason.
1 Darth Vader’s Big Reveal In The Empire Strikes Back Is Common Knowledge
One of the biggest iconic twists that have been spoiled over the years is without a doubt the dramatic reveal from the battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Vader famously reveals to Luke that he is actually his father, Anakin Skywalker.
Unfortunately, later installments that further explored Anakin and his legacy, as well as the constant use of the quotable line in other movies and TV series, has made that reveal common knowledge to almost everyone but those experiencing the franchise itself for the first time.
About The Author
