The thing is that you can always rewatch a movie, but can only experience the surprise of a plot twist once.

Uhm the ending to Hamilton was spoiled 300 years ago.

So, what you’re saying is it’s not the ending that matters, but the friends we made along the way.

I still remember when I first I saw Clark Kent take off his glasses. Whaaat? Best. Plot twist. Ever!!

spoiled scooby doo for me smh. i'm only on season one

I was very surprised by the ending of Titanic. My wife said surely, you should have known two people can't float on the same door. I told her, it's completely plausible given the size of the door, and don't call me Shirley.

How do you do a plot twist? "And it was all just a dream...."

The Now You See Me twist could've worked if they made him even more "foolish". If it could've been guessed that he was actually acting, via over-acting, it would've been more satisfying.

How could you not mention, the biggest and most iconic plot twist: I am your father

aaand now I know why the plot twist in Frozen of Hans as the bad guy didn't work- it makes the same mistake as Now You See Me

The plot twist in Primal Fear works also because Richard Gere's character confesses to us in the middle of the movie that he's able to be a sleazy defense attorney because he has faith that sometimes good people do terrible things. And Edward Norton's character seems like the perfect example of that, but then that faith is completely shattered when he finds out he's actually an irredeemable psychopath.

The best and the least predictable plot twist: Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!

When you started speaking I thought it was Velma...

The best plot twist was in BvS when you got to know that Batman is Bruce Wayne

I use the same theory when I tried explaining how a plot twist works “The best part of a plot twist is seeing the clues that lead up to it” Ex: Usual suspects

I remember crying at the end of The Sixth Sense because I was so shocked at the ending and how it made sense but you never saw it coming. Still one of my favorite movies

You should do one on the sex scene. Why do directors use them? When are they necessary? And what can they tell us about the characters or the movie in general?

While we are on the topic of good plot twists i would tell you about the Fight Club but unfortunatelly one is not supposed to talk about the Fight Club

My God “Primal Fear” is one of the best movies ever made.

The thing with plot twists is there's a satisfaction that comes from seeing the twist unfold for the first time. The novelty of the reveal is crucial that first time. The good twists, like you say, are rewatchable because the journey to get there is still fun, and according to the study, maybe even more enjoyable since you can look for the clues along the way. But if the ending is spoiled for you, you never get that initial punch from the twist the first time, and that's what I like about them. The first time you see Primal Fear and Aaron slips up and asks if Janet was ok, when only Roy is supposed to know that she was hurt. You see Martin Vale slowly turn around looking puzzled, and you realize what just happened. That "oh shit" moment that you get the first time through and unspoiled is the payoff that you just can't get when you already know it's coming.

Plot twist THERE IS NO PLOT TWIST

fightclub is a pretty obvious "best plot twist" but i think the reason that it holds up for me is that the twist isn't placed at the end of the film, the twist gives the protagonist new information and makes him have to be more active in the final sequences of the film. the twist moves the narrative, not ends it.

I really love the Vulture plot twist in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Usually, I watch the movie for the first time, get surprised, and then when I rewatch the movie it never feels nearly as good. But with Spider-Man: Homecoming, I still feel my heart drop with Peter when Michael Keaton opens the door. And then they take it even further with the scene in the car when Keaton is slowly piecing together that Peter is Spider-Man. That still makes me as uncomfortable as I was in the theater when I first saw it. Although they don’t really hint at it during the movie, it’s still a great plot twist.

It's also important that the plot twist doesn't contradict the events that came before it. Too many twists ruin stories because the author didn't think through its implications for the events leading up to the twist. When a twist works, it's because the author had it in mind from the start of the story to the end. Twists are details that are always present, but not revealed until the end the story, rather than a new element that was thrown in at the last minute (that's a recipe for a bad twist).

I hope i know my life's plot twist

Bro I don't think Hamilton is an example of a twist... That's like saying the Titanic sinking was a twist in the movie.

The beauty of the plot twist for Primal Fear is not only the sudden shock of Ed Norton’s character revealing his “sanity” but that he could not be tried again in the court of law because of that. He could go on pretending he’s insane and eventually get out again to do more crimes. That’s the genius of that plot.

Never realized how much plot twist and mystery is in a harry potter books

I dunno, I personally hate when a twist ending is given away before I watch something. The best way to enjoy a film or book is to watch it through without knowing, then rewatch or reread it afterwards.

some good plot twist movies: the prestige 6th sense fight club shutter island primal fear the usual suspects identity the invisible guest the game se7en

Some very good plot twists: Empire Strikes Back Planet of the Apes Soylent Green Primal Fear The Usual Suspects Shutter Island Se7en

I recently watched "The Usual Suspects" for the first time. I guessed the plot twist around halfway through. And my heart was BEATING so hard until the final second as I gathered the clues to see if I was right and when they revealed it I was ECSTATIC. Amazingly made, greatly brought, subtly hinted. Knowing / guessing the ending didn't make it boring, on the contrary.

When I watched fight club for the second time I found it more interesting because I knew the ending, alot of things go over your head when you watch it at first that you notice the second time around

wow spoiling Hamilton smh. I'm only on the colonial period

So maximize the surprise while still being logically coherent

the biggest plot twist of all is Christian Bale’s British accent

Unbreakable is probably my favourite plot twist. Made sense following the film's internal logic and built upon the characters and story really strongly.

The plot twist in Fight Club is interesting in that the reveal is leaked out over several scenes. The movie deliberately tells you that the twist is coming and pretty much what the twist is, before it is explicitly stated and explained. And yet that doesn't seem to lessen the effect and if anything, it enhances it.

The director of knives out must’ve watched this video

When I rewatched Spider-Man Far From Home, it was interesting to reanalyze the dialogue of one character when you know he’s trying to manipulate others

I think the book study it because you're able to see how the author got there rather than just going along for the ride, which is why for the second read of a plot twist book or the second watch of a plot twist film, we have way more fun looking for the evidence.

"Mr. Creeps" & "Mr. Crawls" kill me

Enjoyed the first HP more the second time through. All the hints that Quirrel is the one that's evil the entire time are so well woven into the story that it's so fun to notice

Well I love the "plot twist" of Interstellar, I'm not sure if it actually is one, but there could have been other, yet after seeing it for 11 times - less satisfying, endings, I love how scientifically it's only explained after it, but metaphorically and through not scientific proof hinted a whole lot. It keeps you interested, partly because it can't just end boringly, we always hope for a happy end, and partly because those hints are loud, yet unexplainable without the ending (and a few re-watches recommended). I love watching a movie and after it saying "wow that's well thought out and makes sense", it's quite satisfying. Interstellar shows how wide and deep science, and specifically space, can be and is, the infinite possibilities and obviously, the Murphy's law "Whatever can happen, will happen" (slightly rephrased, from the movie). Recommend it of you haven't seen it yet!

I think that study is utter bull. To me what that study says is that reading after knowing the twist is a more enjoyable experience, BUT only if you are going by the metric of 1 single read through. Spoiling first denies the enjoyment of discovering the twist. Going in blind you can get the enjoyment of not knowing, and then get the greater enjoyment of knowing when reading again. So (unspoilt + spoilt) > (spoilt).

The best thing about the Prestige plot twist I think is that you can go back and watch the movie again, but notice all the small hints to it that seem so obvious now.

He should have said he was going to spoil Scooby doo. >:(

The Korean movie “Forgotten” has literally one of the most biggest plot twist! It made me think about it for a long time and I couldnt beileve the huge twist! It made me rethink my feelings for the characters Please watch the movie though its cool

But the plot twist in frozen that did work was that Anna and Elsa saved each other. They set up that Anna needs an act of true love to save her. And they assume a kiss will do the job, but they break that assumption and still follow the "true love" rule from earlier. It's also hinted throughout the film

Black Mirror was good for plot twists

Oh God I remember being SO angry when I first watched Primal Fear... That was a great twist!

The guilty (it's a danish film) had such an amazing plot twist. All my feelings for every character just shifted with one line. Also, the plottwist was when the film was 3/4 over. So they set up how the other characters dealt with it perfectly.

The Prestige is my favorite film, and one of the best movies ever made in my opinion. I wish I could watch it again but without knowing the twist

"I see dead people" Talking to his father ...

Thanks for mentioning Primal Fear: The most underrated movie of All time.

oh I wish you talked about Shutter Island! I think that movie will always go down in my book as one of the greatest plot twists in cinematic history. Not only is the twist awesome but it is so fun to go back and watch the background characters after knowing how the movie ends! I will never get tired of that movie!!

Damn, all those spoiler warnings but none for Hamilton? Cold.

Woah, woah, woah! Scooby Doo spoilers, much? I was looking forwards to finding out who was the green guy.

Good plot twists honestly make the movie even more rewatchable because now you look for clues leading up to it.

When my school bully told me that my dad was gay, jokes on him I have 2 lesbian moms *PLOT TWIST*

So I don't know how reliable this study is (after all only one is cited and I don't see anyone replicating it), BUT supposing the conclusions are generally correct, watching a spoiled movie still robs you of the experience of seeing it the first time. If you want to watch the movie after knowing the twist, you can just watch it a second time you silly goose

I absolutely hate when endings are spoiled lol.

"I'm the damn fool that shot him." I don't care where I am, I'll also yell ALEXANDER HAMILTON!

I think that explains why the plot twists in Fantastic beasts 1 & 2 were so unsatisfying.

Darth Vader is Luke's father

After having seen Game of Thrones season three (specifcally S03E09) I started reading the books. Finding all the little clues GRRM dropped made it really worth reading, even though I knew what would happen in.

UGH! I can’t believe you just spoiled that scooby-doo episode for me...I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT ONE!

4:50-As a dark mode user who was watching this at night... ...This killed me!

What an amazing video! I hated the plot twist of Now You See Me and you've nailed it on the head as to why.

Best plot twist: Usual suspects

I saw primal fear after learning about the plot twist, and the movie still sticks with me. Fantastic plot twist.

Plot twists are some of the best things in Hollywood, if they are done perfectly! If you have a great story and an insanely awesome twist ending, makes the experience and movie EVEN BETTER! Great explanation man. I just started on KZfaq as well, a month ago. Hope to hear from you. Keep up the great work!

To avoid spoiling anything I will be vague, but I completely agree with what you said about going back through a film/book/game after knowing the twist and looking for foreshadowing. There was a video game I played recently where a supporting character (ironically one of my favourite ones) turns out to have been set up to be a somewhat tragic antagonist in a later game the entire time, and was ultimately responsible for unwittingly empowering and enabling the game's main villain. Despite fighting alongside you, and obviously only doing what he believes is right, he is ultimately responsible for every bad thing that happens in the games plot, and has further goals that make him a serious threat to life as you know it within the setting. At one point in the story he has a conversation with another character, who is an author. He says he doesn't like the villain of one of the author's books, saying that he prefers villains that the reader can relate to on some level. And then the fucker literally says "A good villain could be standing beside the hero the entire time, and he would be none the wiser" but the character is so well written, and so unassuming, I didn't even bat an eye ( his unassuming nature also being a topic of much foreshadowing) Hearing that line, knowing how that character winds up, was frankly incredible.

Knowing the twist for Unusual Suspects certainly ruined my enjoyment of the film. I didn't really know about the movie, but when I heard the twist I thought "That sounds really cool" and decided to watch. While watching I couldn't shake this unsatisfied feeling I had throughout the movie. I wished I didn't know what was going to come. Two times I watched it and both times the movie felt sour because I missed out on the experience. Now, while I don't dislike the movie, I don't particularly like it either, and I can't help but feel that I would have really liked it if I had no idea what was in store.

Q: How to do a plot twist? A: Ask Christopher Nolan

only five minutes but so much information! you are really value people's time great job!

So, I know most people won't believe me, but I actually saw the twist for Now You See Me coming. Although there is no logical way to get from point A to point B for determining the twist, the tagline for the movie is actually how I figured it out. At the beginning of the movie, Jesse Eisenberg's character says "Look close, But not too close, because the more you think you see, the less you actually see." Or something to that effect. So, as soon as the movie starting giving subtle nods that it was the female FBI agent assisting the four horseman, my sister leaned over and said "I bet it's the girl" to which I responded "I bet it's the guy". The tagline for the movie caused me to think that the subtle hints were way too obvious, so I went with the most unexpected option. Granted, not the best way to do things, but it did work well in this case. Magicians try to deter you from the actual probable outcome, so the movie, in a way, worked overall for the twist. Final note: Spoiling it for myself that way ruined the fun of the twist at the end. Overall, I still enjoyed the movie very much.

C.S. Lewis talks about this when it comes to re-reading a book in his essay "On Stories" to give a small idea of what he has to say, "The re-reader is looking not for actual surprises (which can only happen once) but for a certain suprisingness.... It is the quality of unexpectedness, not the fact that delights us. It is even better the second time." In short he thinks that a good reader or in general a good observer of stories is able to relish the path leading to the surprise or plot twist! I think it's an interesting way to look at things and explains why we often re-watch and re-read stories we enjoy!! Great video also look forward to your content.

The Saw franchise twists got very ridiculous after a while, but never disregard the first Saw movie’s Plot Twist

I remember watching Now You See Me, and being so invested, that I legitimately thought the characters were dead. My heart literally wrenched and it’s absolutely genius. Same goes with The Prestige

Your videos are beyond great, keep it up!!!

Well I planned on sleep for another 30 minutes. Looks like that isn't happening. Im still kinda groggy though so I might not be able to see it...

“Us” had the best plot twist I have ever seen. Gut wrenching and makes you feel wrong

when I was watching the first season of The Good Place, I enjoyed it but at some point I got a bit bored of some parts of the plot (I can't even remember which ones... I don't know what got into me) so I stopped watching it, but then my sister spoiled me the ending of that season, I started watching it again and now I love it.

I read somewhere that there are three kinds of plot twists. 1. "Wait, what?" This is a complete shock ending with little chance of the viewer being clued in beforehand. Sometimes it works well, but if poorly executed the viewer will feel cheated. 2. "Heck yeah!" This is a twist that isn't too hard to figure out beforehand. The viewer gets a feeling of satisfaction and pride, but such a twist has little to no shock value. 3. "Oh riiight...!" A balance of buildup and surprise, where the answer is often hidden in plain sight. Things got confusing, but everything makes sense after the reveal takes place. To do this effectively takes masterful writing, but it's worth it.

I am actually a bit suprised that you didn't use the movie "Shutterisland" as an example in good plottwists. One of the great things about shutterisland is that the reveal is believeable in every aspect even down to the different slipups from some of the people that are trying to play along despite disagree with everything is that is going on. We learn pretty early on that the main protagonist have some serious mental issues mirroring those of the people on the Island. This however is shown as just them trying to brainwash him and make him part of the island. it isn't untill the end where everything is revealed all the small questions like "How the fuck is that old lady surviving on her own in that cave when the weather would be deadly!" and why several of the patients treat him so weirdly familiar.. It was so obvious from all the clues we had gotten but thanks to the point of view we follow throughout the whole movie it isn't as obvious.

Thanks for this :) Always valuable content, I love it.

My ringtone is the scooby-doo theme song so every time it played i thought i was getting a call.

Now you see me's plot twist made no sense because there where scenes where the cop was chasing the magicians when no one was around. The scenes were there just to fool the audience not the characters in the movie. I thought was a terrible movie with loads of plot wholes.

Who wants to talk about the Bioshock plot twist?

Now You See Me killed me with that plot twist. And the sequel isn’t even on Netflix. 😭

The series Attack on Titan is another really good example on good plot twists, and once you know the twist, rewatching the whole series you get a whole lot of obvious hints that leads up the that certain plot twist

Every aspect of a good movie is kind of a surprise. Astonishing cinematography and acting. Great dialoge, a beautiful scene, just every aspect. To get spoiled or spoil yourself make this act of "discover" much less joyful. You rember watching a movie as a kid and had no idea what it's even about? That was magic. I bet some of these "discoveries" became the best movies you ever saw. Of course a movie is still watchable after you know the twist and a good story is never just the twist. Like in sport, the game is important, not only the result. But knowing the result before every time would make it much less exiting, don't you think? Spoiling me is like stealing the last day of vacation. It's just a part of the holiday. Doesn't represent the whole vacation. But you steal me a whole damn day of my well deserved vacation!

A good plot twist was Moana. It never felt expected but was completely satisfying.

It is fun to rewatch a film with a good twist to see how they hint towards it - but the fun you get from having your perceptions completely overturned is also a huge part of why plot twists work, it's like a shiver down your spine. I saw Planet of the Apes when I was 10 and genuinely had no idea what the ending was - it utterly blew my mind. I still enjoy watching the film though of course, it doesn't rely on the twist to be entertaining, but the ending doesn't have the same effect any more. There's no way it can. I knew the ending of Fight Club before I saw it; it was still good, and I've watched it many more times, but I still wish I didn't know the first time. It's like I skipped to the second viewing - still enjoyable but no shivers. That's why I waited until I actually saw Primal Fear before watching this video in full - so thanks for still putting up the warning at the start. Maybe that means you do appreciate the old way of thinking ;)

Awesome essay, and great movie selection. I've never been bothered by spoilers(tho I don't intentionally spoil things, because many people do hate it), and was as intrigued as you were when the mentioned study was released. Would you consider revisiting this topic and talking about how filmmakers actually arrange their plot in such a way to pull people further into the narrative by "spoiling" the story? One very notable example would be Breaking Bad, which often shows you exactly what is going to happen at the end of the episode, or in some cases, the end of the season.

Bro I never saw that fight club twist coming it was so good

This is why I love the fight club twist

I honestly think The Prestige is an extra-special variant on plot twists, as it's very effective if you *don't* see it coming and it is a true plot twist at the end, but also it does the legwork for people who *do* see it coming, probably from the point where Michael Caine's Cutter says that Borden uses a double. The fact it's a shock to Angier at the bitter end that Borden uses a double is as much a twist for Angier that the audience knows as it is an audience twist. Because the point the movie makes again and again is that the real trick is usually very simple, and it keeps trying to tell you or show you clues, but you're so wrapped up in how complicated it must be that you dismiss the simple option completely. So if you're clever enough to see the simple option staring at you, it becomes less of a mystery box movie of "how does Borden do it?" and more a tale of desperate ambition from Angier chasing a problem that doesn't exist. It's a double text.

That primal fear ending is still give me the creep, goddamn scary movie