What do you all think of twist endings?

[ToastiestZombie]

We've all seen them, the ending where suddenly something out of the blue pops up and makes you think about what the hell just happened. They could be say the classic one where it's all a dream or the mindfuck ones where you need to think for yourself to figure out what everything means.

So Escapist, what is your favorite twist ending, what is the worst twist ending you've seen (No Mass Effect 3 please, otherwise all of you would say it) and what do you think of twist endings in general. Also please put all ending details in spoilers.

Personally my favorite twist ending is from the movie of "The Woman in Black"

Spoiler

Daniel Radcliffe meets his family at the train station, thinking everything's fine because he rescued the woman in black's son's body from the marsh. But then the woman in black appears and Daniel's small child walks onto the train track as a train is coming into the station. Daniel jumps onto the train tracks and grabs the kid whilst "never forget" chants in the background. Then the two wake up in the same train station and they see Daniel's dead wife and walk into some sort of fog with her.

My worst is probably every single movie/tv show that ends with "It was all a dream!". It's just so unoriginal now, it also basically means that nothing actually happened in the story, there were no stakes and no real life consequences. I reckon it's fine if you don't just say it was a dream, but use "it was a dream" as one of the ways the audience can see the ending.

 

[DoPo]

I love twist endings! Well, as long as they are pulled off intelligently, i.e., don't suck and aren't the ultra cheap "it was all a dream" (though, it could be good).

As for favourite one...the movie Basic might count if it didn't consist of only plot twists every 10 minutes. Sixth Sense was good. Also Fight Club. I liked American Psycho, too.

I've read a lot short stories with amazing twist endings, too. Robert Sheckley's stories do that fairly frequently and pull it off good. Although, it's frequently just a plot twist (i.e., not at the very end) such as with Protection [http://arthursclassicnovels.com/sheckley/protect10.html] - what would it be if a supernatural creature wanted to protect you from danger.

But I loved another story called...Weapon, I believe.

Spoiler: A brief plot summary

An army general tells the story of how he was invited to attend a big reveal of a scientific breakthrough. It is said that it will change war forever, so that's why he's there. Everybody else are politicians, businessmen, diplomats and scientists- all high ranking ones.

The lead of the team responsible for the scientific discovery explains what it is. Basically, they have discovered that certain individuals could subconsciously predict the future, for example that's probably how DaVinci made machines ahead of their times. So the group learned how to enhance and guide that process. It involved selecting special talented children and giving them specific types of education, upbringing and environment to push the talent.

The head of the science team goes over how vicious the arms race is and how possessing the next best weapon will only make your opponents to design a slightly better one and so on and so forth, while wars are stiff fought and nobody is getting everywhere. Therefore, if they had year's weapon, it wouldn't do them much good, but if they had next century's weapon, nobody would be able to top it.

And now, finally, they've tasked one boy with designing the weapon of the next century. And on that exact day, he finished that task.

While not immoral, per se, nobody looks at the child as an actual child, rather than a tool/ Well, other than the military general. He even gives the boy a piece of candy he finds in his pocket, while everybody else is busy looking at the schematic.

After a few moments of silence, the scientists announces that this schematic obviously would need some time to be properly read and understood, as it looks like no weapon they have today.

Spoiler

While nobody else understood what the design was for, the general was the only one who got it. So he decided to leave. On his way out, he was asked how come he knew what the weapon of the next century is. Amd he pointed out it was a design for a crossbow.

But I'd say that the best twist is in the movie Primer. Go watch that movie and have some aspirin handy for the headache you'll receive. The plot is that good.

 

[Vegosiux]

But I'd say that the best twist is in the movie Primer. Go watch that movie and have some aspirin handy for the headache you'll receive. The plot is that good.

I honestly didn't thunk it was that good. Yes, a nice twist, but...

You know, The Usual Suspects takes the cake.

Oh and my opinion on twist endings? If done good, they can really be well, but if executed poorly they're just terrible.

 

[Total LOLige]

I like twist endings but only if I don't know there will be a twist. If I know there's a twist I'll sit there trying to work it out and ruin the surprise. Like the film A Perfect Getaway I guessed the twist in that within 25 minutes. Then again I do like working it out, it appeals to the inner Sherlock Holmes.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I often find that if I know a movie has a twist in it, I'm more likely to not be surprised as I spend the entire movie trying to work out what the twist is. Going in unprepared and then getting hit by a twist is a great experience though.

 

[Rakun Man]

I love twist endings because so many stories are predictable. For me, a good twist should completely evade me until it hits, and then I want to be able to look back in hindsight and see the very subtle clues.

Spoiler: One of my favorites is the season 5 finale of House. SPOILERS, and my description doesn't do it justice of watching season 5 yourself. You have been warned.

In the previous episode, Cuddy rehabilitated House to stop his addiction to Vicadin. In the finale, there is the usual hub bub of a house episode, pretty meh, and House is seen twirling various objects in place of his usual vicadin bottle, and at the last 5 minutes when he realizes his personal rehab was a hallucination and those various objects were vicadin and that he still very much addicted. He is then seen on his way to a mental instution. End. Twist and cliffhanger, it would be so cruel if it wasn't so well done.

Any bad twists are predictable or just come so far out of left field that even my hindsight bias, is like, 'yeah, that was just stupid.' because there was no real set up or subtle hints.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I find them interesting, like the Usual Suspects.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

One thing I want to ask. I'm currently writing a fanfiction and at the end of the fic the main character is climbing up a mountain to get an ingredient for a cure that will help her daughter. But she is buried under an avalanche with the ingredient in hand. I'm putting in a scene where a mysterious black figure helps her out of the snow then the next chapter starts with the character in a hospital. Everything is fine, the daughter's illness is cured and everyone is happy. But then the daughter's dead blood parents walk in.
May I ask, is this a good twist?

 

[The Abhorrent]

Twist endings, when done right, are absolutely brilliant. Done poorly... well, there's a reason for some people to not like them in general. Doing it right requires an appropriate amount of foreshadowing, which generally allows for the more attentive members of the audience to predict the twist to an extent; the shocking revelation/event is hinted at but remains on the fence until it actually happens. For some good (and bad) examples of twist endings...

Spoiler: Jonny Quest - Monsters in the Monastery

A classic example, this episode sets up the yeti (or "abominable snowman") as a mythical creature terrorizing a Tibetan village in the Himilayas. To say this episode is suspenseful is an understatement. Over the course of the story, it is found out that the "yeti" are merely a group of political enemies who are using the myth as a cover while they eliminate the village's political & religious leader. When Jonny, Hadji, and Bandit escape them, they return with said leader, Dr. Quest, and Race Bannon to the monastery.

... and the group of yeti impersonators have been completely wiped out. The boys then spot some tracks in the snow leading up to the mountain, and they find out what killed the villains of the episode.

An actual yeti.

A perfect example of "real after all" [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealAfterAll], and one of the most unnerving events in the entire series.

Spoiler: Mass Effect 3

ME3's final moments is a good example of how not to do twist ending, or more specifically what a lack of proper foreshadowing and changing the twist at the last minute can do to such an ending. The original ending (I believe) involved "Dark Energy" destroying stars, the galaxy, and eventually the universe; those who are familar with cosmic inflation in astronomy may also note that this is based off of actual scientific theory. For whatever reason, Bioware dropped it in ME3 despite having the foreshadowing put forward in the previous two games; potentially because it was too obscrure and too big a concept for the average player to wrap their minds around; or perhaps because it would be too depressing, as right now it's considered an inevitability. It would also be a good justification for destroying the relay network at the end of ME3.

So instead of that, Bioware went with AI rebellion. This and the cosmic inflation theories could be linked by the player (the reason AIs wipe out organics), but at no point is this stated in the series. As such, ME3's twist ending is poorly executed; the proper foreshadowing was there for the original concept, but not for the one which made it into the final version of the game. What exactly the "Extended Cut" DLC includes is unknown, but I suspect they'll just be putting the dark energy plotline back into the game to explain the Reapers' motives a bit better; and probably an epilogue as well.

Spoiler: Neon Genesis Evangelion

First off, this isn't referrence to NGE's ending(s). Those aren't really twists, though they do shift to a more surreal style. The actual twist of the series comes at the end of the 19th episode (of 26), where it's revealed that...

The Evangelions, the "giant mecha" of the series, are unquestionably alive.

Unit 01 had gone "berserk" no less than three times in the series beforehand, including once when it's power supply should have ran out. Each time, the attacking angel was destroyed within a matter of moments; quite viciously and messily. When it goes berserk in episode 19 however, something's a bit... different. How it moves could only be described as feral, nothing like one should expect a robot or even a human to move. The attacking angel, the strongest yet encountered, isn't just defeated.

Eva-01 eats it alive.

Having gained the angel's power as a result, it roars skyward in triumph. Indeed, Evangelion Unit 01 is the true monster of the series. The human characters are actually reluctant to send it out into combat after this, reserving it for when only absolutely necessary. They have the most powerful force in the world at their disposal... but they fear it, both for what it capable of and the reality they might not be able to control it. And the Eva knows this, having a mind of its own; and it's implyed she knew what she was doing the whole time.

This twist was properly foreshadowed, and it also marks the point where the series dives head-first into it's darkest themes. Whether or not you enjoyed the ending of the series (and/or EoE) is always a bit subjective, but this mid-to-late series twist was undeniably effective.

So yes, twist endings simply can't come out of nowhere; if anything, that's the sign of a bad one which was jammed in there for the sake of having a twist ending. Proper and adequate foreshadowing is absolutely required, and it's only when the twist actually happens does anything become definite. The twist could be exactly what the foreshadowing was implying or the opposite, but the key detail is that didn't come from nothing.

Unless it's meant to be random and funny, but even that requires plenty of implied (if not explicit) weirdness established over the course of the story beforehand.

 

[XMark]

I typically prefer good old-fashioned straight-forward endings, and I do feel like there's too much of a trend in movies and video games today, where they throw in a half-assed twist ending, just because they think that a twist ending is a necessary thing.

I think a twist ending is a storytelling tool that should only be employed if it's the best possible option. One example that stick out in my head is the 2010 movie Repo Men. I won't spoil the twist, but if you've seen the movie, you know how tacked-on and random the twist seemed. I think there was only one line of throw-away dialogue earlier in the movie that hinted towards the twist. I'd have a much fonder memory of the movie if they had just played the ending straight.

 

[Nouw]

I love twist-endings. They make you think twice about the film and give you a new perspective.

 

[Nyaoku]

If done right, they can leave the audience in a complete sense of awe, thus raising the profit of the item as they refer others to it.

If done wrong, they can end up feeling cheated *cough cough ME3* and the whole thing can seem as a waste of money.

Please don't quote me just over the ME3 reference. It was an example.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

If done right, they can leave the audience in a complete sense of awe, thus raising the profit of the item as they refer others to it.

If done wrong, they can end up feeling cheated *cough cough ME3* and the whole thing can seem as a waste of money.

Please don't quote me just over the ME3 reference. It was an example.

Could you maybe give me an example of a good twist ending? I haven't really seen many in this thread so far.

 

[217not237]

I just love twist's when they're done well, and actually make sense and aren't entirely predictable. Otherwise... meh. My all time favorite twist was in Silent Hill 2, where pretty much everything in the Lakeview Hotel was surprising, yet fitting. The worst twist, however, was in Heavy Rain. The killer actually killed someone while we were playing as him, so I guess the camera just kind of broke for a couple of seconds?

 

[Nyaoku]

If done right, they can leave the audience in a complete sense of awe, thus raising the profit of the item as they refer others to it.

If done wrong, they can end up feeling cheated *cough cough ME3* and the whole thing can seem as a waste of money.

Please don't quote me just over the ME3 reference. It was an example.

Could you maybe give me an example of a good twist ending? I haven't really seen many in this thread so far.

Well I don't know the name of the movie but the whole time it looked like he was being framed as some guy who owed these two drug lords money, and was being ordered to work by both of them against one another. At the end, you find out that he actually planned it out and killed the guy who did owe the money in order to take his place to get revenge on the guys, killing them both at the same time with a plastic bag. I don't remember the name of it but it started out with some old guy in a wheelchair at the airport who at the end, says something about a 'Kansas Shuffle' before snapping the guy-who-really-owed-the-money's neck. Good luck finding it.

 

[DoPo]

One thing I want to ask. I'm currently writing a fanfiction and at the end of the fic the main character is climbing up a mountain to get an ingredient for a cure that will help her daughter. But she is buried under an avalanche with the ingredient in hand. I'm putting in a scene where a mysterious black figure helps her out of the snow then the next chapter starts with the character in a hospital. Everything is fine, the daughter's illness is cured and everyone is happy. But then the daughter's dead blood parents walk in.
May I ask, is this a good twist?

I don't know, the way you describe it it sounds really like a shocking swerve where you have nonsensical (in the context of what has happened so far) thing happen for the sake of it being nonsensical and twisty.

 

[snappydog]

If done right, they can leave the audience in a complete sense of awe, thus raising the profit of the item as they refer others to it.

If done wrong, they can end up feeling cheated *cough cough ME3* and the whole thing can seem as a waste of money.

Please don't quote me just over the ME3 reference. It was an example.

Could you maybe give me an example of a good twist ending? I haven't really seen many in this thread so far.

Well I don't know the name of the movie but the whole time it looked like he was being framed as some guy who owed these two drug lords money, and was being ordered to work by both of them against one another. At the end, you find out that he actually planned it out and killed the guy who did owe the money in order to take his place to get revenge on the guys, killing them both at the same time with a plastic bag. I don't remember the name of it but it started out with some old guy in a wheelchair at the airport who at the end, says something about a 'Kansas Shuffle' before snapping the guy-who-really-owed-the-money's neck. Good luck finding it.

Sounds a bit like Lucky Number Slevin, which I enjoyed massively.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

One thing I want to ask. I'm currently writing a fanfiction and at the end of the fic the main character is climbing up a mountain to get an ingredient for a cure that will help her daughter. But she is buried under an avalanche with the ingredient in hand. I'm putting in a scene where a mysterious black figure helps her out of the snow then the next chapter starts with the character in a hospital. Everything is fine, the daughter's illness is cured and everyone is happy. But then the daughter's dead blood parents walk in.
May I ask, is this a good twist?

I don't know, the way you describe it it sounds really like a shocking swerve where you have nonsensical (in the context of what has happened so far) thing happen for the sake of it being nonsensical and twisty.

I'm gonna not do the scene with the mysterious dark figure, and add a chapter before the hero goes to the mountain where she and her daughter have their final conversation. I'm also gonna be making the scene in the hospital have none of the actual alive characters in, further inferring that the main character and her daughter had died and gone to heaven.

 

[Nyaoku]

If done right, they can leave the audience in a complete sense of awe, thus raising the profit of the item as they refer others to it.

If done wrong, they can end up feeling cheated *cough cough ME3* and the whole thing can seem as a waste of money.

Please don't quote me just over the ME3 reference. It was an example.

Could you maybe give me an example of a good twist ending? I haven't really seen many in this thread so far.

Well I don't know the name of the movie but the whole time it looked like he was being framed as some guy who owed these two drug lords money, and was being ordered to work by both of them against one another. At the end, you find out that he actually planned it out and killed the guy who did owe the money in order to take his place to get revenge on the guys, killing them both at the same time with a plastic bag. I don't remember the name of it but it started out with some old guy in a wheelchair at the airport who at the end, says something about a 'Kansas Shuffle' before snapping the guy-who-really-owed-the-money's neck. Good luck finding it.

Sounds a bit like Lucky Number Slevin, which I enjoyed massively.

Yea, that's it.