15 films with an unexpected ending

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A selection of films that tickle your nerves and are etched into your memory thanks to an unpredictable ending.

1. Perfect strangers

• Drama, comedy.
• Italy, 2016.
• Duration: 97 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 8.

Three couples and their mutual friend gather for dinner. The participants in the feast have known each other for a long time and believe that they know everything about each other. The hostess of the house, psychoanalyst Eva, invites guests to play a game: turn on the speakerphone at every call and read aloud the messages that will come during dinner. Of course, the entertainment will end with the tearing off of the veils from unpleasant secrets. But the ending will surprise even a hard-core moviegoer.

2. Atonement

• Melodrama, drama, detective.
• UK, France, USA, 2007.
• Duration: 120 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 8.

13-year-old Briony has a wild fantasy that sometimes replaces reality. When her cousin falls victim to a rapist, Briony testifies against innocent Robbie, the gardener's son, and is sent to prison. The young man is in love with Briony's sister Cecilia, and his feelings are mutual, but the couple is separated for many years. The film tells about the further fate of the beloved against the background of the Second World War.

3. Sixth sense

• Thriller, drama, detective.
• USA, 1999.
• Duration: 107 minutes
• IMDb: 8, 1.

One of the most famous films of M. Night Shyamalan is most often used as an illustration of the dangers of spoilers. Child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe is attacked by his matured patient. He complains that the doctor was unable to help him and commits suicide. Meanwhile, Crowe still has a small ward who suffers from a similar disorder. The psychiatrist makes every effort to help the child.

4.8 women

• Musical, drama, comedy.
• France, Italy, 2001.
• Duration: 110 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 1.

The family gathers in a house in the French countryside to celebrate Christmas. In the morning, the owner of the house is found dead. Snowfall cut off the estate from the outside world, so the culprit is one of the women in the house. The investigation organized by them reveals many secrets.

5. Boy in striped pajamas

• Drama.
• UK, USA, 2008.
• Duration: 90 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 8.

The film is set during the Second World War. Eight-year-old boy Bruno and his family leave Berlin due to the appointment of his father - a high-ranking Nazi official. Near the new luxurious home, Bruno finds a strange place where people live in striped pajamas. He meets the boy Shmuel, whose friendship will lead to unexpected consequences.

6. Isle of the Damned

• Thriller, detective.
• USA, 2009.
• Duration: 138 minutes
• IMDb: 8, 1.

US Federal Marshal Edward Daniels and his partner arrive on the island, where the hospital for the insane is located, to find out the circumstances of the disappearance of the infanticide Rachel Solano. During the investigation, the heroes find suspicious evidence that suggests that something strange is happening in the clinic. A violent storm cuts off the island from the mainland, and the prisoners agitated by the storm decide to riot.

7. Dizziness

• Thriller, melodrama, detective.
• USA, 1958.
• Duration: 129 minutes
• IMDb: 8, 4.

Retired police detective John Ferguson agrees to track down the wife of an acquaintance, a wealthy shipbuilder. He believes that the spouse is going crazy and may commit suicide. In the process, the detective falls in love with his ward and is confronted with inexplicable oddities in her behavior.

8. Devil's advocate

• Thriller, drama, detective.
• USA, Germany, 1997.
• Duration: 144 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 5.

Kevin Lomax is a young and successful lawyer. He takes on the affairs of notorious villains and wins them. At one of the court sessions, his efforts help to acquit a teacher accused of harassing students. After that, Lomax received an invitation to move to New York and work in the largest law firm of John Milton. It seems that dreams have come true, but will he be happy with such a fulfillment of desires?

9. Disappeared

• Thriller, drama, detective.
• USA, 2014.
• Duration: 149 minutes
• IMDb: 8, 1.

The protagonist's wife suddenly disappears on the eve of the five-year marriage anniversary celebrations. Blood and traces of fighting in the house indicate a kidnapping. While the police are investigating, the hero solves the riddles left by his wife - this is a traditional pre-holiday quest that she arranges to give her husband a gift. True, this time the clues reveal extremely unpleasant secrets of the family.

10. Match Point

• Thriller, drama, melodrama.
• UK, USA, 2005.
• Duration: 124 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 7.

Chris Wilton, having not achieved success in sports, gets a job as a coach in an elite sports club. There he meets a representative of a wealthy family, Tom Hewitt, and soon marries his sister Chloe. Along with this, he starts an affair with Tom's girlfriend Nola, and love for her turns into an obsession. Chris's passion pushes him to actions that endanger the well-being and lives of the heroes.

11. Explosive blonde

• Action, thriller, detective.
• Germany, Sweden, USA, 2017.
• Duration: 115 minutes
• IMDb: 6, 8.

Brilliant British intelligence agent Lorraine Broughton travels to Berlin, where he teams up with undercover agent David Percival. Together they must return secret documents, but the already difficult mission turns into spy games in which it is not clear who is on whose side.

12. Anesthesia

• Thriller, melodrama, drama.
• USA, 2007.
• Duration: 84 minutes
• IMDb: 6, 5.

Billionaire Clay Beresford prepares for heart transplant surgery. The anesthesiologist administers anesthesia, but it does not work - and the man remains conscious. He feels every touch of the scalpel, but what he hears from others, while they think that he is under anesthesia, can hurt more painfully than a surgical instrument.

13. Game

• Thriller, drama, detective.
• USA, 1997.
• Duration: 129 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 8.

Successful but jaded businessman Nicholas van Orton receives a certificate for the "Game" as a gift. The main character agrees to participate in it, and his life turns into a nightmare. The game is played not for life, but for death, and you have to save yourself by radical methods.

14. Seven

• Thriller, detective.
• USA, 1995.
• Duration: 127 minutes
• IMDb: 8, 6.

Experienced detective William Somerset and his young partner David Mills investigate a series of sophisticated crimes. The maniac punishes victims for committing mortal sins, forcing them to die of their own weaknesses. The filmmakers considered more than five possible endings for the film, but the one that was included in the final version of the film is more than unexpected.

15. Others

• Thriller, detective.
• USA, Spain, 2001.
• Duration: 104 minutes
• IMDb: 7, 6.

Grace Stewart with her three children lives in a remote estate, where she expects her husband to return from the war, from whom there has been no news for two years. She hires servants who must remember unusual rules: you cannot open the door until the previous one is closed, turn on bright lights, make noise and play the piano. However, these rules are constantly violated by some otherworldly forces.

What film is missing from the selection, in your opinion? Share films with the most unpredictable ending in the comments.