10 Movies That Cleverly START With Huge Twists

[@joeyrizzolo]

I saw Terminator 2 in the theater when I was 16 and audibly gasped when the T 800 shielded John Connor with his own body. That experience remains for me the reason why I generally avoid movie trailers to this day.

[@bbsy1]

I saw it at the age of six in the theater. It was my first Terminator movie, so I had no expectations and the film was awesome. Not a single movie in the franchise touches it. Then again, the rest of them are decent at best.

[@mikewooten6673]

x xwa!!zxj.

[@daveolson6001]

I was there. When the T-1000's bullet holes closed and he got up, EVERYONE gasped.

[@staceykucan3686]

I always skip the spoilers/trailers too!

[@melaniemanning2462]

I wish I could explain to everyone how mind-blowing that was.

[@NarwahlGaming]

In 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' the Frenchman, when asked if his Lord would like to join the search for the Grail, informs Arthur that they already got one. It's very nice, in fact. At the end you see that they actually _do_ have it.

[@hallas7584]

Watching older movies with my teen son is the closest I’ll get to re-experiencing the twists from great movies like it was the first time. We watched the first two terminator movies back to back over a weekend and he couldn’t wrap his mind around Arnie being good in T2. He was convinced that John Conner was only kept alive for some nefarious reason during the mall and motorcycle scenes. It was great to see this sequence through his eyes.

[@Bman32x]

I do the same! My boys are 13 & 11, seeing it through their eyes is such a cool experience.

[@hbtonline9537]

Not sure if you're serious about 1917. A character bringing up the family back home/fiancee/newborn baby he's waiting to get back to is never an indication that they'll live, it's usually a straight up play on the Red Shirt/Retirony tropes lol. There was no way that character was making it out alive.

[@alantomy1444]

yeah lol

[@shadowthepup8137]

Totally not creepy that I read this as I got to that part of the video

[@D.U.D.D.]

I think 2000's *Memento* is one of the best examples of an early twist: show the ending at the beginning.

[@TheRenster500]

I should probably watch that movie again! I had a teacher in 10th grade (2008) show it to the class at the end of the year, but most of us weren't mentally prepared for that kind of a film and just messed around the entire time. I remember thinking it was a waste of time.

[@Smokeynephewabk]

Thats cliche asf today

[@brorjordas1979]

Awesome movie!

[@Sunprism]

I always like Deadpool 2 for beginning with a twist. Okay, it's not quite the beginning, but the fact that they marketed the movie prerelease solely around the X-Force team he was putting together....Then immediately kills them all off. That's one of the last things I saw in theater that genuinely had me surprised and guffawing.

[@trainsandmore2319]

And then he revives them all in the end…

[@Dragonmistress83]

Moon is a very underated movie and is easy one of my favorite thought provoking movies out there that does not need big bombastic sets.

[@Breexbloodlust]

It's a good allegory for how disposable people who work for big corporations are

[@Dragonmistress83]

I never say it that way@@Breexbloodlust

[@Breexbloodlust]

@@Dragonmistress83 ah

[@Dragonmistress83]

I just enjoyed it as it is. Been a while since i last saw it and remember loved trhe simple premise and was emotionalinvested in the story@@Breexbloodlust

[@davidchism6081]

Terminator 2; a hint at the twist: T-800 didn't kill the bikers. Wounded some, but didn't killed anyone. T-1000 seemingly killed the cop. Had too, in fact.

[@sorenthefilmbrony]

I'm not sure. John still had to tell T-800 not to kill any innocents.

[@michami135]

I was an 80's kid and saw T2 without knowing the twist. What threw me off was whenever they showed the "cop", he always acted off and cold. I could tell there was something different. I thought maybe they were both out to kill John and Sara.

[@rorylynch7775]

Idk. If I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure the T800 in the first movie only killed two of the punks and let the third one live, and he only killed them since they had pulled a knife on him.

[@carastone3473]

@@rorylynch7775you need to rewatch the first movie. He also killed 2 women named Sarah Connor. the gun shop owner, and Kyle.

[@rorylynch7775]

@@carastone3473 Sorry I wasnt clear, I was referring specifically to the scene where he was getting the clothes, not the whole movie

[@trinaq]

Downsizing had a promising premise, but was bogged down by the execution. Also, it takes Matt Damon an hour to Shrink down in an almost two hour long movie.

[@RustyViewer]

Would've been nice to have a twist that the whole of Earth is in fact a downsized planet.

[@ericrobins5188]

The funny thing is if you're a true Spider-Man fan when you saw into the spiderverse, Peter Parker dying was not a shock to you. That Peter Parker was well adjusted, had money and a really really good support system. I've never seen Peter Parker that way, ever! You already saw that that version of Peter Parker was going to die.

[@VolfKami]

Facts, if Peter Parker is happy then that universe is at risk of total annihilation

[@NewPaulActs17]

canon event?

[@subman23]

Plus, Peter Parker died in the Miles Morales run in the comics, so that's another way true Spider-Man fans were not at all surprised

[@zephir23]

the advertising and promo stuff for T2 was all like, this time he's good! It was really the main thing you knew about the movie going in. There was no avoiding it. It was on the posters. Watching the movie and realizing it was intended to be unclear felt like a betrayal of sorts at the time.

[@rowdyruffmojo]

im glad i was 11 at the time and didn't see any previews. In fact, I just remember the parental units gathering us one day and saying we are going to the movies! I had no idea!

[@NarwahlGaming]

I had it even worse. I didn't get to see it until it came out on VHS and my buddy's mom rented it for us. My buddy's older sister blurted out, _"You're gonna love this one. He's the good guy, now."_ just as the opening dialogue is starting. 😑

[@soullessmin]

I wouldnt really say that Alien "twist" was really near the start 😂

[@soullessmin]

@@y_fam_goeglyd "around the middle" 😃

[@MSheen-ef3ly]

The twist that got me was Executive Decision where Segal is killed in the first 20 min.

[@bbbadkitty9638]

That is not a twist...it's a blessing.

[@Kazeromaru]

5:20 It blindsided them! Except anybody who read the Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-Man comic.

[@otto5378]

I was glad Downsizing had a non-obvious story and wasn't just two hours of "Look! Small stuff!"

[@invisalats841]

The only bad part really was the ending. The rest of the movie was really entertaining.

[@jotaferreira4848]

I saw T2 not knowing the T800 would be the good guy. It was really awesome.

[@qv81]

Executive decision. Seagal dying in the begging was a true shock to a teen me.

[@SierenH]

I just watched Moon, really good. I love Sam Rockwell. I love terminator 2

[@nightangel972000]

I’d like to point out that the twist at the beginning of Scream had been done before. When Alfred Hitchcock was marketing Psycho the casting of Janet Leigh was used heavily to draw ticket sales. The audience was greatly surprised when Leigh’s Marion Crane was killed off so early in the film. I believe Scream deliberately satired this.

[@melaniemanning2462]

I think it's not even supposed to be a secret that Scream was playing homage to Psycho.

[@captainspaulding5963]

Scream is supposed to be a "serious" horror movie spoof film, it's incredibly obvious that the opening was a parody of Hitchcock

[@DanteYewToob]

You know whoever wrote this has never read a single Spidey comic because describing a “down on his luck Peter Parker” as the furthest from Spider-Man as you can be is like saying Batman really loves hugs and therapy. Spider-Man is miserable, he even has a jokey name for it “Parker Luck” which describes his miserable life. That’s the point of the character, he keeps trying even when things are hard, and he’s a hero even when people hate him for it. Spidey is probably the truest Super Hero there is… he does what’s right because it’s the right thing to do, even when it ruins his life again and again. He puts his life on the line for people who hate him, and he faces a ton of consequences for it.. he’s always getting evicted, dumped, beaten, fired, and more because of his choice to be a hero. That’s just Spidey.

[@peachysbaby3088]

Predators is highly underrated, great movie.

[@Breexbloodlust]

Yeh it was

[@graydenday3760]

I agree. Totally slept on hit. I enjoyed the Predator too. I thought it was a great decision to add a lot of comedy and start action flick.

[@yurdp]

Number 1, are you serious?! This wasn’t a twist it was in the damn tagline and the TV specials airing before it even came out! “He’s back! This time he’s the good guy.”

[@terryburke1489]

Ehhh, marketing doesn’t count. Taken in a vacuum it’s still a pretty huge twist. Marketing has been at odds with filmmakers for I think forever. Abigail got that treatment just this year.

[@RustyViewer]

Broken Arrow has a great twist near the start when we assume John Travolta is a good guy but then turns out to be a bad one.

[@elizabethgeorge168]

Underrated 90s movie!!

[@voz3704]

I know this movie as well known (or liked) as the above, but I'm gonna mention "Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight". Maybe it caught me off guard cuz I was so young, but I still love the reveal.

[@txstargazerjilly6605]

In my mind I can still hear Billy Zane saying “You hodunk podunk well-them-there MFers!”

[@d.a.baracus]

An often overlooked twist that happens in the opening sequence is Mission: Impossible, which also came out the same year as the 1st Scream movie. Everyone knows that Tom Cruise is the star, but the movie was based on a show about a group of spies led by iconic lead character, Jim Phelps. Stars Emilio Estevez & Jon Voight play members of the IMF team in the movie, incl. Voight as Phelps, so it sets you up to think that the movie will be about the team, more like the show was. But then just a few minutes into the movie, the entire team is wiped out. There were more twists along the way, but the fact that a star like Estevez was killed off so soon into the movie had you second guessing what happened throughout.

[@fashionablechangeling1988]

The Downsizing twist was spoiled in the trailer

[@Eticket109]

Yeah, they never explicitly said it, but it was pretty obvious when she wasn't in any of the 'after' scenes with him.

[@fashionablechangeling1988]

@@Eticket109 The second trailer outright shows the scene where she calls him to say she backed out

[@ESLSongs]

Why on earth is Psycho not on this list?!?!?!? 🤔🤨🤦‍♂️ Thumbs down for not including the most obvious, absolute, definitive "early twist" movie 😒

[@jaredwonnacott9732]

Scream should be swapped out for Psycho, the original big-star-gets-killed-off-in-the-first-act-shocking-everyone film. Scream was more of an homage than a twist.

[@hankhandsome]

The Hunt, for me, should have been included because you could argue it had not one, but TWO, twists in the opening scenes. Emma Roberts and Justin Hartley seemed to be set to be the main two protagonists and first Emma Roberts is killed and then Justin Hartley. Little did we know that the 'side' character who was spotted and then ran off would become the main character.

[@klblissdish]

Great episode, Ellie~ So fun meeting you in Vegas

[@TheStylelike16th]

I literally tear up every time the phrase "On your left" is uttered regarding Endgame! 😩😩😩

[@Jurgium]

Into the spiderverse killing Peter Parker was only a surprise if you had never read the comics, as that's the same method that introduced Miles.

[@iamgoingtodeckyoutwo5966]

Knives Out shocked me but then I started watching Columbo. They do the same thing in every episode.

[@JarkkoProductions]

I got a list: Top 10 Slow Burn TV Series (kinda like the Crowded Room, it was so slow at the beginning but after episode 3, Holy Sh*t)

[@ArcherSuh4721]

I got to give credit to The Empty Man's near half-hour pre-opening credit sequence. Putting an entire short film before the proper movie begins and completely fooling the audience into thinking it would be the entire story only to then pull the rug out and reveal it was just a prelude was as audacious as it was brilliant. I thought so anyway... lots of people hated that movie because of that.

[@Doopes]

Wouldn't say any if these were "huge twists"? 🤔... Just good writing to keep ppl engaged

[@eoinboyle9391]

How the first Mission Impossible was not on this list I might never understand

[@mbrsjart5942]

In Knives Out, the actual end of movie twist is that Ransom switched the labels, and Marta gave Harlan the correct medication because she subconsciously recognized the difference in viscosity. And if they’d waited a few minutes, Harlan would have been fine!

[@sumdood6972]

I actually had the opposite experience with the terminator movies, as I saw terminator 2 as a kid and didn't see the first one until years later.

[@koryglover3237]

2:33 They literally showed this in the trailer...

[@alm2187]

Ultimately, is Marta guilty in the slightest? She knows her medicines well enough to tell them apart without labels. Then all she does is read off a label that someone else switched.

[@thefuturist8864]

But she lies about not drinking alcohol. She tells the father that she didn’t have anything to drink at the party but we clearly see her take a glass of wine and drink it.

[@alm2187]

Haven't seen it since opening night,@@thefuturist8864 So refresh my memory please. Was that a plot hole or a plot point?

[@JMarchel]

​​@@thefuturist8864 A. That's irrelevant. B. You made that up. She clearly denies offered alcohol, saying she's working

[@michaelrue1400]

I was under the impression that Knives Out would be something like Mean Guns, just a bunch of people trying to kill each other, nothing like a classic mystery story at all.

[@cryptog5543]

Meet Joe Black was the one I remember most.

[@ckmv2858]

*SPOILERS FOR KNIVES OUT* Marta did not kill Harlan. Marta was such a proficient nurse that she gave him the right dose of the right medicine based purely on her expertise in her profession. It was the killer who switched the labels, which led to Harlan's death.

[@CarbonatesOnMars]

I would just like to inform you that I went to the cinema to watch T2 and it was and still is a bloody fantastic film.

[@imperialdrone6261]

Missed opportunity to say one of histories greatest baddies turned to one of histories greatest daddies

[@smiffy197]

Downsizing would have a been an incredible Black Mirror episode

[@matthiasjanzen4621]

I watched moon Yesterday, knowing the ,,twist,,! It was great!!!

[@LeonHoogeveen]

From dusk till dawn

[@jacobslifka1358]

For sure!

[@nv4699]

OMG I was like 😮. It's like two movies in one.

[@marquisofcarrabass]

Why is Alien on this list? The chestburster isn't a twist - the twist is the goddamned robot!

[@MrCaveman74]

Executive Decision with Steven Segal. He was an action star at that time, and lead of a special forces team that was executing a mid-air re-taking of a plane hijacking...and dies during the attempt to board the plane. The rest of the movie was basically just "hold on tight and see what happens next".

[@undeadgentalmen]

Gosh damn, it bugged me on this topic along huge twists reveal and such I reminded by 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.' Was it real?

[@Jared7873]

I remember Dial M for Murder had the same shocking thing as Scream: Angie Dickenson is murdered right off the bat.

[@CHUCKLZLORD]

With Knives Out, the bigger twist is that the movie started as a Whodunnit, complete with an unstoppable genius detective. The real twist isn't that we saw Marta do it, it's the Marta was the Protagonist the whole time. And she's now up against an unstoppable genius detective in a "get away with it" movie.

[@asupersecretpeople9833]

I am not sure that the list writer understands what a twist is

[@AlexReynard]

8:07 Oh hey, a fox!

[@filmfan4]

I think Schofield was a dead man walking from the moment his wounded hand went into that rotting corpse. When he went to rest against the tree at the end, he may never have woken up.

[@rorylynch7775]

Downsizing had so much potential, but it was all downhill after about the first act

[@jonasholm-mw5bn]

5:25 it wasn’t unexpected for someone who knew the comic version

[@chewysaiditfirst]

7:02 would of been a cool surprise if the trailers didn't ruin it 😐

[@skanecmt]

The movie trailers for T2 totally spoiled that twist when the movie was first released. The movie itself is clearly structured in such a way for that to be a fun reveal. I saw the movie in the theater when it came out and I am still bitter about those effing trailers. I envy people who get to watch that movie without knowing that particular plot twist.

[@daeviant]

Executive Decision. Steven Segal was billed at the top alongside Kurt Russell, and he ended up dying in the first 20 minutes, and Kurt Russell's bookish character ended up being the hero.

[@Froshow]

DREW Barrymore is and will always be a STAR!!!!!

[@TrevorCopter]

I always read Peter’s death as a chest crush, not a head crush.

[@terkish]

The pre-release promotion completely ruined the twist that Arnold was not the bad guy in T2 when it originally came out in theaters.

[@drewbarker5192]

Actually it’s Funny I’m one of the Few Ppl that Grew up watching T2 First actually I Found Out Later as a Teenager that Arny was the Villian in the first movie 🤷🏾‍♂️😂🤣

[@michael.471]

To be fair for those who know the story of Ultimate Spider-Man, this seemed fitting.

[@LordRain1031]

Didn't watch T2 in the theaters, but on VHS with my dad. Am I in the minority here? Because that NEVER crossed my mind at all. In fact I didn't even wonder or question it. I just enjoyed the movie in complete oblivion. 🤷‍♂️😁😆

[@BearWith_You]

Into the Spiderverse is not a twist if you know a fraction of who Miles actually is in the comics

[@williamdaniels6460]

Fight club should be on the list.

[@garthantash]

"Early twist" aka the premise of the movie...

[@YouLousyKids]

Sadly, we were told by the advertising that Arnie was the good guy. The trailers ruined it for us.

[@coyoteofthenine]

No fan of Spider-Man thought Miles being the main character was a twist. It kinda feels like they needed another one and threw in Spider-Verse because the sequel just came out.

[@jaredwonnacott9732]

They said the twist was Peter dying. They specifically say everyone knew it would follow Miles, but that we expected Peter to be a mentor, not a corpse. The Peter we end up with is decidedly different from what anyone expected going in.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love it when movies do this! Terminator 2 is the best!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@zincmercuryplatinum6012]

And continued to do that thoughfully with Terminator: Dark Fate

[@marcjameswhelan]

Love your spam

[@tempvsfrangit3854]

Don't know if it counts, and the franchise has become rather tedious, but "Pitch Black" had more than a few twists or at least subverting-of-expectations. The ship's captain is killed, the "cop" isn't, the serial killer is much more complex, and so on and so forth so by the time we find out "Jack" isn't a boy it's not so surprising and actually adds depth to the characters (Riddick's hunter-senses). Theeen the sequel went all Doon Trekvengers Wars and turns out everybody has sooper-powers.

[@jayluck8047]

T2 gave away its “twist” when Arnie leaves the biker bar and “Bad to the Bone” starts playing. It was too comedic to take the T-800’s role as “The Big Baddie” seriously.

[@cycophuk]

What’s up with the weird music that plays through out the entire video?

[@haustyl12]

Spider-verse wasn’t really a twist. If you know Miles’s origin, then you know he’s the replacement and not the sidekick unless it’s the PlayStation version

[@LoavesofBread]

The opening and ending scenes of 1917 are the same. Scofield is resting against a tree. I got the spoiler and knew the brother was going to die.

[@fuspuz8540]

Love 1917

[@mvpfireant5188]

The suicide squad killing everyone we thought were main characters instantly

[@edsadler1039]

Miles only became spiderman after peter died in the comics i dont know what spiderman fan thought oooo plot twist

[@alexpozniak4106]

Wait, didn't the trailer for Downsizing show she didn't go through with it?

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Fast X that Ames was also in Brazil in Fast Five

[@LoverOfBellies]

In the Kings Man the main character doesn't survive in a similar way to 1917, also in Predators one of the characters turns evil

[@dannykent6190]

I don't want to judge too harshly a movie i didn't finish watching... but as a fan of classic murder mystery comedies (clue, being the ultimate), knives out was so boring it's one of two movies I've ever deliberately shut off. I keep hearing rave reviews about it though. I feel like i should try again, but i really don't want to.

[@GoingHamAllTheWay]

Downsizeing felt like three movies

[@alisonnatai2582]

Downsizing and Uploaded are very similar.

[@MaximGhost]

Meh ... Drew Barrymore dying early in Scream was NOT a surprise to anyone since that overdone plot twist had been done many times in horror movies by then. And what was always predictable with Wes Craven by then was his tiresome attempt at trying to be unpredictable. The early death of a big star that ALWAYS had plot armor that surprised everyone was the early demise of the character Steven Seagal played in Executive Decision, released that same year as Scream's release, 1996. During the movie's first act, Seagal's commando team leader was set up to be the lead character and his death was so mundane that everyone watching the movie expected it to be a trick. Because just as Sean Bean's characters usually die, Seagal's characters never die.

[@DasIllu]

Terminator sequels? Terminator 2 was the last one ever shot!

[@majinnemesis]

nope

[@rustyshackleford2792]

Predators rules. Its only mistake is casting adrian brody as the lead.

[@stephpicher]

Ok but, 1917's trick is the exact same as Hitchcock's Psycho.

[@jacobslifka1358]

Up... some may argue Ellie's death was not a twist. But tell me who saw that coming within the first 5 minutes. By far, out does the rest of this list. At least deserves an honorable mention.

[@MrCaveman74]

Since you included End Game...seems good to almost mention the beginning of Infinity War when Thanos as defeated the Asgardians and is confronted by The Hulk, who Thanos beats down in 10 seconds flat. Nobody can say they saw that coming.

[@MrMarkgreene11]

Are these “twists” or just the premise of the movie?

[@SageLakshmi]

Where's Memento on this list??

[@JoybuzzerX]

Spider-verse was not a twist. Anyone who read Miles intro into comics, knew theyd kill Peter off

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Rian Johnson is awesome

[@stevehefferan56709]

mission impossible fallout

[@keiththorpe9571]

Terminator 2, I saw that at the theater when it premiered. I was about 20 when it came out, and I and all of my friends (hell, even my girlfriend at the time) knew that Arnold Schwarzenegger was playing the protector sent back by the resistance to defend John Conner. This was evident for a couple of reasons. 1) As a storyteller, in a sequel, you have to up the stakes, and you have to subvert expectations. The T-800 can't be the villain this time. The antagonist terminator has to be a more advanced, more powerful, more capable model. So as we were being shown the original T-800 type (played by Schwarzenegger) and the cop (played more human-like by Robert Patrick), we all knew that the T-800 would be John's protector, and the T-1000 would be the killer. One subtle hint was the T-1000's rather quick recovery from the time travel process. When Kyle Reese came through in the original, he was rather messed up by the process. Conversely, the T-1000 (which we were meant to think was the human protector for John) was up and about, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed like he had just downed a sixer of energy drinks. 2) The other clue was more about Schwarzenegger's status as a movie star. At that point in his career, it was unlikely that he would be cast in the role of a bad guy. So, Cameron used that to subvert expectations.