Why All Plot Twists Are Doomed

[@strawberrycatastrofy257]

A plot twist should not make the audience say “I didn’t see that coming” and instead “I should have seen that coming.”

[@CharlieGoldDirector]

The Sixth Sense, we literally saw him get shot, saw him talk to nobody else but the kid, the kid who sees dead people, and somehow the revelation is still shocking.

[@T.Gundham]

​@@CharlieGoldDirectorDoesn't the dude talk to other people and change clothes in the movie?

[@CharlieGoldDirector]

@@T.Gundham he doesn't talk to anybody but the kid, technically he talks to other people but nobody talks back, I don't remember if he changes clothes or not, but he had no idea he was a ghost so that would explain the change of clothes.

[@kukukachu]

why not both :D You see, you're falling for the biggest twist of them all, you don't have to do just one

[@j.jupiter6164]

fight club 🎉

[@Blaqsnake]

That’s the trick make the A-plot so interesting that you forget that you were figuring out the twist. Make the hints so subtle that the audience kind of ignores them.

[@Squampopulous]

@@Blaqsnake exactly

[@oyinkansolaadebajo9716]

@@Squampopulous But seriously the way you executed the video was so on point with this comment! The best plot twists are often hidden in plain sight, and serve as a sort of B-Plot, i.e. King Candy from Wreck it Ralph, Glass Onion, and Peele's second film Us. Great work.

[@JJONNYREPP]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/onbNdnqYdqutgLcfeature=shared

[@NoCluYT]

That was me with Interstellar. I completely forgot about the bookshelf stuff and everything in between. Looking back at it, it seemed way too obvious. I almost feel stupid

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@NoCluYT Comments on ‘The Plot Twist Paradox: How All Plot Twists Are Doomed’ 0757am 9.9.24 ok. how are you with agatha christie or conan doyle...? cant say i pay them much heed - whether film or tome. there's little point to them.... might as well stick with smelly raymond chandler and just enjoy the ride...

[@aliquida7132]

You can't experience a plot twist twice... but with the 4th dimension, it is fun watching the movie a second time _knowing_ the truth. Then when you see the hints, they take on such a different meaning, and you experience the movie a different way.

[@oyinkansolaadebajo9716]

I would also argue that Get Out works well this way IMO!

[@squirreland]

"the others"

[@kaiateya]

Yep :) One thing I like to do is watch movies that end up having twists, and then encourage someone else to watch it with me who hasn't seen it. It's a really fun dynamic to watch them try to figure it out while you see all of the hints the second time around. As I like to say in that scenario, I don't mind watching the movie a second time with someone because it's a different kind of fun (but often just as much) watching everything play out when you know where it's headed.

[@635574]

I'm not sure it's the plot twist type or just understanding of the movie. Fight club, primer, Donnie Darko, they work when rewatching because you notice what you didn't notice before. Maybe also They Live(amongst us) but the message is so obvious you don't need to watch again.

[@knitwitchpgh]

Theres a handful of movies where i wish i could watch them for the first two times again. A good movie, you find things continuously over time. More little hidden hints

[@DIEGOSHAY]

Get Out doesn't have a twist. It has a slow reveal. No one is shocked when they hear from Steven Root on the TV. We figured it was something along those lines.

[@Pqtrick]

what about the girlfriend?

[@destined2bebossy]

I was just telling my husband this! I feel like a twist has to make you think something else is going on then hit you with the 'well actually'. If they tried to hint that maybe the family was running a modern day slavery ring then it turned out that they were actually swapping the bodies, that would have been a twist.

[@Dk9776v]

@@Pqtrick to me still not a plot twist. It was kind of expected. Her whole family is weird but not her? I would have been more shocked if she really wasn’t apart of things going on lol I think he could have picked way better “plot twist” movies than Get Out which I don’t think was ever using that trope to begin with

[@malikkelly]

@@Dk9776vWhat’s a movie with a good twist that’s not like that in your opinion then

[@whataday-whataday]

@@malikkelly usual suspects?

[@someone-gi5lq]

i think that's exactly why fight club's twist works so well actually, cause not only is it something you're not expecting, it's something you don't even expect yourself to be looking for, despite it being hinted at throughout the whole movie

[@cyborgcuttlefish6326]

i watched fight club a few months ago and i already knew the twist. it’s crazy to realize how obvious it is but it’s still in a way where i know i wouldn’t have guessed it if i didn’t know

[@MohammadYaseen01]

Sadly, I watched Mr. Robot before it so it was glaringly obvious to me

[@changeisinevitable3040]

Same thing can be said about "The Sixth Sense"

[@georgepayne9381]

Spoilers for really old movies Fight Club and Sixth Sense. I watched Fight Club for the first time with a date who'd seen it before. At one point the narrator is musing on who Tyler could be and why he liked him and I said "of course you like him, he's just a manifestation of your psyche!" (I talked like that back then). She turned to me and said "wait, I thought you haven't seen this?" "Why, am I right?" "I'm... not saying. Just watch it!" Honestly I wasn't entirely serious, because, while I got that Tyler was doing things the narrator wished he could do, I hadn't rationalized the whole "punching yourself in the face when your idealized self image punches you" thing, but I did watch the rest of the movie with the idea of him talking to himself in mind. I totally missed Sixth Sense's plot twist despite blurting it out too. When Bruce's character shows up after the opening scene, I said out loud "After a miraculous recovery, I guess." I was just calling out how movies treat gunshot wounds like broken bones; I had no idea that wasn't the case.

[@changeisinevitable3040]

@@georgepayne9381 no one could guess the sixth sense twist.. Especially after that Malcolm scene where he's shown sitting next to Cole's mother and it is shown as if they're having a conversation

[@KYCDK]

though there is a trick. the twist needs to be predictable enough to be realistic, but not too predictable that you'd wonder why the character hasn't figured it out. what people need to remember is you are reading a book/watching a movie, you know there is going to be a twist, the characters don't, so naturally the audience is more on guard a good way to do this I feel is to have all of the puzzle pieces laid out except for one which is crucial, which is then given just before the reveal also another sign a twist is a good is that if there are 2 people watching the movie, one person would guess the twist and the other is skeptical, and even if person A gives all the evidence, person B might still reasonably be skeptical

[@Squampopulous]

exactly!

[@ReigoVassal]

One of the great twist I ever see is in a spoof movie "Scary Movie". There's a lot of hint of who is the one who did all the killing yet they're "hidden in plain sight".

[@cyrilliyus]

lmao try reading the catcher in the rye

[@mariovilas4176]

A great example of a good twist is The Good Place. Being a TV series, it’s really hard to pull this off - viewers have all the time in the world to discuss the plot with each other and figure it out. The genius here is a two part misdirection. On one hand, you get distracted from the things that don’t add up at the beginning since you’re getting more emotionally involved with the characters, so you forget about it by the end of the first season. The second, you tend to ignore the stuff that doesn’t add up since it can all be chalked up to simply not making sense because it’s a comedy, so of course the “good place” doesn’t make sense, because it’s funnier that way.

[@zx8194]

JASON? JASON FIGURED IT OUT?

[@moonl1314]

@@zx8194 I love Jason

[@chazchoo99]

​@@zx8194This is a real low point... yeah, this one hurts.

[@mewowow]

THE GOOD PLACE MENTIONED AHHHH i love that show SOOO much!!!

[@growingupwithdisney]

I was just about to bring up The Good Place, it perfected how to do a plot twist. And it's crazy because the plot twist is literally so obvious

[@abledemo1]

The real plot twist was the friends we made along the way

[@sd_does_stuff]

That's funny

[@BananaJunior11]

The only reason I understood something was off was because seconds before you started revealing your twist you said "this is the end of the video", and I saw the timer of the video. All of your hints flew above my radar. That was really awesome.

[@Squampopulous]

hahaha

[@someoneelse8038]

I figued it out because i was reading this as he said thats the end of the video.

[@sashhhaa4874]

I didn’t know that there was gonna be a plot twist in this video but I did expect him to talk about interstellar again, but then forgot about it. Then when he said that’s the end of the video I was like there’s no way.. that can’t be it and checked how long was left of the video 😭

[@georgepayne9381]

​@@Squampopulous What was the twist? Serious question because I'm naive and tend to take things at face value. I liked the video and thought you made a lot of interesting points, but then you said it was over, continued, and spent like 3 minutes patting yourself on the back for having mentioned things in your previous two examples that you were about to discuss in a third one. How did that recontextualize a video about plot twists? How did that turn the narrative of a video about plot twists on its head? Obviously you talking about a kind of twist in a plot twist video is internally logical, so that meets your third criterion for what makes a good twist, but I feel like the first two are pretty mandatory. I'd be grateful if you could spell those out for me. I'll accept that I'm dumb. Unless it's a meta-joke that there wasn't a twist, and people commenting about how the video wasn't over blew their minds, then good job, wish I were better at getting jokes.

[@artemsverhunov7413]

@@georgepayne9381 you are not alone. I'm also scrolling through comments to find out about the twist

[@JupiterzBolt]

As I was watching your video, before your 4D twist, I was thinking about the fact that the words “The plot twist will blow your mind” are a soft spoiler to me. I hate when critics mention it, or when friends tell me that there’s one to see. There’s merit in not KNOWING to expect a twist, to be lulled into a false sense of understanding before your mind is blown. If I know it’s coming, my instinct is to compete with the main character in a race to the answers; I’m scrutinizing every line of dialogue and every choice far more than normal. So well played, your twist caught me off guard and explained how not knowing there’s even a “mystery” to be solved before you get your answer is a valuable technique. You didn’t talk about the Sixth Sense, which is probably the most famous twist in the last 30 years and perfectly demonstrates your point. We don’t even consider “what happened to Bruce after his mugging?” because we think we know already. We’re more interested in the journey of the child and are curious about Bruce’s marriage but whether or not he’s even alive is never something we’re told be concerned about until we learn about it at the end. Brilliant… what happened to you M Night?

[@TonyB2279]

To my mind there IS no plot twist in Get Out, as the revelation that black folks are being used as guinea pigs for brain transplants is simply the answer to a question we've been asking all along -- Why the Hell is everybody acting so weird? -- an answer we knew was coming, in one form or another. Shutter Island, similarly, presents us with a mystery -- What happened to the missing patient? -- as well as the question of what happened to Teddy's wife and kids. The answer to the second question is straightforward: "Teddy" killed his wife after she suffered a psychotic episode and murdered their children -- and, thus, does not constitute a twist. The answer to the first upends our understanding of the whole film, however; we learn the missing patient isn't real; the mystery doesn't build up to the revelation of what hapened to her, but that of Teddy's real identity. It's also worth mentioning that not all twists occur as part of a mystery narrative. Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense aren't mysteries, though each famously ends with a twist. If we'd been encouraged to question the nature of SamJack or Bruce Willis' respective rolls in those films, the climactic reveals would not be twists, as again, they'd be answers to questions we'd been wondering about all along. Instead they're unexpected plot developments that nonetheless upend and recontextualize our understanding of much of the story.

[@christine_notchristina]

spoken very well!

[@goodmorningandgoodluck8613]

Wasn’t the cop at the end being his friend a bit of twist?

[@jadacampbell9331]

Interesting. Though the sixth sense is not a mystery, if the film were newly released today, I think more viewers would have quickly figured it out early on in the film.

[@DIEGOSHAY]

Exactly, the only twist in Get Out I guess would be that Rose is also "in on it".

[@loppyhero7196]

The plot twist is that his girlfriend, the seemingly innocent and normal daughter, who seems sheepishly embarrassed of how her family reacts to her "first black boyfriend." Someone who understands Chris' apprehension, and reluctance to stay, turns out to be the biggest culprit and most fucked up member of the family. I think it's disingenuous to say there is no plot twist in this film because, for the vast majority of the story, we are being conditioned to the idea that the family does not approve of her having a black boyfriend, which is why they act strange around him.

[@GrimmBones]

The plot twist in Shutter Island totally got me, because I went into it not knowing it was a mystery movie with a plot twist. If I did, if someone told me "hey, here's this movie, you'll like it, cause it's a mystery with a plot twist", I probably would've figured it out. But it's because I wasn't SEARCHING for it, that it got me. From that point onwards, any time I recommend a plot twist movie to someone, I don't tell them there's a plot twist at all. Just that it's a good movie I hope they'll see. Additionally, there's also another case. Think of the movie "The Game". I won't spoil it, but it has a plot twist. Yet that won't really spoil it, since the entire movie, you know it's one of two things. The whole thing the MC is going through is a game, or his life is in danger. You know that from the start, yet the movie keeps making you think and overthink, and half the time you think you know, just to change your mind. Those kind of plot twists are dope, because you see them coming, yet they still get you. Also, there's stories that have like 20 plot twists in a damn row, like the Anime "Kanata no Astra". It's a short, one season Anime with a completed story. Bunch of students lost in space, on their way home. It's a neat little Anime with a TON of plot twists. I expected like one or two things, but never all of them. They just kept going, one after another. All around episode 7-8. I say all this, but they'll still get you. (Luckily, the Anime has around 10-13 episodes, so it doesn't overstay its welcome either)

[@marckiezeender]

"I won't tell people there's a plot twist when I recommend a story" *immediately rattles off many stories with plot twists*

[@araven7741]

@@marckiezeender he specified that some movies/shows won't be spoiled even if he told you that they have plot twists

[@XenithShadow]

Well yeh, as was illustrated with the final "plot twist" types. If you don't know or expect a show or series to have a plot twist, it becomes the final kinda of plot twist by definition. The actual reason why plot twists don't work is that if you enjoy media with plot twists you have no method of reliably find them as knowing the media contains a plot twist converts it into the second kinda of plot twist. Another anime example, is any anime that does a genre flip at the end of the first episode. Like a slice of life school anime thats actually a zombie apocolypes of something. That plot twists is spoiled by a different fact which is genres tags, or in other medias cases trigger warnings.

[@gahllib]

The real plot twist of Get Out was that Rose was on in what was happening; that she had actively lured her boyfriend back there and it was all a set-up. We know from the first scene of Get Out that something is up in the Armitage's neighborhood, that black people are being kidnapped. From that initial scene onward the suspense and comedy come from the fact that you can't tell who is being suspicious because they are up to no good and who is merely an awkward white person in the suburbs. That though, is a mystery that we are being actively directed to try to figure out; revealing that its body snatching in the context of what's already a suburban horror movie isn't a twist, it's just context.

[@rytoryk2642]

I think the most interesting thing about Get Out is how culture shifts interpretation. My family found the twist (well both) kinda boring and found it out nearly immediately, but I also know so many people that struggled to see through it. And I think that may have been part of the point with Get Out. I still really enjoyed the movie, but didn't find the twists to be very interesting

[@feelsbadman5661]

Great video! Once again, the GOAT show Attack on Titan delivers by concealing the mystery of humanity outside of the walls by simply presenting the death of humanity as fact and only hints towards something greater until its all revealed at once

[@moldman5694]

I was thinking the same. Everything is recontextualised in a way that's impossible to imagine the truth being any different, yet without being obvious from the start. It completely subverts the assumption that humanity is on the brink of death, which is something the viewer had no reason to question up until that point (i.e. hiding the mystery).

[@Nate-139]

Attack on Titan has some of the best plot twists I've seen

[@tamhiding036]

I think another reason AoT works so well for a twist is because it dangles the very obvious twist "the Titans are all humans" in front of you right at the beginning, and delays the characters confirming it for long enough that you feel like that's the big reveal and you feel very smart for working it all out. Only for the real twist to come and prove that actually you had no fucking clue the whole time.

[@p-ruthless9005]

Can’t talk about plot twists without talking about the original saw, the villain is right in front of you the whole movie, literally. Then he gets up

[@attcenter]

That blew me away

[@melodi2036]

I just watched it 2 weeks ago! It blew my mind that it blew my mind! The movie is almost as old as me, so I was blown by the fact that in all these years on the Internet nobody spoiled it for me. I thought it was the other guy in the room - but it turns out it was the _other_ guy in the room

[@georgepayne9381]

I play games where I kill people in inventive ways, so I've got no moral high ground. Those same games have dumb plots and deus-ex-machina twists, and I won't defend them, I'll just love them. That's because the fun is in pointing in a direction and making explosions or other effects happen before they happen to you, so the story can be tacked on and that's fine. I walked in at the very end of Saw. I saw one character decide that, rather than use his jacket to pull a key or something toward him, he'd remove his own hand. I just laughed, and that annoyed my sister-in-law who thought the "twist" would amaze me too. Horror movies, slasher flicks, and torture porn are all about watching creative ways of killing people, and it's not my thing, but I'll say there's nothing wrong with liking it. I've never seen one with a plot that wasn't holey as a bandit in a Borderlands game. In Saw, what good would it have done any of the characters to know who the villain was? Benefit of the doubt, if finding him would have got everyone out of their traps somehow, then great twist. If it was just "oh the puppet wasn't the bad guy it was the corpse," then meh.

[@melodi2036]

@@georgepayne9381 the puppet is obviously a puppet. Nobody thought the puppet was the bad guy. We thought the creep who worked at the hospital was the bad guy, as he was watching them from a separate room and kidnapped the main guy's family, but it turned out he was also a victim. The bad guy was the terminally ill patient who pretended to be a dead body in the room with them. Nobody is going to guess "the already dead victim is actually alive and the mastermind of all this" If they realized the mastermind was in the room and not behind some wall torturing the guy's family, they could've beaten (or killed) him, then the game is over - "you don't have to torture my family bc the guy who's threatening you died, help me out of this trap and get me to a hospital"

[@pirilon78]

You should watch the film before writing 3 paragraphs bro ​@@georgepayne9381

[@Eugeene]

another good plot twist was from Knives Out. you spend the whole movie believing that the protagonist is the murder, and wondering if she'll get away with it. at the end, you find the answer to the murder mystery that neither you nor she knew existed. the Mr. Robot series as well. amazing!

[@brennantmi5063]

I watch to many movies. At the very start of Knives out the old man makes a comment on the vials along the lines of "if you switched the vials it would be the perfect murder, no one would ever know. I should write a story with that plot." I don't think Knives Out could be more overt about it yet most people I see talk about Knives out says the ending came out of nowhere. This leads me to create my own hypnosis about plot twists. All you need is for you actors to be so gosh darn charismatic that instead of the audience hanging on every word they are too enthralled by the funny man and pretty voices.

[@anakinjmanu]

@@brennantmi5063I’m just still salty about the twist at the end because it part of it was the protagonist ‘mishearing’ the girl dying on the fall. I just thought it was a cheesy attempt at a twist.

[@CharlieGoldDirector]

@@brennantmi5063 He also said something about how Chris Evan's character couldn't tell the difference between a real knife and a fake knife, the foreshadowing was so great in this film.

[@melodi2036]

I did not believe Marta was the murderer lol!

[@theunluckybard7517]

@@CharlieGoldDirector That line actually completely misled me. I took "can't tell the difference between a real knife and a prop knife" and combined it with the blood on the protagonist's shoes staying red for several days (real blood stains turn brown after a short time) and the film's choice to time-skip over the detective's interview with the old woman. The conclusion I reached was that the victim had faked his own death and was disguised as the old woman (a disguise he'd had to have created decades ago, to spy on what people were saying about him behind his back). Turns out, the red blood was just a costume department thing, not actually a clue. But it's kind of wild how you can pick up a ton of "hints" that don't actually exist if you come at a problem from a faulty frame of reference.

[@raccoonja-ronja]

I think the most important thing about writing plot twists is that the movie should still work, if you know the twist from the beginning. That way everyone, who gets it spoiled, rewatches it or finds it out early still has a good movie to watch. And if you put in enough hints for most people to find it out on time, there will always be some, who find it out early. If a story is good it doesn't matter, if you know how it ends, you'll still want to watch it happen. I'm pretty bad at finding out plot twist and usually only see them coming, if I've seen the same kind of plot twist before. My favourite plot twists were Arrival, because it 100% recontextualises everything you think you know about the main characters and Bioshock, because it plays into game mechanics and used conventions of it's own genre to hide the full story.

[@ElvenTinuviel]

Thanks for naming Arrival. I loved that twist. And yeah, Arrival, Empire Strikes Back, Fight Club, etc. are still amazing to watch after you know what's up.

[@riluna3695]

That rewatch-potential is absolutely critical. I'd argue that if it no longer works post-twist, you've straight-up failed in your job to write a sensible story. (Lookin' at you, Dollhouse...) By contrast, this is just further proof of how amazing Detective Conan is. It likes to do plot-relevant character arcs that last multiple SEASONS, building up the hints slowly over time. During one such arc, I accidentally spoiled myself on the ending by doing some less-than-careful wiki searches. Several seasons of twists and turns and mysteries, immediately ruined. ....It is still my favorite show of all time. It held up. While I never got, and never WILL get, the ability to watch that arc play out blind, all I did was skip straight to "second-watch" mode, where I saw the hints for what they were and was delighted at how beautifully the puzzle was built up piece by piece. (I'm also far more careful about wiki searches these days :P)

[@BlazeMakesGames]

I think that this is what makes the Knives Out and Glass Onion movies so fun to watch. You're watching a mystery movie that you know is a mystery movie that has a clear mystery to be solved right in front of you. And yet it turns out in both movies that the *real* mystery was something completely different and that there's really something else going on the whole time that all the characters were acting around to the point where the original mystery is almost just cosmetic compared to the real mystery that is revealed down the line. And yet there's still clear and retroactively obvious hints towards that hidden mystery that you can pick up on on a second viewing.

[@CaptainDylan72]

When I was younger and watching movies or TV shows, sometimes an adult would comment that "this would happen" or "this person was the villian". I couldn't figure how out anyone could know that. Over time we acquire a compendium of knowledge about how these stories work and we can recognize common patterns. For creators, it becomes more and more tricky to subvert those patterns and provide a real new ending or twist. A good twist will make you re-evaluate everything that came before. But sometimes twists are just thrown in to make the movie longer and it just ends up being more convoluted. The second or third twist can be meaningless. Creators can try to hard to "trick" the audience who is already looking for every twist in the book.

[@payambehtash7124]

For me was the sixth sense. No movie has been able to shock me like that.

[@Oriol-oo7jl]

Yes that movie shocked the whole society! The repercussion still holds today Actually that movie was a bless and a curse for the director. I mean, it gave him world fame, but sadly it raised the hopes, and he couln't deliver in future films. (i don't say they are bad, but they couln't reach the same success and level of surprise) Thats just my opinion of course

[@thewewguy8t88]

I think I was a bit too young to fully appreciate that ending the first time I saw it sadly cuz 13 year old me just felt like it was a bit of an underwhelming ending lol.

[@andrewi.crocker8675]

Of course you were shocked by the twist, be ause it came out of left field. It wasn't woven into the plot. Think about the plot of Sixth Sense, now imagine if that "twist" wasnt a part of it? Would it have changed ANYTHING about the movie other than the ending? M. Night Shamalayn has a tendency to do "2 dimensional" twists alot.

[@Bry_bryyy04]

@@andrewi.crocker8675 in my opinion, it changes the entire movie, not just the ending. If you watch it without the twist, the story is about a a man trying to help a haunted, struggling child who people think is crazy. With the twist, it’s almost the total opposite, where the man not only understands that this kid is telling the truth but he’s actually the one helping him the entire time. That’s more than just the ending, and there were hints throughout the whole movie. But maybe your perspective is totally different from how I interpreted it.

[@andrewi.crocker8675]

@@Bry_bryyy04 I dont think it would, because throughout the film they are showing the ghosts the kid is seeing, all with some tyoe of traumatic injury. Without the twist and ending, it is a story of a guy who is going through the motions of his own life, until he meets a kid haunted by a "gift" most people dont believe and think he is crazy. The guy ends up connecting with the kid and, humoring him at first, suggests the kid actually listen to the ghosts and try to help them. The movie becomes about the kid accepting his own gift instead of the man accepting his death. It does change things significantly, but only in the 3rd act

[@justkallmej2983]

Anyway let’s talk about interstellar 10:36 : me who for some reason hasn’t watched interstellar yet 📺🏃🏾‍♂️

[@eliaspatron4707]

same😂😂😂

[@HimeBurrito]

the thing about plot twists is.. They HAVE to be predictable to some extend.. if you are good at predicting and adding 1+1 the reveal just feels like " yeah i know lol" . and directors know this so they started to throw twists at you that make no sense ( everyones fav example : hans in frozen. it wasnt hinted at, AT ALL until it happened. UNLESS you believe the theory that he was enchanted to be evil all of a sudden, none of it makes sense)

[@Ockerlord]

I disagree. Heavily. One of the greatest twists ever to me was when one of the main characters in a show just died. I was not expecting that at all. It was a show about power of friendship and believing in yourself. And the character that embodied that the most overestimated their ability and died in episode 7 or something. Before that I kinda enjoyed the action and over the top sillyness, but was vaguely annoyed at that character facing no consequences for his reckless behavior. The show made me want consequences, but I would have never expected them to just kill one of the protagonists off. Another fantastic twist is your Lie in April. For almost the entire story, we are of the belief that the lie was the love interest withholding the information that they have a deadly illness. I wouldn't have predicted any further mystery at all. But in the end after their death we find out that the real lie was that they were completely in love with the protagonist since before the beginning of the show, but didn't want a relationship with them, because of the imminent death. So they basically became a side chick to the protagonists best friend in order to spend time with protagonist before dying. It recontextualizes every interaction in the entire show.

[@HimeBurrito]

@@Ockerlord a character dying isn't really a plot "twist" it's just a thing that happens, so it's not a very good example. The second is a good example of a plot Twist, BUT pretty predictable and it makes sense in the context, so it still fits into what the video is about

[@Sehon13Ultd]

@@Ockerlordwhat is the show where the character dies in episode 7?

[@EntrEsprit]

hans in frozen i thought was an ok reveal, it just wasn't supposed to be some subtle or very important twist for the story, but i did get some weird vibes from this guy, when he decided to marry her first day after they met

[@1and314]

on the flip side Te fiti/te ka in Moana was a good plot twist

[@SuzaanAhmed-v2t]

I am breaking Rule no. 1 here but nowadays everyone knows about Fight Club having a *BIG* plot twist. But if you think about it, Fight Club is actually a 4th Dimension twist. There is no hints that a mystery is at play here. It just seems like a movie that talks about the state of the world, materialism, etc but it still drops its hints all over the place. That's why it should be watched at least twice. First time clueless about the twist so you can enjoy the movie and be blown away by the reveal. But the second time while knowing everything, you start to notice every single hint they put in the movie which seemed like nothing at first but is so clearly obvious now.

[@seanrrr]

I saw it knowing the twist ahead of time, and still loved it!

[@melodi2036]

I never heard about fight club having a twist until this comment section

[@nutellatubby1943]

I think one of the best plot twists I have seen was probably the Wreck It Ralph one. Though it may seem stupid, I still can remember being so shocked that the twist was that King Candy was actually Turbo the whole time instead of it just being a generic, King Candy was evil and lying the whole time.

[@inGlasses]

This is why The Prestige (2006) is my top one Nolan film. It is perfectly written and has everything a plot twist must have in check. The plot twist/reveal recontextualizes the movie on a whole other level because you're still left thinking even after the ending. "So that's what that scene is about! And that other scene. And the other one." like literally turning the movie on its head. It also doesn't break any logic laid out and explained by the movie itself. I think The Prestige successfully broke the plot twist paradox the same way Interstellar did.. or in an opposite way. The truth is not at all hidden, and so is the mystery. The movie lets the audience expect the unexpected for its plot twist, but the audience knows that the plot twist is not something unexpected, rather, maybe it's about something they might have missed during their viewing. It's kind of like missing to catch the sleight of hand of the magician during a magic trick. They know they'll be blown away but they wait for it anyway. It's all in there already, you just have to look and watch closely. That's why this movie is so perfect for me. The whole theme of the movie plays with this idea too. "Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled."

[@MothmanAlpha]

Top 5 movies for me. So many moments in the movie are explainable as "They're just magicians. They're really that good." But the twist recontextualizes so much of that movie.

[@uptowndc]

I love this type of content, definitely a fan! It's interesting that you value hints leading up to a major twist. I actually prefer no hints at all and to receive a massive twist that I NEVER saw coming. A TV show I can think of is Fox's 24, the end of season 1 with the massive reveal of a character twist----absolutely NEVER predicted such a character turn but it still checked out! A movie example would be Final Destination 5 which reveals an INCREDIBLE twist that intertwines characters from that film to those of a previous one.

[@scottjones7742]

who can honestly say that they figured out the plot twist in "Get Out"? (old white people were living in young black bodies)

[@Jupiterbotz]

Seriously? It was pretty obvious at the outset .

[@Squampopulous]

@@scottjones7742 @jupiterbotz I personally did not expect it back in 2017, but nowadays I think I’m a more keen watcher lol

[@tumeta]

or how about Arrival?

[@WosaReverseTheV]

@@JupiterbotzI think it was more obvious they were “brainwashed” rather than old white ppl in black ppl bodies

[@Runenut]

was so incredibly obvious and flat. the movie was mediocre at best

[@10ДариянВасилев]

Great video. I usually click on those types of videos "Plot twist are Doomed" or "Why utopias are lies" already knowking what will be said in the video. And i absolutely did... until the plot twist.

[@Squampopulous]

glad you enjoyed!

[@KajianTemp]

Interstellar was the only one where I guessed the twist 10 minutes in. Once Murph started talking about a "ghost" in the bookshelf, and I realised this was a space movie with a wormhole, I thought, "Maybe Matthew McConaughey ends up as the ghost! Nah, that wouldn't be it...but it could be." With Shutter Island and Get Out, I didn't see them coming at all.

[@beeshark222]

That’s why you set up one plot twist and make it the main point while you subtly thread the real plot twist and when it comes time for the big reveal, the audience expects the first but learns the second

[@EstherRegal]

I'm absolutely baffled that you didn't mention THE AoT 4th dimension plot twist that completely re-contextualizes the entire show. It's one of the only plot twists I genuinely respect.

[@Nate-139]

Yeah lmfao is basically changes the whole story and flips everything we knew on it's head

[@MuckyPup115]

0:34 🤣 That introduction was awesome! Well done, sir. I am on board.

[@leafgate6954]

This made me Think back to Fight club, and I think what made the twist so good was the fact it didn't necessarily feel like there was a Truth to uncover. Or there was, but just not quite in the right place. All the clues were scattered throughout different people and places (like the fight club itself). And maybe this is just how I work, but even with the questions and weird stuff going on, it didn't feel like there was anything to Uncover, which I liked. Unlike Get Out where you could tell something was wrong immediately which puts you into "Detective mode" from the get-go. Which in a way, brings about a feeling of Disappointment. In Fight club it felt like you were slowly being guided towards the twist and the Answer. And even after it was over, I could Rewatch it 2-5 maybe more times to figure out how the twist was intertwined throughout the whole story. Instead of it being apparent from the start, therefore having Zero rewatch value (Which I highly value).

[@0n3gam3]

Tbh, when you mentioned that there were 2nd-dimentional and 3rd-dimentional plot twists, my immediate thought was, "So does that mean there are 4th-dimentional plot twists?"

[@Squampopulous]

Haha nice catch

[@DanilegoPlays]

Shutter Island would be a 4th dimensional twist then, because even after the "reveal" you can't be 100% what is true, there are still too many questions, like the woman in the cave, etc

[@problematicmonika3723]

I haven't seen the movie in a while, but I think The Others did a good plot twist. The entire movie has the audience focus on the mystery of "Are the ghost real or not?" But the actual twist answers, "Who are the ghost?"

[@cmoneman3025]

I used to be a huge Potterhead...the books, more than the movies. Your video has me considering these stories that made such a huge part of my childhood. Philosopher's Stone had the back of Quirrel's head -- everything in this magical world was unbelievable and unpredictable, so the twist perhaps didn't hit that hard. Chamber of Secrets was a favorite, with the horrific implications behind the reveal of what was happening to Ginny. Azkaban and the marauders, OotP and voldy's plotting, HBP and the true identify of the HBP. And of course. The Deathly Hallows..the reveal of Harry being a horcrux himself, and Dumbledore knowing this, that recontextualized 7 books in an instant. And the revelation of the deathly hallows themselves.. I realized that JKR had one or three plot twists every single book; no wonder she tried to pivot towards crime mystery novels afterwards! Nevertheless, Harry Potter had insane re-readability compared the anything she wrote later because the "A-plot" was/is so vivid, i felt like i would discover things on every new reread for years, even knowing the twist. You'll notice i didnt mention Goblet of Fire. Watching your video essay the first HP novel that came to mind was GoF. I think it was my favorite plot twist..i cannot tell you why exactly. I would welcome anyone else's opinion as to why GoF is so memorable and satisfying.A 4D plot twist, no doubt...the excitement of the Triwizard Tournament conceals the mystery so skillfully that you still have fans who argue the book should have been called Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament and not HP and the GoF,,,despite the incident with the Goblet being the inciting incident, the first hint that the protag gets into something (or someone) plotting in a way which very much involved him personally. And still it takes you by surprise. I dont know.. Why does GoF stick out to me even more than the horcruxes of Deathly Hallows?! What is your favorite HP plot twist?

[@plushloler]

I was watching this and thinking "well, the perfect twist would be one that you didn't see coming, but that makes sense in retrospect" and then...

[@jazzyfailsatlife5141]

Dude watching the 4d plot twist part felt SO satisfying

[@birkenwald1337]

1:13 Vader doesn't mean father - in fact it's not even german. In german "Vater" meins father. Always hated that scene in Pitch Perfect

[@melodi2036]

Vader isn't German, fine. But in American English you would pronounce Vader and vater the same. Also if it's vater in German, it very likely could be Vader in dutch or another closely related language

[@theperfectbotsteve4916]

that's literally one typeo away from being the same word. It's pronounced the same way and even when it isn't it sounds the same anyways. and its a name based on a word to so it dosent even have to be the exact spelling they could have seen the word changed one letter and made it his name. I'm not gonna say that's what they did but it's not like it isn't one hell of a coincidence. it's not unreasonable that someone who knows vater means father in German watching the film might make that connection it's not like they took a scene to spell his name out and make sure to point out the D isn't a T. like yeah I like to point out small inaccuracies as much as the last guy but this especially to an American audience is the least consequential technicality possible regardless of whether or not the film makers wanted to make it

[@birkenwald1337]

@@theperfectbotsteve4916 i‘m german and i NEVER got the „connection“ of vader meaning father - it‘s just not the same word lol

[@theperfectbotsteve4916]

@@birkenwald1337 idk man Americans are pretty good at frinding random connections that don't mean anything and deciding they are true without any prior knowledge or evidence that's why everthing that happens in America (according to Americans) is caused by the government and is actually a conspiracy for no reason

[@dumberdummer]

lol bro Vader is an actual surname, my buddy's last name is Vader. It directly comes from the German/Dutch words meaning "father". you're being pedantic

[@SomasAcademy]

I predicted that this video would have a plot twist in the intro to the video. I win.

[@ehsnils]

I just see that the movie "Sixth Sense" is an example of a completely surprising plot twist that you as a viewer wouldn't expect.

[@jimdoom2276]

Not to brag, but I DID guess twist to 6th Sense, and I got it really early on, basically in the next scene you see Bruce Willis after he gets shot... Still a great twist, great movie though.

[@Oriol-oo7jl]

@@jimdoom2276 SPOILERS AHEAD! But in their heads the adience would just think "ok, time has passed and he healed" because is more logical than thinking "oh so he is a ghost now". And the later scenes lead you to think that he is alive and live goes on and so. The director mislead us to think that. The problem with 6th sense is that nowadays is kind of general culture that he is dead from the start. It's like in the colective brain. It has been parodied, copied, talked about... and probably even not having seen the movie you kinda know. Like Darth Vader and Luke's relationship. It's everywhere not just only in the movies anymore

[@SpaghettiYOLOKing]

​@jimdoom2276 Do you mean a guess as in you just threw out a random idea based on the opening scene and what you knew of the premise of the movie and it just happened to be right? Because to say you correctly deduced the entire twist in the very next scene after he got shot, which is Bruce studying notes about a patient right before we're introduced to Cole is a bit of a logic leap for me. All we know so far at that point is Bruce was shot by a former disturbed patient. The place he was shot isn't typically one that could result in a fast death, although we were given a small hint that I've not once seen anyone ever acknowledge as a contributing factor to his death, even after they've finished the film. He and his wife were obviously quite drunk when they arrived home, but that fact is soon swept under the rug and overshadowed by the confrontation with Vincent. Alcohol makes the blood thinner, making wounds bleed more profusely, which can turn quite deadly with serious wounds. I didn't even think of that as the opening scene ended and we're given the one year later time jump and we're with Bruce as he goes over notes that echo the problems of Vincent. We're then introduced to Cole, who immediately shows anxiety and awkwardness, two things that Vincent also exhibited in the scene before when he confronted a still very much alive Bruce Willis. I'm not saying that the twist couldn't be figured out before the big reveal. There's actually a ton of hints and clues, some in the middle that make it quite obvious once you do know the twist. But the way the story unfolds is done in a way that takes advantage of having Bruce as the protagonist and going through the film along with him, which allows the hints to be cleverly concealed. So what exactly made you correctly deduce the twist in the very next scene or do you fall under the first example of just throwing out a random guess based on the next to nothing information everyone has at that point as a first time viewer that didn't have it spoiled? My point is random guesses, which could be the first of many guesses thrown out and it just happened to be right, aren't as impressive as people like to think they are because dumb luck is the biggest factor in that guess being right and not an actual deduction based on many clues the story gives as it unfolds. And if it was just a lucky guess, at any point in the story did you doubt it?

[@Oriol-oo7jl]

@@SpaghettiYOLOKing wow dude, you love the movie more than i do :) And have an infinite better way with words than me In defense of the other dude, playing devil's advocate, i got to say that i also when i saw him being shot, it seemed to me like a fatal wound. Or a sequel-leaving wound. Or something MAJOR. So when the next scene comes and he is just chilling i was also unpleased in a strange way. Like "hey he is just fine?" Giving it futher thoughs, one of them would have been "he is F dead!", but the movie doesnt give you time for this. I saw that movie in theaters back in the 90's. And the movie shocked me and impressed me strongly. One of the bests experiences in cinemas :) i miss that feeling. Cheers to all!

[@andrewi.crocker8675]

Have any of you guys seen "Sixth Sense" a second time? It doesn't hold up. There is a scene he is at a resturaunt with his wife and she seems to be "ignoring" him. So... she is just going out to fancy resturaunts by herself and ordering food for 2 people? Does he ever order? How does he interact with the waiter? How did that scene start or end? We dont have to worry about that because the film just shows the scene already in progress, but there are just so many questions you gotta ask yourself

[@osmanyousif7849]

The biggest problem with a plot twist in regards to "who's the villain" is that they fail to establish not only that there is a villain, but that somehow what happens in the story is part of whatever plan they have. It's the reason why Psycho (1960) and The Usual Suspects were so acclaimed as the hints were scattered without telling us. Sometimes even a film works when you do establish the villain, but keep hidden what their plan is and make the twist be what their plan is. Chinatown and Oldboy (2003) also did this tremendously as both movies revealed the villain, but don't show us yet their plan. And it's the hints that were dropped that therefore show us what the plan is in both. Unfortunately, a lot of movies today do the opposite and decide that they need to not give that many hints, or choose to place the plan first, without establishing the villain.

[@jpz2009]

I'm rewatching a Mexican soap opera series that has the "___ was the villain all along!" twist. The problem is that ___ is never established beforehand, so when the villain reveals his true identity it literally means nothing to the audience. A better example is in Saw, when we meet John Kramer first BEFORE learning that he's Jigsaw.

[@petermuller7079]

I have to admit: I didn't 'solve' the twists of Shutter Island or Get Out.... simply because i didn't expected twists AND wasn't looking for them. In my experience too much 'outside perspective / reflecting' while watching a movie spoils all the fun in general. That also applies to people who are always looking for plot holes, lack of logic(al behaviour), goofs, editing techniques, .... Simply: If you deprive yourself from immersion, you're going to miss all the emotions a movie can induce to you.... and thats really sad. That's why i see the information that a movie has a twist already a spoiler - because it redirects your awareness from the content to the medium.

[@seanrrr]

Thank you! You're the first comment I've seen that addresses this. I actively avoid trying to solve the mystery in movies and try to immerse myself in what's being shown. The payoff is so much better when you allow the experience to take you there. Of course, this doesn't mean you have to shut off your brain the whole time; I still speculate, but I keep it within the bounds of what's been established in the movie (i.e. if nothing supernatural has been shown, I won't speculate anything supernatural has happened). Nothing is worse than watching what seems to be a straightforward movie and you're friend is rambling on "I bet the character's wife is actually dead the whole time", "this is all happening in his head", "the main character is actually the killer", "everyone is in on the murder and they're all pretending not to know each other", etc. It's exhausting and ruins any reveal or twist at the end. Especially when they make like 10 guesses and when one of them is true, they say the movie was too predicable lmao.

[@petermuller7079]

@@seanrrr 👍👍 I suppose that those 'movie solvers' just feel an overwhelming urge to prove themselves being clever (to whom? themselves? me? ...) That takes priority over just enjoying the movie.

[@Windjammer19]

@@seanrrr It's kind of like when people try to figure out "street magicians" doing tricks. It's just sleight of hand or smoke and mirrors, but the trick still looks cool to witness. I can't stand when people wanna downplay something like that because they "figured it out". Like cool? Ok?

[@anusha-gj4xo]

honestly, i just thought u were wrong and didn't realize it in only going up to 3D plot twists cos I was personally recalling examples of good plot twists where I didn't expect them at all but I never expected the 4D plot twist to be mentioned and part of the twist itself. this was a brilliant video!

[@sheikaejulius4441]

I feel like the twists in Attack on Titan are a good 4D plot twist example. Part of why the basement reveal works is that it's so at odds with everything the characters thought they knew about their world, but the clues were there. That's the true tragedy of Erwin's story, he wanted so badly just to confirm his suspicions about the outside world but just never actually got to see it. The fact that the characters are technologically stunted in comparison to the world is a really good narrative tool to hide the truth from the reader. You are just as confused about all the hints as the characters are because they don't line up with what we thought was pre established about the world. We thought it was an apocalypse series and it turned out to be a multi-century spanning international conflict with tons of biological and guérilla warfare.

[@Squampopulous]

hands down the best twist i have ever seen

[@NASTAR01]

What clues did we get that hints at the actual state of the world?

[@alyssavanblaricum6236]

@@NASTAR01Ymir and Reiner knowing the same language that is not an established language in the walls, Titan shifters like Ymir, Reiner, Annie, Bertolt, and the beast Titan constantly referencing going back home (showing that there is some other place than inside the walls), the reveal that everyone can turn into a Titan if given a serum, Ymirs whole backstory, the Historias family curse, and a ton of other little hints throughout the entire thing

[@Dreadjaws]

It's interesting to point out the Empire Strikes Back twist, because, of course, unless you were in on the "Vader means father" thing you wouldn't even suspect there was a twist there. Granted, part of the reason for this is that the twist wasn't planned from the start, so there couldn't be any hints about it, but also it didn't contradict any of the previous events, and it even retroactively fit them (such as making Obi-Wan's affirmation about Vader killing Luke's father into a "certain point of view" turn of the phrase).

[@Squampopulous]

im surprised to hear it was not planned out, thats really fascinating

[@mariovilas4176]

@@SquampopulousGeorge Lucas says it was planned from the beginning, but the truth is the original twist was that Obi Wan was the one to kill Luke’s father. That’s what the recorded dialog even said when filming. But this twist was leaked to the press, so they had to call James Earl Jones for an emergency dub session where he said the famous “no, I am your father”. This version of events is highly contested of course. It *could* be true that the killer Obi Wan twist was a deliberate fake to fool the press, but… if the second story was true, who would admit to it? 😅

[@adelaideharper9201]

It's worth mentioning that it isn't clear that Teddy is Andrew Laeddis. There are a lot of hints in the dialogue and actions of the characters in Shutter Island to suggest that they staged the entire thing to make Teddy question his reality. After that, it was easy to admit him into the asylum believing he was insane so that they could prevent the investigation from going forward. It's the plot twist we didn't even notice because we were distracted by the rug pull. It's ambiguous enough we'll all argue over it forever but there are a lot of hints, and it makes more sense than an entire asylum going along with someone's delusions as a game. Feels pretty 4th-dimensional to me.

[@douglaswolfen7820]

0:55 I don't know if a plot twist has to recontextualize the _entire_ story. (Though I suppose the most effective plot twists usually do)

[@pumpkinzz5728]

One of my favorites is the first season of The Good Place (Spoiler wall) (Even though revealing it even has a plot twist is a spoiler itself like you touched on, but that’s kinda hard to avoid sorry) If you haven’t seen it, the twist is that they are actually in the Bad Place. Most of the hints aren’t played as “something’s off but you don’t know what” but rather “you already know what’s off (Eleanor doesn’t belong), enjoy this comedic scene”. I did pick up on some hints, such as when they went over that the motivations behind actions are just as important as the actions themselves, I noticed one character was laughably flawed in that regard, but just chalked it up to bad writing and moved on. I thought the characters having rough times was just to make a story, not that it WAS the story. The twist is so simple too, and the fact it was in plain sight in retrospect is just REALLY well done.

[@nisman.lo.desvivieron]

it doesnt have to be expected, i has to be out there but this is the part that you missed: It has to be SLIGHTLY Hinted, so that at the end we might say "oh thats what it meant". Of course that is what you are saying, but it doesnt have to hint at EXACTLY whats the twist, it just have to say "MAYBE somethings off, who knows what", like maybe these are crazy people at an asylum and the directors are evil and lie just to make a lobotomy test (just like the manicoms of the time, for this reason i didnt expect the twist to be what it was), and thats why for me shutter island is the perfect example edit: You actually surprised me with the 4th dimensional plot twist saying exactly what i wrote just before watching it, damn, Great Video!

[@yesyesyes-mz3pb]

The best plot twist I have ever seen is attack on titan anyone who has watched it knows what I'm talking about. And TBH the entire show is filled with plot twists and really good ones.

[@MassiveReactive]

I think the intertwining and slow revelation of intersecting plotlines is one of the most satisfying forms a plot twist can take. Westworld Season 1 and, more recently, Lake Caddo spring to mind for me.

[@andrewi.crocker8675]

For me, Fight Club has one of the best twists ever. It is one of those twists that makes the entire movie better upon rewatch, and may even take a few rewatches to take in everything

[@Squampopulous]

definitely a classic

[@theslay66]

A good plot twist is the the art of hiding the truth in plain sight. It was there all along, right under your nose, but you missed it because the artist purposefully distracted your attention, just like a magician waves his hand to distract you from uncovering his trick. A "2-d plot twist" like you call it, is not a plot twist. It's just a deliberately confusing plot, mudded by missing information. With a good plot twist, the spectator must think he understands and has a good grasp of what is happening on the screen, until something makes him realize he was wrong all along. Strangely enough, "fight club" is rarely cited as a movie with a good plot twist, although this one completely took me by surprise.

[@reidchikezie1161]

Exactly, crodie didn't mention fight club and it pissed me off.

[@squirreland]

"The Others" is a good example of a plot twist.

[@Oriol-oo7jl]

SPOILERS WarNING YES! and it was not long time after Sixth Sense came out, so it was double hard to pull that same trick!

[@julius-stark]

@@Oriol-oo7jl I saw both 6th Sense and Others in theaters. Predicted the 6th Sense twist, did not fully predict the Others twist.

[@bryden5243]

I did not at all "predict" it but at the start when you said the video was gonna get twisty i thought to myself "it would be funny if there was a plot twist in the plot twist video. And didnt think about it any harder than that

[@TimMaxShift]

There is no paradox here, it's as simple as adding numbers. The story gives the viewer some facts about the world, about where the plot is going. The viewer puts "I" and "I" together and gets "2". And then at some point there is a twist and it turns out that "I" and "I" should not have been added but multiplied. Or it turns out that they were not two digits "I" and "I", but two lowercase letters L , which they turned out to be in my example. I.e. in a good twist you don't need hints. What is needed are ambiguously interpreted facts from which the viewer will form a false picture. The components of the puzzle must be in front of your eyes, the viewer is bound to see them, but not to understand them correctly. The twist should not just turn the story upside down, it seems to me that it should have a direct relation to the theme of the work. In the course of the narrative, two or more points of view on the theme of the work are in “polemic”. The twist must be a significant change in the balance of power in this polemic.

[@FlareBlossom]

OMG f*ing finallyyyy someone says it... good twists don't need hints at all, and I HATE when they do that for me THAT feels cheap and lame and too predictable, and since I was a kid I always wished films didn't do that ehh wait, I should have read the whole comment, now I see you mention some puzzle pieces etc and I don't think they are necessery either

[@hekimaXO]

I’m rewatching Mr.Robot with my bf since it’s his fav show and the first time around I was absolutely surprised by the plot twists, and rewatching it again, it’s INSANE to seeing the show hinting at the plot twists, everything falls perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle. I see a lot of people say “I’d do anything to watch this show/movie for the first time again” but I feel like the rewatchability (I doubt thats a word) of a piece of media makes for a completely new experience that’s just as worth it

[@stessymwadime587]

The Netflix series behind their eyes is a good example of a 4th dimension plot twist

[@goopysubject]

That one is so good. (Spoilers of course) I love when they give you a piece of the puzzle you could easily pick up on and then you get distracted because you think you figured it all out, just for them to use that against you and twist it even further! As soon as they started talking about those techniques for lucid dreaming or whatever, I was like "ok this is going to be a paranormal story". Then I figured out Adele was watching everything in her sleep and thought I had it in the bag. She's the villain, she knows everything and the fact that she taught the main character to do it must mean she's planning to use it to her advantage somehow. So I just kept watching, blissfully unaware that there was MORE. I was just chilling, waiting for it all to play out exactly as I knew it would. And that was the perfect set up for them to throw the twist of the body swapping stuff, because they made me put my guard down. I also love that it ends horribly. That is another plot twist in itself. When I finished this show I just sat there in silence for so long lol

[@SirEEf13]

I was constantly sitting there and doubting your video because, while I agree with your analysis of Get Out and Shutter Island, the conclusions you drew from that felt weird. And then you hit me with the secret plot twist in the video like a freight train containing pretty much all the things I thought you had ignored.

[@flibber123]

it blows my mind that in a video about plot twists you include Shutter island and you miss the actual plot twist. That Teddy is a patient is not the plot twist. The twist is that he's cured at the end but manipulates them into lobotomizing him so he won't have to live with what he did. Personally, I don't think hints are necessary but I do think the twist needs to be consistent with the rest of the movie. I think misdirection is a much more effective tool. I also think that in the post Sixth Sense movie world it's a lot tougher to sneak a plot twist by the audience. So many people now watch movies trying to guess if it has a plot twist before they are even a few minutes into the movie.

[@TonyB2279]

I would argue the film has two twists: A) Teddy is not who we thought he was. What we believed was a straightforward mystery turns out to be something else. B) Teddy has not, in fact, lapsed back into delusion at the end. Instead one tragic/oddly cathartic ending has been swapped out for another. Since part of Squam's definition is that a twist is not merely an unexpected plot development, but one that upends or recontextualizes our understanding of much of the story, the first twist better fits this definition, as the second only upends our understanding of the climax, not the whole film.

[@leonardopizzini1443]

@@TonyB2279 the second one aint no twist. you cant call it a twist if the twist happens in the same scene as the setup for the twist. we only learn he might have a relapse 20 seconds befor we find out he did'nt. how is that a plot twist

[@winchesterkid]

The whole video is wrong and just stupid.

[@YossGold]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Was waiting for this to get to the second "Shutter Island" twist and it never came. I also guessed the first plot twist in that movie about 20 mins in, but had we not been on the tail end of more than a decade of plot twisters (Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Memento, Mulholland Drive, etc), I probably wouldn't have. At this point, the first thing that looks slightly off in a movie sends us spiraling into a plot twist hunt.

[@geoffhoutman1557]

I’m sitting in the theatre screaming “how did they fake a storm?,” Terrible film

[@GorgoReptilicus]

It took me decades to realize Gillian wanted the island of people to himself for his torturous ends. That’s why he kept “accidentally” foiling every attempt to leave the island

[@mathieuleader8601]

the plot twist paradox is a fine example of the law of diminishing returns

[@ssatva]

About this video: I have good tracking of off-hand comments, so I was waiting for things to you'd implied to happen and felt they hadn't... so I was momentarily disappointed, then amused and relieved. I think that is another strength of what you're describing actually, it can have a positive effect on the audience even if not the intended one.

[@HeyPaulhasopinions]

I saw get out and immediately clicked …

[@anirdesya]

Just wanted to come back to mention this video is still living rent free in my head. The meta plot twist was just too cool

[@Squampopulous]

haha glad u enjoyed

[@bratanyaroslav3561]

I love turning my brain off and just let the plot twist surprise me

[@Oriol-oo7jl]

I love it. I really didn't see it coming. And i loved how you did it, like in the movies. Replaying the capital sentences, the hints, the pieces of truth... Really good job :)

[@Squampopulous]

@@Oriol-oo7jl appreciate the kind words!!

[@kaiateya]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Usual Suspects... it's an absolute killer of a 4th dimensional twist.

[@shteevuk]

A clever movie, but it doesn't recontextualise everything that happened before without changing it. There are changes.

[@SpaghettiYOLOKing]

​@@shteevukI agree. While it was a great twist that works, it completely changes the entire movie because it turns what we were led to believe a reliable narrator into a completely unreliable narrator that made up likely the vast majority of what he told based on the amount of things he pulled from within the detective's office. He was making it up as he went along. The only thing we know is true is the job and the rest of the crew was dead. Everything else is put into question down to the most minute detail because names and places used were all pulled from brand names and bulletins seen around the office.

[@joaotrovaofilho]

I really enjoyed the plot twist on 'The Arrival'. Such a great movie overal

[@denseluke1040]

Link Click plot twists are perfect. If you haven't seen Link Click I highly recommend it!

[@Squampopulous]

thanks for the rec!

[@sabrishrestha]

Oldboy has a mind blowing plot twist. It’s one of the rare movies that left me shocked but i wouldn’t go back for a second watch

[@jazwright276]

You’re right there but just missed it- the mystery is not the point of the story in Interstellar so the audience doesn’t spend its runtime trying to solve for X. That is why the “twist” isn’t “empty,” but it does distract from the conclusion of Interstellar. Most people don’t remember the ending of Interstellar thanks to that reveal. Hitchcock knew long ago that mystery is hit or miss because audiences either appreciate the reveal or don’t, which is the paradox you described (expecting the unexpected).

[@DaMedicWhoSezNi]

I think one of the best 4d plot twists is the one regarding mao mao’s parents in apothecary diaries but I won’t spoil it because it’s too good.

[@fixonmxm]

now THIS IS SO TRUE , it actually blew my mind and even made me sob so hard

[@mugsandmonocles]

My favorite plot twist is probably in the second to last episode of Over the Garden Wall. It’s definitely a fourth dimensional plot twist. Don’t want to give it away, but it’s really well done.

[@Squampopulous]

@@mugsandmonocles maybe I’ll check it out!

[@Jules2439.5]

@@Squampopulousyou should! It’s the perfect autumn movie. Very fun to dissect it afterwards, would be a fun video topic for you to cover.

[@Drew791]

The 2023 movie Saltburn has a good twist that does a little of everything you mentioned. It’s a very simple twist but does a good job redirecting the audience’s attention while leaving hints in plain sight, and nicely re-contextualizes the movie on a repeat viewing. Also the British series Inside no 9 has a great anthology of twists in its episodes that are fun to try and figure out.

[@eddiejc1]

I would describe the plot twist paradox another way---the more the audience is aware that a plot twist is in a movie, the more they will think about what that twist could be and then guess it. A good example of this is "Strange Darling." The reason why so many people recommend going to see this movie completely blind is that there's really only one possible twist, so many people are going to guess that from the description of the plot. If that's unavailable, then it's better that that be done in the movie theater.

[@connorbrunsman7115]

In my opinion, Gravity Falls has the best plot twist ever. Spoilers if you haven’t seen it(you should!!!) We’re told this mystery episode 1, and it expands so much from there. On my first watch, it felt like a bit of a cop out having the author be Stan’s lost brother, but the show literally hints at it sooooooo much! Like the wax Stan episode, or Stan with the glasses in the body swap episode! A good plot twist should make a rewatch more enjoyable, and on rewatch you notice something in like, almost every episode

[@invadiusproduck3203]

I think you overcomplicate plot twists. As you yourself mentioned: A plot twist needs hints in order to work, so the watcher doesnt feel cheated, but the more hints there are the movie gets more predictable. (I must add that one too direct hint is enough to mess up the mystery) As a conclusion you need to give enough hints, about your plot twist to make it work in the first place, but not enough to actually solve the mystery itself. Basically a good plot twist should be the moment of realization, when you finally understand everything without being cheated by cheap writing. A good example is the first Knives out movie. Ofcourse the true mystery is also concealed in that movie as the viewer thinks there is no mystery at all, but also feeding small hints through out the movie the whole time. As a bad example there is Knives out 2 where close to the end of the movie we get to see what happened in the past that everyone knew in the movie except for the viewer.

[@shrinidhijoshi595]

My fav plot twist atleast the one that I remember has to be in the Harry Potter and deathly hollows part 2. When Harry is dead and ends up in king's station and Dumbledore tells him how voldemert made Harry the horcrux accidentally and how Harry's sacrifice actually created a protection for all his friends just blew my 16 year old mind when I first time saw the movie. I still get goosebumps every time I see that part. Btw loved your plot twist. This was my first video of yours ❤

[@SuzukiIncident]

I didn't guess your plot twist but honestly found myself thinking "that was worded weird" or "why did he say that?" to myself every time you dropped a hint so I guess I'm a special kind of idiot.

[@TonBil1]

Withholding the truth is for losers. Concealing the truth makes for fun puzzles. Concealing the mystery makes for heavenly nectar in the form of video. (Nectareous video, bro!)

[@andreasboe4509]

My favorite plot twist was in The Sixth Sense. Many saw it coming, but not me, so I thought it was excellently concieved.

[@gooseduarte2758]

No one saw that coming. Everyone who says they did is either lying or started the movie knowing there was a major plot twist coming

[@edwarddore7617]

I myself did not figure it out, but I do believe there are people that did. I mean , just look at the fact that nobody interacts with the main character, except for the boy.

[@andreasboe4509]

@@edwarddore7617 I would probably have noticed that if my attention hadn't been redirected with clever tricks.

[@dickottel]

it was possible to guess, the guy got shot and suddenly he's no longer with his wife, doesn't talk to anyone except the one boy, and the reveal that the boy can see ghosts was in the middle of the movie, in that scene he also said "they don't know they're dead" and they see the world the way they wanna see it? something like that. It was really weird that we never saw him talk to his wife.

[@whysoserious5507]

You will never find better plot twists in any story other than Attack on Titan. The story telling in this anime is just a cinema masterpiece.

[@Nate-139]

I think dark and Mr robot are there. Especially Mr robot

[@whysoserious5507]

@@Nate-139 agreed

[@dbryan1688]

Interesting video and clever plot twist of your own. However, I have a strong background in physics and thought "Interstellar" was terrible.

[@Squampopulous]

@@dbryan1688 fair enough! I just accept the fiction side and really enjoy it

[@GootGamer]

In what sense ?

[@bekindrewind335]

I called the Shutter Island twist during the interrogation scene. The moment that female patient snatches the notepad when Mark Ruffalo looks away, I immediately knew what was going on. I saw the movie with my friend who was a huge fan of the book. I turned to her and said, “Is Leo the missing patient?” I will never forget the look on her face. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe I guessed it so early. Personally, I blame the actress’s over-the-top performance in this scene for this too-obvious tip of the hat. To me, it made what was happening so glaringly obvious that I couldn’t believe anyone considered the twist as mind-blowing as they did. The director needed to reel her in, but for some reason didn’t. The twist in Get Out makes no sense to me. The grandparents swapped brains with the Georgina and Walter to take advantage of their natural physical advantages, and they used them by… becoming housekeepers? I’ve read that some people think this is performative for Chris’ benefit, but… why? Her family having black friends would be more reassuring to Chris than if they had black housekeepers. There are other plot holes, but that’s the one that bothers me the most. There’s another movie with a similar twist that makes much more sense (in my opinion) called The Skeleton Key (2005). The roles are somewhat reversed, but the reveal is so much more satisfying (and terrifying). One of the best twists I have ever seen was in The Uninvited (2009). It’s a remake of a Korean film called A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) that I haven’t seen, but the twist packs such a wallop and even on multiple rewatches it still makes sense. It was truly masterful and doesn’t get the recognition it deserves (probably because it’s a remake and a teen horror movie).

[@williamwolfe962]

Is Knives Out a 4th dimensional twist or is it something else entirely? It gives you a mystery, then partway in it tells you the truth making you think it revealed the twist, but really this was hiding that there was a deeper mystery. TwistCeption!

[@Walking_Spinel]

I did not see that KZbin Premium ad coming 😲

[@CarRadio572]

I genuinely hated Interstellar. I didn’t relate to the characters and the A plot was far too bleak for me to get invested in or even entertainingly distracted by it. Contrary to what this essay says nobody even tries to save the world. The A plot is the search for a new planet. The B plot is helping humanity escape earth. Nobody saves the world. Dude does save his daughter but then only briefly sees her again as she is old and dying. Oh, and the son is forgotten. Maybe if it had been billed as a horror or thriller I could have appreciated Interstellar more. Accurate physics and great music are cool. That said the A plot was far too bleak to distract me from the mystery. I spent the movie desperately hoping for a plot twist and the one we got was just adequate.

[@Squampopulous]

the a plan was to find a planet and bring humanity to it. at least thats what cooper was told. anyway, its a great movie, sorry you feel that way about it

[@CarRadio572]

@@Squampopulous yes, that’s what I said. They are looking for a new planet to live on. That’s not saving the world. It might be saving the species and I agree that is a big deal but either way we lose Earth. Even if the human race survives the loss of our home-world would be a crushing blow. Even in movies like The Day After Tomorrow parts of Earth remain habitable. Maybe some humans could get over losing our planet but I couldn’t.

[@gatobuho-]

😂

[@knitwitchpgh]

Not every movie is for everyone. I adore this movie.

[@CarRadio572]

@@Squampopulous finding a new planet is not the same as saving the world. Even in movies like The Day After Tomorrow parts of the Earth remain habitable. I don’t think people comprehend how big a loss our planet of origin would be. Even if our species survives elsewhere in the universe. Without the Earth we would not be the same. Saving the species is a noble goal but keeping the Earth habitable is a much better one.

[@jmormaple]

Fun video, didn't expect the twist. Did expect to go look for other videos about interstellar though because that's one of my favorite movies haha.

[@johnterpack3940]

The worst "twist" ever was in the series "Locke and Key". I don't even remember the revelation, or much about the series. But they justified the twist with a flashback montage of various scenes throughout the series. Except every scene had additional information we didn't see the first time. So not only did they withhold information, they literally bragged about it. "Look at what bad writers we are!"

[@GiantDwarf2718]

Great video! As a closeted screenwriter wannabe, I think a great plot twist is finding out that there is no twist. I think a similar thing was done in Beautiful Mind. Oh, BTW, I think you have got to put some spoiler alerts! Keep it up!

[@leaferikson4244]

My fav plot twist was when Eren Jaeger was the one that convinced his dad to kill the royal family. With a very close second being interstellar

[@Squampopulous]

yea that was amazing

[@yondaime500]

My favorite plot twist is in Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. The show keeps dropping hints that become more and more obvious, but the characters are always too busy trying not to die, and so you tend to focus on what they're focusing on. Until the characters get a hint that doesn't mean that much in isolation, but combined with everything they've seen before, finally allows them to figure out the truth. The scene is so beautifully well done, I've rewatched it dozens of times.

[@gatobuho-]

Wait, there's a plot twist in Get Out? The only thing we don't know is what they do, but basically from the beginning we know that there is something bad going on.

[@arbootieoaks]

Yeah but its sets you up to think that the bad thing is very different from what it actually is.

[@gatobuho-]

@@arbootieoaks Not really, but if it is then it has to be the worst plot twist ever.

[@tomeaston3754]

That’s why the scream twist is so good to me. One culprit was also made to seem like a red herring, where there’s so much evidence against him that we assume it must be someone else. Then the film reveals that there were two partners, something we assumed was not in the playbook because it wasn’t a trope of earlier slasher films. The mystery is using the audience’s own knowledge of solving plot twists to throw them off

[@landonkim6669]

The video felt incomplete till you mentioned a 3rd plot twist. I didn't expect you to talk about it, but I felt the production quality of the video was too good to not include some nice writing.

[@ehimareadedoyin3683]

For 4th dimensional plot twist I'll consider Coco. That twist still makes me think till now. I'm very happy I completely went into it without knowing anything

[@julius-stark]

Not sure if they're the best, but my top 3 favorite plot twists are Vertigo (though the trailers give it away for some stupid reason), Saw, and The Others. Vertigo I saw when I was a teenage so it took me by total surprise. Saw I also didn't see coming. The Others misdirects so I suspected, but the misdirect through me off so I was actually surprised by the full twist.

[@bracken8782]

Now, I do have an extra thought here: I think that what you described as a 4-D twist is a *very* risky option. A good twist isn't always one that you don't see coming but see coming on a rewatch, but rather one that sticks with you long after viewing. For example, *my* favorite movie, Into the Spider-verse, has the twist that Uncle Aaron is the Prowler, something that would be completely obvious to anyone that had read the comics and knows what the characters are. The twist works, however, because it puts us into the mindset of Miles, who is absolutely devastated by the discovery, since the only person he thought he could trust has been trying to kill him the entire run of the movie up to that point (and even a little afterwards). Good twists stick with the watcher, while maintaining their cohesiveness with the plot (in other words, if they stop making sense as you keep thinking about it, it's not a good twist). This is probably why you like the Interstellar twist so much, as it did exactly that, leaving a lasting impact on you that you kept thinking about long after you finished watching the movie.