Who doesn’t love a good twist? If done right, twists can enhance the story and keep things interesting. They can turn a great movie into an unforgettable one like Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. Or they can even elevate a mediocre film into a decent, memorable flick. Twists keep audiences on their toes by keeping them guessing and engaged instead of bored because they think they know what’s going to happen already.
Fans of these moments will be glad to know there’s no shortage of the best plot twist movies on Netflix to choose from. The streaming giant has steadily accumulated a number of critically acclaimed and widely popular films, with the best movies with a twist on Netflix utilizing the cinematic tool in brilliant ways. Without any spoilers, there are a few standouts worth seeing at least once.
18
‘The Crimes that Bind’ (2020)
One of the many impactful international films in Netflix’s catalog, which, while often overlooked by many English-speaking audiences, still offers a great deal of depth and thrills, is the Argentinian film The Crimes that Bind. It is a powerful and dynamic psychological thriller. The film follows a pained mother delving into a journey to clear her son’s name after he is accused of sexual assault and attempted murder of his ex-wife. However, this soon sends her in a wild spiral of unexpected truths that will forever change her life.
The Crimes that Bind features all the inherent classic strengths of a courtroom thriller, with its dynamic characters and various twists leading the way to a gripping and impactful central story. It certainly doesn’t shy away from its more melodramatic roots, yet it serves to make the larger film more in touch with its emotions and the impact of its proposed crimes and tragedies. The film largely deserves to be seen by more of Netflix’s global audience, as it would have easily made waves if it were an English-language film.
17
‘Red Notice’ (2021)
One of the most successful and most watched films in Netflix history, Red Notice doesn’t seem like the type of film that would have a major, earth-shattering twist, yet said twist helps it stand out among Netflix’s other action blockbusters. The film follows a top FBI profiler (Dwayne Johnson) and a notorious art thief (Ryan Reynolds) as they are forced to team up together in order to defeat a shared enemy, a legendary art thief simply known as The Bishop (Gal Gadot). They find themselves traveling across the world in a quest to retrieve a mythical treasure before The Bishop can get their hands on it.
Red Notice has a twist that completely recontextualizes the entire film, making every previous scene have a different meaning than how they were originally shown to the viewers. A big reason this twist is as effective as it is comes from the lack of twists in other large-budgeted Netflix originals, making it all the more shocking that Red Notice would even have a twist, let alone such a massive, centralizing one. It’s the perfect example of how a twist can have a much greater impact if the audience isn’t expecting a twist in the first place.
16
‘Forgotten’ (2017)
One of many great South Korean thrillers that Netflix has catapulted into global acclaim and recognition, Forgotten immediately hooks its audience with its terrifying and disturbing central premise before slowly peeling back the layers of its story to display a deadly truth. The film sees Jin-seok (Kang Ha-neul) being shocked and in pain after his older brother, Yoo-seok (Kim Moo-yeol), is suddenly kidnapped and dragged into a van. However, after Yoo-seok returns home after 19 days, he not only has no memory of his time away from home, but also seems to be a completely different person.
It’s clear from the get-go that something is awry with Yoo-seok and the truth of his mysterious kidnapping, yet the way that Forgotten goes about playing with this building tension and slowly revealing truths is both unsettling and deeply compelling. It makes for a wildly engaging experience that keeps audiences glued to the edge of their seats before shocking them with some of the most unexpected twists imaginable.
15
‘The Woman in the Window’ (2021)
Inspired by gripping mystery thrillers like Rear Window, The Woman in the Window directly plays into notions of misdirection and confusion as it weaves a plot that purposefully hides elements from both the protagonist and the audience. The film sees Amy Adams as Anna Fox, an agoraphobic woman who spends the majority of her days isolated in her apartment before suddenly making a connection with her neighbor, Jane. However, Anna soon witnesses Jane being murdered when spying on her through her building’s window, only to be shocked that not only is Jane alive, but looks like a completely different person.
The core concepts and intrigue surrounding the plot of The Woman in the Window are ingrained within mystery and various twists, with the film not truly making sense until various developments clear the full picture. The way that the film even uses different actors to add to the confusion and tension that the main character faces proves to make that much more of a compelling central mystery.
14
‘Apostle’ (2018)
Director Gareth Evans brings a truly bizarre world to life with Apostle. When a young woman from a wealthy family is taken hostage by a strange cult, her brother, Thomas (Dan Stevens), is forced to infiltrate the island where the cult resides and try and rescue his beloved sister. There, he finds more than he bargained for, and risks everything in the process.
Apostle sets up a compelling mystery with plenty of twists and turns throughout. What starts off as a slow burn in the first act of the cult-themed movie quickly devolves into a chaotic, disturbing, bloody nightmare that puts The Wicker Man to shame. With some excellent cinematography, a layered antagonist, and creepy mystical elements, Apostle fits perfectly within the “island cult” subgenre.
13
‘Last Christmas’ (2019)
Romantic comedies are a genre that seems completely opposite of having such catastrophic and impactful twists within them, yet this only serves to make the few rom-coms with big twists all the more memorable. Last Christmas is one such case, where its setup and execution seem to largely be in line with many other holiday romantic comedies before completely catching audiences off guard with one of the most bonkers, chaotic twists in romance film history.
One wouldn’t gather that the film has such a twist from its concept, being a classic meeting of two unexpected souls who have their lives changed by meeting each other on Christmas. However, the shockingly unexpected twist is so impactful and central to the film as a whole that it ends up being the defining aspect of the film, as an unavoidable aspect that is central to the film’s very essence. It’s the type of twist that will either make or break the film for an audience, as it can just as easily be seen as greatly effective as it is wild and out-of-nowhere.
12
‘Fractured’ (2019)
A compelling dramatic thriller whose main twist serves as a painful, emotional wedge that recontextualizes the entire film, Fractured proves to be one of the more underrated and underappreciated films in Netflix’s lineup. The film follows family man Ray (Sam Worthington), who, on a cross-country road trip with his family, has to bring his daughter and wife to the hospital to care for his daughter’s broken arm. However, after spending hours in the hospital waiting room, Ray soon learns that the hospital has no record of him or his family ever being checked into the hospital.
Fractured is the type of thriller that slowly but surely reveals its more sinister and painful truths the longer it goes on, building up to its strikingly effective main twist. While more inquisitive viewers may be able to pick up on the direction that the film is heading towards and the gravity of its twist, it doesn’t take away from the impactful emotional weight of the story and the repressed pain of Ray as a character.
11
‘It’s What’s Inside’ (2024)
A wild body-swap horror comedy that ramps up the swapping and chaos to an absurd degree, It’s What’s Inside has proven to be one of Netflix’s biggest surprises in recent memory. The film follows a group of college friends that finally reconnect for a wild pre-wedding party that takes a wild turn when an estranged friend ends up being invited. He arrives with a mysterious piece of technology that allows people to swap consciousness with one another, with them deciding to play a supercharged social deduction game where they have to figure out who is who.
It’s What’s Inside‘s very notions for mystery and social deduction lend itself to having several wild twists, each one proving to be more impactful and overwhelming than the last, especially when bodies begin to drop. It can make for a wild and sometimes confusing story to keep track of, having 8 different people across 8 different bodies to keep track of, although It’s What’s Inside‘s ending does a great job of wrapping everything together. At the same time, however, the ending provides one final twist that recontextualizes the entire film and paints it in an entirely new light.
10
‘The Hateful Eight’ (2015)
While Quentin Tarantino‘s films aren’t particularly famous for their various plot twists and shocking revelations, the director hasn’t been shy about having some incredibly effective twists in his films over the years. The Hateful Eight easily stands as one of the director’s most memorable twists, being one that, upon its revelation, recontextualizes a vast majority of the film while not taking away from its inherent appeal. The film sees a group of eccentric bounty hunters all coming together and seeking shelter from a blizzard, getting caught up in each others business in a plot of deception and betrayal.
The film has a lot of the inherent strengths that benefit Tarantino’s entire filmography, yet its broad supporting cast, largely singular location, and almost whodunit mystery aspects make the film tailor-made for effective twists and reveals. The twist itself isn’t particularly earth-shattering and relatively expected of a mystery film, yet it’s a twist that undeniably elevates the film as a whole and makes it a rather impactful and memorable watch.
9
‘The Old Guard’ (2020)
Anyone who enjoys more grounded superhero movies that are heavy on action has likely already seen The Old Guard. The 2020 film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood is based on an eponymous comic book that’s centered on a group of immortal mercenaries who are out for revenge. Their immortality also comes with the ability to heal any injuries, thus preventing them from dying.
Starring Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, and Matthias Schoenaerts among other talented actors, The Old Guard packs a punch and is entertaining from start to finish. There’s more than one twist, with the first relating to an unexpected betrayal, and the other connected to a surprising revelation about their immortality. There’s also a final shocking ending that sets up The Old Guard 2, a sequel that’s already in production.
