A-List: Twist Endings

By Josh Spiegel

April 16, 2009

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>Psycho

One of the most influential films ever made, the 1960 movie Psycho was directed by the great Alfred Hitchcock and features some of the most famous surprises in any American movie. Back when it was released, Hitchcock made strict orders that audience members arrive on time, so they didn't miss any of the shocks in this cheaply made slasher film. Though it's often associated with the infamous shower scene, where our leading lady, Janet Leigh, is brutally murdered in the shower of her motel room by the owner's senile mother, Psycho doesn't stop shocking you there. Once Leigh's character, Marion Crane, is dispatched, we follow Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) as he tries to evade local police, a private detective, and Marion's suspicious sister and boyfriend. Norman ends up unsuccessful in hiding Marion's death, when Marion's sister discovers the secret of his mother: she's been dead for a very long time. In fact, the killer, the senile old lady who killed Marion...is Norman himself, in a bit of a disguise. Both in its original release and even now, Psycho is full of jaw-dropping moments (including why there's a lengthy epilogue explaining to the audience exactly why Norman is so screwy), but the last twist, the idea that the awkward but charming Norman is a mentally damaged killer who becomes so confused by his romantic feelings for a woman like Marion that he has to kill her, is what really defines Psycho as a film for the ages. A big influence on horror movies, and suspenseful stories in general, Psycho is frequently remembered for its fantastic twist ending.

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Se7en

Before he was making Brad Pitt age backwards, David Fincher made Pitt into a cocky young detective who finds himself on the wrong end of a killer's hit list. Though the crime drama Se7en was not Fincher's first film as director (that would be the 1992 misfire Alien3), it was the film that put him on the map. His fluid camerawork and unique style helped make Se7e" a chilling story, though Andrew Kevin Walker's dark script wasn't exactly slouching. Set in an unknown major city, Se7en is about two newly partnered detectives, one who's about to quit and one who thinks he's God's gift to detective work, trying to figure out who would be sick enough to kill various people for committing one of the seven deadly sins. Pitt plays the upstart and Morgan Freeman, in one of his better recent roles, plays the older and wiser sleuth, someone who's beaten down by life and hoping to make his troubles go away by leaving the job. Unfortunately for both of them, the killer, a man known only as John Doe, has other plans. Doe, played by a menacing Kevin Spacey (one of two roles in 1995 that were villainous and surprising, though The Usual Suspects isn't on this list), wonders what life would be if he was Pitt: married, young, and in love. Doe can't have that, so he decides to kill Pitt's wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) and send her severed head, in a box, to the grieving husband so he'll murder the murderer. Yes, the young detective follows through, but the shock is what we never see: the inside of that box. When we first see it, we're not completely sure what's inside, but with each passing second, a feeling of dread seeps through. Se7en is a very dark film, a bitter look at the imperfections of life and how some people act out. Its twist goes further than most, pitting good characters against their own morals, but the film is entertaining and gut-wrenching.




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