Plot Twists I Didn’t See Coming

Scifi Month banner. Shows #ScifiMonth hashtag and two planets in background.This month I’m participating in the Scifi Month challenge that was created by the bloggers at One More. Click on the link in that last sentence for more information or to sign up yourself. There is still time to pick a few of their prompts and join in if you’re interested.

Today’s prompt was “What can possibly go wrong.” The notes for it mentioned plot twists, so that’s the approach I’m taking with this post. 

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I wasn’t very good at predicting how plots would turn out when I was younger. While this is something I’ve gotten better at over time, there were still some notable moments when I didn’t figure what was going to happen ahead of time despite all of the hints the storytellers threw my way.

Let’s see if I can talk about these films without giving away spoilers. I know most of this stuff came out years ago, but I’d rather let other people discover the plot twists for themselves.

The Sixth Sense film poster. It has five numbers on it. Numbers 1 through 5 are illuminnated and named the five sense. Number 6 on the post shows the outline of a child. No sense is named there. The Sixth Sense (1999) 

The protagonist of this film was a child psychologist named Malcolm whose newest client, Haley, was struggling to open up to him.

There was something strange going on in Haley’s life, but all the boy will say about it is that he sees dead people.

It was up to Malcolm to find out what Haley means by that and why he was so reluctant to go into detail about what’s bothering him.

The foreshadowing was incredibly well done, and there were a lot of hints about what was happening with these characters. I have no idea how I missed the twist in this film the first time I watched it!

Film poster for The Others. Image shows Nicole Kidman holding a glass lamp and staring off into the corner with a fearful expression on her face. The Others (2001)

This is one of my all-time favourite ghost movies. It’s set in 1945 and follows a young mother, Grace, who was raising two special needs children on her own in a large, isolated mansion while her husband was off fighting in World War II.

The children’s health problems made it dangerous for them to be exposed to any form of natural light, so Grace had her hands full looking after them and protecting them from harm. Grace hired a few local people to help her keep the house and grounds running smoothly.

The interesting thing about her new hires was that they dressed like they lived in the late 1800s and seemed to know a lot about her home. There were strange things happening in the house that made Grace’s children wonder if it was haunted. She scoffed at that notion, but her employees had other notions about it.

Once again, this film gave plenty of hints about what was really going on in Grace’s life. I loved the ending, but I also should have seen it coming in advance.

Moon (2009)

Moon film poster. Image on it is of an astronaut wearing a spacesuit and holding his helmet. Unlike the other films in this list, this one didn’t have any paranormal themes.

Sam, the protagonist, was an astronaut who had signed up to spend three years alone mining helium-3, a new source of fuel, on the far side of the moon. He chose this isolated job in order to make money to support his pregnant wife.

A couple of weeks before his term ended, there was an accident. When Sam went out to investigate it, he found something that should have never been possible: another living human being.

That plot twist was the least surprising of them all in this film. I only wish I could discuss the rest without giving away spoilers!

While I did figure out one of the plot twists ahead of time, there were so many more that I didn’t see coming. This is the sort of film I recommend to everyone from hardcore science fiction fans to people who brand new to this genre and hesitant to give it a try. It truly had something for everyone.

What plot twists in films, books, or TV shows did you never see coming?

28 Comments

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28 Responses to Plot Twists I Didn’t See Coming

  1. I’m right there with you where The Sixth Sense and The Others are concerned – I didn’t see the plot twists either! Especially the Sixth Sense. But once it was revealed, it seemed so obvious – clever storytelling 🙂
    The only one I can think of at the moment where I didn’t see the plot twist until it was almost on me was Interstellar.

  2. I agree with Sixth Sense and The Others. The reason it was a surprise in Sixth Sense was the clues were missing which pissed me off.

  3. Of these, I’ve only seen The Sixth Sense, but I agree. Even with all the hints, the twist got me, too!

  4. Personally, it bugs me when I can figure something out before the end. I’m not reading/watching to see if I’m smarter than the author/screenwriter! But, that’s my personal issue. LOL

    The Sixth Sense, in hindsight, is so obvious. But, during that first watch, you had no idea and you’re so sucked into the story, that you miss all the clues. And man, is that movie really 20 years old? Geez. I can’t believe I was pregnant when it came out. Hahaha.

  5. I’m here with you regarding The Sixth Sense. Didn’t see it coming either.
    I can’t remember any plot twists in films but sometimes I miss them in books.
    Personally I see twists in thriller very often in advance. So a really good thriller for me is one that completely surprises me.

  6. I remember seeing The Sixth Sense in the theaters and saying “WHAT?!” out loud. I was completely blown away by that one. The Others was another good one. And Moon! My heart.

    I read The Silent Patient earlier this year and, while I had a feeling about the plot twist, I was still kind of shocked when it was revealed. 🙂

  7. I’m not always great about predicting plot twists. And I’ve never seen any of these!

  8. Based on your remarks, I can highly recommend The Castle, which s Michael Haneke’s adaptation of the Franz Kafka story. It takes a long time to get the faintest idea what’s going on and even then a lot of doors are permanently closed, but that only adds to the fascination!

  9. I meant that it’s a film adaptation 🙂

  10. I LOVED The Sixth Sense plot twist. I had the DVD and I immediately rewatched the movie. It’s so well done.

    Gone Girl – I had the omnibus of Gillian Flynn’s novels, so I had no clue how many pages I had left. The first half of the book seemed painfully predictable, it got to what I was the predictable ending… and then it went on. I don’t know if it counts as a plot twist, but I couldn’t stop reading until I finished – suddenly nothing was predictable anymore.

  11. I haven’t seen any of these, because I typically avoid anything suspenseful or scary. It’s always great when a book or movie can surprise you with a plot twist! I think it makes the story more memorable.

    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬

  12. I loved the twists in Sixth Sense and Moon. I could never guess those twists so they took me by shock. Need to watch The Others.

  13. The ‘exterminate all the brutes’ in Heart of Darkness caused my eyes to almost fall out of their sockets!

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