I Was Left Completely Speechless After The Credits Rolled For These 10 Movies

Contains discussion of sexual violence, murder, and spoilers for all movies discussed.

Many of the best movies of all time have an innate knack for leaving their viewers utterly lost for words by the time that proceedings draw to a close. While this is often a testament to the sheer quality of the wider production, it’s worth noting that this state of affairs typically persists in cinema’s most shocking entries, be that off the back of a uniquely dark central premise, a jaw-dropping plot twist, or a mind-blowing conclusion that leaves viewers totally lost for words.

From acclaimed dramas that verge on becoming horror movies to complex sci-fi films that require multiple watches to fully understand, many of cinema’s most jarring numbers have a habit of lingering in the viewer’s mind long after the credits have rolled on proceedings, leveraging explosive bombshells and harrowing subject matter to the maximum effect possible. I was left completely speechless after the credits rolled for these movies, with these showstopping films standing as a testament to the impressively twisted capabilities of some of Hollywood’s greatest creative minds.

10

Promising Young Woman (2020)

Directed By Emerald Fennell

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Promising Young Woman

R

Crime

Thriller

Drama

ScreenRant logo

8/10

6.7/10

Release Date

December 25, 2020

Runtime

113 minutes

Director

Emerald Fennell

Writers

Emerald Fennell

Cast

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  • Headshot of Jennifer Coolidge In The 96th Academy Awards Vanity Fair Party

    Jennifer Coolidge

  • Headshot Of Clancy Brown In The Los Angeles premiere of 'Scrambled' at AMC Westfield Century City

    Clancy Brown

Starring Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman follows Cassie, a college dropout intent on getting revenge for the unprosecuted rape of her deceased best friend, Nina. As she becomes deeper involved in tormenting those she sees as complicit in Nina’s rape and subsequent suicide, Cassie begins to travel down a more dangerous path than she realizes. Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, and Connie Britton also star. 

Studio(s)

Universal Pictures

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Featuring an electrifying Carey Mulligan performance in the leading role of Cassie Thomas, it’s hard to accurately describe just how empty I felt after the credits rolled on 2020’s Promising Young Woman. Haunted by the death of a close friend who took her own life after being raped at a college party, Cassie abandons a medical career to enact a campaign of retribution against those she deems responsible in Emerald Fennell’s revenge thriller, a series of events that eventually culminates in her own demise.

The cast of Promising Young Woman in other roles.

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Mirroring the fraught nature of its premise, Promising Young Woman is unapologetically devastating, tackling the harrowing themes of trauma and sexual assault head on. Seeing Cassie die horrifically at the hands of Nina’s rapist makes for indescribably desolating viewing, even if Promising Young Woman’s ending reveals she left arrangements to ensure justice for her friend. While it’s cathartic to see the movie’s villains get their just deserts, it’s hard to feel anything other than mute emptiness in the aftermath.

9

Oldboy (2003)

Directed By Park Chan-Wook

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Oldboy

R

Mystery

Drama

7.5/10

Release Date

November 21, 2003

Runtime

120 Minutes

Director

Park Chan-wook

Writers

Park Chan-wook, Hwang Jo-yun, Lim Jun-hyung

Prequel(s)

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Choi Min-sik

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Yoo Ji-tae

After 15 years of solitary confinement, Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) hunts down his captors and falls in love with chef Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung), but soon realizes all the messed up reasons that led him to such a distressing predicament. The 2003 South Korean mystery thriller is the second installment in director Park Chan-wook’s The Vengeance Trilogy and the original South Korean movie that inspired Spike Lee’s eponymous 2013 American remake.

Studio(s)

Egg Film, CJ Entertainment

Distributor(s)

Show East, DreamWorks Distribution

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While its visceral performances, brutal action sequences, and masterful cinematography left me transfixed, Oldboy’s unforgettable twist ending virtually removed my ability to speak. Following Choi Min-Sik’s Oh Dae-Su as he seeks vengeance against a mysterious man who imprisoned him in a hotel room for 15 years, Park Chan-wook’s 2003 action thriller is notorious for one of cinema’s most harrowing endings, a conclusion that whips the rug out from underneath the unsuspecting viewers and completely changes the landscape of the entire movie.

One of the most disturbing twist endings of all time, the shock factor of this earth-shattering revelation is compounded by the fact that it comes completely out of left field.

After tracking down his tormentor, Yoo Ji-Tae’s Lee Woo-Jin, Dae-Su’s world is shattered by the revelation that his love interest Mi-do is none other than his long-lost daughter. Threatening to tell Mi-do the truth, Woo-Jin gleefully reveals that he engineered their relationship through hypnosis in revenge for Dae-Su’s part in his sister’s suicide, prompting Choi Min-Sik’s charge to cut out his own tongue as penance. One of the most disturbing twist endings of all time, the shock factor of this earth-shattering revelation is compounded by the fact that it comes completely out of left field.

8

Life (2017)

Directed By Daniel Espinosa

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Life

R

Sci-Fi

Thriller

Horror

ScreenRant logo

5/10

8.5/10

Release Date

March 24, 2017

Runtime

104 Minutes

Director

Daniel Espinosa

Writers

Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese

Cast

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  • Ryan Reynolds Profile Picture

    Ryan Reynolds

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Alexandre Nguyen

Life, directed by Ted Demme, follows two strangers, portrayed by Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, who are wrongfully convicted in 1932. Their journey through the American penal system leads them to develop a strong friendship inside prison, enduring challenges and changes throughout the 20th century.

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Studio(s)

Sony

Distributor(s)

Sony

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In a genre notorious for bleak and harrowing finales, 2017’s Life might possess modern sci-fi’s most terrifying conclusion. Chronicling the rampage of a murderous extraterrestrial entity dubbed Calvin aboard the ISS, the closing act of Daniel Espinosa’s picture features one of the nastiest twists in cinematic history. Evoking a sensation of pure despair within me, Life’s shock ending sees an attempt to fire Calvin into deep space using an escape pod backfire in spectacular fashion.

After unintentionally colliding with debris in her own pod, Rebecca Ferguson’s Miranda North is the unfortunate individual left to tumble uncontrollably into deep space as she screams in despair. Compounding matters, Jake Gyllenhaal’s David Jordan had willingly sacrificed his own life to try and pilot Calvin’s pod into space. The only reward for his heroism? Jordan gets a front-row seat for the end of the world when arriving fishermen open his pod after it accidentally splashes down on Earth instead, unleashing Calvin and presumably signaling humanity’s demise. Simply put, it’s so bleak that I was lost for words.

7

Shutter Island (2010)

Directed By Martin Scorsese

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Shutter Island

R

Mystery

Thriller

Drama

ScreenRant logo

7/10

8.6/10

Release Date

February 19, 2010

Runtime

138 minutes

Director

Martin Scorsese

Writers

Laeta Kalogridis, Dennis Lehane

Cast

See All

  • Headshot Of Leonardo DiCaprio In The 35th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Night

    Leonardo DiCaprio

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Emily Mortimer

Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island is based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley. Set in 1959, Shutter Island follows two U.S. Marshalls – Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Ruffalo) as they are sent to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a hospital specializing in psychiatric care.

Main Genre

Drama

Studio(s)

Paramount Pictures

Distributor(s)

Paramount Pictures

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A masterful psychological thriller guaranteed to mess with your head, 2010’s Shutter Island is known for one of cinema’s most shocking endings. Martin Scorsese may be one of cinema’s finest directors, but he’s not necessarily known for his twists, compounding the mind-blowing aura of the movie’s iconic curveball revealing that Leonardo DiCaprio’s U.S. Marshal, Teddy Daniels, has actually been a patient in the island’s mental hospital all along.

Teddy Daniels is an anagram of DiCaprio’s charge’s real name, Andrew Laeddis.

The discovery that the hospital’s doctors had simply been playing along with the delusions of Andrew Laeddis, a psychotic patient who killed his wife after she drowned their three children, is so mind-blowing on first watch that it left me utterly gobsmacked; a seismic narrative development that instantly casts the entire film in an entirely new light. The exemplary quality of Scorsese’s psychological thriller lulls viewers into dropping their guard before the director deals out a devastating narrative knockout blow they never saw coming, a plot twist that frequently leaves its open-mouthed audiences incapable of speech.

6

The Prestige (2006)

Directed By Christopher Nolan

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The Prestige

PG-13

Sci-Fi

Mystery

Thriller

Drama

ScreenRant logo

9/10

25

9/10

Release Date

October 20, 2006

Runtime

130 minutes

Director

Christopher Nolan

Writers

Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan

Cast

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  • Shot Of Michael Caine In The World premiere of 'The Great Escaper' at BFI Southbank

    Michael Caine

  • Headshot Of Christian Bale In The `The Pale Blue Eye` LA Premiere

    Christian Bale

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, The Prestige follows the lives of two stage magicians in Victorian London. Once colleagues, Robert Angier and Alfred Borden become hated rivals after a tragedy involving Angier’s wife tears them apart. The two magicians each go on to have their own lives and careers while competing to see who can pull off a seemingly impossible teleportation trick. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale star as Angier and Borden. 

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributor(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

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Christopher Nolan has produced some of cinema’s most memorable endings, but arguably none can match the conclusion of 2006’s The Prestige for sheer shock factor and entertainment value. Chronicling the bitter rivalry between two magicians as they seek to upstage one another using their own versions of a teleportation illusion, Nolan was already notorious for whipping the rug out from beneath his audience following his twist-loaded triumph, 2000’s Memento. However, this still wasn’t enough to prepare most viewers for what he had in store for them on this occasion.

The main characters’ initials, A.B. and R.A. for Alfred Borden and Robert Angier, respectively, form the beginning of the common magician’s phrase, “abracadabra.”

Loaded with mind-blowing bombshells and jaw-dropping twists, the gruesome truth behind the “Transported Man” magic trick and the revelation of Borden’s twin brother’s existence left me dumbfounded upon first viewing, transfixed by the sheer intricacy of the director’s narrative. Arguably Christopher Nolan’s best movie twist, this jaw-dropping finale never fails to leave audiences in a state of silent shock.

5

The Substance (2024)

Directed By Coralie Fargeat

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The Substance

R

Horror

Drama

ScreenRant logo

10/10

59

7.9/10

Release Date

September 20, 2024

Runtime

140 Minutes

Director

Coralie Fargeat

Writers

Coralie Fargeat

Cast

See All

  • Headshot Of Demi Moore In The 77th Cannes Film Festival 2024

    Demi Moore

    Elisabeth Sparkle

  • Headshot Of Margaret Qualley

    Margaret Qualley

    Sue

Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading celebrity, turns to a mysterious drug that promises to restore her youth by creating a younger, more beautiful version of herself. But splitting time between her original and new body leads to horrifying consequences as her alternate self, Sue, begins to unravel her life in a disturbing body-horror descent.

Main Genre

Horror

Studio(s)

Working Title Films, A Good Story

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It stands to reason that one of the most shocking movies in recent memory would leave my jaw on the floor by the time the credits rolled, and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance proved to be no exception. A spectacularly gruesome 2024 body horror that deftly balances cutting social commentary on societal attitudes towards women with some of the most grotesque visuals in cinematic history, I had never seen anything quite like this gleefully satirical tour de force.

The Substance’s Academy Award Nominations

Result

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Won

Best Picture

Nominated

Best Director

Nominated

Best Actress

Nominated

Best Original Screenplay

Nominated

Featuring a knockout performance from Demi Moore, early reviews for Fargeat’s outing had painted the movie in a promising light, but did little to prepare this writer for one of the most impressive and ambitious horror films of the 21st century. The Substance’s blend of haunting scenes and nauseating visuals makes for an outing that invariably leaves audiences completely dumbstruck, building to a psychedelic blood-soaked crescendo that captures the essence of a living nightmare.

4

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Directed By Bryan Singer

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The Usual Suspects

R

Crime

Mystery

Thriller

8.5/10

Release Date

August 16, 1995

Runtime

106 minutes

Director

Bryan Singer

Writers

Christopher McQuarrie

Cast

See All

  • Headshot Of Kevin Spacey In The Orange British Academy Film

    Kevin Spacey

  • Headshot Of Kevin Pollak

    Kevin Pollak

Written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer, The Usual Suspects is a Mystery film that features Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, and Benicio del Toro. The plot unfolds during an interrogation in which a con man speaks to investigators about what happened, being one of only two men that survived a massacre at the Port of Los Angeles.

Main Genre

Crime

Studio(s)

Universal Pictures

Distributor(s)

Universal Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

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An iconic entry that turns thirty this year, 1995’s The Usual Suspects is notorious for one of cinema’s most famous plot twists, a divisive narrative curveball that is typically either revered as a stroke of genius or dismissed as a predictable load of nonsense. This writer falls into the former camp, considering that the twist unmasking Kevin Spacey’s unassuming con artist Roger “Verbal” Kint as the legendary crime lord, Keyser Söze, left me thoroughly lost for words on first viewing.

While there is some truth to the criticism that labels much of the movie’s plot as clichéd and easy to predict, all of that is forgiven in light of the sheer intricacy and epic scale of The Usual Suspects’ final twist. A wicked array of red herrings provide hints that Kint was Söze all along on a second viewing, but the movie’s brilliant bombshell ending is so meticulously constructed and executed that it’s consistently been leaving first-time watchers utterly speechless for three decades.

3

Hereditary (2018)

Directed By Ari Aster

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Hereditary

R

Horror

Documentary

Mystery

Thriller

ScreenRant logo

7/10

14

7/10

Release Date

June 8, 2018

Runtime

2h 7m

Director

Ari Aster

Writers

Ari Aster

Cast

See All

  • Headshot Of Toni Collette

    Toni Collette

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Milly Shapiro

The feature film debut of writer-director Ari Aster, Hereditary tells the story of the unwittingly cursed Graham family. Annie Graham (Toni Collette) lives with her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) and their children Peter (Alex Wolff) and Charlie (Milly Shapiro). After the death of Annie’s mother, the family is beset by disaster and stalked by a supernatural entity that dredges up a past that Annie had spent her life trying to overlook.

Studio(s)

A24

Distributor(s)

A24

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One of the most terrifying horror movies of all time, it’s hard to express just how frightening Ari Aster’s Hereditary is on first viewing. Many of the iconic horror movie’s scenes are so disturbing that they literally leave their viewers frozen in silent fear, from Charlie’s appalling decapitation in a car accident, to Annie beheading herself with piano wire. Many of Hereditary’s most nightmarish visuals remain seared into my mind’s eye to this day, underlining Aster’s offering’s credentials as a movie that is so unsettling that it will leave you lost for words.

It wasn’t entirely clear what I had just witnessed on first viewing, but the immediate aftermath of Aster’s film left me tongue-tied with terror all the same.

Case in point? Hereditary’s ending sees the ghastly coven members gather to worship a mannequin bearing Charlie’s severed head in her old treehouse, before crowning Alex Wolff’s newly possessed charge as the demonic “King Paimon” to conclude proceedings in indescribably eerie fashion. It wasn’t entirely clear what I had just witnessed on first viewing, but the immediate aftermath of Aster’s film left me tongue-tied with terror all the same.

2

Parasite (2019)

Directed By Bong Joon-Ho

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Parasite

R

Comedy

Thriller

Drama

ScreenRant logo

9/10

13

9.5/10

Release Date

November 8, 2019

Runtime

132 minutes

Director

Bong Joon Ho

Writers

Jin Won Han, Bong Joon Ho

Cast

See All

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Yeo-Jeong Jo

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Myeong-hoon Park

Best Picture Oscar winner Parasite follows the impoverished Kim family, who live in a small apartment and consistently struggle to make ends meet. After they chance across the gullible and wealthy Park family, the Kims ingratiate themselves through lies and deceit, earning themselves jobs taking care of the household. However, their newfound luck is built on an ever-growing foundation of mistruths – one that threatens to fall down around them at any moment.

Main Genre

Drama

Studio(s)

Barunson E&A

Distributor(s)

CJ Entertainment

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The first non-English-language movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite is the quintessential example of a film where nobody wins. Following a poor family who insidiously infiltrate a wealthy family, this wicked 2019 black-comedy thriller concludes in morbid fashion befitting of its relentlessly nihilistic vibes, an ending that sees Song Kang-Ho’s Kim Ki-Taek purportedly condemned to a lifetime of existence in the house’s subterranean bunker after murdering Mr Park in the chaotic medley precipitated by Geun-Sae’s breakout.

Parasite’s Academy Award Nominations

Result

Best Picture

Won

Best Director

Won

Best Original Screenplay

Won

Best International Feature Film

Won

Best Film Editing

Nominated

Best Production Design

Nominated

Compounding the harrowing aura of proceedings, Ki-Taek’s morally devoid family are the ones who suffer the most in the aftermath. Placed on probation for fraud alongside his mother, Ki-Woo has lingering brain damage from Geun-Sae’s attack, while his sister Ki-Jung is revealed to have died from her wounds. Simply put, it’s one of modern cinema’s most devastating and shocking entries, a movie that ends in such bleak fashion that it knocked the words out of me.

1

Se7en (1995)

Directed By David Fincher

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Se7en

R

Thriller

Drama

Crime

Mystery

ScreenRant logo

8/10

32

8.6/10

Release Date

September 22, 1995

Runtime

127 minutes

Director

David Fincher

Writers

andrew kevin walker

Cast

See All

  • Headshot Of Brad Pitt In The Babylon Premiere

    Brad Pitt

  • Headshot Of Gwyneth Paltrow In The Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024

    Gwyneth Paltrow

David Fincher’s crime thriller Se7en follows the seasoned Detective William Somerset after he is assigned a new partner, the young and idealistic David Mills (Brad Pitt). The two find themselves investigating a deranged killer staging murders inspired by each of the seven deadly sins. On the hunt for the twisted John Doe (Kevin Spacey) before he can kill again, the two detectives soon discover that they’re much deeper into the case than they realized.

Main Genre

Crime

Studio(s)

New Line Cinema

Distributor(s)

New Line Cinema

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Following a serial killer who commits his murders based on Christianity’s seven deadly sins, 1995’s Se7en is renowned as one of cinema’s most dark and brutal entries. It was a reputation that I was aware of before embarking on David Fincher’s acclaimed crime thriller, but it didn’t make what was about to come any easier when it arrived. The sheer brutality of the murders perpetrated by Kevin Spacey’s “John Doe” left me gobsmacked with horror long before the movie’s notoriously desolating ending rolls around.

Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in Se7en (Seven) with rain

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2

Promising to disclose the location of the “envy” and “wrath” victims, Doe gets the depraved end to the game he was after. Revealing that he envied Mills’ wife, Spacey’s psychotic killer coerces Brad Pitt’s charge into vengefully shooting him by having her severed head delivered to him in a box. Leaving this writer in a state of speechless dismay, the pair complete Doe’s game by becoming the embodiment of the two final sins in one of cinema’s darkest endings.