"Final Destination 5" might never be hailed as the greatest entry in the franchise, but it pulled a huge twist in its final moments... except a sneaky piece of paper gave it away 40 minutes in. You never know what you might miss when you're caught up watching bodies drop.
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00:00 Final Destination 5 might never be hailed as the greatest entry in the franchise, but
00:05 it pulled a huge twist in its final moments.
00:08 Except a sneaky piece of paper gave it away 40 minutes in.
00:11 You never know what you might miss when you're caught up watching bodies drop.
00:15 By now, everyone knows about the twist in the sixth sense.
00:19 In 1999, however, M. Night Shyamalan's spookfest caught everyone off guard with its story of
00:23 a boy who has a terrifying gift.
00:29 Wisely, the advertising revolved around this plot point, allowing Shyamalan to hide the
00:33 film's biggest twist in plain sight.
00:35 At the end of the sixth sense, we discover that Dr. Malcolm Crowe died after sustaining
00:40 a gunshot wound in the prologue.
00:42 Various clues linger throughout the picture, some subtle, others not so much.
00:46 During the famous "I see dead people" scene in which Cole reveals his secret, he
00:50 explains that these ghosts don't know they're dead.
00:53 And the camera immediately cuts to Malcolm.
00:55 He doesn't know he's dead.
00:56 You see?
00:57 Nobody catches this on the first viewing, but the brief cut is a sly clue to the big
01:02 twist on subsequent watches.
01:04 There are other moments as well, namely that no one other than Cole ever interacts with
01:07 Malcolm.
01:08 Midway through the film, Malcolm meets his wife Anna for dinner, and she ignores him
01:12 throughout.
01:13 Shyamalan frames the scene as if her anger stems from his delay, but in reality, she
01:17 can't see him.
01:18 Instead, she finishes her drink and quietly whispers "Happy Anniversary" before leaving
01:23 the restaurant.
01:24 Oh, and pay attention to the color red as it foreshadows Malcolm's condition.
01:28 Friday the 13th too often gets lost among the formulaic sequels spurred by its success.
01:33 For all its low-budget tricks, the original slasher featured a fun little mystery that
01:37 built towards a shocking ending.
01:39 After all the mumbo-jumbo about Jason Voorhees, the killer turns out to be sweet old Pamela
01:44 Voorhees, knitted sweater and all.
01:46 She was the mysterious person running around setting traps and killing full-grown men without
01:50 breaking a sweat nor being seen.
01:52 Who saw that twist coming?
01:53 Not many.
01:54 If you were too captivated by the shocking deaths to wonder about the killer's identity,
01:58 you weren't alone.
01:59 But the twist might not have been a surprise if you'd paid attention to the soundtrack.
02:04 Composer Harry Manfredini sneaks a nifty spoiler into his novel's score, giving away the ending.
02:09 He created a signature "ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma" sound from a critical moment in the film.
02:13 "Killer, mommy.
02:14 Killer."
02:15 Sure, Manfredini distorts the line enough to cover the dialogue, but the sound remains
02:21 a finely-tuned clue warning viewers to prepare for a very angry mommy.
02:26 The Conjuring is this generation's poltergeist, a ghost story scary enough to hold your attention
02:30 but light enough to warrant multiple viewings.
02:33 There are small tidbits throughout the entire series that viewers can pick up on with each
02:37 viewing, but in The Conjuring 2, director James Wan places the name of the demon, Valak,
02:41 for all to see, provided you look hard enough.
02:44 Knowing the demon's name is essential to stopping it, and curiously, heroes Ed and Lorraine
02:48 Warren miss this obvious detail even when it's right there in broad daylight.
02:52 In fact, the name can be spotted in three separate shots.
02:56 First, after Ed reveals his painting of the nun, he and his wife talk in the kitchen.
03:00 Right behind Lorraine on the kitchen wall hangs a heart with a very pronounced "V."
03:04 Underneath the heart, the letters "A-L-A-K" appear on a wood panel.
03:08 In the same scene, we cut to Ed sitting in front of a window adorned with colorful decorations
03:13 that, you guessed it, spell out the name Valak.
03:17 Later, Lorraine's daughter makes friendship bracelets that, upon closer inspection, likewise
03:22 reveal the demon's name.
03:24 Another shot shows the word spelled out on a bookshelf behind Lorraine.
03:27 Imagine how much time the Warrens could have saved had they paid more attention to their
03:30 surroundings.
03:32 Psycho stands as one of the greats, an exciting exercise in terror that influenced a generation
03:37 of filmmakers.
03:38 Even if you already know the legendary twist that Norman Bates shares his mind with his
03:42 long-deceased, murderous mother, there's still plenty to admire here.
03:46 From Alfred Hitchcock's incredible direction to Bernard Herrmann's classic score and Anthony
03:50 Perkins' star-making performance, everything about Psycho screams classic.
03:55 Now, Hitchcock was quite the mad genius, often packing his pictures with sly humor or dark
04:00 details hinting at unseen elements lingering off-screen.
04:03 With Psycho, he teased unsuspecting audiences with carefully worded lines that point straight
04:07 to the ending for those paying attention.
04:10 As revealed in the final moments of the film, Norman's mother died years prior.
04:14 Her decaying corpse sits in front of a window overlooking the Bates Motel.
04:18 Norman's personality shifts from a meek, humble man to a violent killer on the turn of a dime.
04:22 Neither knows what the other is doing.
04:25 Norman and mother are essentially two different people.
04:27 But during a conversation early in the movie with the doomed Marion Crane, Norman hints
04:31 at his mother's current state.
04:33 Indeed, his mother is dead, her corpse frozen like a stuffed animal.
04:44 A very on-the-nose primer for the madness to come.
04:47 It's hard to tell if the Scream movies are smart with their foreshadowing or just incredibly
04:51 lazy.
04:52 The filmmakers provide so many vague details about the killer's identity that Ghostface
04:56 could feasibly be anyone, and enough evidence would exist to justify the reveal.
05:00 Still, in 2022's Scream, directors Matt Bednely, Olpin, and Tyler Gillette tipped their hand
05:05 by having everyone's favorite underdog, Dewey Riley, name the killer, or at least one of
05:10 the killers, in an early conversation with Sam and Richie.
05:21 Dewey speaks from experience, having watched his friend Sidney survive attacks from boyfriends
05:25 in the previous films, and his warning is spot on.
05:28 Richie is caring and supportive, deceptively so, but turns out to be one half of a killer
05:33 combo yearning to recreate the Woodsboro murders.
05:36 Sadly, Dewey becomes one of Ghostface's victims when he doesn't heed his own advice.
05:41 With Final Destination, what started as a relatively low-budget slasher evolved into
05:46 an entertaining, overtly morbid horror series featuring an abundance of death traps that
05:50 are more clever than they had any right to be.
05:52 The gist?
05:53 In each film, a group of individuals evades death, thus angering the Grim Reaper, who
05:57 subsequently creates elaborate scenarios to kill off the survivors.
06:10 Final Destination 5 opens with Sam and Molly, among others, surviving a bridge catastrophe
06:14 following a well-timed premonition.
06:17 Death comes knocking and executes the survivors one by one until only Sam and Molly remain.
06:21 To celebrate, they board a plane to Paris and see Carter and Alex, two characters from
06:25 the original Final Destination, arguing, realizing all too late that they're doomed to die in
06:30 an explosion shortly after takeoff.
06:32 So, the twist is that Final Destination 5 is a prequel to the first film, something
06:37 viewers might miss unless they're paying close attention.
06:39 See, the fifth film never explicitly states the date.
06:42 Instead, small clues pop up here and there, notably that Sam wants to take a restaurant
06:47 internship in Paris.
06:48 You might also hear music from the early 2000s played over the radio and note the dated car
06:52 models.
06:53 There's even a brief shot of a gift certificate with a 2001 expiration date.
06:58 Everyone needs to see Hereditary at least once.
07:01 Ari Aster's bonkers horror drama doesn't hold back and pummels the viewer with some
07:05 of the grisliest, freakiest, and downright horrifying visuals ever committed to film.
07:10 For those who have seen it, you know that the film revolves around a satanic cult's
07:13 efforts to bring the demon Paimon into the world.
07:16 Doing so requires many beheadings, ancient rituals, and a healthy supply of pantsless
07:21 older people.
07:22 At the conclusion, Mom, Annie, succumbs to her grief and becomes possessed, chasing her
07:27 son Peter until he eventually kills himself.
07:30 Then, he rises and follows his mother's headless, floating corpse into a treehouse,
07:34 where the evil cult worships him as Paimon in the flesh.
07:38 It's weird.
07:39 Great, but weird.
07:41 Aster teases the finale early on by having Charlie, Annie's troubled daughter and Paimon's
07:44 current corporeal host, chop off bird heads, a foreshadowing of the terrible fate that
07:49 awaits both of them.
07:50 A mysterious symbol also appears throughout on necklaces worn by Annie and her mother,
07:54 carved into the post alongside of the road that eventually kills Charlie, and hanging
07:58 around Annie's friend Joan's house, among other places.
08:01 Wes Craven's love letter to the slasher genre, 1996's Scream, still holds up, despite
08:06 its propensity for pop culture references and a never-ending assembly line of off-and-bland
08:11 sequels.
08:12 The film follows Sydney Prescott as she tries to solve a series of gruesome murders around
08:15 her quaint little town.
08:17 Desperately crafted set pieces poke fun at the genre while treading new ground.
08:23 Ultimately, Sydney's boyfriend Billy and his pal Stu are revealed to be behind the
08:30 deaths, their love of horror movies having fed Billy's desire for revenge against Sydney's
08:34 mother for having an affair with his father.
08:36 The shocking reveal only arrives after several twists, but in hindsight, the clues were there
08:42 all along.
08:43 Early in the film, our main characters assemble outside their high school to discuss the crime.
08:47 In the film, the two characters are seen in a room full of blood-soaked escapades.
08:48 Eagle-eyed viewers will notice the thick, black military-style boots worn by both Billy
08:51 and Stu match those worn by Ghostface during his numerous blood-soaked escapades.
08:56 Costume designer Cynthia Bergstrom chose the boots for a specific reason.
09:00 She told Footwear News, "We wanted the boots just to be really nondescript.
09:03 Could a woman wear those boots?
09:05 I remember when I was seeking the boots, it was important that they also came in women's
09:08 sizes."
09:09 As for the scene where Billy and Stu wear the boots in plain sight, Bergstrom explained
09:13 that it was meant to be like a red herring, to throw audiences off.
09:16 In terms of killer modern horror, no film comes close to delivering edge-of-your-seat
09:21 thrills like Jordan Peele's Get Out.
09:23 Part scary movie, part dark comedy, part social commentary, this 2017 shocker follows Chris
09:28 during a trip to meet the family of his girlfriend, Rose.
09:31 Arriving at the ritzy country estate, Chris discovers a horrifying secret.
09:35 Rose's family uses a diabolical procedure known as the coagula to place white people's
09:39 minds into black people's bodies.
09:42 We must wait until the third act to learn the truth, but Peele sets up the big twist
09:45 with clever details.
09:47 In one scene, for example, a cop confronts Rose and Chris after they hit a deer with
09:51 their car.
09:52 Small talk ensues, and the cop asks to see Chris' ID, in order that prompts Rose to
09:56 take action.
10:05 Rose implies the cop is racist, forcing him to retreat to his patrol car.
10:08 As uncomfortable as the incident makes Chris, it cements their bond and assures him, and
10:12 the audience, that she's on his side in whatever he's up against.
10:16 We learn, however, that Rose is in on the coagula procedure and plans to hand Chris
10:20 over to her family.
10:21 The cop scene plays very differently on a second watch.
10:25 She wasn't standing up for her boyfriend, but going out of her way to prevent a paper
10:29 trail for authorities to follow once he goes missing.
10:32 David Fincher's diabolically twisted Thriller 7, about a pair of detectives on a quest to
10:36 bring down a killer known as John Doe, remains one of the most gripping films ever produced,
10:41 right down to its shocking conclusion.
10:43 In summary, protagonists David Mills and William Somerset apprehend John Doe after he willingly
10:47 walks into a police station.
10:49 The trio heads out to find his latest victim, hoping to end the madness.
10:53 Instead, they get much more than expected when a box arrives.
11:01 That contains the head of Mills' wife.
11:03 Nothing prepares the viewer for this moment, as Mills' domestic life lingers on the periphery
11:07 and has very little to do with the overarching narrative.
11:10 Still, John Doe's devastating final move.
11:13 As it turns out, that old sly dog Fincher has been preparing audiences for the big reveal
11:17 all along, particularly with a few shots of pictures in the books Somerset reads in the
11:22 library.
11:23 Specifically, there's a pair of images showing decapitated bodies.
11:26 Also, when Mills shoots John Doe, a single frame of Paltrow's face fills the screen,
11:31 presumably flashing through his mind when he pulls the trigger.
11:33 (music)