12 Greatest Red Herring Movie Endings
That damn spinning top doesn't mean squat.
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00:00 So, when it comes to movies, a red herring is, of course, a classic narrative device
00:04 intended to distract the audience away from a more important truth.
00:08 And while it can often end up feeling rather lazy or cheap in the wrong hands, when it
00:13 works, it really works.
00:15 And that's what we're here to talk about today.
00:17 We're talking about the greatest red herring movie endings.
00:21 This doesn't change some of the films themselves for being overall bad films, but these moments,
00:25 these are chef kiss perfect, my friend.
00:28 And so let's get stuck in, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the
00:32 12 greatest red herring movie endings.
00:34 Why 12?
00:35 Because 10 simply isn't enough sometimes.
00:38 12.
00:39 Verbal Kint's Story is a Total Lie – The Usual Suspects
00:42 In effect, the entirety of Bryan Singer's mystery thriller is one big avalanche of red
00:47 herring, centered around the identity of the mysterious crime kingpin known as Kaiser Soze.
00:52 The audience is led to believe that Verbal Kint's long-winded, hyper-convoluted testimony
00:56 to customs agent Dave will eventually result in Soze being unmasked.
01:01 While it technically does, it's not at all in the way that either Dave, nor the audience
01:05 expects.
01:06 The iconic ending reveals that Soze has been sitting in front of Dave the entire time,
01:11 with Kint bluffing the story on the fly using elements from the bulletin board in the interrogation
01:15 room until his bond is posted.
01:18 Some might argue that 97% of the movie being a series of fabrications for both the audience
01:22 and the protagonist makes it a bit of a tough movie to re-watch, but it's an undeniably
01:27 genius work of misdirection that works brilliantly on so many levels.
01:31 11.
01:32 The Real Killer Was Right Under Their Noses – Saw
01:35 This modern horror classic revolves around two men, Lawrence and Adam, waking up to discover
01:40 that they are chained inside a grotty bathroom at the behest of the infamous Jigsaw killer.
01:45 Deep into the third act, it's seemingly revealed that Jigsaw is in fact Zep, an orderly
01:49 who works at the very same hospital as Lawrence.
01:52 It's a pretty deflating and generic villain reveal, honestly, but it's not long before
01:56 Zep is beaten to death with a toilet lid by Adam, and it's then revealed that Zep was
02:01 in fact just another person in Jigsaw's game.
02:04 The real Jigsaw then reveals himself to be the bloody corpse that's been lying in the
02:08 middle of the room for the entirety of the game, a cancer patient of Lawrence named John
02:12 Kramer who wants to test people's appreciation for life.
02:16 It's an especially excellent example of a red herring, because the real solution is
02:20 literally laid out in front of the viewer the entire time.
02:24 10.
02:25 K isn't the Chosen One – Blade Runner 2049
02:28 Blade Runner 2049 serves up a fantastic subversion of the rather tired and dull "Chosen One"
02:34 trope, with the first two acts of the movie suggesting that Replicant K is the first ever
02:38 naturally born Replicant, as a result of Deckard and Rachel's relationship.
02:43 As a result, K is also set up as the potential leader of a Replicant revolution against humans
02:48 who wish to oppress them.
02:50 This is ingeniously deconstructed in the film's finale, however, where it's flatly revealed
02:54 that K is neither the child of Deckard and Rachel, nor is he destined to become a revolutionary.
03:00 In the end, we find out that the real Chosen One is Dr. Anna, a minor character briefly
03:04 introduced earlier on in the film.
03:06 The result is a movie that's considerably more entertaining on a rewatch than a first
03:10 viewing, firm in the knowledge that Denis Villeneuve doesn't just spend 163 minutes
03:15 recycling one of the most tired blockbuster narratives there is.
03:18 9.
03:19 Bates is the real killer, psycho
03:22 Alfred Hitchcock's unforgettable suspense classic is a film built on red herring after
03:26 red herring, each intended to prevent you from figuring out the ultimate truth.
03:31 For starters, it at first appears that the movie will be focused on Marion Crane and
03:35 her act of theft, but she's promptly killed off at the end of Act 1.
03:39 At this point, suspicion is thrown onto both Norman Bates' mother and a potential third
03:43 party who could have committed the killings.
03:46 In the end, though, it's revealed that Bates himself was the killer.
03:49 He created an alternate personality in the vein of his dearly departed mother, who he
03:53 himself murdered.
03:55 Psycho's big reveal may be one of the worst-kept secrets in movie history nowadays, but as
03:59 an expertly crafted bait-and-switch, it's pretty much perfect.
04:03 8.
04:04 The aliens didn't defeat the army, The Mist
04:07 This adaptation of Stephen King's sci-fi horror novella devotes a lot of its screen
04:12 time to convincing the audience that humanity is on its last legs, with a science experiment
04:16 gone awry bringing a fleet of terrifying tentacled monsters into our universe.
04:21 This pays off in Act 3, as protagonist David, his son, and a few other survivors drive their
04:25 car past a gigantic six-legged monster the size of a skyscraper, resigning them to the
04:30 fact that there is no way out of this situation.
04:33 As such, David and the other adults enter a suicide pact, which culminates in David
04:38 shooting everyone else dead, including his young son, before then trying to shoot himself
04:42 but running out of bullets.
04:44 As he hears the monsters approaching, he runs out into the mist hoping to be set free from
04:48 his life, only to be met by a series of US Army tanks rolling through the mist.
04:53 Mere moments after David killed his own son and several others, he realises that they
04:58 would have all just survived if he had waited just a few minutes longer, as the US Army
05:02 now apparently has effectively conquered the creatures.
05:05 This ending scene is comedically miserable, and as a red herring definitely feels on the
05:10 cheaper side of things, but still, you look me in the eye and tell me you saw this come
05:14 in, and I'll tell you, no you didn't.
05:16 7.
05:17 Teddy Isn't Crazy – Shutter Island
05:20 Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island is a textbook example of a cleverly marketed movie which
05:25 lured audiences into a false sense of security before blindsiding them with a killer last
05:30 minute reveal.
05:31 The trailers for the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring psychological thriller were widely mocked for
05:35 appearing to spoil the movie's obvious plot twist.
05:38 The DiCaprio's US Marshal Teddy is in fact an asylum patient with his own troubled and
05:43 violent past.
05:44 Though this does in fact turn out to be true – Daniels is actually a man called Andrew,
05:48 who murdered his wife for drowning their children – it's not actually the movie's real
05:52 twist at all.
05:53 The end of the film makes the not-so-subtle implication that Andrew is in fact cured of
05:58 his ailment, but feigns another delusional episode in order to be lobotomised, so that
06:03 he doesn't have to live with the knowledge of his children's deaths and him murdering
06:06 his wife.
06:07 It's a great little double twist, especially for those who perhaps started to switch off
06:11 their brain once the main twist was revealed, which was ultimately just the prelude to a
06:16 far more interesting and emotionally shattering final reveal.
06:20 6.
06:21 Zemo Kills the Super Soldiers – Captain America Civil War
06:25 It's explained earlier in Captain America Civil War that HYDRA attempted to create a
06:29 team of Winter Soldiers by injecting five extremely skilled operatives with the Super
06:33 Soldier Serum, but when they proved to be too volatile for the field, they were put
06:37 into cryostasis.
06:39 From the moment we hear of these other Super Soldiers, it feels like they're going to
06:42 make a reappearance in Act 3 – and they certainly do.
06:46 But when Cap, Bucky and Iron Man arrive at the Siberian HYDRA facility to face Helmut
06:51 Zemo, they find that Zemo has actually murdered the other Winter Soldiers in their sleep.
06:56 Considering how generic and conventional it would have been for Cap, Bucky and Iron Man
06:59 to face off against a team of Super Soldiers, it was actually a huge relief to see the Russos
07:03 ditch that threat in favour of a far more enthralling two-on-one superhero battle.
07:08 5.
07:09 The Spinning Top Doesn't Actually Matter – Inception
07:12 Now this is a really interesting one.
07:14 Christopher Nolan's mind-melting sci-fi masterwork concludes with Dom completing his
07:19 titular mission and being granted a safe passage home to the US, so that he can once again
07:23 take custody of his two young children.
07:26 The ambiguous final scene, however, makes it unclear as to whether Cobb is actually
07:30 back in reality or simply living out a dream.
07:33 And true to form, Nolan hasn't offered up much of an answer.
07:36 But what's telling, though, is Nolan's response when asked about the ending.
07:40 He stated numerous times that the reality – or unreality – of Cobb's reunion isn't
07:44 actually the important part of the scene, but simply that he has chosen to accept whatever
07:48 is presented before him by walking away from the spinning top in the final shot.
07:52 Nolan then elaborated.
07:54 He said, "He didn't really care anymore and makes a statement.
07:57 Perhaps all levels of reality are valid."
08:00 While it's unavoidable that fans are going to agonize and deliberate over that final
08:04 shot until the end of time, it's actually a red herring of a different kind.
08:08 4.
08:09 The Bad Guy Wins With Minimal Fuss – No Country For Old Men
08:12 The Coen Brothers' best picture-winning thriller initially appears to be structured
08:16 like a classic western, with audiences likely assuming that the grizzled heroes Moss and
08:21 Sheriff Ed "Tom" Bell will end up facing off against and defeating the Terminator-like
08:25 assassin Anton.
08:27 But this being a Coens movie and all, they intentionally say "balls" to that, with
08:31 not one, but two big red herrings.
08:34 First of all, Moss is killed 25 minutes before the end of the film by a gang, denying the
08:38 audience the expected showdown between him and Anton.
08:41 The film then quietly concludes with Bell effectively admitting that he's outmatched
08:45 by Anton, who escapes with the money, albeit after suffering a broken arm in a car accident.
08:50 The ending certainly frustrated many casual viewers by not simply serving up a predictable
08:55 finale where either Moss or Bell blows Anton away, but the result is a far more haunting
09:00 and memorable conclusion to the story.
09:02 Bravo.
09:03 3.
09:04 Luke Does Nothing – Star Wars The Force Awakens
09:07 Now there's pleasantly subverting fans' expectations, and then there's straight
09:11 up trolling them, and in the case of Star Wars The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams most certainly
09:15 did the latter with a brilliant audacity.
09:18 Luke Skywalker was kept almost entirely out of the movie's marketing, with most fans
09:23 assuming that this was simply to preserve the surprise of his appearance, probably with
09:26 a lightsaber in hand no less.
09:28 Well, a surprise fans certainly got, though not quite the one they were probably hoping
09:32 for.
09:33 Luke only appears in the final minute of the movie and does nothing more than turn around,
09:37 lower his hood, and stare intently at Rey.
09:40 When Rey encountered Luke, fans surely expected a lengthy chit-chat between the two in the
09:44 very least, setting up the Last Jedi, but nope, the movie just ends, forcing audiences
09:50 to wait another two years to see or hear Luke do, well, anything.
09:55 Fans were justifiably annoyed, but at the same time, it was a pretty genius marketing
09:59 move on the part of Disney.
10:00 2.
10:01 Malcom Was Dead The Entire Time – The Sixth Sense
10:05 Everybody knows how The Sixth Sense ends, but if you were lucky enough to see M. Night
10:09 Shyamalan's classic horror film before it became a pop culture staple, you'll remember
10:14 just how much of a shock the film's final plot twist truly was.
10:17 Now, the bulk of the film's focus is on child psychologist Malcom attempting to help
10:21 Cole, a young boy who can see and communicate with the dead.
10:25 This is all while assuaging his own guilt over a previous patient that he was unable
10:28 to help who eventually killed himself.
10:30 It's a restrained, brilliantly acted character study for the standards of the genre, and
10:34 while Malcom and Cole's mission holds true until the very end of the film, the big catch
10:38 is that, as it turns out, Malcom is himself a dead man with unfinished business.
10:44 Although the twist has been imitated by literally dozens of major movies over the years, Shyamalan's
10:49 expert misdirection makes this a red herring ending that never once feels cheap or unearned.
10:54 Rather than invalidating what came before it, the surprise ending only lends further
10:58 emotional weight to those earlier sequences, especially Malcom's shooting, which initially
11:02 appears to be non-fatal.
11:03 1.
11:04 It's Not Really a Revenge Story – Memento Christopher Nolan's mesmerizingly cerebral
11:11 film is framed as a revenge thriller in which an amnesiac man, Leonard, attempts to avenge
11:16 his wife's murder.
11:17 Nolan steers the audience in the direction of believing that Teddy is most likely responsible,
11:22 though the film's non-linear structure eventually reveals that Leonard's wife survived the
11:25 initial attack, and Leonard himself accidentally killed her with an insulin overdose due to
11:30 his amnesia.
11:31 Moreover, Leonard and Teddy killed the actual attacker much more than a year prior, the
11:36 revelation of which prompts Leonard to frame Teddy as the killer in his own mind, giving
11:40 himself a new revenge mission to partake in rather than face up to the reality of killing
11:44 his own wife.
11:45 It's a superb reconfiguration of what the audience is supposed to care about.
11:50 We get invested in this revenge story only to learn that it's thoroughly warped, and
11:54 instead the true story is built around a man's self-deception in light of a devastating tragedy.
11:59 And there we go my friends, those were the 12 greatest red herring movie endings.
12:03 I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
12:06 the comments section below.
12:08 As always I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter @RetroJ but the O is a
12:11 zero or you can swing by Instagram and follow me there, same handle, RetroJ but the O is
12:16 a zero.
12:17 Be great to see you over there, and I'll speak to you soon.