All stories have this magical way of unraveling information, but when they unexpectedly veer off course, they become exhilarating plot twists. The realm of cinema is brimming with these legendary plot twists, some of which have achieved more notoriety than the films themselves.
When executed with finesse, a plot twist can leave an indelible mark on the audience. Yet, if mishandled, it can transform the entire movie into a mere attempt at cheap thrills instead of a brilliantly woven narrative. Fortunately, there exist some underappreciated sci-fi films that dared to take the plunge, and in these instances, the outcome was nothing short of mesmerizing with truly gratifying surprises.
1. In ‘Soylent Green’ It’s Actually People
The 1973 dystopian movie Soylent Green gets its name from the fictional food substances in the story. In this future world, overpopulation and pollution have depleted natural resources, leaving humanity with few options for sustenance. Artificial wafers called Soylent Green, Red, and Yellow become the sole sources of food. Soylent Green, the latest addition to the Soylent Corporation’s lineup, is touted as the tastiest and most nutritious variant.
The film centers around detective Robert Thorn, played by Charlton Heston, who investigates the death of a director from the Soylent Corporation. As Thorn digs deeper, it becomes evident that he is unraveling a sinister plot involving the company. Unfortunately, his leads keep getting eliminated by one of their own employees. Eventually, Thorn uncovers the shocking truth: the original ingredients of Soylent Green, namely algae, have been replaced with the bodies of deceased individuals. In a bleak climax, Thorn desperately shouts, “Soylent Green is people!” in a futile attempt to expose this horrifying secret. This revelation has become as iconic as the movie itself.
2. In ‘Pandorum’ Gallo Is A Hallucination
The film Pandorum takes us aboard a spaceship where the last remaining humans are on a journey to a new home planet in deep space. We follow the story of Corporal Bower (played by Ben Foster) and Lieutenant Payton (played by Dennis Quaid), who are awakened from hypersleep to fix the ship. But things quickly turn terrifying as they encounter strange, wild humanoids roaming the ship. On top of that, Bower and Payton begin to suspect that they are suffering from memory loss and a psychological condition called pandorum, which can happen after waking from hypersleep.
In the midst of this chaos, Payton crosses paths with a man named Corporal Gallo (played by Cam Gigandet), who claims that the ship is lost and that he had to defend himself by killing his team after they went insane. However, as Gallo’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, Payton tries to sedate him, and a struggle ensues. Shockingly, it is revealed that Payton is actually hallucinating his past self and that he is, in fact, Gallo. When he woke up earlier, he had killed the original Payton and then entered a different hypersleep pod, leading him to believe that his true identity is Payton due to his amnesia. This twist takes the audience by surprise, as one of the main characters turns out to be nothing more than a hallucination. It’s a mind-bending revelation in an underrated and mind-bending movie.
3. In ‘Event Horizon’ The Ship Itself Gained Sentience In A Hell Dimmension
1997’s Event Horizon takes place primarily aboard the eponymous spaceship, which mysteriously reappears in 2047 after vanishing years ago. Captain Miller (played by Laurence Fishburne) leads a crew tasked with investigating the ship, only to discover a horrifying massacre has occurred on board. As they delve deeper, the crew encounters unsettling Latin messages foretelling of Hell, and many of them begin to experience terrifying hallucinations.
Eventually, Dr. Weir (portrayed by Sam Neill), the creator of the Event Horizon, deduces what must have transpired. He reveals that when the gravity drive was deactivated, the ship somehow plunged through a portal into a nightmarish dimension beyond our reality, where it gained consciousness. Miller must now strive to destroy the corrupted vessel and prevent the deranged Weir from attempting to send it back to the other dimension. The twist is utterly terrifying because no one could anticipate a spaceship itself becoming self-aware, let alone malevolent, while adrift in the vastness of space.
4. In ‘Sphere’ The Ship Is A Human Vessel
Director Barry Levinson took a clever and unexpected turn into the realm of science fiction with his 1998 film, Sphere. The story begins when a highly advanced spaceship is discovered beneath the ocean, seemingly buried there for centuries. To investigate this extraordinary find, a team of experts is assembled, including psychologist Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman), marine biologist Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone), and mathematician Dr. Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson). They establish a base in a nearby underwater laboratory and use it as a launching point for their exploration of the presumed alien spacecraft.
As the team delves deeper into their investigation, they uncover intriguing details that suggest the ship is actually of American origin. This revelation forces them to reconsider their initial assumption that it is of extraterrestrial nature. Instead, they come to the astonishing conclusion that the ship originated from Earth, but from a time in the future. It appears that the vessel traveled back through time via a black hole and crashed into the ocean during the 1700s. Tragically, the crew members met their demise as a result of the hallucinations induced by a mysterious sphere on board, causing them to confront their deepest fears.
From this point on, the plot of Sphere takes a gripping turn as the present-day crew must navigate the increasingly strange and intense occurrences that arise from the sphere.
5. Dark City’ Isn’t On Earth – And It’s An Alien Experiment
Dark City is a mind-bending mix of neo-noir and sci-fi that throws viewers into an enigmatic city with conflicting time periods. It’s a constant dark atmosphere, yet strangely no one seems to bat an eye. Our protagonist, John Murdoch, wakes up with no recollection of his past and decides to find his way back to his hometown, Shell Beach. However, he quickly realizes that nobody has a clue about how to reach this elusive place. To make matters worse, he is relentlessly pursued by the mysterious Strangers, who hold the power to manipulate reality at their whim.
The perplexing nature of the city starts to make sense when we learn that it’s all part of an experiment conducted by the Strangers. These otherworldly beings, functioning as a hive-mind, are studying humans to understand their individuality. They implant different identities into humans, but Murdoch is an anomaly for awakening without his intended personality. The city itself is a confined environment, enclosed by a forcefield and floating through space. Dark City brilliantly plays with our assumption that movies are set on Earth, weaving together the darkness and mundane details to deliver an incredible twist.
6. In ‘Sunshine’ Pinbacker Is Still Alive And Wants The Earth To Die
The 2007 sci-fi thriller Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle, takes place in the far future and revolves around a spaceship crew on a crucial mission to reignite the dying sun using a massive bomb. Interestingly, they are not the first crew to undertake this task. The previous mission’s ship mysteriously vanished, making them the second crew to take on this Earth-saving responsibility. During their journey towards the sun, they receive a distress signal from the missing ship and decide to investigate, believing that two bombs would increase their chances of success.
Upon boarding the Icarus I, the crew stumbles upon a recorded message left by Captain Pinbacker (played by Mark Strong) nearly seven years ago. Unforeseeably, before they can process this information, both ships are unexpectedly torn apart, causing significant damage. As the crew assesses their oxygen levels to determine if they have enough to reach the sun, they make a startling discovery – there is someone else onboard. It turns out that Pinbacker is still alive, although he has descended into madness. He believes that the sun has commanded him to let the Earth perish, so that people can ascend to heaven. This revelation shocks everyone because they never expected any of the original crew to have survived this long, especially Pinbacker, who bears the scars of his horrific burns.
7. In ‘Infinity Pool’ The Hotel Guests Are Murder Tourists
In 2023’s Infinity Pool, we meet James Foster (played by Alexander Skarsgård), an author who is enjoying a vacation with his wife (Cleopatra Coleman) in the fictional country of Li Tolqa. Unfortunately, things take a dark turn when James drives under the influence and accidentally takes the life of a local man.
As a consequence of his actions, James is sentenced to death. However, Li Tolqa has a rather unconventional alternative to execution. James has the option to pay for a clone of himself to be created, which will then be killed in his place.
In a deeply unsettling scene, James chooses to witness the execution of his clone while sending his wife back home. Shockingly, it is soon revealed that many of the guests at the resort purposefully come to commit crimes and observe their clones being killed, finding this twisted form of entertainment appealing. They try to persuade James to join them and continue killing locals. There is even a disturbing moment when James unknowingly attacks who he believes is a police officer, only to discover that it is yet another clone of himself.
This unexpected twist adds an extra layer of complexity to the story, injecting a mix of intrigue and horror into the central concept of the film.
8. In ‘Colossal’ The Monsters Were Born From Gloria and Oscar’s Childhood Fight
Colossal is a 2016 film that takes a unique approach to the monster attack genre. It tells the story of Gloria, a depressed and alcoholic American woman, who discovers her ability to transform into a giant reptilian monster in Seoul, South Korea whenever she passes through a specific playground in her hometown. Surprisingly, her childhood friend Oscar also possesses the power to transform into a giant robot by walking through the same playground.
The two friends experiment with their newfound abilities, experiencing mixed emotions about the destruction they cause in the real world. However, they remain oblivious to the origin of their powers. Everything changes when Gloria suddenly recalls a childhood fight with Oscar at the playground, during which he destroyed her diorama of Seoul. As the plot unfolds, Oscar’s true nature is revealed—he is jealous and abusive, and he begins using his robot form to manipulate Gloria into a relationship, holding Seoul hostage. This revelation is made even more shocking by the clever casting choice of Jason Sudeikis, known for portraying amiable characters, which effectively enhances the impact of his villainous twist.
9. In ‘Moon’ It Was Clones All Along
In the 2009 sci-fi-drama Moon, the protagonist, Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell), is nearing the end of his three-year contract as the sole human overseeing a helium mining operation on the Moon. However, things take a turn for the worse when he gets involved in a rover accident. Despite being informed about the accident, Sam is unable to recall any details. Curiosity leads him to discover an unconscious clone of himself at the scene.
As both Sams delve deeper into the matter, they uncover a shocking truth – all the workers on the Moon are clones of Sam. These clones are specifically designed to serve for only three years before being incinerated and replaced by a fresh batch. The mining company employs this unethical practice to avoid the hassle of training new astronauts. The new clones wake up believing it’s the beginning of their contract, perpetuating the cycle.
Although the appearance of the first clone hints at something peculiar, the full extent of the twist is truly unexpected and leaves a lasting impact.
10. In ‘Strange Days’ Max Betrays Lenny And Is Revealed As The Killer
Strange Days, with its shades of cyberpunk and ’90s aesthetic, takes place in a near-future 1999. Our protagonist, Lenny, used to be a police officer but has now become a dealer of illegal recordings known as SQUIDs. These SQUIDs allow people to experience someone else’s memories and physical sensations. Set in the war-torn dystopia of Los Angeles, Lenny is also trying to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend, Faith.
As the story unfolds, people around Lenny start mysteriously dying, and the initial suspicion falls on corrupt police officers. However, a surprising twist reveals that the killer is none other than one of Lenny’s closest friends, Max. Lenny discovers this truth while watching a SQUID disc, which shows Max in a relationship with Faith.
In a shocking turn of events, Max confesses that he was hired by Faith’s new boyfriend to carry out a series of murders, including Faith herself. However, Max took matters into his own hands and killed the boyfriend instead. His plan was to frame Lenny for the entire ordeal. This revelation hits Lenny hard, as Max was someone he trusted implicitly.
The unexpected twist and betrayal depicted in the SQUID disc truly leave a lasting impact on Lenny, who never anticipated such deception from his supposed friend.
