The 10 Greatest Movie Plot Twists of 2025, Ranked

When people go to the movies, they expect to be entertained, and there are few things more entertaining than a well-executed plot twist. With thriller films in particular, the twist can make or break the movie and decide whether it’ll be a beloved fan favorite that’s talked about for years to come or an embarrassment that everyone involved would rather forget. That’s a lot of pressure, and it isn’t an easy task, but it’s also not an impossible one, as evidenced by the movies on this list.

The best movie plot twists of 2025 have appeared in films belonging to a varied range of genres and styles, though they are mostly thrillers of one kind or another. They include some of the most acclaimed and enjoyable films of the year, so you know you’re in for a treat. Without further ado, here’s our ranked selection of the greatest movie plot twists of 2025.

10

‘Novocaine’ (2025)

Sherry Was In on the Heist

Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen and written by Lars Jacobson, Novocaine is an action comedy with a pretty simple premise: Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) is a mild-mannered bank employee with a rare disorder that makes him unable to feel pain. When a group of violent robbers hits the bank where he works, Nathan attempts to use his unique condition to help rescue his co-worker and love interest, Sherry (Amber Midthunder). The film also stars Ray Nicholson, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh, and Jacob Batalon in supporting roles.

Arguably one of the most fun movies of the year, Novocaine isn’t particularly heavy on plot, spending most of its time finding wild and innovative ways to use its premise to full comedic effect, but its plot twist still catches you off guard. Turns out, Sherry was in on the heist and originally tried to seduce Nathan to get the code for the bank’s vault. She still catches real feelings for him, however, and helps him defeat her adoptive brother (Nicholson), the mastermind of the whole plot. Is it the biggest plot twist of the year? Of course not, but it is a satisfying one.

9

‘Drop’ (2025)

Richard Is the Blackmailer

A mystery thriller film directed by Christopher Landon and written by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, Drop stars Meghann Fahy as Violet, a widowed mother who goes on her first date in years. What starts as a pleasant, luxurious evening soon turns into a terrible nightmare when someone starts sending Violet ominous messages threatening to kill her son and sister unless she kills her date. The movie also features Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Reed Diamond, and Jeffery Self in supporting roles.

A Hitchcockian thriller anchored by Meghann Fahy’s grounded performance, Drop is an entertaining thriller that follows a relatable, everyday person who finds themselves in extraordinary circumstances and must find their way back to safety. In the film, this takes the form of threatening short-range “Digi-Drops,” leading Violet to realize the blackmailer must be nearby and observe each person closely. The twist: the blackmailer is revealed to be Richard (Diamond), the seemingly harmless man who claimed to be at the restaurant on a blind date. Definitely not the sort of person anyone would have suspected at first glance, and an effective villain for this pulpy 2000s-style story.

8

‘Black Bag’ (2025)

There Were Two Conspiracies, Not One

Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp, Black Bag is a spy thriller film starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as intelligence officers Kathryn St. Jean and George Woodhouse, a happily married couple. Both their personal and professional lives take a sudden dark turn when George is tasked with investigating the leak of a confidential software program, and Kathryn becomes one of his suspects. The film also stars Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan in supporting roles.

Essentially a darker, more emotionally complex Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Black Bag initially leads us to believe that George will have to choose between his wife and his sense of duty, but Fassbender’s enigmatic and intelligent spy finds the hidden third option. The movie’s climax sees husband and wife unite and discover that there were two separate but competing conspiracies: one by Stieglitz (Brosnan) and James (Page) to leak the program and frame them, and another by Zoe (Harris) and Freddie (Burke) to thwart the other plan. In the process, the film proves that the secret to a truly successful relationship is communication, even when you’re spies with access to highly sensitive information.

7

‘Honey Don’t!’ (2025)

Reverend Drew Isn’t the Killer

Directed by Ethan Coen, who also co-wrote the screenplay with his wife, Tricia Cooke, Honey Don’t! is a neo-noir dark comedy starring Margaret Qualley as the titular Honey O’Donahue, a small-town private investigator. The second movie in Coen and Cooke’s lesbian B-movie trilogy after 2024’s Drive-Away Dolls, the film follows Honey as she investigates the death of a client with ties to a shady preacher (Chris Evans) while exploring a new relationship with police officer MG (Aubrey Plaza). The movie also features Charlie Day, Kristen Connolly, Talia Ryder, Lera Abova, and more in supporting roles.

A niche and underrated film, Honey Don’t! was not critically or commercially successful, but it is a solid mystery with excellent cinematography, an endearing cast of characters, and a genuinely surprising twist. For most of the film, Chris Evans’ charismatic antagonist performance leads us to believe that Reverend Drew and his Four-Way Temple are the root of all evil, and it’s a sufficiently convincing performance to make us miss the real villain: Aubrey Plaza’s cool and quiet MG, who turns out to be a serial killer.

6

‘Echo Valley’ (2025)

Kate Isn’t as Helpless as She Seems

Directed by Michael Pearce and written by Brad Ingelsby, Echo Valley is a drama thriller that stars Julianne Moore as Kate, a Pennsylvania horse trainer, and Sydney Sweeney as her drug addict daughter, Claire. When Claire unexpectedly shows up at her door, Kate is pulled into a dark web of deceit and violence that could cost her everything she holds dear. The movie also stars Domhnall Gleeson, Kyle MacLachlan, and Fiona Shaw in key roles.

For the first two-thirds or so of Echo Valley, we are led to believe that Kate is a helpless victim of her daughter’s schemes, especially after she’s manipulated into getting rid of a dead body for her and blackmailed by Claire’s drug dealer, Jackie (Gleeson). Now, genre specialists would of course realize that Kate must, by the laws of narrative, fight back in some way, but the movie makes her journey so harrowing and heartbreaking that you’re still caught off guard when it’s revealed that she found a way to turn the tables. Though it looks like she’s being manipulated into taking the fall for the dead body (and insurance fraud), she cunningly manipulates Jackie instead and frames him for the whole thing, ending her torturous experience on her own terms.

5

‘The Running Man’ (2025)

Ben Survived

A Stephen King adaptation produced, co-written, and directed by Edgar Wright, The Running Man is a dystopian action thriller that’s a remake of the eponymous 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film. The film stars Glen Powell as Ben Richards, a blue-collar worker in an authoritarian near-future America who is selected to participate in a deadly reality show and must spend 30 days on camera being hunted by experienced killers and ordinary people alike for a chance to win a billion dollars. William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Sean Hayes, Colman Domingo, and Josh Brolin star in key supporting roles.

The Running Man makes quite a few changes to the source material, modernizing the story and giving it a more hopeful ending, though not one that’s as over-the-top as the ’80s film. One of the biggest changes is that in the book, Ben crashes a plane into the Network building in a kamikaze attack that kills himself and the villain, Dan Killian, but in the 2025 film, the plane is shot down, and Ben appears to die. However, the twist is that he survives the plane’s destruction and returns later to lead an uprising against the Network. It’s a moment that takes fans of both the book and the campy ’80s adaptation by surprise, but in a good way, and it certainly pleased Stephen King.

4

‘Straw’ (2025)

Janiyah’s Daughter Is Dead

A psychological crime drama written, produced, and directed by Tyler Perry, Straw stars Taraji P. Henson as Janiyah Wiltkinson, a single mother whose difficult life becomes unbearable on one truly horrible day. Struggling to care for her frequently ill daughter and frustrated by her dead-end job, Janiyah finds herself at the center of a series of unfortunate events that escalates into a tense hostage situation. The movie also stars Sherri Shepherd, Teyana Taylor, Sinbad, Rockmond Dunbar, Ashley Versher, Mike Merrill, and Glynn Turman in supporting roles.

Following the painful struggle of a working-class mother, Straw is an emotional drama first and a thriller second. However, it’s still a brilliantly suspenseful thriller with a genuinely shocking twist: in its climactic moment, the movie reveals that Janiyah’s daughter died the night before, and many of the incidents that happened to her were hallucinations brought on by the trauma of the loss. It’s the sort of twist that transforms the whole experience of a film, and thanks to Henson’s masterful performance, the movie pulls it off perfectly.

3

‘One Battle After Another’ (2025)

Lockjaw Is Willa’s Biological Father

Written, directed, and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another is a black comedy action thriller adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob, a washed-up revolutionary living off the grid who is forced to battle the consequences of his past when his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), is kidnapped by his old nemesis, Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and more star in supporting roles.

One Battle After Another’s twist won’t be a surprise to fans of Pynchon’s novel, but it’s certainly a hard-hitting reveal in the specific context of the film. Long story short, Colonel Lockjaw coerced Willa’s mother (Taylor) into having sex with him, so Willa might be his daughter, which would disqualify him from joining a far-right club he really wants to get into. A climactic DNA test confirms that Lockjaw is indeed Willa’s father, shattering the last bit of faith she had in what she thought was her own history. It also perfectly crystallizes the film’s narrative threads, casting Willa as the child of both oppressor and protester who must now choose who she wants to be.

2

‘The Thursday Murder Club’ (2025)

Penny Is a Murderer

Directed by Chris Columbus, The Thursday Murder Club is a murder mystery comedy-drama adapted from Richard Osman’s bestselling 2020 novel of the same name. Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie star as the titular group of elderly amateur sleuths, who try to solve a murder while fighting plans to redevelop the retirement village they call home. The film also features David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Richard E. Grant, Tom Ellis, Geoff Bell, Paul Freeman, and Ingrid Oliver in supporting roles.

The best part of The Thursday Murder Club is its endearing cast and their sweet, heartwarming relationships, especially the friendship between Mirren’s Elizabeth and former police officer Penny Gray (Susan Kirkby), who is in a coma throughout the film. So, it’s quite a surprise when we learn that the mysterious events of the film all began because Penny killed a murderer in 1973 and hid the body all these years with the help of her doting husband, John (Freeman). Like most of the movie’s best moments, it’s an act of love born out of a sense of justice, and it makes for the perfect conclusion to an enjoyable and moving story.

1

‘Companion’ (2025)

The Robot Is Not the Villain

A sci-fi thriller film starring Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid, Companion was written and directed by Drew Hancock in his directorial debut. The film follows a group of friends at a remote lakehouse, where it’s revealed that one of the guests is an AI-powered companion robot, setting off a bloody story full of unexpected twists and turns. Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend, and more star in other significant roles.

After the trailer and promotional material revealed the fact that Thatcher’s character is a robot, most people may have expected it to be just another killer robot movie. But, as it turns out, Companion’s AI isn’t the villain after all; in fact, she’s the victim of a sinister plot who displays far greater humanity than the actual humans in the story. Powered by Thatcher’s award-winning performance, it’s a truly unpredictable movie that subverts all expectations, and it’s been widely hailed as one of the best sci-fi movies of the year.