- Release Date: 1995
- Director: Bryan Singer
- Gross Sales: $34.4 million
A con man recounts a complex tale of deceit involving a mysterious crime lord named Keyser Söze. It is ultimately revealed that the narrating con man, Roger "Verbal" Kint, is actually Söze. Interestingly, Kevin Spacey was not initially cast for the role of Keyser Söze The Usual Suspects. Instead, the character was developed further following his impressive audition.
- Release Date: 2006
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Gross Sales: $291.5 million
An undercover cop and a mole within the police force try to uncover each other's identities while infiltrating an Irish gang. Both ultimately meet their demise, culminating in a final twist involving another mole. The characters Billy Costigan, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, and Colin Sullivan, played by Matt Damon, are central to this narrative. The Departed is a remake of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs.
- Release Date: 2010
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Gross Sales: $836.8 million
A thief who infiltrates people's dreams to steal their secrets is offered a chance to have his criminal record erased. But as he delves deeper into minds, the line between dream and reality becomes increasingly blurred. Dominick "Dom" Cobb, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, navigates this complex world, and director Christopher Nolan filmed the climactic scene on a rotating set to create a realistic sensation of weightlessness.
- Release Date: 1995
- Director: David Fincher
- Gross Sales: $327.3 million
Two detectives hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi. The killer, John Doe (Kevin Spacey), orchestrates his own death to complete the cycle of the sins. Many people who have seen the film Seven still claim to this day to have seen the distrubing contents of the box in the finale scene. However, the interior contents of the box are never shown! Director David Fincher states that this was a conscious decision because audience imagination is more powerful than an image a director or other movie artist could provide.
- Release Date: 2017
- Director: Jordan Peele
- Gross Sales: $255.4 million
Get Out is the newest film on the list. A young African-American man named Chris Washington, played by Daniel Kaluuya, visits his white girlfriend's family estate. While there he uncovers disturbing secrets. The family is involved in a conspiracy to transplant their consciousness into black bodies. The film is filled with symbolism related to slavery and racism in America.
- Release Date: 2006
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Gross Sales: $109.7 million
Two rival magicians compete to create the ultimate stage illusion, with Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) using a secret twin to perform his tricks. Both Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale performed their own magic tricks in the film after undergoing extensive training.
- Release Date: 2001
- Director: Ron Howard
- Gross Sales: $313 million
John Nash is a mathematician, portrayed by Russell Crowe, in A Beautiful Mind. Throughout the film he battles schizophrenia and attains greatness despite his struggles. Many of his experiences and relationships are later revealed to be delusions. However, contrary to the film's depiction, the real-life John Nash did not believe in aliens.
- Release Date: 1999
- Director: David Fincher
- Gross Sales: $101.2 million
An insomniac office worker creates an underground fight club with a soap salesman named Tyler Durden in the film Fight Club. Durden is later revealed to be a figment of the protagonist's imagination. In the film, Brad Pitt, who plays Tyler Durden, performed many of his own stunts, including the famous bar soap fight scene.
- Release Date: 1996
- Director: Gregory Hoblit
- Gross Sales: $102.6 million
In Primal Fear, a lawyer defends an altar boy named Aaron Stampler, played by Edward Norton, who is accused of murdering an archbishop. It is later revealed that Aaron faked his multiple personality disorder. Interestingly, Edward Norton was not the first choice for the role; Leonardo DiCaprio was originally considered for the part.
- Release Date: 2001
- Director: Richard Kelly
- Gross Sales: $7.5 million
A troubled teenager, Donnie Darko, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is haunted by visions of a man in a rabbit suit who manipulates him. These disturbing visions are connected to a time loop and alternate realities. The film intriguingly never explicitly explains the significance of the number "28," which has led to numerous fan theories.
- Release Date: 2016
- Director: Denis Villeneuve
- Gross Sales: $203.4 million
A linguist, Dr. Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, is recruited to communicate with extraterrestrials who have landed on Earth in the film Arrival. The visions she experiences are not flashbacks but glimpses of the future, which influence her decisions in the present. The alien language spoken in the film was developed by a linguist to be both beautiful and believable.
- Release Date: 2010
- Director: Darren Aronofsky
- Gross Sales: $329.4 million
A ballet dancer in Black Swan, played by Natalie Portman, struggles to maintain her sanity as she competes for the lead in Swan Lake. Her descent into madness is partially self-inflicted and fueled by intense pressure. To convincingly portray a professional ballerina, Natalie Portman trained rigorously for months.
- Release Date: 2014
- Director: David Fincher
- Gross Sales: $369.3 million
A man becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike), who is later revealed to have staged her own disappearance. While the book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is written solely from Amy Dunne's perspective, the film adaptation also incorporates Nick Dunne's viewpoint.
- Release Date: 1999
- Director: M. Night Shyamalan
- Gross Sales: $672.8 million
A child psychologist in The Sixth Sense (played by Bruce Willis) assists a young boy who claims to see dead people, only to later discover that he himself is dead. Haley Joel Osment, who portrayed the boy, Cole Sear, was just 11 years old when he delivered the iconic line, "I see dead people." He was nominated for a dozen major acting awards, including the Oscars' Best Supporting Actor category. This made Osment the third-youngest male ever nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
- Release Date: 2004
- Director: James Wan
- Gross Sales: $103.9 million
In Saw, two men wake up in a dilapidated bathroom, chained to pipes, with instructions to escape. The supposed corpse in the room is revealed to be the orchestrator of the deadly game, John Kramer, played by Tobin Bell. The gruesome torture devices featured in the film were designed with medical accuracy in mind.
- Release Date: 2000
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Gross Sales: $40 million
A man suffering from short-term memory loss, Leonard Shelby (played by Guy Pearce), uses tattoos to track down his wife's killer. Along the way, he manipulates his own memories to give his life a sense of purpose. Memento unfolds in a chronologically reversed manner, compelling the viewer to piece together the narrative alongside the protagonist.
- Release Date: 2001
- Director: Alejandro Amenábar
- Gross Sales: $209.9 million
A woman named Grace Stewart, played by Nicole Kidman, lives in a dark, old house with her two photosensitive children. It is eventually revealed that Grace and her children are actually ghosts. Interestingly, Nicole Kidman filmed most of her scenes without knowing the true nature of her character's situation, which contributed to her authentic on-screen confusion.
- Release Date: 2010
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Gross Sales: $294.8 million
A U.S. Marshal named Teddy Daniels, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, investigates a psychiatric facility for the criminally insane in Shutter Island. Over the course of the film, however, he is revealed as a patient who concocted the investigation as part of his delusion. DiCaprio requested that the film's ending remain ambiguous, allowing the audience to interpret it in their own way.
- Release Date: 2004
- Director: Brad Anderson
- Gross Sales: $8.2 million
An industrial worker named Trevor Reznik, portrayed by Christian Bale, suffers from severe insomnia and begins to experience strange occurrences. His insomnia and delusions stem from his overwhelming guilt over a hit-and-run accident he caused. For this role, Christian Bale lost over 60 pounds to accurately depict the character's deteriorating physical and mental state.
- Release Date: 2016
- Director: M. Night Shyamalan
- Gross Sales: $278.5 million
Three girls are kidnapped by a man with 23 distinct personalities. The emergence of a 24th personality, known as "The Beast," reveals his true and terrifying capabilities. James McAvoy portrays Kevin Wendell Crumb, a character with dissociative identity disorder, and masterfully plays all 24 different personalities in the film.
- Release Date: 2007
- Director: Frank Darabont
- Gross Sales: $57.3 million
A group of people find themselves trapped in a supermarket by a mist that hides deadly creatures. The protagonist, David Drayton (Thomas Jane), makes the tragic decision to kill his loved ones to spare them from a worse fate, only to be rescued moments later. The film's ambiguous ending contrasts with the more hopeful conclusion of Stephen King's original novella.
- Release Date: 2004
- Director: M. Night Shyamalan
- Gross Sales: $256.7 million
Inhabitants of a secluded village are warned of creatures lurking in the surrounding woods. The seemingly peaceful village is assumed by viewers to be set in the 1800s due to lack of modern technologies. But the village depicted in the film is actually a modern-day community created to escape the modern world. The frightening creatures are used by the village elders to keep people from venturing into the woods and leaving to join the modern world.
- Release Date: 2003
- Director: James Mangold
- Gross Sales: $90.3 million
Ten strangers find themselves stranded at a remote motel during a storm and begin to be killed off one by one. As Identity's plot progresses, it is revealed that they are actually all personalities of a man with dissociative identity disorder named Malcolm Rivers (played by Pruitt Taylor Vince). Among these personalities is Ray Liotta's character, Ed Deline, whose name is an anagram of "idle teen."
- Release Date: 1997
- Director: David Fincher
- Gross Sales: $109.4 million
A wealthy banker becomes entangled in a mysterious game that takes over his life in The Game. It is later revealed that that the elaborate setup was orchestrated by his brother, Conrad Van Orton (Sean Penn), as a birthday surprise. Michael Douglas, who played the banker, was unaware of the full extent of the psychological manipulation his character would endure during the filming.
- Release Date: 2003
- Director: Park Chan-Wook
- Gross Sales: $15 million
Director Spike Lee had a much longer cut of the film, clocking in at 140 minutes. However, the studio heavily edited it down to 104 minutes, cutting out a significant portion of Lee's vision. Lee was so unhappy with the final product that he disowned the film.
