Why are secrets so fascinating?
Is it borne out of fear? Because we don’t want to be the outsider who’s not in the know? Or is it, perversely, because we crave their potency? Because, really, knowing a secret gives us what we were previously denied – power? One thing we know for sure is that once you uncover a secret – once you experience a twist – your whole perspective shifts. Here are some films that keep you guessing and insist that you earn your right to know what’s really what.

Double Indemnity
dir. Billy Wilder
1944

The Third Man
dir. Carol Reed
1949

Psycho
dir. Alfred Hitchcock
1960

Plant of the Apes
dir. Franklin J Schaffner
1968

The Wicker Man
dir. Robin Hardy
1973

Chinatown
dir. Roman Polanski
1974

The Empire Strikes Back
dir. Irvin Kershner
1980

The Crying Game
dir. Neil Jordan
1992

The Usual Suspects
dir. Bryan Singer
1995

Se7en
dir. David Fincher
1995

The Game
dir. David Fincher
1997

The Sixth Sense
dir. M. Night Shyamalan
1999

Fight Club
dir. David Fincher
1999

American Psycho
dir. Mary Harron
2000

Memento
dir. Christopher Nolan
2000

Kill List
dir. Ben Wheatley
2011
