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