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Glass Onion just had a limited release before it becomes available on Netflix on December 23, and it’s typically full of hilarious celebrity jokes and references. However, just like its predecessor, as the movie is about a murder mystery and is full of twists and turns, the opening sequence contains clues to some of those surprises, including the true identity of who the characters and audiences presume to be Andi Brand.
However, Glass Onion isn’t the only clever movie that cleverly spoils its ending for viewers, and plenty of thrillers have cheekily pulled off the same trick. Whether it’s subtle or totally in your face, these thriller movies couldn’t wait to give away the showstopping reveal.
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
A lot of movies hint at a major character’s death in the opening sequence, but never has a movie been so upfront about it since the classic Billy Wilder-directed movie, Sunset Boulevard. The movie opens with the body of the main character floating in a pool with the homicide squad speeding to the house.
Though the plot twist might not be that he died but who it was that murdered him, it could have had a lot more impact if his death was kept a secret from the audience until it happens. As great as the movie is, with the knowledge that Joe gets killed, it’s painfully obvious to audiences in the first few minutes who it was killed him.
The Thing (1982)
While The Thing is a horror movie first and foremost, it’s a thriller too, as the whole movie has audiences trying to deduce which character the parasite is using. However, the opening sequence, which sees a group of Norwegians chasing after a dog, completely spoils an early but huge plot twist that the parasite is inside the cute sled dog.
However, it’s only spoiled for people who speak Norwegian. In their native language, one of the Norwegians yells, “Get the hell away! It’s not a dog, it’s some sort of thing! It’s imitating a dog, it isn’t real!” That undoubtedly completely ruined the film for any bilingual viewers watching it in 1982.
Fight Club (1999)
Fight Club is a cult classic and one of the most beloved movies of all time, and that is mostly because of the plot twist that nobody sees coming. The 1999 movie has one of the most memorable final shots in cinema, which is followed by the Narrator learning that Tyler doesn’t exist and the only way to get rid of him is by shooting himself.
However, in the very opening sequence, the Narrator explains Tyler’s plot to blow up five buildings, adding “I know this because Tyler knows this.” The character doesn’t detail why that’s the case, and it totally gives away that they’re the same person, but viewers won’t put that together until rewatching it. That isn’t the only time that the twist was hinted at either, as throughout the film Tyler appears in single frames, usually when the Narrator is discussing his insomnia.
The Prestige (2006)
The Prestige’s title meaning changes after watching, as it refers to the structure of the narrative as opposed to the rivalry between two magicians, which is what the audience originally believe. One of the many plot twists in the movie is 3that one of the magicians, Robert Angier, isn’t pulling any cheap tricks but is using actual magic when spectators are under the impression that he dies on stage. Angier duplicates himself as he kills himself, and this is explained in the very opening sequence.
In the opening scene, John Cutter performs a magic trick where he makes a bird in a cage disappear, only for it to reappear in his other hand. He reveals that the bird in the cage was crushed in a collapsible cage, and the bird in his left hand is completely different from the one in the cage. The opening sequence spoils the ending in a couple of ways, as not only is the explanation with the bird a dead giveaway but a shot of a forest full of top hats opens the film, which hints at the fact that Angier keeps killing his previous self.
Knives Out (2019)
Knives Out has been phenomenally successful for the type of mid-budget film it is, and it’s one of the funniest movies about murder, but it still has a major thriller element even if it isn’t all that scary. Though it isn’t quite the opening sequence, in the first act of the movie, Harlan, the murder victim himself, spoils the ending of the movie right before his death. Under the impression that Marta made a mistake by giving him the wrong medication, Harlan considers a murder mystery novel about somebody who intentionally switches the meds, which is exactly what Ransom did.
The scene interestingly has two big reveals, but audiences didn’t pick up on either of them. Not only does Harlan literally but unintentionally reveal Ransom’s whole plan by thinking of inventive whodunnit novels, but he mentions that Ransom can’t tell the difference between a stage knife and a real one. At the end of the movie, Ransom tries to kill Marta with a knife, not knowing that it’s a prop knife that’s retractable.
The Village (2004)
The Village is about a group of villagers in 19th-century Pennsylvania who are surrounded by woods full of cloaked beasts, or so viewers think. The 2004 release is a bad movie with a great ending, as it’s revealed that it takes place in the present day, and those monsters were made up by the Elders, so none of the villagers would dare wander away from the village.
However, any linguist in the audience might have seen the ending coming, as one of the elders uses the colloquial and modern-day term “dumpster.” It’s a great hidden detail that alludes to the typical M. Night Shyamalan twist, it’s just a shame that everything in between is messy and incoherent.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
If it was clear from the newly released Pinocchio, Guillermo del Toro has a fascination with death, and a unique outlook on it too. And that’s no more clear than in Pan’s Labyrinth. As it takes place in the middle of the Spanish Civil War, the movie ends with the young girl Ofelia’s death, but it’s given away in the very opening scene.
The opening shot of the 2006 film is of Ofelia lying on the floor after she has been killed. However, the end of the movie can be looked at in two different ways, and it isn’t quite as depressing as the movie’s opening hints at. Though Ofelia might have died in the real world, she’s reborn in the fantastical world, and it’s up to viewers if they want to believe that the fantasy world is real or not.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Village isn’t the only Shyamalan-directed thriller movie that gives away the ending in the very beginning. The twist ending to the 1999 movie has become iconic, and the fact that Dr. Malcolm Crowe was dead the whole time led to so much word of mouth that the movie became a phenomenal success, making $672 million off a budget of just $40 million (via Box Office Mojo).
However, the opening scene depicts Malcolm getting killed, as one of his former clients storms into his office and shoots him. Audiences just assumed that the wound wasn’t fatal and that he survived, but he was always a ghost. In China, the movie is spoiled even before the opening scene, as the Chinese title of the film is He’s a Ghost! (via What Culture).
Shutter Island (2010)
Shutter Island follows two detectives, Teddy and Chuck, who visit Ashecliffe Hospital to investigate a missing person case, only it’s revealed at the end that the missing patient is Teddy and that Chuck is Teddy’s doctor. The two are simply playing a role-playing game.
But while the movie might already be pretty predictable, the opening scene heavily hints at the twist too. Before the two “detectives” enter the hospital, they’re asked to hand over their guns, and Chuck struggles to remove his holster more than any detective would. This is because he isn’t a detective at all, but a doctor.
Dark City (1998)
Dark City is a sci-fi thriller about an amnesiac man who attempts to discover his true identity while being suspected of murder at the same time, and it has the most damaging example of a thriller’s plot twist being ruined in the opening act. Where the teases and hidden-in-plain-sight clues are intentional in most cases, Dark City’s opening spoiler is a case of poor writing and editing.
The whole plot and final twist are given away in narration at the very beginning of the film, and it was so controversial that the voiceover was removed in the 2008 director’s cut. Without the voiceover, the film is considerably better and makes for an incredible mystery thriller that has viewers on the edge of their seats.
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