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Twisty thrillers are my favourite kind of movies which is why I was very excited about Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks this week. When I realised I've used most of my favourite twisty thrillers, well, I was no longer excited at that point. Lucky had that I had my music on shuffle mode and a song by an Italian rapper came on. How did it help me? Because each line of that song spoils a movie and I remembered about some pretty shocking twists. Without further ado, here are my picks.
PS I'm so awesome I kept this post spoiler free. I'm kidding. It's spoiler free because I was too busy (Giro d'Italia passed in front of my house yesterday and although I don't care about cycling at all it was freaking exciting and time-consuming) to write a decent post lol
Psycho (1960)
After stealing a lot of money from her employer, Marion Crane (Janet Leight) runs away and eventually gets lost and decides to spend the night at a desolate motel run by Norman Bates, a quiet young man dominated by his mother. I was aware of the twist when I first saw it but it still was so damn effective.Seven (1995)
Close to his retirement, detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is paired with a short-tempered but idealistic young detective (Brad Pitt) and must stop a serial killer whose actions are inspired by the seven deadly sins. This caught me completely by surprise as it is one of the most clever twists ever.
Child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) takes on the task to help a terrified boy (Haley Joel Osment) who is plagued by visions of ghosts. Someone spoiled this one for me and I couldn't stop thinking about the twist for the whole film but it still entertained me.
Love all three of these picks! I just rewatched Se7en again the other day. That film never gets old, it's still my favorite Fincher.
ReplyDeleteIt's my favourite Fincher too.
DeleteTre grandissime scelte! Sì, probabilmente almeno due su tre le avrei schierate pure io. Con qualche sfumatura forse avrei incluso anche Memento :)
ReplyDeleteC'avevo pensato anch'io a Memento però poi mi sono ricordata di averlo già scelto.
DeleteI admire you guys trying not to pick movies you've picked before, I just go like PICKED IT AGAIN! 😂 Oh well. Man, Seven and Sixth Sense are so classic, I'm sorry someone spoiled the latter to you. I think today actually one might be able to watch it and not know what happens, but for anyone who grew up in the 90s is pretty impossible.
ReplyDeleteI had Psycho down as an honourable, I knew the twist too, but no doubt it was effective.
I find it more challenging to not pick movies I've already picked. It keeps my mind sharp hahah
DeleteHahaha - I don't really care, I often repick the same ones because they are good.
DeleteSeen all your picks and they're great.
I'm doing that soon as I'm running out of great movies haha
DeleteMarvelous choices, especially since you were up against both with distractions and having used so many thrillers you liked.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't love it nearly as much as some do Psycho is a great film that Hitchcock does so much with with such economy of effort. Much of the credit should also go to Anthony Perkins, the film would be so much less without him.
I loved The Sixth Sense, and I still think its a hell of a good film, but after the first couple of views that fantastic original tension is missing. The acting couldn't be better though, Toni Collette's car scene is amazing and that will probably never change no matter how many times I see the film.
Seven is too disturbing for me to say I loved it. I admired and appreciated the craftsmanship of all involved but its story is an ugly one.
I went with a Hitchcock as well (the king of twists!) and there was a wealth of other choices so it made picking two other rather simple.
North by Northwest (1959)-Poor Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is having a hell of a bad day. The mild mannered (but impeccably dressed) ad exec has been mistaken for a government agent and kidnapped by international spies from whom he manages to escape leading to a chase across the country amid many complications. One of Alfred Hitchcock’s best thrillers with turns and twists aplenty performed by a top flight cast including besides Grant-Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Martin Landau.
The Tenant (1976)-Polish émigré (Roman Polanski who also directed) arrives in Paris and moves into an apartment in a rundown building whose previous resident attempted suicide by jumping out one of the windows. As his sanity begins to crack he is shunned by the other residents (including Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas and Shelley Winters) as he starts to assume personality traits of the previous tenant. Strange and unsettling.
Phone Booth (2002)-Cocky married publicist Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) has a girl, Pam (Katie Holmes) on the side. Not wanting his wife to discover his duplicity he calls Pam on one of the few remaining public telephones in New York City. Just as he completes his latest call the phone rings, Stu answers and The Caller tells him he has a gun pointed at him and if he attempts to leave or alert anyone he will be killed. As he tries to figure out an escape the situation twists and turns as it escalates in danger.
North by Northwest is one of Hitchcock's best films. So thrilling and absorbing. My favourite will always be Rear Window though. I saw Phone Booth many years ago but I remember liking it.
DeleteLove these 3 and I just re-watched Seven and it still is very unnerving. Psycho is so great and a real shocker. One of my favourite shots is at the end when the camera focuses on Norman and when the car is pulled out, freeze the shot. You will see the chain is connected to Norman's heart and his mom's face is superimposed over Norman. Thankfully nobody disclosed the ending to me and it shocked the hell out me.
ReplyDeleteI was told about that when I first watched the film, so I rewatched it to see that scene and, damn, it was impressive!
Delete2 films that I love in Psycho and Se7en that are just incredible to watch. The Sixth Sense however doesn't hold up for me on repeated viewings.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't know about that as I've only watched it once.
DeleteI still haven't seen Seven BUT I think the ending was spoiled for me. I really want to watch it even though I know its gruesome. The Sixth Sense is one of the ultimate twists. You don't see it coming but when you watch back you can see it all. Still, great film too.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a shame! I hope you get to see it soon, I'm sure you'd enjoy it anyway.
DeleteAlso Psycho is a materpiece, and oh that ending, hard to beat that.
ReplyDeleteI agree!
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