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00:00So when it comes to movies, a red herring is, of course, a classic narrative device intended to
00:05distract the audience away from a more important truth. And while it can often end up feeling rather
00:10lazy or cheap in the wrong hands, when it works, it really works. And that's what we're here to
00:16talk about today. We're talking about the greatest red herring movie endings. Now,
00:21this doesn't change some of the films themselves for being overall bad films, but these moments,
00:25these are chef kiss perfect, my friend. And so let's get stuck in, as I'm Jules,
00:30this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the 12 greatest red herring movie endings. Why 12?
00:35Because 10 simply isn't enough sometimes.
00:3812. Verbal Kint's Story is a Total Lie, The Usual Suspects
00:42In effect, the entirety of Bryan Singer's mystery thriller is one big avalanche of red herring,
00:47centered around the identity of the mysterious crime kingpin known as Kaiser Soze. The audience
00:53has led to believe that verbal Kint's long-winded, hyper-convoluted testimony to customs agent Dave
00:58will eventually result in Soze being unmasked. While it technically does, it's not at all in
01:03the way that either Dave nor the audience expects. The iconic ending reveals that Soze has been sitting
01:08in front of Dave the entire time, with Kint bluffing the story on the fly using elements from the
01:14bulletin board in the interrogation room until his bond is posted. Some might argue that 97% of the
01:20movie being a series of fabrications for both the audience and the protagonist makes it a bit of a
01:24tough movie to re-watch, but it's an undeniably genius work of misdirection that works brilliantly
01:29on so many levels.
01:3111. The Real Killer Was Right Under Their Noses
01:34Saw
01:35This modern horror classic revolves around two men, Lawrence and Adam, waking up to discover that
01:40they are chained inside a grotty bathroom at the behest of the infamous Jigsaw Killer.
01:44Now, deep into the third act, it's seemingly revealed that Jigsaw is in fact Zep, an orderly
01:49who works at the very same hospital as Lawrence. It's a pretty deflating and generic villain reveal,
01:55honestly, but it's not long before Zep is beaten to death with a toilet lid by Adam,
01:59and it's then revealed that Zep was in fact just another person in Jigsaw's game. The real
02:04Jigsaw then reveals himself to be the bloody corpse that's been lying in the middle of the
02:08room for the entirety of the game. A cancer patient of Lawrence named John Kramer who wants
02:13to test people's appreciation for life. It's an especially excellent example of a red herring
02:18because the real solution is literally laid out in front of the viewer the entire time.
02:2410. K Isn't The Chosen One
02:26Blade Runner 2049
02:28Blade Runner 2049 serves up a fantastic subversion of the rather tired and dull
02:33chosen one trope, with the first two acts of the movie suggesting that replicant K is the first
02:38ever naturally born replicant, as a result of Deckard and Rachel's relationship. As a result,
02:43K is also set up as the potential leader of a replicant revolution against humans who wish
02:48to oppress them. This is ingeniously deconstructed in the film's finale, however, where it's flatly
02:54revealed that K is neither the child of Deckard and Rachel, nor is he destined to become a
02:59revolutionary. In the end, we find out that the real chosen one is Dr. Anna, a minor character
03:04briefly introduced earlier on in the film. The result is a movie that's considerably more
03:08entertaining on a rewatch than a first viewing, firm in the knowledge that Denis Villeneuve doesn't
03:13just spend 163 minutes recycling one of the most tired blockbuster narratives there is.
03:189. Norman Bates Is The Real Killer
03:21Psycho
03:21Alfred Hitchcock's unforgettable suspense classic is a film built on red herring after red herring,
03:27each intended to prevent you from figuring out the ultimate truth. For starters, it at first appears
03:32that the movie will be focused on Marion Crane and her act of theft, but she's promptly killed
03:37off at the end of Act 1. At this point, suspicion is thrown onto both Norman Bates' mother and a
03:42potential third party who could have committed the killings. In the end, though, it's revealed that
03:47Bates himself was the killer, having created an alternate personality in the vein of his dearly
03:52departed mother, who he himself murdered. Psycho's big reveal may be one of the worst-kept secrets in
03:58movie history nowadays, but as an expertly crafted bait-and-switch, it's pretty much perfect.
04:038. The Aliens Didn't Defeat The Army
04:06The Mist
04:07This adaptation of Stephen King's sci-fi horror novella devotes a lot of its screen time to
04:12convincing the audience that humanity is on its last legs, with a science experiment gone awry
04:17bringing a fleet of terrifying tentacled monsters into our universe. This pays off in Act 3 as
04:22protagonist David, his son, and a few other survivors drive their car past a gigantic six-legged
04:27monster the size of a skyscraper, resigning them to the fact that there is no way out of this
04:32situation. As such, David and the other adults enter a suicide pact, which culminates in David
04:38shooting everyone else dead, including his young son, before then trying to shoot himself but
04:43running out of bullets. As he hears the monsters approaching, he runs out into the mist hoping to
04:47be set free from his life, only to be then met by a series of US Army tanks rolling through the mist.
04:53Mere moments after David killed his own son and several others, he realizes that they would have
04:58all just survived if he had waited just a few minutes longer, as the US Army now apparently
05:03has effectively conquered the creatures. Now, this ending scene is, well, comedically miserable,
05:09and as a red herring definitely feels on the cheaper side of things. But still, you look me in
05:13the eye and tell me you saw this come in, and I'll tell you, no you didn't.
05:167. Teddy Isn't Crazy
05:18Shutter Island
05:20Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island is a textbook example of a cleverly marketed movie which lured
05:25audiences into a false sense of security before blindsiding them with a killer last-minute reveal.
05:31The trailers for the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring psychological thriller were widely mocked for
05:35appearing to spoil the movie's obvious plot twist, that DiCaprio's US Marshal Teddy is in fact
05:41an asylum patient with his own troubled and violent past. Though this does in fact turn out to be true,
05:46Daniels is actually a man called Andrew, who murdered his wife for drowning their children,
05:50it's not actually the movie's real twist at all. The end of the film makes the not-so-subtle
05:55implication that Andrew is in fact cured of his ailment, but feigns another delusional episode
06:01in order to be lobotomized, so that he doesn't have to live with the knowledge of his children's
06:05deaths and him murdering his wife. It's a great little double twist, especially for those who
06:10perhaps started to switch off their brain once the main twist was revealed, which was ultimately
06:14just the prelude to a far more interesting and emotionally shattering final reveal.
06:206. Zemo Kills the Super Soldiers
06:23Captain America Civil War
06:24It's explained earlier in Captain America Civil War that HYDRA attempted to create a team of
06:30Winter Soldiers by injecting five extremely skilled operatives with the Super Soldier serum,
06:34but when they proved to be too volatile for the field, they were put into cryostasis. From the moment
06:39we hear of these other Super Soldiers, it feels like they're going to make a reappearance in Act 3,
06:44and they certainly do. But when Cap, Bucky, and Iron Man arrive at the Siberian HYDRA facility
06:50to face Helmut Zemo, they find that Zemo has actually murdered the other Winter Soldiers in
06:55their sleep. Considering how generic and conventional it would have been for Cap, Bucky, and Iron Man to
06:59face off against a team of Super Soldiers, it was actually a huge relief to see the Russos ditch that
07:04threat in favor of a far more enthralling two-on-one superhero battle.
07:085. The Spinning Top Doesn't Actually Matter
07:11Inception
07:12Now this is a really interesting one. Christopher Nolan's mind-melting sci-fi masterwork concludes
07:17with Dom completing his titular mission and being granted a safe passage home to the US,
07:22so that he can once again take custody of his two young children. The ambiguous final scene,
07:27however, makes it unclear as to whether Cobb is actually back in reality or simply living out a dream.
07:32And true to form, Nolan hasn't offered up much of an answer. But what's telling, though, is Nolan's
07:37response when asked about the ending. He stated numerous times that the reality or unreality of
07:42Cobb's reunion isn't actually the important part of the scene, but simply that he has chosen to accept
07:47whatever is presented before him by walking away from the Spinning Top in the final shot.
07:52Nolan then elaborated. He said he didn't really care anymore and makes a statement. Perhaps all levels
07:58of reality are valid. While it's unavoidable that fans are going to agonize and deliberate
08:03over that final shot until the end of time, it's actually a red herring of a different kind.
08:084. The Bad Guy Wins With Minimal Fuss
08:10No Country For Old Men
08:12The Coen Brothers' best picture-winning thriller initially appears to be structured like a classic
08:17western, with audiences likely assuming that the grizzled heroes Moss and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell
08:22will end up facing off against and defeating the Terminator-like assassin, Anton. But this being
08:27a Coen's movie and all, they intentionally say, well, balls to that, with not one, but two big red
08:32herrings. First of all, Moss is killed 25 minutes before the end of the film by a gang, denying the
08:38audience the expected showdown between him and Anton. The film then quietly concludes with Bell
08:43effectively admitting that he's outmatched by Anton, who escapes with the money, albeit after suffering a
08:48broken arm in a car accident. The ending certainly frustrated many casual viewers by not simply
08:53serving up a predictable finale where either Moss or Bell blows Anton away, but the result is a far
08:59more haunting and memorable conclusion to the story. Bravo.
09:033. Luke Does Nothing
09:05Star Wars The Force Awakens
09:07Now, there's pleasantly subverting fans' expectations, and then there's straight-up trolling them. And in the
09:12case of Star Wars The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams most certainly did the latter with a brilliant
09:17audacity. Luke Skywalker was kept almost entirely out of the movie's marketing, with most fans
09:23assuming that this was simply to preserve the surprise of his appearance, probably with a
09:26lightsaber in hand, no less. Well, a surprise fans certainly got, though not quite the one they were
09:32probably hoping for. Luke only appears in the final minute of the movie and does nothing more than turn
09:37around, lower his hood, and stare intently at Rey. When Rey encountered Luke, fans surely expected a
09:43lengthy chit-chat between the two in the very least, setting up The Last Jedi. But nope, the movie just
09:48ends, forcing audiences to wait another two years to see or hear Luke do, well, anything. Fans were
09:55justifiably annoyed, but at the same time, it was a pretty genius marketing move on the part of Disney.
10:012. Malcolm Was Dead The Entire Time
10:03The Sixth Sense
10:04Everybody knows how The Sixth Sense ends, but if you were lucky enough to see M. Night Shyamalan's
10:10classic horror film before it became a pop culture staple, you'll remember just how much of a shock
10:15the film's final plot twist truly was. Now, the bulk of the film's focus is on child psychologist
10:20Malcolm, attempting to help Cole, a young boy who can see and communicate with the dead. This is all
10:25while assuaging his own guilt over a previous patient that he wasn't able to help who eventually
10:29killed himself. It's a restrained, brilliantly acted character study for the standards of the genre.
10:34And while Malcolm and Cole's mission holds true until the very end of the film, the big catch is that,
10:39as it turns out, Malcolm is himself a dead man with unfinished business. Though the twist has been
10:45imitated by literally dozens of major movies over the years, Shyamalan's expert misdirection makes
10:50this a red herring ending that never once feels cheap or unearned. Rather than invalidating what
10:55came before it, the surprise ending only lends further emotional weight to those earlier sequences,
11:01especially Malcolm's shooting, which initially appears to be non-fatal.
11:041. It's not really a revenge story. Memento
11:08Christopher Nolan's mesmerizingly cerebral film is framed as a revenge thriller in which an amnesiac
11:14man, Leonard, attempts to avenge his wife's murder. Nolan steers the audience in the direction of
11:19believing that Teddy is most likely responsible, though the film's non-linear structure eventually
11:24reveals that Leonard's wife survived the initial attack and Leonard himself accidentally killed her
11:28with an insulin overduce due to his amnesia. Moreover, Leonard and Teddy killed the actual
11:33attacker much more than a year prior, the revelation of which prompts Leonard to frame
11:38Teddy as the killer in his own mind, giving himself a new revenge mission to partake in
11:42rather than face up to the reality of killing his own wife. It's a superb reconfiguration of
11:48what the audience is supposed to care about. We get invested in this revenge story only to learn
11:52that it's thoroughly warped, and instead the true story is built around a man's self-deception
11:57in light of a devastating tragedy.
11:59And there we go, my friends. Those were the 12 Greatest Red Herring Movie Endings. I hope that
12:03you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comment section below.
12:07As always, I've been Jules. You can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJButTheOIsAZero,
12:12or you can swing by Instagram and follow me there. Same handle, RetroJButTheOIsAZero.
12:16It'd be great to see you over there. I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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