Dead Silence Twist Ending

Screenwriter Leigh Whannell is known to feature twist endings. His Saw, Dead Silence, and Insidious movies employ plot twists to shift resolutions into unique directions. We never suspect Dead Silence will end with a twist.

However, the movie ending reflects back on small scenes to explain this twist ending. If you haven't watched Dead Silence, avoid reading the twist ending spoiler below.

***Dead Silence twist ending spoiler***

Mary Shaw is a ventriloquist accused of killing a small boy. This small boy attempted to embarrass Mary Shaw, revealing her doll wasn't real to the live audience. 

The town took the law into their own hands. They ripped Maria Shaw's tongue out, and then buried her with all of her dolls. 

The curse is that Maria Shaw would rip your tongue out. This story was told to children to scare them. Mary would kill any person who screamed after seeing her, removing their tongues and hollowing out their heads. 

In the twist ending, Jamie approached his wheelchair-bound father. His father slouched over, exposing his hollowed-out back cavity. It is then we learn the truth about Jamie's father. 

Ella Ashen, presumed to be the wife of Jamie's father, is an expert ventriloquist. She carved out the perfect doll of his father, tricking him into believing he was actually alive. 

The twist is revealed through flashbacks in which Jamie remembers Ella next to his father's side. We can see Ella guiding his voice and body movement.  

In this twist ending,  a possessed Ella turns into Mary Shaw and kills Jamie. Ella tells Jamie who is the dummy now? She kills him. The trickery is the spirit of Maria Shaw murdering Jamie's wife to draw him close to his father and the town. As a result of this, Jamie is the last living descendant of families connected to those who were responsible for Mary Shaw's death.  

Cool twist ending. Leigh Whannell uses plot twists in all of his movies. Watch his Saw and Insidious movies for these clever twist endings. Insidious features a similar ending to Dead Silence. Lastly, watch the original Saw movie to witness possibly his best twist ending. 

The Loft twist ending

The Loft, a movie about five married men who share a luxury loft, featured a twist ending. We never expected this twist, but it is obvious the writer went the extra mile to conceal this twist until the truth exposed an unsuspecting character.

Back in 2011, I could have watched a free screening of The Loft in Los Angeles. I didn't R.S.V.P. in time, so the screening spots filled up and I missed watching this thriller movie. However, those in attendance at this free screening may have contributed excellent feedback to stall the release of The Loft. The movie didn't reach the box office until last year, which turned out as a box office failure.

We will discuss the twist ending below to shed light on the writer's intentions.

***Spoiler Alert***

In The Loft, Luke Seacord (Wentworth Miller) loved Sarah Deakins (Isabel Lucas) beyond words. He was jealous that Vincent Stevens (Karl Urban) had an affair with Sarah. Out of love, Luke drugged Sarah, and then injected a fatal dose of insulin in her arm. 

Why did Luke do this? If Luke couldn't have Sarah, nobody could be with her. He orchestrated a fake suicide to make Vincent pay for always taking advantage of everyone. 

What Chris Vanowen (James Marsden) discovered is that Sarah didn't die from an overdose. She was in fact alive after presumably taking the pills. Luke is shocked to learn this. Philip (Mathias Schoenaerts) mutilated Sarah's arm to make it appear she committed suicide.  

Chris coerced the truth out of Luke, telling him Vincent will go on trial for her murder. The real twist ending jolts the previous plan to teach Vincent a lesson for his transgressions. Luke wrote the fake suicide note that read, "See you in the next life." 

Luke gains the trust of his friends by sharing secret tapings of Vincent sleeping with women who are important to them. To keep the focus off of him, he reiterates that Vincent uses everyone and deserves his fate. Vincent tries to explain his case, but Luke leaves out the suicide letter. 

The female detective shares that Vincent's prints are on the knife, no suicide note and the pills didn't kill her. This revelation precedes the final twist. 

The main twist ending is that Luke setup this fake suicide out of love for Sarah. He didn't know that she was alive before Philip slit her wrist, so this revelation is a shock. Sarah admitted to Luke she felt nothing for him, and maybe they could be together in the next lifetime. 

Luke wanted Vincent to pay for being with Sarah. His grand plan gets exposed because Chris pieces together the facts. He finds the fake suicide note in the trash. In most good twists, flashbacks are used to reveal all major points. We watch these flashbacks to tie up all loose ends. 

Nevertheless, Vincent getting charged for murder twisted the plot further. After learning of this, Luke indicates that his brother Philip killed Sarah. Chris interrogates Vincent to give up, it is over. 

The Loft twist ending is executed quite well to trick viewers. Ultimately, the irony is that Luke actually commits suicide himself after he faked the suicide of Sarah to repay Vincent. In the end, Luke ends his life to avoid embarrassment. His final words to Chris: tell his wife and his kid he loves them.   

What did you think of The Loft twist ending? 

Passengers twist ending

Passengers (2008) is a movie about a counselor who is dispatched to help the surviving members of a plane crash cope with the tragedy. Anne Hathaway plays a counselor (Claire) who loses her patients to a coverup. In the movie ending, there is a plot twist that changes the entire movie.

***Spoiler Alert***

Claire sits at her front porch. The pilot (Arkin) tries to convince her that there is no conspiracy. The plane crash supposedly killed every passenger. Claire refuses to believe the truth. 

Arkin admits his divorce, fatigue and stress interfered with saving the plane from crashing. Arkin blames himself for failing to be in the cockpit at the time the plane loses control. He tells Claire to look at the passenger list to confirm everyone on the plane died. 

This is the moment the twist ending reveals that Claire is dead. Claire's name is featured on the passenger list. We go into the events preceding the plane crash. 

Every group member Claire assumes she counseled are passengers on the plane. Eric is a passenger sitting next to her in the plane. The two have a good chat. 

Arkin is socializing with a few of the female flight attendants. Without any warning whatsoever, the wing catches fire and sends the plane in free fall. Claire is frightened. Eric calms Claire down. He tells her he will be at her side. Claire imagines her life together with Eric, a life that could've been something. 

The plane crashes and kills every passenger. The Passengers twist ending establishes that Claire is never alive in the movie. She is a ghost who needs resolution to realize she is dead. The last job she holds prior to her death is a counselor. 

Claire's aunt and teacher guide her to Heaven. In the final moments, Claire's sister enters her apartment. On a night, Claire writes a touching message, saying she loved her and she meant everything. In most of the movie, Claire wants to reconnect with the sister since they had a fight. 

The Passengers twist ending begins with the ghost revelation on the front porch. We see the inside cabin prior to the plane crashing. Most moviegoers assumed the movie plot revolved around a conspiracy. Claire is a ghost trying to connect the dots. 

In the movie ending, the plot twist explains the reason Claire is unable to contact her sister and the motivation behind her deceased teacher and aunt are disguised as her boss and neighbor, respectively. The twist ending engages the moviegoer like The Sixth Sense. The final revelation conveys that Claire is a ghost the entire movie and the surviving passengers are actually deceased as well. 

The Passengers twist ending is executed quite well to explain the movie plot. We realize no passengers survived in the plane crash, so the remaining ghosts were stuck between the afterlife and the physical world. Family members showed up to take the group members to Heaven. Claire is the last to learn the fate of the passengers, including herself. She never realized she was a passenger on the plane. 

Great movie with a twist ending!