10 Best Meet The Real Villain Moments In Movie History
3. There Never Was An Aaron - Primal Fear
1996's legal thriller Primal Fear focuses on Aaron Stampler (Edward Norton, who was Oscar-nominated for his role), a 19-year-old alter boy accused of murdering an Archbishop.
It's eventually revealed that Stampler suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and that his other personality, Roy, murdered the Archbishop due to years of sexual abuse.
Ultimately Stampler is found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a psychiatric hospital, which seems like a reasonable enough outcome given the nature of the case.
However, in the film's delicious ending, Stampler reveals that he faked the mental health disorder, taunting his lawyer Martin Vail (Richard Gere) by announcing that it wasn't Roy who never existed, but Aaron.
The shy and retiring, vulnerable personality he presented to everyone was a fabrication, while the violently sociopathic Roy was his true persona all along, having relished killing the Archbishop and manipulating the legal system.
Reveals like this are extremely tough to pull off well, especially today, but thanks to sharp writing and Norton's phenomenal performance, it's a truly mind-blowing bad guy reveal.