10 Movies Where The Villain Isn't Seen Until The End

David Fincher dove into the world of true crime with Zodiac (2007), turning his steely palette and surgical compositions to perhaps the most famous real-life cold case of all time.

Told from the perspective of San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr), cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) and SFPD Inspector Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), the film follows the manhunt for serial murderer the Zodiac Killer, who terrorised the San Francisco Bay Area in the late '60s and early '70s. Leading the police and reporters on a merry chase, the killer lurks in the background of the movie taunting them with letters and ciphers.

Reflecting the cold case status of the real life Zodiac crimes, much of the movie is rooted in speculation about who the killer actually is, and it is only towards the end that Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch) -- the best lead anyone ever had -- shows up. As expected, there is no concrete resolution to the movie's mystery, but Fincher definitely aims his concluding chapters at Allen, staging the action to strongly imply Allen's involvement and suggesting he may have been found guilty had he not died prematurely.