12 Greatest Red Herring Movie Endings

9. Norman Bates Is The Real Killer - Psycho

How Psycho Tricks You Into Becoming An Accomplice In Murder Thumb
Universal Pictures

Alfred Hitchcock's unforgettable suspense classic is a film built on red herring after red herring, each intended to prevent you from figuring out the ultimate truth.

For starters, it at first appears that the movie will be focused on Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and her act of theft, but she's promptly killed off at the end of act one.

At this point, suspicion is thrown onto both Norman Bates' (Anthony Perkins) mother and a potential third party who could've committed the killings. In the end, though, it's revealed that Bates himself was the killer, having created an alternate personality in the vein of his dearly departed mother (who he himself murdered).

Psycho's big reveal may be one of the worst-kept secrets in movie history nowadays, but as an expertly-crafted bait-and-switch, it's pretty much perfect.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.