15 Awesome Plot Twists That Totally Saved Awful Movies

3. Azazel Survives By Possessing A Cat - Fallen

The Twist: The movie opens with Detective John Hobbes (Denzel Washington) narrating about the day that he almost died, clearly referencing a scene to come at the end of the movie.

Hobbes finds himself chasing down Azazel, a demonic entity who can leap from body to body. At the end of the movie, Detective Jonesy (John Goodman) is possessed by Azazel and killed by Hobbes, who informs him that because a) they are situated at a remote cabin and b) because Hobbes just smoked a poison-laced cigarette, there will be no living body for Azazel to travel into, essentially trapping him inside a corpse forever more.

In the final scene, a cat emerges from the cabin and ends up possessed by Azazel just in time, while the monologue from the start of the film is repeated, making it clear that it wasn't Hobbes saying it, but Azazel, who is now simply waiting for the end of civilisation to happen.

Why It Saves The Movie: A totally by-the-book supernatural thriller that fails to make the most of Denzel Washington's enormous talents, Fallen is for most of its run-time a totally forgettable film. Once that ending comes along, though, it changes everything, unexpectedly allowing the bad guy to win and essentially making the protagonist's sacrifice completely for nothing.

Rarely are thrillers with A-list stars so matter-of-fact about completely screwing the hero over, but Fallen had no qualms about throwing him to the wolves, and as a result the payoff is pretty damn great.