On April Fools' Day, Movie Tricks You!

April Fools' Day can be pretty fun, so long as nobody gets hurt. And as long as nobody is left with an empty wallet for the mere non-luxury of a "gotcha!" Twist endings can have such an effect, particularly if the whole film you've just paid to see is completely negated by a frustrating reveal at the end claiming that what we just watched didn't happen. Personally, when I go to the movies, I don't want the joke to be on me. So, I've compiled this list of five flicks that pulled the wool over our eyes.

And yes, you should definitely beware of SPOILERS.

"April Fool's Day"
Of course I have to include this appropriate title today, and I guess it equally applies to both the 1986 original and the 2008 remake. Each similarly dupes the viewer into thinking it's a typical slasher movie with plenty of kills, only to expose the deaths in the end as being well-designed fakes. I honestly had a fondness for the first version as a kid, thinking it a clever narrative trick, but the more psyche-out endings Hollywood produces, the more I have trouble forgiving the concept. Movies like this are akin to cheap novelty practical jokes, like garlic gum and hand buzzers, that only work on someone once. "April Fool's Day" was my once, and subsequent, similar movies like "The Game" and "Basic" just make me feel like I've wasted my time.

"Carnival of Souls"
Another horror movie that was likely deemed clever at the time (1962) but has since inspired so many similar twist endings that it may now be considered annoying. Basically, it's the "Sixth Sense" scenario of finding out the protagonist has been dead the whole time. However, at least Shyamalan's reveal didn't cancel out the rest of the stuff that precedes it. It made you want to go back and see how it fooled you. With "Carnival of Souls" the prank is that the plot is all in the character's head as she's transitioning into the afterlife.

"Identity"
For most of this 2003 mystery thriller from James Mangold, we're treated to an intriguing plot involving ten stranded characters, all somehow connected, who start getting killed off one by one. It seems initially like a cinematic puzzle, actually. Yet in the end we find out these characters are all just the multiple personalities of a psychiatric patient, and all the events of the film took place within the guy's mind. It's the kind of ending you see coming (the patient was occasionally shown throughout the film as a clue) and you hope you're wrong. Like the ending of "The Village." Because of movies like "Identity," many fans of "Lost" used to worry that the popular TV series would conclude in a similar fashion, with all the castaways being figments of Hurley's imagination.

"Boxing Helena"
Ultimately telling the viewer that the whole movie or TV series has been a dream doesn't have to instill anger. Look at "The Wizard of Oz." And I'd also argue that old episodes of "Newhart" aren't unfunny or less entertaining after the show concluded with such a cop-out ending. Maybe "Boxing Helena" is more frustrating because it's such a disturbing story, about a man who cuts off the arms and legs of the woman he loves in order to enslave her. I bet the reason Madonna infamously backed out of starring in the movie is because of the ending, in which the man awakens and we learn that it was all just a sick fantasy.

"The Usual Suspects"
This twist-ending classic is somehow still satisfying despite the fact that all of the events in the film, save for the interrogation, have not happened. Perhaps it's just a matter of good storytelling and good story-within-storytelling. Same goes for "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" or any other work that uses a framing device ("The Princess Bride," Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew"). But "The Usual Suspects" is unlike the others in that it convinces you it's not just some tall tale or fiction being depicted in flashback. And it got everybody good, proving that a movie can be a worthwhile prank on its audience if done well.

Tags April Fool's Day, Boxing Helena, Carnival of Souls, Identity, The Usual Suspects