I love movies almost as much as I love television, in depth documentaries on social or pop cultural topics. Horror films that delight and scare the hell out of you, car chase explosion hot chick compilations, and of course in depth make you think got to see that again to fully comprehend it. Let’s face it though you only really get to experience these onetime after that you are simply waiting for your favorite part or trying to see if the writing holds up on a second go round. Here are my top five “wait…what?” films.

5. Jacob’s Ladder. How do I sum this up without giving too much away? A man returns home from Viet Nam and has to now deal with all that he experienced while over there fighting. Yep that’s it. Thanks to all the secrecy and deceit of that war this story takes yon on a journey through the mind of a man trying to sort out what happened on one particular mission. For the most part he has dealt with it until another member of his unit shows up and starts asking questions. This is where the wheels come off the wagon. This is a powerful film and deserves multiple watchings. I have seen this movie more times than I care to admit too and every time I get lost in the landscape. It is worth the journey. I watch it every couple of years and shake my head afterward

4. Memento. This is a movie about a man trying to solve his wife’s murder. The kicker is he cannot form any new memories. He suffers from retrograde amnesia brought on by trauma. The filmmaker brings this across by showing you the film in fifteen minute, or so, segments shown from the end to the beginning. A mystery that starts at the end and ends at the beginning. This is a wonderful device. I have watched this film several times, shown it in psychology class the students actually forgo lunch to see the end, and when I get to the end, or rather the beginning, I am always left saying wait what now? It is definitely worth the watch; I mean if you have been under a rock and not yet heard of this.

3. The 6th Sense. This is the film that rocketed M. Knight Shyamalan to the top. This is the story of a therapist who helps a young boy who has a problem. The boy sees dead people, I mean everywhere. Bruce Willis is he therapist trying to help this you child work through whatever struggle he has that makes him think he sees dead people. Then we see, through the child’s eyes, that he actually sees dead people. I also do not want to give away too much for the 4 of you have not yet seen this but at the end of it all is the reveal and I swear I went right back after the credits and watched this a second time. Great film making, sadly the only one I really like from him.

2. The Game. This one is one of those you truly only get to experience once. However giving to someone who has not yet seen is a great second view. The game centers on a man who leads a solitary life and receives a gift from his younger brother for his birthday. This is an important birthday as it is the same age where his father committed suicide. The gift is for an ultrarealistic life game. They put you through all sorts of testing before hand to make sure you can handle what they are throwing at you and our protagonist is rejected. Imagine that a wealthy CEO being told “no you can’t play”. Then his life changes when he arrives home and finds a clown doll, creepy, in his driveway laying, much like his dead father, face down in the drive way. This is excellently written with nice twists and turns throughout. You are guessing as to what is happening all the way to the end of the line. It is fantastic, can’t wait for my daughter to be old enough for this movie.

1. The Usual Suspects. This is my favorite. I almost passed this up because it had Stephen Baldwin in it. My wife made me watch this and seven, talk about a great date, together. The usual suspects centers around a group of criminals trying to lead somewhat respectable lives and are sucked back into the crime world big-time. The entire story is told through flashbacks of the only surviving member of the gang. He sits in the detective’s office recounting the entire story. You get all the way to the end and hear the classic line as all is revealed to be completely not what you thought at all; again I am being purposefully vague so as to not give it away to anyone who has not been in society for the last twenty years. Lots of action for a drama that makes you think and definitely worth several watchings, I am long overdue for another viewing myself.

Those are my top five wait what happened films. Did I miss yours? Let me know in the comments. As always don’t forget to vote for your favorite.