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'Memento' (2000) -

Christopher Nolan loves to baffle his audience, and 'Memento' does so in style. Guy Pearce stars as a man with such severe memory loss that he has to write everything down on paper and even his body. As he attempts to track down his wife's killer, the narrative works backwards until it reaches a darkly confusing conclusion.

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'Mulholland Drive' (2001) -

Nobody could accuse director David Lynch of making movies that are too obvious. The surreal narrative and dreamlike quality of 'Mulholland Drive' are mind-bendingly confusing, but it's all so intriguing that you won't mind watching it several times over to grasp at clues.

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'Donnie Darko' (2001) -

A stone cold classic in the field of baffling movies, 'Donnie Darko' sees Jake Gyllenhaal stalked by a giant rabbit named Frank, as all manner of bizarre and multi-layered occurrences take place. Still discussed today, the ending is wide open to interpretation.

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'Fight Club' (1999) -

Another movie whose ending will have you questioning everything that went before, 'Fight Club' engrosses on every level. Just when you think you have the plot figured out, the ending pulls the rug from under you.

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'Blade Runner' (1982) -

Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic has had audiences mulling over its meaning for decades. Harrison Ford is caught in a dystopian future, which may—or may not—be a dream.

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'2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968) -

With mysterious monoliths and an astronaut-computer standoff, Stanley Kubrick's epic space adventure is a tense one. It's the last 15 minutes, in which sole survivor Dave is turned into a super-powered child and floats through space in the direction of Earth, that continues to defy explanation.

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'Doubt' (2008) -

Innocent until proven guilty? Beyond all reasonable doubt? At a strict Catholic school in the Bronx, Sister Aloysius (a formidable Meryl Streep) suspects a priest of untoward relations with a pupil. But are her suspicions correct? Watch to the end and draw your own conclusions.

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'Shutter Island' (2010) -

A man visits an eerie, isolated mental asylum in order to investigate a woman's mysterious disappearance. Or does he? Is he actually a patient? Is the asylum even real? You'll be none the wiser by the end, but it's fun trying to pick up the clues.

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'The Dark Knight Rises' (2012) -

With Christopher Nolan at the helm, it was obvious that the 'Dark Knight' Batman trilogy was never going to be neatly resolved in the final act. And sure enough, as order apparently returns to Gotham City, a question mark hangs over how will the new protector fare.

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'The Lobster' (2015) -

Singletons everywhere shuddered at this movie's premise: either pick a mate within 45 days or be turned into an animal and released into the wild. An oddly sweet love story unfurls, but the ending stops short of revealing how far protagonist David (Colin Farrell) is prepared to go.

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'Life of Pi' (2012) -

Truth may be stranger than fiction, but what is truth, anyway? You'll be swept away on this wild ride in which a young man is stranded at sea with a Bengal tiger. But by the end, you'll questioning the young man's grasp of the truth.

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'The Shining' (1980) -

Elements of the supernatural intertwine with questions about the principal character's mental health in this super-creepy classic. The uneasiness spirals into madness, before mystifyingly spooky closing scenes that call the entire plot into question.

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'Birdman' (2014) -

The artfully-directed 'Birdman' is another critically-acclaimed film that questions the nature of reality. Michael Keaton stars as a washed-up movie star, whose fictional superhero character is more famous than he is. Hold tight for the final frame, which had movie fans scrambling for meaning.

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'Zodiac' (2007) -

'Donnie Darko' made a star of Jake Gyllenhaal, and the actor has since made a career of head-scratching movies. In David Fincher's 'Zodiac,' he plays a real-life newspaper cartoonist obsessed with the infamous Zodiac killer. The ending leaves the killer's identity a mystery.

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'Being John Malkovich' (1999) -

A portal into the actor John Malkovich's mind, leading to a world in which everybody is John Malkovich? It's a mind-bending premise from the get-go, and the closing scenes don't make anything much clearer.

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'Inception' (2010) -

Director Christopher Nolan created a true mind-bending masterpiece with this much-discussed thriller. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a thief who snatches secrets from his victims' dreams, and the multi-layered plot sends viewers' heads into a total spin as the film ends.

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'The Blair Witch Project' (1999) -

Who needs special effects? The creepiness of this game-changing mockumentary horror lies in its ambiguity, and by the chilling ending, you'll be glad that you never actually see what happens to the witch-hunting camera crew.

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'Tenet' (2020) -

Master of confusion, Christopher Nolan released his epic sci-fi blockbuster in the middle of a pandemic that made real life feel like a surreal movie. An unnamed time-traveling protagonist attempts to stop an evil Russian scientist from unleashing chaos, amid plot twists leading to the mother of all confusing endings.

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'Synecdoche, New York' (2008) -

Director Charlie Kaufman is a master of the truly-baffling movie, and this is one of his finest. Taking a head-spinning dive into the mind of a frustrated theater director who is building a replica of New York City in an empty warehouse, the film leaves audiences questioning the nature of reality.

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'Hereditary' (2018) -

Disturbing supernatural occurrences, sinister secrets, and creepy cults keep horrified audiences guessing in this nightmarish movie. You'll be desperate to understand what's really happening to the traumatized family, but the ending gives nothing away.

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'Joker' (2019) -

The world of Gotham City is a confusing one, in which nothing is as it seems. The dark, disturbing 'Joker' left audiences questioning the nature of reality, insanity, and the titular character's grasp on what's real.

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'Predestination' (2014) -

A time travel movie that's as entertaining as it is intelligent, 'Predestination' questions the nature of time and identity. When it gets to the end, you'll need to rewatch in order to make sense of the rest of the movie.

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'Blue Velvet' (1986) -

Filled with David Lynch's trademark creepy characters and unfathomable plot twists, 'Blue Velvet' is a masterclass in surreal mystery. A severed ear, a seductive singer, and a curious college student all have a role to play, but little is as it seems.

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'The Master' (2012) -

Joaquin Phoenix stars as a fragile World War II veteran lured into a religious organization by a charismatic leader. By the end of the thought-provoking film, you'll be questioning the nature of their relationship, and just about everything else in the plot as well.

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'Certified Copy' (2010) -

Prepare for beautiful cinematography and chin-stroking confusion. A British writer and French antiques dealer question the nature of art and originality, against a stunning backdrop of Tuscan streets.

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'Looper' (2012) -

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis play the same character in this time travel movie, setting the stage for the confusion that follows. The ending seems almost clear-cut until a number of unexplained plot holes throw the audience for a loop.

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'The Thing' (1982) -

Paranoia runs riot in John Carpenter's masterful sci-fi horror: in an isolated research facility, nobody knows who is human, and who is under alien control. The audience is kept in the dark as much as the characters, and absolutely nothing is resolved by the closing credits. It's still hotly debated today among movie fans.

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'Enemy' (2013) -

Gyllenhaal baffled audiences again in this eerie movie based on José Saramago's doppelgänger novel 'The Double.' He plays Adam, who encounters his movie star identical twin, Anthony, and things become increasingly strange until— bafflingly—Anthony's wife turns into a spider!

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'Pi' (1998) -

If you found math class baffling at school, prepare to have your brain fried. A theory-obsessed mathematician tries to balance the logical world of math with the complexities of humanity. Even if you hate math, the ending will have you thinking!

Sources: (The Cinemaholic) (Screen Rant)

See also: Roll the credits: the final films of great directors

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