History Main / NestedStoryReveal

* ''Film/{{Twixt}}'' starts with Baltimore Hall deciding to write a book about the murders in the small town he stopped in. After many alternating dream scenes and fantastic events that reflect the dream and involving vampires, the film cuts to [[spoiler:his agent saying that he loves the story, implying that the events of the story were merely the plot of a fictional book.]]
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'''''Note:''''' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that '''every single example''' on this list is a spoiler by default. The details of the reveal may be hidden by spoiler tags, but since Nested Story Reveal is often used as an [[EndingTropes ending trope]], merely seeing a work's name mentioned here may spoil its plot.

'''''Note:''''' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]], only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.

* The interactive fiction game ''[[http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=ii0k5l53vhghqyh6 Broken Legs]]'' is about a VillainProtagonist named Lottie who sabotages all her rivals to get selected for a prestigious singing job. Until you learn at the end that it's a story made up by Mary, one of Lottie's rivals, to convince the school board to fire Lottie so that she can get the coveted job instead. This is cleverly foreshadowed by Mary being the only character portrayed in a flattering light in Lottie's narrative.
* In the penultimate mission of ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'', you have to choose between going after Killbane, the game's BigBad (who is about to escape on a plane) or save your teammate on the other side of the city. If you let Killbane escape, the final mission is a climactic showdown between you and him on Mars... which is actually just a movie the Saints are making after becoming a massive cultural icon.
* ''VideoGame/WhatRemainsOfEdithFinch'' is a morbid tale about a teenage girl [[ApocalypticLog reviewing the final entries of each family member who died horribly - which means ALL of them]]. Each of these logs is an interactive story from the viewpoint of the deceased before their end. [[spoiler:Including the protagonist's, who wrote the final log for her son to find before she died from childbirth]].

* ''Film/AnalyzeThat'' opens with a mob boss played by Anthony LaPaglia shooting one of his own mooks, but that turns out to be a scene from a [[Series/TheSopranos Sopranos]]-esque TV show.

** "Five Short Tables" takes this up to eleven; Ice King reads a Fionna and Cake fan-fiction that turns out to be [[spoiler: a series of themed vignettes just like in the "Graybles" episodes, and at the end of the episode it shows the whole thing was Cuber watching one of his graybles.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake" seems to be a pure GenderFlip AlternateRealityEpisode, then makes a sudden right-turn at the end to reveal everything was [[TakeThatAudience Ice King's fanfiction]] read to a frozen Finn and Jake. Later "Fionna and Cake" episodes establish that Ice King, Marceline, or some other character are the ones telling the story.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Theatre]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'', the episode "The Butts Family" has an abrupt and depressing [[ShaggyDogStory shaggy dog ending]]... then the scene cuts to the other ponies telling Pinkie Pie that her "scary story" was terrible.
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* The first scene of ''Film/{{Desperado}}'' is a story being told in a bar by Creator/SteveBuscemi. The viewer knows that at the time, but what they don't know (until it's revealed moments later) is that the story is fictitious. It's never revealed exactly how much of it was false; the BroadStrokes of the hero massacring a BadGuyBar are later confirmed as accurate, especially judging by what he does to another Bad Guy Bar later on in the movie.

* Most of ''Film/TheImaginariumOfDoctorParnassus'' can be interpreted as [[spoiler:the dream or hallucination of a homeless man]].

'''''Note:''''' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]], only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.

Like with AllJustADream, a Nested Story Reveal can make the audience feel cheated, when the story they've been following turns out not to be "real". A [[{{Metafiction}} metafictionally]] oriented work may point out that the nested story is [[FictionIdentityPostulate no less real]] than the framing story: they're both still fiction, only on different levels of the overall plot.

'''Since this is typically done as a PlotTwist, just mentioning the name of a particular work as an example of this trope can spoil it. Expect the examples section to contain spoilers.'''

* The first scene of ''Film/{{Desperado}}'' is a story being told in a bar by Creator/SteveBuscemi. The viewer knows that at the time, but what they don't know (until it's revealed moments later) is that the story is fictitious. It's never revealed exactly how much of it was false; the BroadStrokes of the hero massacring a BadGuyBar are later confirmed as accurate.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake" seems to be a pure GenderFlip AlternateRealityEpisode, then makes a sudden right-turn at the end to reveal [[spoiler:everything was [[TakeThatAudience Ice King's fanfiction]] read allowed while Finn and Jake weren't listening.]]

* One episode of the ''Series/TheDeadZone'' had Johnny bump into a woman in a bar. He sees various visions which snap back to him bumping into her in the bar. He avoids all the visions by calling his friend the sheriff and asking him to wait outside for the woman's future murderers.