Horror movies are designed to keep audiences going, wondering what to do next. Sometimes this translates into a fear of jumping at the right time, but there are also some iconic plot twists from horror movies that may surprise audiences.
Of course, pulling off a good rebound is harder than it looks. Sometimes the identity of the killer is much more obvious than the filmmakers realize. Sometimes that last scare can be seen a mile away. While these obvious twists don’t necessarily ruin a movie, they don’t leave audiences in shock either.
ten Us (2019)
Although Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Get out didn’t have the same impact as that Oscar-winning debut, We is still a brilliant and original horror film. He follows a family, led by Adelaide, who meets a family of evil doppelgangers.
Once it is revealed that the lookalikes want to take the place of their more privileged counterparts, the truth becomes clear. Considering that Adelaide met her doppelganger as a child, it’s no surprise that she and her counterpart had already swapped places years ago.
9 Army of the Dead (2021)
Zack Snyder’s recent zombie action flick Army of the dead is a fun take on the genre. When Las Vegas is closed as a zombie containment site, a group of mercenaries are hired to sneak in and steal money from one of the casino’s chests.
The Netflix movie has more than a few plot holes and a wild premise, but it’s also quite obvious that the heists aren’t that simple. As soon as the mission benefactor insists on sending his own man, it’s easy to guess that it’s not about money but rather exploiting the zombies.
8 The Others (2001)
Period horror movies are always interesting because the setting adds an interesting layer to the story. Others stars Nicole Kidman as a woman looking after her children while her husband fights in World War II. Soon she begins to sense that their house is haunted.
In movies like this it’s always obvious that this isn’t just a ghost story, so audiences start looking for the truth. With the strict rules that kids can’t go out and the limited connection with the outside world, it’s not hard to see that Kidman and his children are in fact ghosts.
seven The Meg (2018)
There is something about the summer season that puts audiences in the mood for a good shark movie. While Jaws remains the king of the genre, the mega is a fairly entertaining adventure, if a little predictable.
After the heroes confront the giant shark and kill it, they start to rejoice that they saved the day. But it seems pretty obvious that there are still a lot of stories left and that there is clearly another shark making what is supposed to be a surprise appearance.
6 Hide and seek (2005)
It is rare to see Robert De Niro appear in a horror movie and, unfortunately, Hide and seek is not a very memorable film to welcome it in the genre. De Niro plays a widower raising his young daughter, played by Dakota Fanning, who talks to an imaginary friend who can be dangerous.
While De Niro is concerned about his daughter’s behavior, audiences can already see where it is heading long before the reveal. It turns out that De Niro’s character suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder and is the murderous friend his daughter is talking about.
5 1408 (2007)
While there are countless adaptations of Stephen King, 1408 is a little forgotten. Still, it’s a scary horror story even if it doesn’t reinvent the genre. It stars John Cusack as a man who debunks supernatural events who spends a night in a supposedly haunted hotel room and gets more than he expected.
It doesn’t take long to find out that the room is the real deal, but Cusack apparently wakes up after dreaming about all the weird happenings and walks away. But since the coin has been shown to destroy reality, it’s hard to buy and not very surprising when it is revealed that he’s still trapped in the room.
4 Secret Window (2004)
At the height of his Pirates of the Caribbean celebrity, Johnny Depp also played in this little horror story. Secret window finds Depp playing the role of an author staying in a secluded cabin where he is harassed by a man who claims he stole his book.
The film feels like a pretty pointless thriller, especially since audiences can see the end come a mile and a half away. From the author’s personal issues to the obvious foreshadowing, it is clear that the man claiming he is an impostor is in the author’s mind.
3 10 Cloverfield Way (2016)
In an unexpected pursuit of the Cloverfield franchise, 10 Cloverfield Way stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a young woman who wakes up after a car accident to find herself in a bunker. John Goodman plays the man who built the bunker who claims to protect her from alien invasion.
The question of whether Goodman is a hero or a villain adds a lot of tension leading to the climax when Winstead escapes from the bunker and sees that there is a real invasion. But with Cloverfield in the title, this final reveal is kind of expected.
2 Scream (1996)
Although it is now considered by many to be a cliché slasher film, the first Scream The film is a brilliant horror game changer who played with many of these genre clichés. This includes the suspicious boyfriend who may be the killer.
Billy Loomis remains a prime suspect for much of the film, although questions arise as to how he could have done it. And despite a clever revelation that there are two killers, the fact that Billy is one of them is not at all surprising.
1 Spiral: from the saw book (2021)
Instead of being a restart of the Saw franchise, Spiral is the sequel to Jigsaw’s story with an impersonator killer targeting police officers. Chris Rock plays a detective investigating the series of murders of his colleagues, including his young partner, William.
The problem is, with all of the very graphic and bloody deaths in the film, William’s is the only one not shown. That, and the fact that he very suspiciously borrowed his partner’s phone, doesn’t make it very shocking when he is revealed to be alive and the killer.
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