A good plot twist should effectively deceive the audience and subvert their expectations. The horror genre is perfect for this storytelling technique. The horror genre has brought some of the best plot twists in film history, shocking audiences, and demanding a rewatch.
The seeds of the story were carefully planted and when the reveal finally does happen, everyone realizes they should’ve seen it coming. Other times, these plot twists are just bad. Perhaps the twist came out of nowhere and was never once hinted at. Other times, they are just lazy and predictable. Here’s some great twists, along with some terrible horror plot twists.
10 Best: The Skeleton Key
In The Skeleton Key, Caroline is hired to take care of an elderly couple, Violet and Benjamin. On this plantation 90 years prior, two servants were caught performing a voodoo ritual on a young Violet and Benjamin, which led to their hanging moments later.
It’s later revealed that those servants had successfully done the ritual, which switched their souls with the children, meaning that the real Benjamin and Violet’s souls were killed in the servants’ bodies. Caroline finds out that she's being used as a new body for Violet’s soul, which ends up happening. Caroline, now in Violet’s aging body, is mute and helplessly carried away.
9 Worst: Secret Window
Secret Window centers around Mort Rainey, an author suffering from writer’s block who is accused of plagiarism by a mysterious stranger named John Shooter. Shooter begins to stalk Mort in his isolated cabin. In the end, Mort realizes that Shooter is just another persona he built for himself.
Mort, as Shooter, kills his ex-wife and her husband then buries their bodies. It’s a predictable twist that many saw coming. The split-personality trope has become the new “it was all just a dream” twist.
8 Best: Scream
Scream’s script was cleverly written to include a ton of red herrings on who the masked killer is. The obvious answer was always Billy. Out of nowhere, though, Billy is seemingly killed off in front of Sidney.
In a memorable reveal, it turns out that Billy’s death was staged. Both him and Stu were the actual killers. The reveal of two killers may seem mild by today’s standards, but the horror genre was growing stale in the 90s. Scream was the breath of fresh air that the genre needed.
7 Worst: The Village
In The Village, A 19th-century town is stalked by strange hooded creatures that come from the woods. It’s perhaps Shyamalan’s most underrated film. It has impeccable cinematography, great characters, and features a tragic love story.
The absurd twist is why the film gets so much hate, understandably. Apparently, all of this takes place in the modern-day, with this village being created in the 1970s for many people who were dealing with grief. The “monsters” are just older villagers scaring the townsfolk into not venturing out too far. The Village is a prime example of a twist ending feeling completely unnecessary.
6 Best: Se7en
Se7en revolves around two detectives, Somerset and Mills, investigating a serial killer, whose sadistic murders are based on the seven deadly sins. Towards the third act, the killer, only known as John Doe, turns himself in.
John agrees to help Somerset and Mills find two other bodies. Once they are in the location, however, a box is delivered to Somerset. The box contains the severed head of Mills’s wife. Up until this point, only five sins had been shown, with Wrath and Envy still remaining. John claims he was envious of Mills’s life. A hysterical Mills then kills John, completing the final sin of Wrath. It’s a brilliant but gut-wrenching twist.
5 Worst: High Tension
High Tension is a French horror film infamously known for its graphic violence. It’s mostly remembered, however, for its head-scratching twist. In the film, Marie and Alexia are on the run from a vicious killer, with other unfortunate souls being brutally killed along the way.
Towards the end, Marie realizes that she’s actually been the killer this whole time. Just like a previous entry, Secret Window, it’s another cheap “split-personality” twist. What makes it even worse is that it makes absolutely no sense. There were so many scenes where it’s completely illogical that Marie was the killer, most notably, the car chase.
4 Best: Saw
The series may have become a convoluted mess, but the first Saw is still a well-crafted horror film that features a mind-blowing twist. In the film, two men, Lawrence and Adam, wake up in a dirty room with a dead body in the middle, with Lawrence’s family being held hostage as well.
As the film progresses, the viewer is led to believe that the man holding the family, Zep, must be the real Jigsaw Killer. When Zep is eventually killed by Adam, a tape is found, revealing that Zep was just another part of Jigsaw’s game. The real Jigsaw is in the middle of the room, disguised as that dead body. Mind. Blown!
3 Worst: Halloween (2018)
Halloween (2018) retcons every sequel since the original, including the brother/sister relationship with Laurie and Michael. Overall, this new sequel/reboot is well-acted, intense, and true to the original. However, the film is tainted by the out-of-left-field twist.
It turns out that Michael’s new doctor, Dr. Sartain, had set the film’s events in motion by freeing the shape. He had apparently been obsessed with Michael’s psyche and how evil works. Sartain kills Sheriff Hawkins, then puts on Michael’s mask to get a better understanding. It’s completely laughable and Sartain is killed minutes later, deeming all of it pointless.
2 Best: The Sixth Sense
1999’s The Sixth Sense has one of the best plot twists in modern cinema. It’s an exceptionally made ghost story about a boy named Cole, who can see and communicate with the dead. A child psychologist, Malcolm, is tasked with helping Cole deal with this phenomenon.
At the beginning of the film, Malcolm is shot by a former patient, but seems to have recovered. By the end of the film, Malcolm realizes that he was actually killed at that moment and he’s been just another ghost speaking to Cole. Rewatching it, it's plain to see that no other character, besides Cole, directly speaks to Malcolm.
1 Worst: I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer
Okay, so most of this direct-to-DVD sequel is downright atrocious. The twist is just the rotten cherry on top of a dreadful sundae.
I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer focuses on a new cast of characters.After a prank goes wrong and results in the death of one of their friends, the group decides to keep this a secret. As expected, they all start getting killed one-by-one by someone in a fisherman suit. Instead of the killer being someone among them though, it turns out that the fisherman is an undead version of Ben Willis, the hook-wielding killer of the first two films. The series had never been supernatural, making this twist just hilariously awful.
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