10 Most Unexpected Twists In Slasher Movies

Nobody saw these big reveals coming in these classic slashers.

By Jacob Simmons /

Who doesn't love a good twist?

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While a bad plot twist can sink a good film (or make a bad one even worse), a great one can resurrect a dying plot or elevate an already stellar piece to the next level.

Slasher films usually have some element of mystery to them, typically revolving around the identity of the person doing the slashing. As a result, this genre lends itself to the story taking a turn for the unexpected, and there been some absolutely classic examples of this over the years.

For as long as slasher movies have been a thing, directors and writers have been working to come up with the next big surprise, the one that will keep their names preserved in history forevermore. These ten films all achieved that goal, as nobody was expecting how their plots would eventually turn out.

Some of these films aren't actually all that good on the whole - it's just the twist that's worth talking about. In some cases though, whilst the twist does define the movie in some way, it's part of a bigger picture of all-round excellent film-making.

10. Two Killers - Scream (1996)

The whole idea of Wes Craven’s 1996 classic Scream is that it pokes fun of horror movie conventions, so, naturally, it had to feature a massive surprise towards the end. 

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While trying to figure out who Ghostface is, Sidney Prescott initially suspects her boyfriend, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) after a number of unexplained coincidences. It seems as if Billy is just a red herring though, when the masked madman appears and tries to murder him. 

Or does he?

As revealed during the film’s blistering climax, Billy is Ghostface, but he’s not the only Ghostface. His friend Stu Macher, played by Matthew Lillard, has been helping him the whole time, including dressing up in the costume to “attack” Billy earlier in the movie. 

It’s appropriate that Lillard would go on to play Shaggy, because that is some Scooby-Doo business right there. 

This is everything a good twist should be - unexpected whilst also making complete sense without contradicting any previous information. The double-killer ending to Scream is one of the big reasons why it’s so iconic today, all thanks to this double dose of deception.

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