20 Horror Movies That Weren't What Anyone Expected

19. One Cut of the Dead

One Cut of the Dead is one of the most ingeniously conceived and executed horror films of the last decade, and yet further proof that an inspired idea will always triumph over a huge budget.

On the face of it, this is a horror-comedy about a film crew who are making a low-budget zombie movie and, in a twisted bout of irony, are then attacked by the undead for real.

But at the conclusion of its delirious 37-minute single-take opening sequence, we learn that this is actually a film within another horror film called One Cut of the Dead.

The climax of the movie returns to the opening sequence, showing the chaos unfolding from another perspective and in turn revealing all of the hilarious behind-the-scenes insanity we weren't aware of the first time, effectively making One Cut of the Dead a film-within-a-film-within-a-film.

That's certainly a cut above the micro-budget zombie comedy most folk were surely expecting when they started watching.