10 EXACT Moments Horror Movies Self-Destructed

1. THAT Twist - Switchblade Romance

Jaws The Revenge Ellen Brody Lorraine Gary
Lionsgate

It would be extremely remiss to discuss a list of horror movies which imploded, and not make mention of Haute Tension, aka High Tension, aka Switchblade Romance.

Alexandre Aja's 2003 offering is a phenomenal, frenetic feature for approximately 80 minutes of its 95-minute runtime... and then, well, boy does the film shoot itself in the foot.

Plot-wise, Switchblade Romance centres on pals Alex and Marie, who start the movie off by heading to Alex's family home in rural France. As night falls, this family home becomes the target of a hulking killer who brutally offs Alex's father, her mother, and her young brother. With Alex chained up and thrown in the back of this maniac's truck, Marie manages to sneak aboard this vehicle as she looks to a) rescue her friend, and b) escape the deranged lunatic who has evil intentions on his mind.

As alluded to, this is a feature which moves at breakneck speed, barely wasting a minute as the terror and tension is amped up; Muse's New Born being an inspired soundtrack choice to match the energy and ferocity of this film.

Frustratingly, Switchblade Romance undoes all of its prior brilliance by revealing that Marie is actually the killer of the movie. The imposing powerhouse figure we've seen carry out the film's atrocities was all just a fabrication of Marie's, and she's in fact the person responsible for this bloodshed.

While an initial viewing leaves you in shock at this revelation, you soon come to realise that this twist makes zero sense, as so much of what we've seen previously would've been impossible if Marie was the killer.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.