10 Horror Movie Twists That Changed EVERYTHING

Twists are a beloved staple of horror movies. Fans love to see a killer finally unmasked only to realise it was one of the heroes the whole time, or for a happy ending to be cut short when it turns out it was all in a character's head. It's all part of the fun.

This joy comes down to how the entire genre is built around surprise and subversion. As an audience you're ideally supposed to question everything you see, and never truly understand entirely what's going to happen next. After all, if you can predict a plot beat for beat, it's hardly going to be scary, is it?

Some twists go a bit further than others though. These not only add an extra dimension to the story, but recontextualise it entirely, reshaping everything you've just seen.

Sometimes this happens at the end, but other times twists can drop halfway through a film that can shift the focus so much, it might even morph into an entirely different genre.

These are the twists we're celebrating today: the ones that completely change what you thought a horror film was even about.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation is not only viewed by fans as the worst entry in the franchise, but one of the worst movies ever made. I think that's a bit harsh, but you can totally see where that assessment comes from when you take into account the absolutely mad twist the flick ends on.

For decades fans had been watching the exploits of Leatherface and his seemingly never-ending extended Sawyer family as they murdered purely for fun and/or to win awards for their delicious human chilli. It sometimes got daft and exaggerated, but the premise was always simple: these were just psychotic people living in the heart of Texas indiscriminately killing.

This all changed with the introduction of Rothman though, a government agent who turns up at the Saywer house in The Next Generation to see how they're getting on traumatising their new victims. Though it's kept somewhat mysterious, the implication is that he's part of a shadowy, powerful organisation that's been controlling the family (and other murderous individuals around the world) this entire time, all in the purpose of enabling the victims to reach some kind of spiritual revelation.

Mad, right? This all comes out of nowhere, and the fact that everyone's favourite cannibals were being controlled by a couple of freaky dudes in suits the whole time was understandably not well received.