10 Horror Movie Twists That Pissed Everyone Off

8. Why Wasn't David/Charlie Caught? - Hide And Seek

Hide And Seek
20th Century Fox

Released in 2005, John Polson's Hide and Seek centres on widowed psychologist David Callaway and his young daughter Emily as they move to a new area in the aftermath of David's wife's mysterious death. Before you know it, the family cat and a new family friend both end up dead, with Dakota Fanning's Emily insisting that imaginary friend "Charlie" is responsible for these acts.

As the tale unravels, Hide and Seek leans into the idea that Emily is a deranged killer who may or may not have had a hand in her mother's murder. Where the twist comes into play, it's that Robert De Niro's David has dissociative identity disorder and that "Charlie" is a persona he created to carry out sinister deeds. Of course, one such deed was David/Charlie killing his wife after having seen her kiss another man.

While this is all well and good, this twist makes zero sense and only served to irk audiences who had previously sat through a relatively enjoyable, tense 90 minutes or so. It had been hammered home that investigations into the death of David's wife Alison drew a blank when looking for her killer. Sure, Charlie may have been a totally different identity to David, but that doesn't stop the two personas from having the exact same DNA - and that DNA would've clearly been present when the scene of Alison's murder was checked by police.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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 and Presenter, 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 day job, his role as 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 and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.