10 Horror Movie Twists That Pissed Everyone Off

5. The Entire Movie Wasn't Real - Identity

Urban Legends: Final Cut
Columbia Pictures

James Mangold's Identity has the worst sort of twist. Y'know, the sort of twist that makes you realise you've just wasted a solid hour of your time and the sort of twist that takes away any interest you have in the following 25 minutes of action.

Opening up with convicted murderer Malcolm Rivers waiting to be executed, the focus then switches to ten strangers stranded at a motel in the middle of nowhere as horrendous weather rains down around them. When this group end up being killed one by one, it's down to John Cusack's retired copper Ed Dakota to try and decipher what's really happening.

That "what's really happening" ends up being that 95% of what you've seen so far hasn't been real.

The twist here is that all ten of the aforementioned strangers don't exist. Instead, each one represents a different personality of the murderous Malcolm. One of these personalities is deemed responsible for the very real kills carried out by Malcolm, and this whole situation is part of an exercise from Malcolm's doctor as he tries to excuse his patient from a death sentence on the grounds of insanity.

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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.