10 Horror Movie Twists That Were Hiding In Plain Sight

5. Everyone Is Acting Around 'Teddy' - Shutter Island

Scream 2022
Paramount Pictures

In Shutter Island, US marshal, Teddy Daniels, and his partner, Chuck, head to an isolated mental institution to investigate the disappearance of an inmate. After stumbling on multiple inconsistencies with the head doctor's claims, Teddy believes the facility is harbouring a dark secret.

In the end, Teddy learns that he's an inmate of Shutter Island called Andrew Laeddis and this "case" was devised by the facilitator to help him accept the fact he murdered his wife. His partner, Chuck, is revealed to be his psychiatrist, Dr. Sheehan, who went along with this scheme to keep Teddy in check.

To some, this was a jaw-dropping revelation. But if you overanalyse every frame, you may have spotted a few things that didn't sit right. When Chuck is asked to hand over his gun, he has trouble pulling the weapon out of its holster, since he obviously has no experience handling a firearm. When Teddy asks Bridget about Dr. Sheehan, she glances at "Chuck", implying they are one and the same.

There a few clues throughout that people are acting around Teddy, and they'll drop the performance should they think he's not looking.

Some viewers figured out Teddy Daniels was an inmate since his name is an anagram of Andrew Laeddis. But the fact that the title "Shutter Island" is an anagram of "truth and lies" as well as "truth denials" is another clue that the truth is in plain sight.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows