10 MORE Great Horror Movies With Multiple Plot Twists
8. The Tall Man
One literary technique that's almost as effective as a plot twist is the red herring, and few horror films utilise this misleading trick better than the Tall Man.
This Slender Man-inspired drama revolves around Julia, a nurse who lives in a derelict town called Cold Rock. Local kids regularly go missing, inspiring legends involving a child-abducting boogeyman called the Tall Man.
When Julia's son Danny is kidnapped, she does everything she can to retrieve him. After finding Danny, she discovers the kidnapper is Danny's real mother, meaning Julia was the abductor all along.
After being exposed, Julia confesses she's murdered dozens of mistreated children over the years, believing death was more merciful. This revelation is extra hard-hitting since Julia seemed like such a pure-hearted person up until this point. However, Julia's so-called confession is another misdirect, as in the closing moments, it's revealed Julia works for an organisation that rescues abused or poverty-stricken children and finds them better families. And to avoid the organisation being exposed and having Danny returned to his deadbeat mother, Julia pretended she killed the missing kids.
The Tall Man is a real emotional rollercoaster, since Julia is perceived as a hero, then an irredeemable monster, then a hero again.