10 More Horror Movies That Lied About Their Premise

2. Titane Had A LOT More Going On Than Anyone Expected

Titane 2021
Neon

Having won the prestigious Palme D'Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, body horror Titane's official synopsis reads:

"Following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years."

While that synopsis is largely correct, Titane is that and a whole lot more.

That father is Vincent, but way before we get to the meat of this Julia Ducournau offering, we're introduced to Alexia, a young girl who has a titanium plate fitted into her head after a car crash incident.

Skipping ahead to Alexia as a young adult, she detests her parents, works as a model/dancer, kills some creep... and then has sex with a car. Before you know it, we learn that Alexia is a serial killer, is somehow pregnant from this car 'incident', and she burns her parents alive before taking on the false identity of Adrien.

Who's Adrien? Why that's the son of Vincent who's been missing for years. Adapting her appearance accordingly, Alexia convinces - well, kind of convinces - Vincent that she's actually Adrien, and thus he takes her in and promises to look after 'Adrien'.

Seriously, all of this is just the tip of the iceberg for Titane, but safe to say, this very much is not the film you thought it was going to be. That said, it is a thoroughly excellent film with a lot more complexity than the attention-grabbing notion of 'person has sex with car'.

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, 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 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.