10 Most Confusing Horror Movies You'll Ever Watch
What did I just watch?
Even the biggest advocates of horror can't deny the fact that slashers, paranormal tales, and creature features tend to be insultingly predictable. When a horror veteran is well-acquainted with the tried and tested tropes, they can see the jumps-scares, fake-outs, red herrings, and twists coming a mile away. This is why stories involving creepy-crawlies, aliens, ghosts, and demons are often criticised for being formulaic.
Which is ironic, since the genre has given birth to some of the most subversive films imaginable. Viewers are still trying to wrap their heads around The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, and Videodrome, despite coming out decades ago. Because humanity's fears are often tied to the unexplainable, it makes sense why the most bewildering narratives are also the most terrifying.
Although the ten entries on this list have plenty of gore and violence, it's their impenetrability that gets under the audience's skin. No matter how many times these movies are watched, discussed, analysed, and researched, it's likely horror fans will never be able to comprehend them, nor were they ever meant to.
10. Kill List
On the surface, A Field of England looks to be Ben Wheatley's trippiest work by a long shot. But on closer inspection, the British auteur's debut feature, Kill List, deserves that mantle. A Field of England proudly wears its zaniness on its sleeve. Kill List, on the other hand, leads viewers ashtray by pretending to be something else entirely for the majority of its runtime.
The story opens with a hitman called Jay who's tasked with eliminating three targets, to make amends for a previous job he botched. With that set-up in mind, the first two-thirds of Kill List plays out like a Guy Ritchie-inspired crime drama, devoid of any horror elements.
However, the last scene drops viewers into a completely different movie, brimming with vibrant gore, occult imagery, and visceral visuals. What's most bizarre is that nothing in the climax is explained, forcing viewers to futilely try to understand what they just saw.
Although Kill List failed miserably to make a splash upon its release, it's become a cult-classic in recent years, due to its genre-blending narrative, drastic tonal shifts, and disruptive atmosphere.