10 Sci-Fi Movies Ruined By Terrible Twists

Yes, alright, so including M Night Shyamalan on this list is almost as obvious as throwing a Mario Bava effort onto a list of the best giallo movies, but the auteur did actually pull off some effective reveals back in his heyday, with the likes of Unbreakable and in particular The Sixth Sense truly wowing audiences before The Village sent everything spiralling.

And spiral Shyamalan’s career did, eventually leading to this atmospheric mystery in 2008. Grounded in what seems like pretty recognizable reality, the film boasts an incredibly effective opening sequence wherein random civilians become inexplicably compelled to off themselves in all manner of gruesome ways. It’s shockingly intense for a PG-13 movie, and the slowly mounting unease, in contrast with the hyper intense opening of Zack Snyder’s then-recent Dawn of the Dead remake, can be seen to influence everything from Netflix’s viral hit Bird Box to the slow burn opening act of Jordan Peele’s Us.

So why did we all forget the film as if it were an embarrassing write-off immediately after release?

Oh right—because of the last reel howler of an explanation for what’s driving this epidemic of mysterious suicides. Namely, it’s the nefarious machinations of plants, who are driving people to off themselves as revenge for humanity’s damage to nature. Yes, really.

Okay, we can go back to ignoring this one, carry on.