10 Weird Movie Plot Twists That Just Don't Work
5. It's Really Set In The Present - The Village
The Set-Up: at some unspecified point in centuries gone by, an isolated woodland community in North America deliberately cuts itself from the rest of the world, whilst living in fear of mysterious monsters which stalk the woods. But when tragedy strikes, young blind woman Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) must venture beyond the woods for help.
The Twist: first off, it turns out there are no monsters. These are merely costumes worn by the village elders to keep their children in line and to hide them from the truth: it is actually the present day, and the village - founded in the 1970s by hippies - exists in the centre of a wildlife preserve.
Why It Doesn't Work: You knew we couldn't get through a list like this without M Night Shyamalan coming into it at least once. This 2004 effort was the director's fourth film in five years, and by this point the climactic twist was such a signature Shyamalan move, it had become tedious.
While the conclusion tries to make it all seem logical (e.g. payments are made to the government to keep the the skies above the village a no-fly zone), it all just seems too unfeasible, and leaves the whole film feeling rather pointless.