11 Subtle Details That Make Movie Twists Obvious

Horror icon Wes Craven didn’t just deliver a vicious blow to slasher movie clichés—and in the process, a reviving jolt to the heart for the subgenre itself—with 1996’s Scream. The starry meta-horror also pulled off one of the cleverest killer-reveals in the history of whodunits, with (spoiler alert, obviously) both brooding boyfriend Billy AND his immature slacker accomplice Stu behind the spate of grisly murders.

The rule-bending didn’t start there, not after the still-shocking opening scene killed off superstar Drew Barrymore, and it didn’t end there either, with Sidney upending the Final Girl conventions by having sex and not only surviving, but dispatching both baddies with style.

While some of the sequels are pretty solid, none of the uneven series could come close to ingenuity of this literal killer combo. And it’s a twist improved upon by repeat viewings, where it becomes obvious that everything providing Blatant Suspect Number One Billy an alibi, from the prison phone call to his fake-out death, hinges upon the theory that he must be killing unassisted.

Not only that, but the scene wherein Billy and Stu team up to playfully interrogate Randy in the video store takes on a far more sinister tone when you realize the two aren’t messing with him for their amusement, but rather attempting to ensure he won’t be able to uncover their plot.