12 Movies That Cast MAJOR Actors (Just To Die)

The classic example of this trope is also arguably one where it worked too well.

Janet Leigh, the movie's headline star, getting stabbed to death in the shower only about twenty minutes into Psycho is the most iconic scene in one of the most famous movies of all time. It's as hard to watch today and not know what's coming as it is to read Jekyll And Hyde as a mystery about what connects the title characters.

Nevertheless, for its original audience, Psycho appeared almost entirely focused on its star actress as Marion Crane, a woman who steals $40,000 and goes on the run.

That was until the sharp twist at the end of the first act dispatched Marion with shocking brutality. The plotline of the stolen money was completely forgotten as the movie shifted gears into its real story: that of murderous mommy's boy Norman Bates.

It's to Psycho's credit that the movie is enough of a masterpiece of suspense to survive as a horror classic despite everyone knowing that its supposed star is a decoy lead just there to die.

And, for all that it may no longer come as a shock in itself, Leigh's death here has inspired countless imitators to try the same trick. Not least most of the other films on this list.