12 Movies That Wasted Great Twist Ideas

Written by the iconic horror scribe/ The Shining creator Stephen King, 1984's Children of the Corn is an appropriately corny Linda Hamilton vehicle from the golden age of cheesy horror.

The film tells the story of a young couple stranded in a town wherein the adults have all been offed by their offspring years earlier and the kids are now in the thrall of a young preacher who warns them of the wrath of "He Who Walks Amongst the Rows".

For much of the film's action as in the short story's, the apparent villain is these children, miniature zealots who embody King's frustration with organized religion's hypocrisy.

However in an audacious last second twist, the original story reveals that (surprise!) this monstrous pseudo-religious entity which the children worship and live in fear of is real, and real f***ing scary.

It's a reveal which could have left viewers wondering whether these kids were crazy after all... But it's tragically wasted thanks to the cheap film adaptation's hilariously bad, impossible-to-decipher effects. Not to mention the surreal moment where our ostensible hero sarcastically asks the kids if their god wants a sacrifice mere seconds after he saw said god kill one of their number, as if he still doesn't believe it's real.