20 Movies Destroyed By Their Plot Holes

6. The Village - M. Night Shyamalan's Most Illogical Twist

The Village Bryce Dallas Howard
Buena Vista Pictures

For better or for worse, M. Night Shyamalan is known as the twist guy, and much like his output at large, these are a mixed bag. The twist that concludes The Village is easily his stupidest rug-pull to date. 

While this story appears to be set in a monster-infested village in 19th-century Pennsylvania, the twist is that it's actually in present-day America. The village elders set this up as an escape from the modern world, and they dress up as monsters to keep the residents from leaving. It was a great idea, but the execution was maddeningly silly. 

Over the years, viewers have had a field day breaking down all the different ways in which this doesn't work. Somehow, these people cannot hear the big road that is quite close to the village, and somehow a plane has never flown overhead. 

Fine, there's some vague explanation given that, to the outside world, the village's area is a protected wildlife reserve that's been made a no-fly zone to avoid disturbing the animals, but this is nonsense, too. Wildlife reserves are taxpayer-funded and cannot be bought by one rich family, as in the movie, while no-fly zones don't work in that way. It is damn-near impossible that no plane would ever have gone overhead. 

The Village wasn't doing too well before this, but it was this twist that truly destroyed it beyond repair. 

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.