8 Surprising Movie Villain Turns You Never Saw Coming

5. Teddy - Shutter Island

Shutter Island ending gunshot
Paramount

One of the most interesting films in Martin Scorsese's oeuvre, Shutter Island tells the story of Leonardo DiCaprio's Teddy, a detective travelling to an insane asylum in search of a missing patient. It's clear that Teddy himself has some inner demons but his goal always seems like a noble one, to get to the bottom of whatever the hell is happening on this island.

However, the final twist reveals that the detective isn't actually a detective at all, but a patient of the asylum. The whole ruse of him investigating a crime is an ambitious form of therapy, in order to get Teddy to come to terms with the past he's been suppressing: namely, him murdering his wife and drowning their children.

He's presented as a tragic figure, yes, but Teddy is without a doubt a total monster, something which you never even get an inkling of until the very end of the movie.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.