10 Horror Movie Twists We All Saw Coming
3. Mort Has A Split-Personality - Secret Window
In this Stephen King adaptation, troubled author Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) throws himself into his work to keep his mind off his divorce with his estranged wife, Amy. Shortly after a stranger called Shooter (John Turturro) accuses Mort of plagiarising his story, several locals are inexplicably murdered. Believing both events are connected, Mort tries to make sense of what's happening.
Lo and behold, Mort ultimately learns Shooter is a figment of his imagination. Mort created Shooter to act out his most depraved desires, which led him to killing several of the townsfolk. When he's confronted by Amy in the closing moments, it's revealed the name "Shooter" is a homophone for "Shoot her," to symbolise Mort's desire to murder his wife.
The twist isn't as effective as it should be since the whole "split-personality" motif has been done to death. Moviegoers have seen disturbed protagonists revealed to be the villain so many times, it's hard to believe Secret Window would try something so lazy.
Not only is this twist derivative, it's insultingly predictable. Since Shooter only interacts with Mort, it's painfully obvious they are the same person.