10 Horror Movies That Weren't What Anyone Expected

It's generally expected that most movies, regardless of genre, will deliver the film they promise on the tin, because deviating from tried and tested formula risks alienating the masses. But of course, not all filmmakers are quite so content to toe the line, and many will endeavour to push the boundaries of genre and style, in turn delivering something that wasn't what anyone expected.

Much of this comes down to marketing. A director makes their movie, and then it's up to the marketing team to figure out how to sell it, and sometimes they'll do that in a way that, intentionally or not, misrepresents what it actually is.

This can then leave paying customers frustrated at being sold a different movie than the one they got, or perhaps, less commonly, leave them pleasantly surprised by getting something even better than they expected.

And in terms of the horror genre in particular, the following films all dared to defy expectations, refusing to take the most obvious narrative and stylistic path, and instead doing something different and getting everyone talking as a result.

Barbarian was sold as a seemingly straightforward, single-location horror film in which a woman, Tess (Georgina Campbell), arrives at her Airbnb to find it occupied by Keith (Bill Skarsgård), a man who claims they've been double-booked.

Audiences were naturally led to expect a standard horror-thriller in which Tess has to fend off the creepy advances of her unexpected house guest, but that isn't what Barbarian is. Like, at all.

Instead, Keith is a genuinely good guy, while the real horror is actually waiting for them both in the basement - a horrifically mutated woman with a penchant for murder and her own nauseatingly twisted backstory.

While most of Barbarian does indeed take place in the house, director Zach Cregger ambitiously leaps back and forward through timelines to unfurl the history of said house, and unexpectedly introduces a landlord character, AJ (Justin Long), at the start of the second act.

It's a film that continually surprises, constantly shifting from what the audience is programmed to anticipate from such a setup, making it one of the most distinctive and unforgettable horrors of the last 5 years.