Often what fascinates people about the horror genre is its tool of subversion. Horror films tap into the fear of the unknown by constructing mysteries around their appalling truths.

Since common tropes eventually become hackneyed, audiences who are conditioned to know what happens are harder to fool, and, therefore, filmmakers must conceive clever deviations to sway the viewers' attention. Reddit's community of film and horror buffs give their take on what they believe are the most surprising villain reveals in a horror movie.

UPDATE: 2022/09/28 18:31 EST BY SHAWN S. LEALOS

Twist reveals are nothing new in movies, but when the entire twist revolves around whom the villain really is, that can change everything about a movie. In 2022, Everything Everywhere All At Once, where the villain kept hidden for much of the movie before revealing who she really was, and everything that came before was turned on its head. Whether these stand the test of time depends on the audience, but there are still plenty of great examples from the past.

The Uninvited (2009

* Stream now on HBO Max

Released in 2009, The Uninvited was an American horror movie remake of the superior South Korean horror movie A Tale of Two Sisters. While the original movie was far better in every way, more people in the United States have seen the remake. This includes Redditor katiejiom, who wrote, "Even if I strongly prefer the original. Definitely shocked me."

The twist at the end showed that the killer wasn't the supposed evil stepmother. The entire movie was from an unreliable narrator who believed her dead sister was still alive, and her stepmother was a danger to them both. It was a case where the supposed victim was the killer the entire time, and she didn't even know it.

Stir of Echoes (1999)

* Stream now on Peacock+

Stir of Echoes was a movie that deserved a larger audience than it received. The problem is that it hit theaters around the same time as against the M. Night Shyamalan movie, and is better in some areas.

The movie features a husband and father who agrees to allow a neighbor to hypnotize him at a party. However, when he comes back, he can suddenly see a ghostly girl in his house and sets out to protect his family. However, when he learns this girl was murdered, he soon finds out the murderer is closer to home. Realistoforall wrote that the twist was great, and it was "such an underrated movie."

Se7en (1995)

* Stream now on Netflix

When it comes to Se7en, the question was never who the killer was. Instead, it was about stopping the faceless, nameless serial killer. Even when they found the killer, he had no name, simply called John Doe. Redditor spharker wrote that the fact this was a nobody was shocking, but it showed "the banality of evil."

However, the Se7en twist went one step further. After finding the killer, he had a gift for one of the detectives. It was the detective's wife's head. This caused one more murder, which completed the cycle started by John Doe, and presented a second villain, as the detective couldn't control his emotions when it counted most.

Psycho (1960)

* Stream now on Peacock+

Alfred Hitchcock directed some of the best thrillers of all time, and when he took it to the horror genre, he matched that brilliance. His best arguably came in 1960 when he directed Psycho. The movie set the template for future slasher movies and had more than one twist that shook up viewers. Shparks97 wrote, "I wish that I could have seen it without knowing the ending."

Of course, after the first twist when the supposed lead character died in the first half of the movie, no one expected a bigger shock in the end. When the killer was revealed, it was surprising, and when the fate of Norman Bates' mother was shown, it was a bow on the masterpiece movie.

The Others (2001)

* Not streaming anywhere at this time

The entire purpose of The Others comes down to presenting the massive twist ending. The movie was a gothic horror movie where a woman lived in an old mansion with her two kids, neither of which are allowed outside due to light sensitivity. Things go bad when ghosts start haunting the house.

What the twist did was change everything the viewer thought they knew about the movie. It turned out that the house was haunted, but it was the woman and her children that were the ghosts. Thinkingaboutmycat wrote it was shocking "when you finally find out who the ghosts are and who killed the children." It was the mother, and that is why they remain trapped in their old home for all eternity.

Alien (2003)

* Stream now on Starz

An insidious threat lurks aboard the Nostromo long before the xenomorph arrives in Ridley Scott's Alien. While it's common to see robots in science fiction, since spaceflight is indicative of an advanced leap in technology, the inclusion of a robot spy is an unexpected layer of anxiety that further heightens the tension of isolation.

Soon after the crew enters panic mode, crew member Ash is exposed as an android that was covertly programmed to retrieve the alien lifeform and treat all other crew as expendable. Not only does this set up the Weyland-Yutani corporation as a major series antagonist, but also reveals Ash's uncanny iration for the unsympathetic xenomorph. Over forty years later, Redditors like u/j3434 are still wowed by Ash's decapitation.

The Boy (2016)

* Stream now on Netflix

The marketing for The Boy implies yet another "possessed doll" romp, which, in hindsight, feels like an intentional move by the producers and filmmakers. As it turns out, this underrated horror movie has a few tricks up its sleeve with a solid central performance, atmospheric production values, and, yes, an utterly bizarre rug pull.

Many Annabelle-like franchise.

The Visit (2015)

* Rent now on Apple TV & Prime Video

Twists at the end of M. Night Shyamalan movies are, at this point, such a given that it's a trope in itself. So, it's impressive, that after a string of disappointing efforts from the filmmaker, a return to basics allowed him to deliver a subversion that genuinely caught many by surprise.

Granted, it requires some suspension of disbelief, but The Visit, a found-footage style thriller about two siblings visiting their estranged grandparents, concludes with the horrifying discovery that the kids have been staying with strangers who escaped from a psychiatric hospital and are posing as grandma and grandpa. Redditor u/KelanYoung was "calibrated to expect a supernatural twist," and to be fair, the promotional content, as well as moments in the movie, alluded to something potentially paranormal. With that in mind, it is plenty more unnerving that the strange behavior exhibited by the imposter-couple is reflective of their mental state rather than some otherworldly force.

Orphan (2009)

* Stream now on Paramount+

For the first two-thirds of its runtime, Orphan plays out like a standard "evil kid movie" until it doesn't. In fact, to label it an "evil kid movie" is inaccurate once the secret is unveiled in the final act.

Jaume Collet-Serra's underrated horror film stars actress Isabelle Fuhrman (twelve years old at the time) as a severely troubled girl named Esther who is adopted by grieving parents. Along with her "innocent" act, Esther is also faking her age and is eventually ousted as a thirty-three-year-old serial killer who appears younger due to a hormonal disorder. It's a make-or-break reveal that has caused division amongst viewers, but Redditor u/vladira points out that the shocking twist is based on true events (referring to the case of Barbora Skrlová) which makes the ending much eerier in hindsight.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

* Stream now on AMC+ & Shudder

Leatherface has become such an iconic figure in horror, and American pop culture as a whole, that his presence in the later Texas Chainsaw Massacre installments would, inevitably, diminish into overkill. Notwithstanding, in 1974, screenwriter Kim Henkel and director Tobe Hooper introduced audiences to the infamous skin-wearing butcher in the most jarring way imaginable.

Redditor u/Azeuka points out the brutal simplicity of Leatherface's unceremonious reveal, "He just pops out in the doorway and smashes the dudes head in." The scene is intentionally raw and unstylized to evoke maximum discomfort. Whereas many dramatic reveals are accompanied by intense musical stings, the use of silence emphasizes the uncomfortable diegetic sounds of a squealing pig, the bludgeoning sledgehammer, the victim's guttural seizure, and the door slamming shut.