Life Of Pi & 9 Other Non-Horror Movies With Unexpected Twists, Ranked – Screen Rant

Horror movies are known for having amazing plot twists, but they are not the only genre to feature this trope. These non-horror movies prove it.

The surprise ending has become synonymous with the horror movie genre, however, non-horror movies can contain just as good of plot twists as horror movies can. Audiences usually don't find romance movies or comedies to have Sixth Sense level twists since those genres tend to be more predictable and straightforward, however, many filmmakers sometimes take a chance and change things up by infusing the unexpected in their usually formulaic genres.

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Some of these unexpected twists work and some don't, but creatively audiences can respect the filmmaker for trying to make non-horror or thrillers a bit more interesting and perhaps evengreater thematically.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles is a classic John Hughes comedy starring Steve Martin and John Candy as Neal and Del, two mismatched strangers struggling to get Neal hometo Chicago for Thanksgiving.

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Throughout the movie, traveling salesman Del periodically mentions having a wife but after successfully getting Neal back to Chicago, Neal realizes that Del's wife is actually deceased and he just perpetually travels. A deleted scene goes further and reveals that Del attaches himself to strangersto not be lonely.

Matchstick Men is a Ridley Scott-directed comedy/drama about a con artist, Roy, played by Nicholas Cage who reconnects with his 14-year-old daughter, Angela, whom he's never met. The two spend time together and it improves his life.

However, it's ultimately revealed that Roy is part of a long-con being played on him by his partner Frank, played by Sam Rockwell. Roy discovers he actually has no daughter and Angela is Frank's accomplice in a plot to steal money from him.

The Shape Of Things is a romantic/drama based on Neil LaBute's play. It stars Rachel Weisz as an art graduate student, named Evelyn, who takes an unexpected liking to nerdy Adam, played by Paul Rudd. They begin to date and Evelyn starts changing things about Adam and he eventually loses weight, gets a nose job, dresses differently, and overall, grows in confidence.

However, it's revealed that Adam has just been an art project for Evelyn all along. She never had any feelings for him and that her goal was to "sculpt" him into a better human being.

Will Smith stars as Ben, a mysterious man who comes into the lives of seven strangers and generously donates to them what they desperately need, like a new heart, kidney, and bone marrow.

It's ultimately revealed that, previously, Ben accidentally killed seven people in a car accident, and overcome with guilt, decides to commit suicide by being stung by jellyfish, wherein his organs can be extracted and used to save the lives of seven people who need them. In the end, the weight of the organs adds up to seven pounds.

Based on the book by Nicholas Sparks, Julianna Hough plays Erin, a young woman who moves to a small North Carolina town to get away from her abusive husband. There, she befriends a local woman named Jo and a widower named Alex, who is struggling to raise his kids, following his wife's death.

Alex and Erin eventually fall in love but the abusive husband tracks her down, however, Erin fights back and ultimately kills him. Surprisingly, it's revealed that Erin's kind neighbor, Jo, was actually the ghost of Alex's deceased wife all along.

Set during the Northern Ireland conflict, The Crying Game tells the story of an IRA member named Fergus whose group captures aBritish soldier named Jody. The two bond and Jody has Fergus promisethat if anything happens to him to look after his girlfriend, Dil. Eventually, Jody is killed and Fergus leaves the IRA and flees to London where he meets Dil.

The pair fall in love but Dil reveals herself to be transgender. Despite the initial shock, Fergus continues to love Dil, and when the IRA finds Fergus, he must choose between love and his loyalty to his country.

Remember Me is the story of troubled youth Tyler, played by Robert Pattinson, who's pain starts to heal after he begins a relationship with the daughter of a police officer who had previously arrested him.

At the movie's conclusion, Tyler looks out the window of his father's office and the camera pulls back to reveal he's on the 101st floor of the World Trade Center and the date is September 11th, 2001. Critics panned this ending for unnecessarily adding 9/11 to the plot and therefore exploiting tragedy to make the film more interesting.

A wealthy 13-year-old girl named Briony has a crush on her housekeeper's son, Robbie, however, when she discovers Robbie has gotten together with her sister Cecilia, she falsely accuses him of a crime, breaking up the relationship. WW2 separates Cecelia and Robbie, but eventually, reunite and Briony pledges to correct what she's done by setting the record straight about the crime she falsely accused Robbie of.

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However, many years later, it's revealed everything previously seen has been from 81-year-old Briony's book of memoirs. Unfortunately, Robbie and Cecilia's reunion was fictitious, and, in actuality, both characters never reunited andtragicallydied in WW2. Briony wrote the reunion in her book to give the two the happy ending they were never able to have due to her accusation.

Tully is the third collaboration between director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody and stars Charlize Theron as a woman named Marlo, suffering from postpartum depression, who hires a 26yr old night nanny named Tully to take care of her newborn so she can sleep at night.

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Marlo and Tully bond, which reminds Marlo of her carefree youth. However, after Tully suddenly tells hershe's quitting, Marlo gets into a car accident. It's then revealed that there was never a night nanny and Tully is actually Marlo's past self she was imagining to help cope with her stress.

In Life Of Pi, Pi recounts to a writer how, as a teenage boy, he survived an animal-filled sinking freighter and became stranded in the middle of the ocean for months aboard a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger, a hyena, an orangutan, and a zebra. The hyena quickly kills the Orangutan and Zebra, and the Bengal Tiger kills the Hyena. Following that, Pi and the Bengal Tiger drift aboard the lifeboat and learn to trust each other.

Months go by of Pi and the tiger's journey, and the boat lands in Mexico where the tiger escapes into the jungle.Rescuersfind Pi and he tells the sunken-freighter's insurance agents a different story in which his mother was the Orangutan, a sailor was the Zebra and the ship's cook was the Hyena. It's up to the audiences' interpretation, but it's suggested that, in the story, Pi was the Bengal Tiger and he was actually alone on the lifeboat the entire time.

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Justin Van Voorhis is an actor/writer/filmmaker. He's the creator of the award-winning feature film "Slate Yourself" which is currently on Amazon Prime. In addition to being a contributor to Screen Rant, he also contributes to The Take and co-hosts the Dissident Film Club podcast. He portrayed 40-year-old Warren Buffett in "Becoming Warren Buffett" on HBO, and sits in front of Joaquin Phoenix in "Joker."

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Life Of Pi & 9 Other Non-Horror Movies With Unexpected Twists, Ranked - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero