10 Horror Movies From The ’80s With A Shyamalan Twist – Screen Rant

The plot twist might be M. Night Shyamalan's trademark, but these 1980s horror movies were shocking audiences long before The Sixth Sense.

M. Night Shyamalan may not have invented the surprise ending in movies, but he definitely added his own uniqueapproach to it. Shyamalan ushered in a mainstream horror revivalwith films likeThe Sixth Sense,thanks in large part toits shocking finale.Numerous directors have toyed with theunexpected ending, though, fromAlfred Hitchcock in the '60s to David Fincher in the '90s.

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While the '80s are seen as the decade of the slasher, a horror subgenre replete with its own plot tropes, it contains many examples of thetwist ending Shyamalan would later perfect. Whether for comedic or horrific purposes, the films on this list employ all the tricks in the book to amplify their narrative power.

This textbook slasher is saturated with mystery, ruckus, andtons of blood. Now considered a cult classic,April Fool's Day follows a group ofcollege friends who spend the titular weekend at the estate of Vassar studentMuffy St. John.

As the weekend progresses, bodies start dropping like flies as an unknown killer targets the group. By the end of the film, though, nothing is what it seems.

In the first entry in one of the most successful horror franchises ever, it is not Jason Voorhees who terrorizes a group of teenagers. Instead, it's his mother who returns to Camp Crystal Lake inFriday the 13th, tasked with killing all the negligent counselors who let her son die.

The revelation that Mrs. Voorhees is responsible isn't even the biggest stunner here. At the very end, the deformed body of Jason jumps out of Crystal Lake to attack the final girl, Alice. This twist took the film into supernatural territory and gave Jason a reason to return in later installments.

A psychological neo-noir with demonic underpinnings,Angel Heart stars Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, and Lisa Bonet. Rourke plays Harry Angel, an NYC private detective hired by De Niro's characterLouis Cyphre to track down a missingperson in New Orleans.

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As Angel digs deeper and deeper into the case, the distinction between reality and fantasy blurs.Angel Heart comes to a dramatic, sudden ending that raises questions about identity, trauma, and the nature of pure evil.

An underrated Italian horror film with science fiction elements,Nightmare City follows a television reporter trackinga horde of ghouls quenching their thirst for human blood. Victims of these monsters rise from the dead, turning the titular city into a veritable slaughterhouse.

The film evolves into a tale of survival. However, in its final few moments,Nightmare City turns in on itself, courtesy of its unreliable narrator.

In line withApril Fool's Day,Happy Birthday to Me is another campy slasher that ends with an emotional rollercoaster. The film tells the story of popular high schooler Ginny, whose equally popular friends are taken out one after the other by an unidentified assailant in the days leading up to Ginny's 18th birthday.

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Happy Birthday to Me features a smorgasbord of unique slasher movie death scenes, including one involving shish kabobs. The film's unexpected closing scenes prove that all families have issues, no matter how well-off or established they are.

Sleepaway Camp's infamous twist ending, one thatshattersstereotypicalgender expressions, remains one of the most beloved in the genre. In the first of what would become a five-film franchise, ateenager named Angela attends a summer camp being terrorized by a serial slayer.

The introverted Angela deals with bullies and memories of her traumatic childhood as the camp reels from all the murders. It all comes to a head by the end ofSleepaway Camp, whose finale will flip audiences on their heads.

Initially banned in the UK as a "video nasty,"Dead & Buried stars James Farentino as Sheriff Dan Gillis, a man investigating the mysterious and violent deaths of tourists in a small New England town.What's especially unsettling about the murders is that the victims keep coming back to life andliving like locals in the town, Potter's Bluff.

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Sheriff Gillis gets closer and closer to the truth, which sends the film's narrative on an incredibly bizarre trajectory. By Dead & Buried'ssurprise end, the Sheriff is much closer to the truth than he'dlike to be.

A celebrated giallo film from acclaimed Italian director Dario Argento,Tenebrae is a stylizedlook into the life of a popular American author whose murder-mysteries come to life while on tour in Rome.Anthony Franciosa plays the author, Peter Neal, who is stalked by a killer recreating scenes from his books.

Nothing is exactly what it seems inTenebrae, though, and what starts off as a classic slasher quickly turns into a tense psychological thriller. It's all magnified by the big killer reveal at the film's end.

John Carpenter set the standard for slashers to come when he introduced the masked madman Michael Myers in 1978'sHalloween. After dumping Myers for the third installment in the franchise, which turned out to be a major bomb, the boogeyman returned for 1988'sHalloween IV.

The real star of the film, though, is Danielle Harris, the child actor who plays Michael's estranged niece Jamie Lloyd, who is hunted by her crazed uncle. All of the intergenerational demons latent within the Myers family linereach a startling and memorable conclusion by the end of the movie.

Possession is a cult horror gem full of surreal surprises and narrative jumps. It starts as a tale about a fractured marriage between a spy living in West Berlin, played by Sam Neill, and his wife, playedIsabelle Adjani.

Neill's character, Mark, believes his wife, Anna, is having an affair, an assumption directorAndrzej uawski plays until it becomes clear something much more nefarious is at play. Mark and Anna's explosive marriage erupts into a full-on apocalypse byPossession's closing credits.

NEXT:10 '80s Horror Movies That Deserve A Proper Sequel

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Megan is a public librarian by trade obsessed with the intersections between art, culture, and society. She's a nerd for horror, obscure memes, weird history, graphic novels, and binge-worthy science fiction series.

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10 Horror Movies From The '80s With A Shyamalan Twist - Screen Rant