15 Movies With Twists So Predictable, They Could've Been Straight Lines

1. The Village (2004)

Remember when M. Night Shyamalan was the reigning king of the filmic swerve? Well, in the case of The Village, the director's love for a mind-bender of an ending landed him squarely in 'duh' territory. The big reveal — that this eerie 19th-century village is, in fact, a contemporary isolated commune — was foreshadowed by everything short of a neon sign that said, THIS ISN'T REALLY THE 1800s, Y'ALL. If anything, The Village serves as a stark reminder that you can have too much of a good thing — and by 'good thing,' we mean painfully obvious plot twists.

2. Now You See Me (2013)

Oh, Now You See Me, how you tried to pull a fast one on us. Centered around a group of illusionists pulling off grand heists, the movie was practically begging for a 'ta-da' moment — and boy, did it deliver. Problem is, they telegraphed their twist so clearly that the audience could see it from a mile away. The supposed-to-be-shocking revelation that Mark Ruffalo 's character is the mastermind behind the whole operation felt like being fooled by a kid doing a card trick after he's shown you the ace up his sleeve.

3. The Life of David Gale (2003)

If you're looking for a film that misuses its potential for a potent social commentary with a predictable twist, The Life of David Gale has got you covered. This drama, centered around a professor and death penalty critic (played by Kevin Spacey) on death row, hinges its final act on a twist that is not only morally ambiguous but also quite foreseeably laid out. As it turns out, Gale and his ally arranged his crime to make a point against capital punishment, a twist that had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer hitting a watermelon.

4. Secret Window (2004)

Secret Window is another textbook example of a mystery-thriller falling flat on its face due to a glaringly obvious twist. When Johnny Depp 's character, a writer accused of plagiarism by a mysterious stranger, starts losing his grip on reality, you don't need to be a Hercule Poirot to figure out that the stranger is his alter ego. It's a classic Fight Club scenario but with none of the finesse that made the latter so surprising.

5. The Number 23 (2007)

Nothing says 'predictable' quite like a psychological thriller that thinks it's smarter than it is. Enter The Number 23, starring Jim Carrey in a decidedly unfunny role as a man obsessed with the number 23. The whole thing culminates in the unsurprising reveal that Carrey's character wrote the book that he believes has cursed him. This one was so bad, we wish we could say we didn't see it coming. But we did, we all did. As with most things in life, a little subtlety goes a long way, a memo that seems to have been lost on the folks behind this numerically-obsessed disaster.

6. Safe Haven (2013)

If you've ever watched a Nicholas Sparks movie and thought, This could use a supernatural element, then Safe Haven has got you covered. The film's attempt at a twist — revealing that a kind and helpful woman (played by Cobie Smulders) is actually the ghost of the protagonist's deceased wife — feels shoehorned in and is heavily hinted at throughout the film. It seems Sparks decided to swap his usual 'someone's going to die' twist for 'someone's already dead', with about as much subtlety as a Nicholas Sparks novel deserves.

7. Remember Me (2010)

For a movie that wants to portray a heartfelt, romantic drama, Remember Me takes a wildly tone-deaf detour in its conclusion. The film ends with the revelation that the date is September 11, 2001, and our lead character, played by Robert Pattinson, is in the Twin Towers. The 'twist' isn't just distasteful; it's also incredibly predictable, with numerous heavy-handed hints dropped throughout the movie. It's like the film wanted to trade in its rom-com badge for a tragedy award at the last minute, but all it got was a unanimous eye roll.

8. Planet of the Apes (2001)

In an attempt to outdo the original's iconic Statue of Liberty reveal, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes ends with Mark Wahlberg crash landing on an Earth where apes rule and the Lincoln Memorial now features an ape. It's clear Burton wanted to one-up the original's twist ending, but instead, he created a convoluted mess that anyone could see coming. The saying goes, If it ain't broke, don't fix it, but apparently, Burton missed that memo.

9. The Forgotten (2004)

The Forgotten attempts to shock its audience with a twist that would be more at home in an over-the-top sci-fi series. Julianne Moore plays a mother who's told her dead son never existed, and it's all part of an experiment by... wait for it... aliens. The reveal is delivered with such straight-faced seriousness that it's hard not to burst out laughing. With this movie, the twist wasn't just predictable, it was a genuinely out-of-this-world stretch.

10. The Book of Eli (2010)

The Book of Eli might have wowed some viewers with its reveal that Denzel Washington's character is blind, but for many of us, the signs were written on the wall in neon lights. The movie gives away its twist so many times that by the time the reveal comes around, it feels more like a confirmation than a surprise. It's a good reminder that less is more, especially when it comes to hinting at your big secret.

11. The Stepford Wives (2004)

The Stepford Wives is a film that serves up its big reveal with all the subtlety of a fireworks display. The movie makes it abundantly clear that something's not quite right in Stepford from the get-go. So, when it's finally unveiled that the 'perfect' wives are all actually robots, it's about as shocking as a cup of lukewarm tea. Perhaps if they'd spent less time on Nicole Kidman's fabulous wardrobe and more on the plot, this might not have been such a yawn fest.

12. The Happening (2008)

Another M. Night Shyamalan creation, The Happening, aims for a profound ecological message wrapped in a horror movie. Unfortunately, the reveal — that plants are causing humans to off themselves — is more of a hilarious twist than a horrifying one. The clues are so glaringly obvious that it's a wonder the characters don't figure it out sooner. It's like being in a game of charades where the answer is tree, and the person is flailing around pretending to be a leaf.

13. The Da Vinci Code (2006)

The Da Vinci Code may have been a best-selling novel, but the movie adaptation's 'twist' is predictably flat. Throughout the movie, we're led to believe that the Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene's tomb. However, the actual twist is that it's her living descendant, which would've been an 'Aha!' moment if it weren't hinted at throughout the film with the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. It seems like the filmmakers took the code part of the title a bit too lightly.

14. The Boy Next Door (2015)

The Boy Next Door throws subtlety out the window, delivering a thriller that is as predictable as it is ludicrous. Jennifer Lopez's character falls for her charmingly psychotic neighbor who, surprise surprise, turns out to be a violent stalker. It's not so much a twist as a straight line from point A to B, with Lopez's character the last to get the memo. If anything, the movie serves as a cautionary tale for all those who think a handsome face can't possibly hide a murderous psycho. Newsflash — it can, and in this case, it does.

15. Basic Instinct 2 (2006)

Basic Instinct 2 takes the sexual thriller formula of the original and, in trying to top it, ends up with a laughably predictable 'twist.' The film spends its runtime hinting that Catherine (played by Sharon Stone) is a killer, only to reveal in the end — drumroll, please — that she is, indeed, the killer. It's a twist that's not just a straight line, but a circle, ending up exactly where it started. Let's just say, in the grand scheme of suspenseful movie twists, this one couldn't even cut butter.