THE THIRD ACT TWIST

(Spoilers: Chernobyl Diaries/Wrong Turn/A Perfect Getaway/Switchblade Romance/Sixth Sense)



There was once a time when audiences could sit back and relax during the third act of a film. Inevitably the good guy would win and everyone would live happily ever after. Except the bad guy of course.

Horror films however have always challenged this formula. Films such as Black Christmas, The Wicker Man and Friday 13th made audiences very aware that not every ending would be a happy one.



Fast forward thirty years or so and the trend has increased in a big way. Ultimately, horror films are meant to make the audience feel unsettled and vulnerable. Their job is to be as unpredictable as possible, like a jack-in-the-box, ready to spring at any moment.



In fact, audiences now have come to expect a twist late in the third act. Generally speaking there are two types of twist. The climactic twist – which appears during the climax of the film or the resolution twist - which surfaces afterwards, during the resolution (obviously).



For instance, in Paranormal Activity 3, the twist is linked with the climax of the story. The family end up at Grandma’s house and the twist is when the father realises that Grandma is a witch. Twists this late rarely have a positive outcome. It  has occurred so late that our hero is usually unprepared to deal with it. This type of climactic twist can also be witnessed in Chernobyl Diaries when the military turn up and shoot one of the protagonists. It’s an unexpected obstacle, right at the end. It’s conflict but not in the shape/form we expected it.  Films with climactic twists rarely have happy endings.



Other films appear to have happy endings only to hit us with a sucker punch right at the end. The climax has led us to believe that all is well, the hero is alive and well and the antagonist is gone or dead. But we’re wrong. The bad guy is still alive and kicking. In many cases it is the final image which tells us that the good guy/girl isn’t out of the woods yet. These endings are popular purely because they leave the film open for a (potentially profitable) sequel.

Take Wrong Turn for example. The cannibals are all apparently killed at the climax of the film. Our heroic couple get away and all is well. Until the last scene. A cop examines a burnt out building and one of the cannibals, burnt but very much alive, kills him.



Lay the groundwork

Very often these twists come in the form of characters revealing themselves to be antagonistic. For the duration of the film we have been led to believe that a character is good when in fact they are the total opposite. These twists need to be managed very carefully and the groundwork needs to be covertly layered throughout the story. Otherwise the twist/reveal will feel forced/too convenient.



Take A Perfect Getaway for example. The twist is so difficult to comprehend that the filmmakers feel it necessary to show ten minutes worth of flashback scenes just to explain it. Most of this involves previously unseen scenes between the two leads. It ruins the pace and flow of the story but more importantly, it offends the audience (generally speaking) so much that they really don't care what happens from that point on.

​Switchblade Romance is another film that ultimately failed in its efforts to provide a shock twist ending. Here the main protagonist is revealed to have been the killer all along. Despite the audience seeing scenes where she is pursuing/fighting/hiding from the apparent killer. What the twist ultimately said was “you know 50% of the scenes we’ve shown already, well they were all the main characters imagination”. It’s not clever, it’s just confusing. This is a shame because up until this point, it was a very effective film. It’s a prime example of a writer adding a twist that was basically unnecessary.



Successful twists
The most successful twists are moments that have an emotional impact as well as being something that the audience can very quickly appreciate/understand. Sure most of them require a little montage of flashbacks to show key scenes in a new light, but audiences expect that (unless they’ve got a photographic memory).

Films that respect the audience and force the audience look at previous scenes in a new way, are much more successful than ones who duped us into believing a scene was real when in fact it was “imagined”. Because an audience cannot tell at the time whether a scene is real or imagined.

Take the Sixth Sense for example. The twist here is hugely successful. The revelation that Dr Crowe (Bruce Willis) is dead is a masterstroke because:
a) It provokes an emotional response. He is dead and he has only just realised it. Plus, there is no hope of ever reconciling with his wife.
b) It gives new meaning to his motives throughout the whole film. He cannot move on until he has helped Cole (Haley Joel Osment) and it contributes towards a fitting resolution.
c) It is a shock. Very few people will have seen this coming.
d) In retrospect, it makes logical  because we have seen Crowe interact with other characters during the film. But upon closer inspection, it appears we have been deceived.

But in a satisfying and intelligent way. Because the only person Crowe talks to in the film, apart from the introductory scene which is set before the rest of the story takes place, is Cole. And after all, he can see dead people.
The importance of the twist in the third act should not be underestimated. If you pull it off, it can elevate a film to greatness. If you fail, the audience will feel offended and will write off the film as in its entirety. You have been warned.sense.