Top 10 Movies That Changed Genre Halfway In

“10 Cloverfield Lane” is arguably even more frightening than its predecessor due to the human element. The first half of the movie serves as a mystery-thriller, as Michelle is abducted by a seemingly crazy man who is telling her stories of a possible alien invasion and poisoned air. Michelle naturally doesn’t believe it, and the flick follows her attempts to escape the bunker. The final act of the movie however, completely does away with the thriller aspect and goes straight into science fiction, with Michelle escaping the bunker and battling an alien. The enormous shift understandably put off some viewers who were enjoying the ambiguous abduction story, but others welcomed it having an actual “Cloverfield” connection.

“Funny People” was about an hour longer than it needed to be. The first half of the film follows sell-out comedian George Simmons as he battles a dangerous and extremely deadly cancer while befriending an up-and-coming stand-up comedian. It’s a nice little comedy-drama about friendship, celebrity comedians, and wasted opportunities. And then, when he’s cured of the cancer, “Funny People” suddenly turns into “The Great Gatsby.” The second half is a romantic dramedy short on laughs and following George trying to win back his now-married ex-girlfriend. It’s still decent stuff, but it feels seriously disconnected from the first half of the movie.

“Hancock” initially had a fantastic and original premise – a washed-up, alcoholic, politically incorrect superhero tries to save the day from the bad guys, only to cause an enormous amount of destruction and raise the ire of the city’s citizens. A PR guy then tries to save his reputation. That’s funny stuff! But then Charlize Theron’s Mary comes in and seriously complicates matters. The movie suddenly shifts from vulgar, silly comedy into an unnecessarily convoluted superhero drama about a pair of bonded immortal beings who lose their superpowers if they stay together long enough... or something. Talk about a fun story that went off the rails into self-seriousness.

AKA the “Is Adam Sandler really trying to make us cry?” movie. “Click” starts like any other silly Sandler flick – Michael is a workaholic father who receives a magical remote that allows him to control time. He uses this to do stupid things, like fart in his boss’ face. But when the remote begins to quickly fast-forward through his life, the movie takes a sharp turn into “It’s A Wonderful Life” territory. Michael soon finds himself saying goodbye to his neglected and now-dead father and telling his son Ben to cherish his own family while Michael dies in the rain. The film has a happy ending, but we have to go through a real depressing stretch to get there.

Really, any film of the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy works, but we’re choosing “The World’s End” due to how abrupt and shocking the transition is. The first 30 minutes of this movie chronicles the alcoholic and depressed Gary King as he reunites with his childhood friends for a night of drinking. It starts off as a cute comedy-drama about neglected friendships and trying to recapture teenage innocence. And then Gary accidentally knocks the head off an android, and the movie quickly switches into sci-fi mode. The rest of the story then follows the group as they try to blend-in and eventually escape from the alien-invaded town. If you weren’t prepared for sci-fi, you’d be in for one hell of a surprise.

We obviously saw it coming, but “Titanic’s” massive genre shift is still very shocking and painfully tragic. The first half of “Titanic” serves as a grandiose and high-budgeted period piece about class systems and romance. We follow star-struck lovers Jack and Rose as they fall in love aboard the doomed ship and fight the disapproval of Rose’s upper-class family. And then the ship hits the iceberg, and “Titanic” becomes a disaster movie, filled with scenes of people drowning, freezing to death, taking their own lives, and slamming into propellers. It forgoes the relationship drama to focus on the disaster, and though the end result is a spectacular cinematic experience, it’s also a jarring one.

Alfred Hitchcock certainly knows how to get into the minds of his audience. Exhibit A: his 1960 masterpiece “Psycho,” which begins with Marion Crane stealing $40,000 from her boss and fleeing town. What follows is a typical on-the-lamb crime drama, complete with scenes of Marion evading police officers and swapping vehicles. Hitchcock was known for his thrillers, like “Rear Window” and “North by Northwest,” so it’s understandable if viewers were expecting another crime-thriller. However, things take a massive turn when Marion is murdered at the Bates Motel, and the movie quickly swaps to a psychological horror/detective tale about alternate personalities and matricide. And viewers thought they knew where Hitchcock was going…

The year is 2057, and the sun is dying. To save humanity, the crew of the Icarus II go on a mission to reignite the sun. It was set to be a mature and thoughtful disaster movie – think “Armageddon” but with more brains. And then Pinbacker showed up. In the final third of the film, the crew discovers the mutilated and deranged captain of the Icarus I, and he proceeds to go all Jason Voorhees, picking off the crew one-by-one and turning the once-thoughtful sci-fi disaster flick into a slasher movie. It caught a lot of people off guard, and many consider it to be a huge misstep in an otherwise solid film.

Who knew that such a horrifying movie could begin so sweetly? “Audition” follows widower, Shigeharu Aoyama, as he’s encouraged to begin dating again. To find the perfect match, he holds mock auditions wherein women interview for the role of his wife. The movie seemingly begins as a lighthearted offbeat romantic comedy, with Shigeharu soon finding himself infatuated with a girl named Asami. However, Asami isn’t quite the cute, innocent love interest she’s made out to be. She’s a girl who keeps a disfigured man in a sack whom she feeds her own vomit, and then proceeds to torment Shigeharu with needles and piano wire. It’s a hugely influential horror film, but one that likely shocked many an unsuspecting viewer.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Mother!” (2017)
From Home Invasion Mystery Drama & Psychological Horror to Religious & Political Allegory

“The Prestige” (2006)
A Mystery Thriller About Competing Magicians Turns Into a Science Fiction Flick by the End

“Miracle Mile” (1988)
Following Its Romantic Comedy-Like Opening, This Film Becomes an Apocalyptic Thriller

“From Dusk till Dawn” is probably the quintessential genre-shift movie. The story begins as your typical crime thriller road movie a la “Thelma & Louise,” with brothers Seth and Richie Gecko robbing liquor stores, killing hostages, and forcing a family to smuggle them into Mexico. However, once they reach the Titty Twister bar, the movie 180s as the patrons are revealed to be vampires. Richie is quickly killed off, the blood starts flowing, and the film enters ridiculous B-movie territory. While the movie’s genre switch is well-known today, there’s no describing how big of a twist this was for unassuming moviegoers back in 1996.