One of the most fascinating aspects of the movie industry and really any form of challenging entertainment is the relationship that exists between the product and the audience. There’s an implicit level of trust that exists between a movie and its audience, and some of the biggest blockbuster releases of the past decade are predicated on giving the audience what they think that they’ve been conditioned to want.

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The element of surprise should never be taken for granted in cinema, and some of the most satisfying turns in movies occur when meta impulses result in creative risks. This can sometimes work best when movies playfully troll their audience and have fun with the expected relationship that exists between art and consumer.

10 Austin Powers In Goldmember Begins With A Fake Star-Studded Introduction

Movies Goldmember Tom Cruise As Austin Powers With Gwyneth Paltrow

Mike Myers’ Austin Powers series prides itself in its ability to satirize the beloved James Bond spy films, as well as broader aspects of the spy and action genres. All of the Austin Powers movies have fun with the audience and never take themselves too seriously. However, the beginning of the third movie, Goldmember, is the ultimate fakeout where audiences learn that they’re watching a movie-within-a-movie, that stars Tom Cruise as the swanky spy. This fake movie is full of entertaining celebrity cameos, and it features a more impressive and exaggerated level of action than what’s actually in the movie.

9 Scream 4 Brilliantly Insults Endless Slasher Sequels With A Meta Intro

Movies Scream 4 Opening Fake Out

The reflexive slasher franchise, Scream, still operates as horror movies first and foremost, but they often provide a humorous take on the genre due to their impassioned deconstruction of how horror films operate. All of the Scream movies explore this in different ways, but the most extreme example kicks off Scream 4’s introduction. Scream 4 lampoons the franchise’s standard cameo-laden opening sequences with not just one, but several false starts, which turn out to be a slew of regrettable Stab sequels. It’s the perfect way to begin the sequel, and it also leaves the audience unsure of what to trust.

8 Gremlins 2 Highlights Just How Mischievous & Destructive The Creatures Can Be

the Gremlins in Gremlins 2 in the movie theater

Sequels are always a risky proposition, but Joe Dante’s Gremlins 2: The New Batch, perfectly builds upon its predecessor in some extremely satisfying ways. There’s a lot more humor in the Gremlins sequel, and it doesn’t take itself as seriously as the original movie, but one of the movie’s silliest sequences involves the chaos of the Gremlins becoming so intense that they literally break the film’s projector.

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This meta moment where the Gremlins take things over is sublime and becomes even better that the home video release, and even the novelization, contain altered versions of this trolling moment.

7 Team America: World Police Jokes About Just How Bad A Marionette Movie Could Be

Movies Team America World Police Opening Marionette Scene

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have established a prolific career through their lengthy tenure with South Park as well as the Broadway super success, The Book of Mormon. Team America: World Police is the duo’s pastiche of bad disaster movies, yet mixed together with retro marionette aesthetics. It’s a delirious product that uses its medium to troll the audience in some very entertaining ways. Team America begins with a close-up of clumsy and ugly marionettes, giving the impression that this is how the movie will look, only to then elegantly pull back and reveal accomplished marionette characters pulling these strings.

6 The Devil Inside’s Troll Results In One Of The Worst Movie Endings Of All Time

Movies The Devil Inside Ending

Endings can be everything, and it’s always disappointing when a strong movie stumbles at the finish line and becomes weakened by a subpar finish. The Devil Inside is a forgettable found footage horror film that revolves around possession. It’s a run-of-the-mill movie, but what makes it stand out is that it forces the audience to see its real ending online. The horror movie ends abruptly, only to flash a website URL on the screen (which is now defunct), where the audience can see more. It’s a disastrous decision.

5 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2 Extends Its Story In A Highly Controversial Way

Movies The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2 Battle

The Twilight movies hit at exactly the right time and were able to ride the wave of young adult feature film adaptations with supernatural twists. The success of some of these franchises led to certain tactics to prolong them, like dividing the final film up into two parts.

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The majority of Breaking Dawn is spent on a grueling battle between the series’ different factions, which features many casualties. Breaking Dawn: Part 2 has its cake and eats it too when it reveals this huge battle was all just a vision and didn’t actually happen.

4 Trail Of The Pink Panther Cheats Its Audience & Sullies Peter Sellers’ Legacy

Movies Trail Of The Pink Panther Sellers Double

The majority of the examples of trolling in films may temporarily frustrate the audience, but they’re all meant to be in good fun. The stunt that’s pulled in Trail of the Pink Panther is the one example that actually feels mean-spirited. Peter Sellers’ Pink Panther clumsy detective films were beloved, but the seventh entry, Trail of the Pink Panther, was put together after Sellers’ passing. The film stoops to many awkward exercises to mask Sellers’ absence, whether it’s the use of stunt doubles, disguises, or previously filmed Sellers footage. It becomes a running joke that his character won’t receive justice.

3 Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan Spends Most Of Its Time On A Boat

Movies Friday The 13th Jason Takes Manhattan Billboard

The Friday the 13th films have never been regarded as high art, but there’s still a comforting formula that they adhere to that’s allowed Jason Voorhees to go on so many murderous rampages. False advertising always catches up with a movie. The marketing campaign for Jason Takes Manhattan highlights Jason’s carnage in a crowded metropolitan city, yet this exciting prospect is reserved for only a short portion at the end of the slasher movie. The bulk of Jason Takes Manhattan is set on a boat that’s on its way to New York City, which left fans deeply frustrated.

2 Monty Python & The Holy Grail Pushes Its Comedy To The Extreme

Movies Monty Python And The Holy Grail Police Stop Filming

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedic triumph, and the film concocts a clever way to deal with the production's minuscule budget. The movie is set to culminate with an epic knight battle, but right when it starts, it's interrupted by police interference. King Arthur and the rest of his knights get arrested and are told to stop filming the movie, which then results in the film projector breaking down and the movie immediately ending, even without credits. It commits to the bit and doesn't care about the consequences.

1 Funny Games Uses Trolling To Emphasize The Powerlessness Of The Audience

Movies Funny Games Rewind Remote Scene

Michael Haneke is a ruthless filmmaker who’s made some incredibly heartbreaking and fearless films, but it’s safe to say that Funny Games might be the most trolling movie that’s ever been made. The film details a brutal home invasion where the victims are repeatedly without hope. After one brief moment where the heroes finally do get the upper hand over their aggressors, one of the assailants breaks the fourth wall, picks up a remote control, and rewinds the movie to reverse their progress. It reinforces that the victims here cannot survive regardless of what they do.

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