History HalfwayPlotSwitch / LiveActionFilms

* The South Korean film ''Phone'' starts as a thriller about a journalist who uncovered a pedophilia scandal being stalked by one of the people she accused. She moves into a friend's empty house and changes her phone number. [[spoiler:Then her friend's daughter answers her phone and becomes possessed, and the plot suddenly becomes a supernatural horror movie about how the phone number is cursed by an angry spirit. Said spirit actually kills off the stalker halfway through the movie to put that plot thread permanently to rest.]]

** ''Film/AViewToAKill'' starts out with an investigation of CorruptCorporateExecutive Max Zorin and his sale of EMP resistant microchips to UsefulNotes/{{Soviet Russia|UkraineAndSoOn}}. Film/JamesBond investigates by attending a horse sale, where he finds out that Zorin is also trading in illegal augmentations. Neither of these plot points make much of a difference in the end because right after Bond escapes, the real plan to destroy Silicon Valley is introduced and a relatively minor clue (a check made out to a woman from San Francisco) brings Bond to California.

* ''Film/HighLane'', another mountaineering film, turns into a SlasherMovie for its second half when its protagonists suddenly find themselves being hunted by a feral, cannibalistic MountainMan.

* ''Film/BicentennialMan'': The film starts as a fairly straight adaptation of the ScienceFiction {{Drama}} "Literature/TheBicentennialMan", but around the start of Andrew's second century, he meets CanonForeigner Portia Charney, and falls in love. This changes to a RomanticComedy as he tries to make her happy, which reframes his drive to BecomeARealBoy as a demonstration of his love for her. Despite the change in plot, there is no ToneShift, as Creator/RobinWilliams does a good job creating levity whether he's acting as a RobotButler, in search for a soul, or when [[{{Robosexual}} romancing a human]].

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' Starts with Doc and Marty travelling to the future to prevent the incident which leads to Marty's kids from going to jail. However after Old Biff steals the DeLorean and creates a CrapsackWorld alternate timeline by tampering with the past, the rest of the film is about Marty and Doc travelling back to the past to undo the damage.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePart2'' Starts with Doc and Marty travelling to the future to prevent the incident which leads to Marty's kids from going to jail. However after Old Biff steals the DeLorean and creates a CrapsackWorld alternate timeline by tampering with the past, the rest of the film is about Marty and Doc travelling back to the past to undo the damage.

* The documentary ''Film/NineEleven'' begins as a relatively boring documentary chronicling Tony Benetatos, a probationary firefighter who's training to become a real member of the FDNY. Then, while investigating a routine gas leak, the documentarians and firefighters hear a jet fly overhead...and turn to see ''[[WhamShot the jet impact into the North Tower of the World Trade Center]]'' -- the only clear footage of it on film, no less. Instantly, the film switches to cover the firefighters' response to this as the horror of September [=11th=] unfolds. Tony himself is still around, but his plot gets pushed into the periphery. RealLifeWritesThePlot definitely applies here.

* The classic ''Film/{{Predator}}'' starts with Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger trying with his fellow soldiers to save a US politician from a band of South American terrorists. After he discovers that this was just an excuse to save some Black OPS agents, this plot is conveniently thrown out of the window when an alien begins [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunting them.

* The little known 1988 film ''Permanent Record'' spends about twenty minutes convincing you it's just throw away teen angst when the kid we thought was the protagonist [[spoiler: leaps off a cliff to his death]] between jump cuts.

** ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' starts where ''Far From Home'' left off, with Peter dealing with the fallout of [[spoiler: his secret identity being exposed]] and the effect it has on his friends and his future. However, when he goes to Doctor Strange to cast a spell to make the world forget his secret identity, the spell goes wrong, and the rest of the movie is about Peter [[spoiler: and his [[SpiderManTrilogy alternate]] [[TheAmazingSpiderManSeries selves]] from different universes battling the villains from those universes and trying to send them back to their correct timelines.]]

* The classic ''Film/{{Predator}}'' starts with Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger trying with his fellow soldiers to save a US politician from a band of South American terrorists. After he discovers that this was just [[spoiler:an excuse to save some Black OPS agents, this plot is conveniently thrown out of the window when an alien with an explosive plasma ShoulderCannon and a [[VisibleInvisibility cloaking device]] begins [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunting them]].]] Unlike some other examples, this wasn't a surprise to original audiences, [[spoiler:and the film begins with something falling to Earth from space and the team encounters the remains of the alien's previous victims early in the film, albeit first under the impression it was the terrorists who did it.]]

* ''Film/BicentennialMan'': The film starts as a fairly straight adaptation of the ScienceFiction {{Drama}} "Literature/TheBicentennialMan", but around the start of Andrew's second century, he meets CanonForeigner Portia Charney, and falls in love. This changes to a RomanticComedy as he tries to make her happy, which reframes his drive to [[PinocchioSyndrome become human]] as a demonstration of his love for her. Despite the change in plot, there is no ToneShift, as Creator/RobinWilliams does a good job creating levity whether he's acting as a RobotButler, in search for a soul, or when [[{{Robosexual}} romancing a human]].

* ''Film/SpaceCowboys'' starts out as a comedy about a group of elderly former astronauts training to go back into space on the space shuttle. The second half of the movie suddenly becomes an ''Film/{{Apollo13}}''/''Film/{{Armageddon}}''-esque thriller where the same elderly astronauts have to deal with the revelation that the "communications satellite" they were sent to repair is actually [[spoiler:a nuclear weapons platform]], a malfunctioning craft and find a way to get back to Earth safely.

** The first movie is the former TropeNamer (back when [[Administrivia/RenamedTropes the trope was named "From Dusk Till Dawn"]]) and one of the premier examples. It starts off as a crime-thriller about a pair of brothers on the lam in Texas, who take a family hostage in their RV to cross through the border with Mexico. Halfway through, when they enter a strip club, they basically stumble into a slapstick-gore horror film of a similar premise to a ZombieApocalypse, only with vampires instead of zombies. There were actually cinema-goers who said, ''out loud'', at the point of the switch, "Wait, [[GenreBusting what the hell kind of movie is this]]?!"[[note]]Which is doubly strange, considering that the genre shift is more of a non-spoiler, as it was HEAVILY advertised as a creature feature as far back as the earliest trailers and promotional materials.[[/note]]

* ''Film/AnAmericanTerror'' starts out looking like it will be an ''Film/{{Elephant}}'' or ''Film/ZeroDay''-esque drama that follows a trio of social outcasts as they prepare to commit a school shooting, but then it turns into a SlasherMovie when the man who two of the would-be school shooters try to steal guns from is revealed to be a homicidal maniac complete with TortureCellar.

* ''Film/KnivesOut'' starts out as an Creator/{{Agatha Christie}}-esque murder mystery in a BigFancyHouse, but we're very quickly given an answer to "whodunnit", at which point it becomes a cat-and-mouse SympatheticCriminal vs SympatheticInspectorAntagonist crime story. [[spoiler:And then it's revealed that the supposed perp is innocent after all, set up by the real killer, and it wraps up as a classic Whodunnit again.]]

** ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' starts off with Joker in boot camp, focusing on the decaying mental state of Private Pyle and his interactions with Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. After Pyle's murder-suicide, the film follows Joker to [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar war]].

* The classic ''Film/{{Predator}}'' starts with Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger trying with his fellow soldiers to save a US politician from a band of South American terrorists. After he discovers that this was just an excuse to save some Black OPS agents, this plot is conveniently thrown out of the window when an alien with an explosive plasma ShoulderCannon and a [[VisibleInvisibility cloaking device]] begins [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunting them]]. Unlike some other examples, this wasn't a surprise to original audiences, and the film begins with something falling to Earth from space and the team encounters the remains of the alien's previous victims early in the film, albeit first under the impression it was the terrorists who did it.
* ''Film/PrivateBenjamin'' starts out as a story about a woman making it through basic training, but mid-way through the movie, she's not even in the Army anymore and the conflict revolves around her and her lover.

* ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''. A cute heart-warming family-friendly musical romp about a nun-turned-governess who teaches her wards the joy of music, and redeems their father, winning his love. And look, at the two hour mark they marry in a show-stopping number. Cue end-credits any time n-- oh wait no, that's right: Nazis. Cue 45 minutes of defiance, heartache, [[TheQuisling quislings]], and {{dark reprise}}s.

** Another documentary that manages it is ''Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows''. It starts as a straightforward year-in-the-life documentary of [[Wrestling/BretHart one of the most popular wrestlers of the era]]. Then comes the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob, and all of a sudden it's about one of the most dramatic betrayals in wrestling history.

* ''Film/FromDuskTilLDawn'':

* The former TropeNamer (back when [[Administrivia/RenamedTropes the trope was named "From Dusk Till Dawn"]]) and one of the premier examples is ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn''. It starts off as a crime-thriller about a pair of brothers on the lam in Texas, who take a family hostage in their RV to cross through the border with Mexico. Halfway through, when they enter a strip club, they basically stumble into a slapstick-gore horror film of a similar premise to a ZombieApocalypse, only with vampires instead of zombies. There were actually cinema-goers who said, ''out loud'', at the point of the switch, "Wait, [[GenreBusting what the hell kind of movie is this]]?!"[[note]]Which is doubly strange, considering that the genre shift is more of a non-spoiler, as it was HEAVILY advertised as a creature feature as far back as the earliest trailers and promotional materials.[[/note]]

* ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn3TheHangmansDaughter'' rehashes the plot switch structure with a Mexican [[TheWestern western]] setting, having a post carriage theft plot preceding the action and horror.

* The former TropeNamer (back when [[Administrivia/RenamedTropes the trope was named "From Dusk Till Dawn"]]) and one of the premier examples is ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn''. It starts off as a crime-thriller about a pair of brothers on the lam in Texas, who take a family hostage in their RV to cross through the border with Mexico. Halfway through, when they enter a strip club, they basically stumble into a slapstick-gore horror film of a similar premise to a ZombieApocalypse, only with vampires instead of zombies. There were actually cinema-goers who said, ''out loud'', at the point of the switch, "Wait, [[GenreBusting what the hell kind of movie is this]]?!"[[note]]Which is doubly strange, considering that the genre shift is more of a non-spoiler, as it was HEAVILY advertised as a creature feature as far back as the earliest trailers and promotional materials.[[/note]]
** The second sequel, ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn3TheHangmansDaughter'', rehashes the plot switch structure with a Mexican [[TheWestern western]] setting, having a post carriage theft plot preceding the action and horror.

* ''Cadillac Man'' starts out following a sleazy two-timing used-car salesman with a quickly expiring KarmaHoudiniWarranty, dealing with the prospect of losing his job, having his girlfriends find out about each other, and a rebellious teenage daughter running away. Just as these combined issues begin to overwhelm the lead, the story takes a dramatic left turn, and [[DieHardOnAnX turns in to a hostage crisis, with the lead as one of the hostages]].

* ''The Cottage'', a British movie, begins as a black comedy about a bungled kidnapping before turning into a dark horror comedy about a Leatherface-type slasher killer half way through. Presumably it was inspired by ''From Dusk Til Dawn''.
* This trope has shown up in '''a documentary''', of all things. Titled ''The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schon'', the documentary is about scientist Hendrik Schon, a titan in the field of theoretical physics. The first two-thirds of the program focus on his early career and work in [[{{Nanomachines}} nanotechnology]]. It builds up some drama around the unnerving applications -- a weapon of assassination, an engineered biowarfare agent, the feared GreyGoo scenario, and so forth. Then around the 40-minute mark, a student reading one of Schon's papers picks up a clue that leads to his real "dark secret": He was a fraud. His papers were lies built upon fake experiments he never conducted and "evidence" he made up out of whole cloth. Whether this is a masterful subversion of the ScienceIsBad hysteria, a piss-take on the idea that the scientific community knows everything, a StealthParody of sensational documentaries, or just a flaw in one such documentary is up to the viewer.

* ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'': Starts off as a romantic comedy, where Guido [[UnfortunateNames Orefice]] eventually wins the affection of Dora and they have a son named Joshua. Switch time -- Let's send them all to a concentration camp! Guido tries to make the best of the situation for Joshua by telling him that if he doesn't complain/cry and hides from the guards he would gain "points". 1000 would win a tank. [[spoiler:Just before the camp is liberated by the Americans, Guido gets caught by a guard and unceremoniously shot. The movie ends with [[BittersweetEnding an American tank at the gates to the camp, and Joshua exclaiming that he won]].]] Damn you, Roberto Benigni.

* This trope has shown up in ''a documentary'', of all things. Titled ''The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schon'', the documentary is about scientist Hendrik Schon, a titan in the field of theoretical physics. The first two-thirds of the program focus on his early career and work in [[{{Nanomachines}} nanotechnology]]. It builds up some drama around the unnerving applications -- a weapon of assassination, an engineered biowarfare agent, the feared GreyGoo scenario, and so forth. Then around the 40-minute mark, a student reading one of Schon's papers picks up a clue that leads to his real "dark secret": He was a fraud. His papers were lies built upon fake experiments he never conducted and "evidence" he made up out of whole cloth. Whether this is a masterful subversion of the ScienceIsBad hysteria, a piss-take on the idea that the scientific community knows everything, a StealthParody of sensational documentaries, or just a flaw in one such documentary is up to the viewer.