I sure missed out on that one.

After watching a recently released horror movie, I sat for a long time and wondered how I missed out. You see, when I was coming up and getting my first introduction into writing, two of the things I learned that were most important were:

1. Your story has to make sense

2. Characters should have reasons for their actions--better known as motivation.

OK. So I sat there and wondered how the plot escaped me. I mean I was paying attention. I was honestly trying to understand not only the plot but the motivations. The writer did try to do his job in the sense that he had one character explain everything at the end, in about sixty-five different ways, none of which went with the plot or made sense. It was one of those cut away to another scene and then cut back to the main scene--constantly, kind of scripts. It was like riding on a dirt road with more lumps and bumps than an old wooden cane. And everytime we came back to the main scene, this character was again explaining his motivation, again in a different way as if he imagined the audience was brain dead and wouldn't understand if he didn't. However, in the end, his motivation remained fuzzy and out of reach, as did the plot.

Therefore, what I'm asking is: when did the rules change to the following: Nobody should understand the plot or the characters' motivations but the writer. And if you think the audience is stupid, explain it in so many ways it becomes  totally obscure.

Not that I'm such a great writer, but I used to follow the rules. Now I'm not sure what those rules are.