Gotta give a shout out to AITH reader Christopher Hennessee for this week’s idea. Obviously horror thrives on a great villain, and sometimes we even end up rooting for them. A couple great examples are Jason, Michael and Freddy in their later series installments.
But even more striking is the occasional instance when we find that the “bad guy or girl” is actually more sympathetic and involving than the protagonists. We’re rooting not for ultra high body counts or lots of ripped clothing, but honestly hoping the villain attains their goal.
So let’s get down with the misunderstood and just plain righteously wrong. If I miss your favorite evil to root for then spit some bullets and set me straight below!
WARNING – GOOD? VILLAINS AHEAD! 10. Stripe, GREMLINS Sure Gizmo’s cute and all, but who wasn’t completely in awe of the massive mayhem brought down my Stripe and his associates? The good times they delivered at the bar and the movie theater were better than any fuzzy little snuggle from the good Mogwai. Bring on the Gremlins and keep Stripe in the lead. He’s badazz and we’re behind him 100%!
9. Catherine Trammell, BASIC INSTINCT I don’t know that it’s so much I want this crazy bitch to keep doing her thing and offing dudes in flagrante, but I can’t get over the fact that if I gotta go before my time is up, then I wouldn’t mind it being like this. Plus all the dudes, including Michael Douglas, are such easily manipulated douchebags that you kind of feel like the overall gene pool is getting a pretty big favor by this murderous author’s activities.
8. May Dove Canady, MAY Poor May. She just wants to have a friend. Granted she’s willing to chop, slice, stitch, cut, stab and dice to make that happen, but still, she mostly seems like a genuinely misunderstood lass. Plus she’s hot in an alternative sort of way, and not averse to a little girl on girl action. What’s not to like?
7. Frankenstein’s Monster, FRANKENSTEIN Generally if you want to get sympathy as a bad guy then you need to avoid throwing little girls into a lake, but we all know FM was trying to be playful, he just failed miserably at it. Given the fact that this lumbering mess of disparate body parts had the brain of a psycho, he was actually quite restrained and sympathetic. Relatively speaking.
6. Alex de Large, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE Anybody who twists
Singing In The Rain into the soundtrack for a beating and rape is going to be a little different that your average Joe. In fact, when Alex first gets re-conditioned I think we all feel that it’s not unjustified. But then seeing this particular psycho neutered so effectively, unable to even enjoy the ole Ludwig Van, it just breaks the heart. So when he comes back at the end, oh man it is a fantastic event that leaves us looking forward to a bit of the old ultraviolence.
STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!