Top 10 Victims Turned Villain in Horror
Nicole Metzger
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How many times have you wanted to get back at somebody so bad that you could taste it? Not just a cheap shot or a good comeback, but a legitimately crushing revenge that will shut down the situation. (Don’t judge me, I’m not the only one.) Better yet is how satisfying it can be to see the “good one” fall from grace and join the ranks of the rest of us with a twisted sense of justice. These characters can be hard to find in horror/suspense because a pretty ending wrapped up in a bow tests so much better with general audiences.
For the rest of us there are the stand-out characters that break all molds and don’t clearly fall under the “victim” heading because they became, or got close to, being the monsters you read about. Sometimes it is just satisfying watching the victim go down with the ship. What can I say? I’m a romantic.
Trading places, muddy morals, and outright vengeance are the name of the game here with the Top 10 Victims Turned Villain.
My number ten spot goes to a man who does not “technically” qualify for this list because he began about as bad as they come. A total psycho with an aptitude for suspension and sadism, Carleton Hendricks (aka Captain Howdy) from Strangeland only made my list because my favorite part of his story arc is that he seems to genuinely rehabilitate. Post-prison life seems to consist of keeping his head down, reading, and a glorious lack of violence until the local townspeople decide that a moderate amount of jail time and getting off early for good behavior isn’t good enough for this beast. Unfortunately for them, this newly mild-mannered monster does not take kindly to an old-fashioned lynching and comes back for blood… since a murderer is all they will let him be anyway. Whatever control he found was shattered with judgment.
Also in the ambiguous zone, as far as this list goes, is a father who would protect his family and loved ones at any cost. That desperation ends up being the downfall of the last few people standing by his side as he allows fear to talk him into a suicide pact that ends their lives, including that of his young son. The Mist‘s David Drayton should have made sure there was one last bullet for him because living to see that rescue was only moments away leaves you as little more than a murderer in the end, and that guilt is now immortalized on film. Thank god it’s only fiction because this one was tragic.
Beginning to get a little more Sinister is a kid jealous of his brother’s demons. He not only sees the darkness but is intrigued by it, causing his close relationship with his twin brother to disintegrate slowly. He embraces his inner demon without so much as a nudge as the pure evil that is childhood selfishness and demanding take hold. The young victims of Bughuul taunt him and tell him that it’s his brother that they want, only fueling his rage and willingness to succumb to the fate that will seal him to being the violent end of his family. Which is, of course, what they wanted to begin with. Zach Collins, from Sinister 2, way to play right into the bad guy’s hand and into the number eight spot on my list!
