Many horror villains are characters of pure evil, with no dimension to their personalities outside of their bent for violence and carnage. These villains have been highly successful in films like
Halloween and
28 Days Later. In these cases, the protagonist must be that much more dimensional to balance the film and win our support for her survival. Jamie Lee Curtis as gutsy babysitter Laurie Strode was certainly someone worth rooting for.
Villains have also been protrayed in more dimensional ways with success. For example,
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer did not rely so much on graphic depictions of violence but rather on the unpredictable, random motivations of a serial killer. Our forced intimacy with the killer is a jarring, disturbing ride into a psychotic mind that shows enough traces of humanity to make us question his horrendous actions. The popularity of
Silence of the Lambs was in large part due to the infamous cinematic villain Hannibal Lector, with his idiosyncratic personality and complex relationship with FBI trainer Clarice Starling.
Whether pure evil or milti-dimensional, villains must be as well-developed as their hero or heroine counterparts. They have very powerfulmotivations that have their origin somewhere in the past. Creating character histories that help explain these motivations will make their actions that much more credible to audiences.
Who is your favorite villain of horror and what makes them so frightening?
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