10 Horror Movie Villains Who Returned More Badass
Guess who's back? Back again? And even scarier than ever?
As the old saying goes, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."
Sometimes, it's necessary for something to go away for a while for people to appreciate it more, which is exactly what happened with these characters from across horror movie history. They all took a break from the screen, either for a few years or several decades, and, when they returned, they were bigger and better than ever.
It's not like all of them were bad before they took their sabbaticals, they just returned with even more presence about them, or a new character trait that turned them into an icon. In other cases, though, these villains were in seriously dire straits and needed a near-total overhaul to be even slightly presentable.
To appreciate the full extent of these transformations, you need to watch two movies - the one where the characters come back and the one immediately before it. Sorry for the extra homework, but as the following sequels showed, it'll totally be worth it.
10. The Firefly Family - The Devil’s Rejects
Considering he willingly renamed himself Rob Zombie - that’s his legal name, not just a stage moniker - it’s not a massive surprise that the former White Zombie singer loves horror movies.
He made his first foray into directing with 2003’s House of 1000 Corpses, the darkly comedic story of a bunch of teenagers who fall afoul of a sadistic family of murders. A solid idea, but not one that was particularly well-executed, as reviewers felt that the villains were somewhat undercooked by horror standards.
That all changed two years later.
Zombie’s second movie, The Devil’s Rejects, returned to the lives of the Firefly family, but this time they were framed as brutal antiheroes. Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), Otis (Bill Moseley), and Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) were given much more time to shine and, as a result, audiences finally clicked with them.
The Fireflys were now way more complex than the cruel psychopaths they were presented as in the first movie, although that violent streak was definitely still there. It wouldn’t be a Zombie joint otherwise.
This terrible trio returned for 3 From Hell in 2019, which ended the saga after 16 years.