10 Horror Movies That Turned Wimps Into Total Badasses

By Ashleigh Millman / July 29, 2021

Regardless of how big and brave you are, if anything's going to put some hairs on your chest, it'll be getting trapped in a horror movie. Ever since the dawn of the genre we've watched the gentle and mild transform into the mental and wild, with characters starting off their journey as your average everyday loser before being born again in a pile of blood and viscera as certified badasses.

There really is hope for us all.

Characters can't help their writing, and the stereotypical wet wipes of horror movies have to start out that way so we can all cheer when they see off whatever evil forces have been hounding them along the way. It's only fair that after being eyed up by sacrificial cults, or having your life and limb under threat by all manner of sharp objects, or being forced to face off against creatures not of this earth, that you go up a couple of levels in badassery.

I mean, it's either that, or cry and get splattered, which would get old pretty quick regardless of how entertaining it is.

So here's to those that pulled their evil-slaying pants on and went zero to hero in the name of horror. You really are the best of us.

10. Gizmo - Gremlins 2: The New Batch

He might not be human, but he certainly earns his stripes - or spots, really - throughout the second Gremlins movie, as Gizmo transforms from lovable Mogwai into murderous, vengeance-dealing furball.

Taken to be experimented on by scientists after the death of his owner, poor little Gizmo gets hit with an errant drinking fountain that spawns more new Mogwai, who then devour their building's food court and become the titular Gremlin menace that only gets more unruly as the movie goes on.

With more and more Gremlins emerging, Gizmo ends up locked away, is routinely and maliciously tortured, and just downright trodden all over by his horrible Gremlin peers. It's only right that he gets one big moment to redeem the horrorshow he's been though.

And eventually, he's taken about all the sh*t he can handle. Gizmo grows some furry little nadgers and kills the Mohawk Gremlin with a flaming bottle of white out that he shoots with a bow and arrow. If there's any justice in this world, it's on the end of Gizmo's makeshift archery.

Don't f*ck with the OG.