10 Scumbag Horror Movie Protagonists We STILL Rooted For
They're bad people, but we cheered them on anyway.
Generally speaking, a horror movie protagonist should be at least somewhat likeable, because how can filmmakers expected audiences to cheer on their survival otherwise?
After all, who among us doesn't love seeing thoroughly detestable horror movie characters get hacked to pieces by the masked murderer?
It's a cornerstone appeal of the entire genre, but it's also generally expected that the Last Man Standing or Final Girl will be a "good" person who "deserves" to make it to the end.
But these 10 horror movies all did the most daring of things - they refused that convention and instead delivered protagonists who, well, were basically human trash.
Sleazy, morally bankrupt, and just straight-up gross, these "complicated" horror movie protagonists were all guilty of some very, very bad things, and yet, we still were persuaded to cheer them on to the end.
This was either due to the actors' charming lead performance, their sheer gutsy will to survive torrid circumstances, or perhaps because the filmmakers found someone even worse for them to face off against.
Whatever the reason, these horror movie protagonists were all sure scumbags, but it's a serious credit to the cast and crew that we rooted for them anyway...
10. Rocky - Don't Breathe
It doesn't get much scummier than breaking into the house of an old Gulf War veteran to steal his money, especially when the guy also happens to be blind.
But that's precisely what Rocky (Jane Levy), the protagonist of Don't Breathe, does, plotting with her two buds Alex (Dylan Minnette) and Money (Daniel Zovatto) to steal the $300,000 in Norman Nordstrom's (Stephen Lang) home.
Even accepting that Rocky desperately wants to escape an abusive home life, it doesn't quite excuse victimising someone else who is themselves in a highly vulnerable position.
But the genius twist of Don't Breathe is that, despite his visual impairment, Nordstrom is decidedly better-equipped to take on the thieves than anyone expected, using his heightened hearing and superior strength to put up one hell of a fight.
Yet the real kicker that makes us root for Rocky? The revelation that Norman isn't quite so innocent - she eventually discovers that Norman kidnapped the young woman who killed his daughter in a car accident, chained her up in his basement, and forcibly inseminated her to produce a "replacement" child for his late daughter.
Yep, that'll do it alright.
Rocky is far from a saint, but after what Norman is eventually shown to be, it's incredibly easy to root for her throughout the third act.