10 Horror Movie Characters You Didn’t Trust (Even Though You Should Have)

When a movie revolves around a serial killer, a monster, or a supernatural force, there's a lot of fear in the air.

But stories like this also sow a huge amount of mistrust. When there's a murderer in the midst, you can't tell friend from foe. When the characters in Scream learned of Ghostface's killing spree, everybody was a suspect. After the ensemble in The Thing discovered the alien could shapeshift, they immediately turned on one another.

Not only do the characters not know who to trust, neither do the viewers. While watching a horror flick, (especially a slasher,) we are always eager to accuse the "weirdo" of being up to no good, even if they wouldn't hurt a fly. We become so laser-focused on these red herrings, we don't notice the real villain is in plain sight until it's too late.

Although this trope has been done to death, we can't stop falling for it! Even when the prime suspect does everything in their power to prove their innocence, it compounds our suspicions. Despite having the best intentions, these are the ten horror characters we refused to trust.

The Gift centres around a clairvoyant called Annie Wilson. (Interestingly, she was based on Billy Bob Thornton's mother.) When Principal Wayne Collins' fiancée Jess goes missing, Annie becomes convinced Jess has been murdered after seeing her corpse in a vision.

Even though all signs point to a violent deadbeat called Donnie being the murderer, we never buy it for a second. Instead, our money is on Giovanni Ribisi's character, Buddy Cole. As soon as he's introduced, it's clear Buddy is a deeply disturbed individual. One moment, he's trying to attack someone with a crowbar, the next he's screaming at a gunman to shoot his head off.

To top it all off, we see Buddy try to kill someone during one of Annie's premonitions. At this point, it would be crazy to suggest anyone except Buddy was the culprit.

But during the climax, Wayne reveals to Annie that he was the one who murdered Jess after discovering she was sleeping with Donnie. Just as he's about kill Annie, Buddy appears out of nowhere and knocks Wayne out. Only then does Annie realise she had misinterpreted her premonition.