10 MORE Horror Movies That Tricked You Into Rooting For The Monster
These movies played us all like a damn fiddle.
As formulaic as horror can be, the genre is also often concerned with subverting expectations and delivering something the audience won't ever see coming. And honestly, what's more surprising than when a horror film dupes us, the viewer, into cheering on the monstrous entity we should probably be rooting against?
It defies the natural order of the horror movie, and yet, in the right hands, it can make for a far more interesting piece of work.
That's absolutely what these ten movies pulled off by hook or by crook. So, as a sequel to our recent article on this very subject, here are ten more horror movies that managed to trick you into rooting for the monster, the scallywags.
From horror films that employed narrative subterfuge and emotional manipulation to trick us into getting behind the monster, to those that simply brought an even bigger, scarier enemy into the fold, we all fell hook, line, and sinker for these schemes one way or another.
Whether we were happy to cheer these monsters on regardless or were left genuinely pissed off at the chicanery, the filmmakers clearly achieved their goals for what it's worth...
10. Freddy Vs. Jason
If you want to make the audience root for an unsavoury character, there's no easier way to do it than simply introducing an even worse character for them to do battle with.
And that's exactly what happened in Freddy vs. Jason, where despite being one of cinema's great mass murderers, Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger) near-enough becomes the hero of the movie when facing off against Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund).
After all, it's Freddy who resurrected Jason and manipulated him into killing again by taking the form of his dear late mother. If left to his own devices Jason is a considerably lesser threat than Freddy, who wishes to rise to full dream-invading power once again.
The movie's human characters straight-up admit that Jason is the lesser of two evils here, and so the film as a whole clearly encourages fans to root for Jason, even if Freddy vs. Jason's core appeal simply lies in seeing these two genre icons finally duke it out.