10 More Horror Movies That Tricked You Into Rooting For The Villain
3. Hannibal Lecter - Silence Of The Lambs
When we cheer for the bad guy, it's usually because they have some redeemable quality. Maybe we want them to succeed because they're trying to punish someone worse than themselves. Perhaps we want them to come out on top because their motivation is somewhat understandable.
But that's not always the case. When a villain is evil through-and-through, we still might rally behind them, purely because of the actor's performance. In Silence of the Lambs, Anthony Hopkins portrays Hannibal Lecter - a psychotic cannibal who's killed and eaten dozens of people. Five minutes after Anthony Hopkins' character is introduced, he admits to eating his census-taker's liver. (Just to drive home how terrifying this guy is, he utters this iconic line while looking directly at the camera.)
Despite his crimes, it's impossible not to be won over by Hopkins captivating performance. Throughout the Hannibal franchise, we watch this serial killer rip off an orderly's ear off, batter an officer to death with a baton, and feed a man his own brain. And yet, Hannibal's charisma is so palpable, it's easy to forget what an irredeemable monster he is.