10 Most Messed Up Horror Movie Families
Exploring the terrors of the Sawyers, the Wadsworths, the Cleeks and those pesky Firefly faces!
In the world of horror, we've so often seen a family unit being tormented by an ominous threat that seems intent on causing them harm.
A prime example of that, would be a group like the Freeling family of Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist. There, the Freelings are pushed to their absolute limits by supernatural powers that have been wronged - and it takes all the family's resolve to overcome the odds and terrors that they're confronted with.
On the other side of the fence, though, there are those families whose actions position them as the villains of a particular tale. And across the decades of horror, many an infamous family unit has caused so much terror and carnage for innocent, unsuspecting victims.
Some of those families are clearly extremely well known, while others have maybe flown a little under the radar when it comes to casual horror audiences. Either way, each of the following clans have carried out some truly heinous acts in their respective movies.
With all of this in mind, then, here are ten of the most messed up, screwed up, all-out f**ked up families ever seen in the horror genre.
10. The Robeson Family - The People Under The Stairs
While Wes Craven is famed for legendary horror offering such as Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House on the Left, one of Craven's movies that maybe goes a tad underappreciated - at least in a mainstream sense - is 1991's The People Under the Stairs.
As is so often the case with Craven's work, The People Under the Stairs is a picture laced with social commentary and satire, with clear themes of capitalism and class on offer here.
In terms of the twisted family on display in this '91 effort, that's the Robesons - an unhinged mother and father duo who keep a slew of now-cannibalistic children locked up in their basement.
Away from these long-suffering, mutated hostages, the 'couple' have another child, Alice. Having yet to break the "see/hear/speak no evil" rule that saw so many others before her confined to their basement setting, Alice is the apple of the Robseons' eye.
What we'd find out, though, is that Alice was stolen from her birth mother when she was a baby - and more jarringly, the creepy Mommy and Daddy characters are in fact an inbred brother and sister with a penchant for torture.