10 Most Unnecessarily Hated Characters In Film History

It is a major part of the job for filmmakers to give us heroes to cheer for and villains to despise. Charming and debonair spies are pitted against cat stroking villains who just want to destroy the world, intelligent but shy college girls are pitted against axe wielding maniacs, hard working sheriff's pitted against hungry sharks.

Sometimes in films, Writers and Directors have us hating characters despite them doing little wrong. Many entries on this list are simply undertaking their job to the best of their abilities, others trying to hold their all important social standing, while some are genuinely acting from a place of love.

The characters on this list have definitely committed some heinous acts, including bullying, poor decisions that inadvertently ended in deaths, and actions that very deliberately ended in deaths. But even the murderers on this list have reasons for their actions, be it due to mental health issues or a nasty zombie infection.

So prepare to take a look at many hated characters from a different perspective as we examine those film characters who were unnecessarily hated.

The 1975 feature film from Steven Spielberg is undeniably one of the great films of all time. Exploring the small coastal town of Amity Island, the film introduces us to arguably the most menacing villain in cinematic history- and no, I am not talking about the Town Mayor, Larry Vaughn.

Poor old Larry has copped a bad wrap over years from the film's legion of fans, his unwillingness to close down the beach in spite of numerous deaths due to shark attack coming back to bite him. In fairness to the mayor, he is really just trying to do his job and keep the town financially viable.

Larry is also forced to deal with impulsive new police chief Martin Brody, whose decisive actions without consultation causes much consternation in the community. Had Brody discussed his ideas with Larry beforehand, then the actions may have been deemed acceptable. At the very least there would have been a greater likelihood of some sort of compromise, with extra patrolling of the beaches as occurred later in the film.

Critics of the Mayor will point out that had the beach been closed then two deaths would not have needlessly occurred, which is fair enough. Poor old Larry though was clearly just trying to do the right thing by the residents and shop owners of the town. And as he tells Brody, 'my kids were out there too', so it wasn't like he put anyone's life in danger deliberately.