10 Smartest Villain Plans In Horror Movies

The Plan: Lure human sacrifices to his murderous commune.

In terms of dedication to his craft, it would be hard not to applaud Midsommar's Pelle if he wasn't such an irredeemably evil piece of sh*t.

The patience and guile exhibited by the exemplary 2019 folk-horror's primary antagonist are legitimately otherworldly. Played in a wonderfully unsettling turn by Vilhelm Blomgren, Pelle's dastardly ploy involves luring not one, but four university students to his ancestral commune - the Hårga - in Sweden, for their unwitting participation in a gruesome ritual that occurs every 90 years.

This might sound simple enough on paper but consider this. Pelle quite literally had to enroll in university, study for years without flunking out of his course - all while gaining the trust of multiple well-educated adults in order for this complex plot to come full circle! Dedication to a plan is one thing, but Pelle's approach to his mission puts the most dedicated of ambush predators to shame.

Pelle also spots and insidiously exploits Dani's vulnerability, due to her utter isolation and personal turmoil. When the film's terrifyingly disturbing ending rolls around, Pelle's schemings have convinced Dani that she has found her tribe, to the point where she condemns her own boyfriend to be sacrificed.

As Jack Reynor's Christian roasts alive in a bear carcass, one can justifiably surmise that he was wondering how in the f*ck he had possibly ended up in there.