10 Terrifying Horror Movie Villains Ruined By Terrible Backstories
6. Ben Willis - I Know What You Did Last Summer
The ultimate late-90s teen horror flick, I Know What You Did Last Summer is known for its strong cast of actors (for the time) and strange decision to go with a fisherman for a serial killer. However this fisherman, named Ben Willis, actually does a great job in standing out as one of the more fearsome of slasher baddies to have emerged from the post-Scream world.
His long trench coat, hook weapon and love for a ominous letters helped sell the film as a genuine slasher that came packed with a few memorably bloody kills rather than just another meta-heavy remake or sequel that were so popular at the time.
However, besides being a deranged lunatic that just so happened to take issue with being run over and then left for dead, there's not a whole lot audiences need from this hook-wielding baddie.
Unfortunately for horror fans, I Know What You Did decided to throw in a whole load of backstory for Willis into the mix. The subplot of Willis being one cog in a long line of vendettas and people being run over gets a little bit silly after a while, and the reveal of him being the killer of the person who murdered his daughter and, coincidentally, the same man the teenagers first thought they had killed is just a bit overkill.
This whole backstory just ends up being far more akin to an outlandish comedy skit than it does origin of a scary slasher villain.