20 Horror Movie Characters Everyone Underestimated
7. Jim - 28 Days Later
When we're introduced to protagonist Jim (Cillian Murphy) at the start of 28 Days Later, he seems like the most Ordinary Bloke imaginable - a wiry dude who isn't particularly equipped to deal with a post-apocalyptic world filled with rabid, infected folk.
But Jim undergoes quite the transformation after he, Selena (Naomie Harris), and Hannah (Megan Burns) meet Mayor Henry West (Christopher Eccleston) and his troops.
Though West initially offers them sanctuary, it's ultimately a ruse to take Selena and Hannah as sexual slaves for his men, at which point an incensed Jim sheds his meek prior persona and goes absolutely feral.
Beyond freeing a chained-up infected soldier and siccing him on West's men, Jim kills one of them with such manic ferocity - gouging out their eyes, even - that Selena quite understandably believes him to be infected.
While Jim seems decidedly more well-adjusted by the end of the movie, it'll certainly be interesting to see if his animalistic streak re-emerges in the upcoming 28 Years Later sequels.