50 Infuriating Horror Movie Characters We All Secretly Wanted To Die
31. Aliens - Carter Burke
1986's phenomenal Aliens soars high on the strength of its wonderful collection of characters, including perhaps the most detestable human character in the history of the series: Carter Burke (Paul Reiser).
The Alien film series has powerfully represented corporate villainy on multiple occasions, and Burke is perhaps the single-most effective indictment of this to date. Acting as the representative of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, he accompanies a group of marines to investigate the disappearance of colonists on the moon LV-246, which is where Ellen Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) crew found a Xenomorph egg decades earlier.
Burke seems like a slimy git from the very beginning, yet, as the film progresses, it soon emerges that he's even worse than we thought. It turns out that he wants to smuggle two face-huggers back to his greedy overlords and even tries to get Ripley and Newt (Carrie Henn), a young child, impregnated by the face-huggers so that he can keep them silent.
Just when you think it can't get any worse, Burke also tries to trap the marines in a room with several Xenomorphs. Thankfully, as soon as he gets outside, he meets one himself. Nevertheless, Burke remains one of those horror movie characters that everyone hated with a passion, and he'll make your skin crawl.