9 Smart Movies That Tricked Us Into Rooting For The Bad Guys

3. Both Characters Are Full On Bad Guys - Jeff And Hayley In Hard Candy

If Hannibal used driven revenge to push you towards one character, this example uses it to completely destroy your moral code. What starts out as a typical abduction flick (stylised close ups and all) makes a sharp u-turn at the end of the first act and becomes an embodiment of all the grim comments Daily Mail readers spout when a paedophile makes the headlines.

It turns out Elliott Page's seemingly innocent teenager has actually been hunting down Patrick Wilson's sex offender with the same ferocity he tries for young girls. But in between all the asphyxiation, false hopes for freedom and, in an extended sequence that forces the film deep into your memory, castration, you begin to question just when is this too much punishment.

It's the sort of moral conundrum that James Wan wished he could have come up with for Saw; you have this man who by all reckoning should be a social outcast in jail and yet in this horrible situation you want him to go free.

Hard Candy is so visceral that you can't help but get involved with its moral argument, not just making you root for a bad guy, but empathise with them too.