20 Horror Films Where The Hero Teams Up With The Villain
They may hate each other's guts but even sworn enemies can come to an understanding.
When it comes to the horror genre, it's usually clear who is the hero and who is the antagonist. Whatever excuse the evildoer offers to justify their behaviour, it's tough to see them as anything but irredeemable, especially when they're torturing and dismembering everybody they encounter.
For this reason, the notion that a hero would fight side-by-side with the very person who's trying to kill them sounds downright nonsensical.
And yet, there are times when such an alliance is absolutely necessary. Even when the forces of good and evil are at odds, circumstances can compel them, not just to a ceasefire but a team-up. Sometimes, the pair put their differences aside in order to take down somebody far more menacing. Other times, they work together, oblivious of the other's true intentions. In certain films, the protagonist has to carry out their enemy's bidding in order to save somebody close to their heart.
Getting chummy with a serial killer, a cannibal, or a frickin' alien may sound unthinkable, but there are times when the hero is left with no other choice.
20. Alien 3
Aliens concludes with Ripley supposedly destroying the last of the Xenomorphs, giving the impression that the worst is behind her.
But in Alien 3, her ship crash-lands beside a maximum-security prison populated by the most deranged criminals imaginable, and the inmates attack Ripley the first time they meet her. One of the few prisoners Ripley connects with, Dillon, openly admits he's a murderer. Even the prison doctor, Clemens, confesses he's responsible for 11 deaths.
Worse still, Ripley learns that a Xenomorph Queen hitched a ride on her vessel and fled into the facility. So, with no conventional weapons available, Ripley has to work with the prisoners to bring the parasitic beast down.
Hostility is through the roof, but the convicts eventually come around to Ripley's way of thinking. By the end, they put themselves in mortal danger to help, and Dillon sacrifices himself to buy Ripley time to kill the Xenomorph once and for all.
The criminals initially couldn't have cared less whether Ripley lived or died, but they changed their tune when they realised she was the only person keeping them alive.