They scare us out of our seats; we scream just even before they appear; sometimes they even haunt us in our dreams. Horror villains, though indirectly, are lead characters, too; if not for them, there will be no such thing as horror films. Their role is to primarily victimized people by haunting, torturing or killing them, and the reason why we feel relieve and victorious when these villains are defeated. What we don’t know is that behind their scary faces and gruesome acts are stories of them being abused which led to their becoming villains.
Here are some of the famous horror villains and their stories before they are villains:
Frankenstein. During Halloween, his scary face is one of the famous characters in display. But fact is Frankenstein is a victim of man’s thirst for knowledge. His creator, Victor Frankenstein made him by putting up together different body parts from different dead bodies, then making him alive, hoping that he would be a normal person. But, Victor was horrified by how frightening his creation was; that’s why he abandoned him. Frankenstein, the monster, was a kind being at first, but because of the many rejections he got from humans he got angry and finally wanted revenge to the one who created him.
Norman Bates of Psycho. The famous shower scene murder really did bring scare to its viewers. What is the truth behind Norman Bates psychological defect? Norman’s father died when Norman was still very young and so he was brought up by his mother Norma Bates. The mother and son loved each other too much that they become, too, dependent of each other — that one can’t live without the other. Norma even told Bates that young women and sex are evil. After a time, the mother finally took a lover home; Norman doesn’t feel like welcoming the new member of the family, that’s why he killed both his mother and the lover. Now, Norman is alone, but not all the time; He became, too, guilty from killing his mother that he tried to convince himself that his mother is still alive. He even preserved her body. He developed a psychological defect called Multiple Personality Disorder, where in sometimes he becomes his mother and at times himself. He then started to kill people that get in his way and his mother’s (inside his mind). Norman was arrested by the police and was later found out insane. He was sent in an institution where his personality became completely his mother’s. He even wore his mother’s dress.
Carrie White of Carrie. Truly that her gentle face is the opposite of what she possessed inside her. Carrie is a teenage girl who has special powers called Telekinetic power. She can move things using her mind, and can be very dangerous when provoked. She lives with her twisted and overly religious mother. Her classmates often tease her but she tries to hold her anger. For their prom night, a group of bully classmates made a plan to embarrass her in front of the whole class. As part of the plan, Carrie was to be voted as the prom queen and when she gets on stage that’s when the final trick happens. That night, Carrie was so happy being voted as prom queen, she believed that everybody liked her after all. Then in a while a bucket of animal blood poured to her coming from above. She was shocked and stunned by what happened. Everyone made fun of her. There were loud laughs and shouting at the whole place. Suddenly, Carrie was in rage; she decided to finally teach her batch mates a lesson. She used her power that brought horror to everyone. Many died and only a few survived from her batch. What supposed to be a fun night becomes a night of rage. That night Carrie also died.
Jack Torrance of The Shining. Yes, everybody hated him for scaring his family to death. But he went completely nuts for a reason. Jack Torrance and his family were invited to stay in an isolated and huge hotel as a caretaker by their friend. Jack, who is just coping from alcoholism, accepted the offer, thinking that it would save his relationship with his family. His son, Danny, was a boy with special ability — telepathy and sensitivity to super naturals. Everything was fine at first, but as the days pass, the situation gets strange. Danny met Dick Halloran, also a psychic, who taught him how to use his special powers. Dick also told Danny that the hotel was haunted. Meanwhile, Jack seems to suffer from cabin fever, and have seen a ghost of a previous staff who explained to Jack that Jack needs to kill his whole family in order to be promoted. Seems hypnotized, Jack started to haunt his wife and Danny to kill them. The hotel turns into a horror house as the whole family runs from each room to the other. With the help of Danny and Dick, Jack went back to his senses but was, too, late to get out of the already exploding hotel. Dick, Danny and his mother survived. Jack, also a victim of the hotel’s ghost, was left buried in that horrifying hotel. Poor Jack, all he wanted was to finally have a quality time with his family, little did he expect that things will turn tragic.
Freddy Kruger of Nightmare on Elm Street. Who would ever think that the mother of Freddy was a nun named Sister Mary Helena (Amanda Kruger)? She was accidentally locked inside the room for the criminally insane. There, she was tortured and raped by insane patients. When she was rescued, it was found out that she was pregnant. Months later, she gave birth to Freddy Charles Kruger. Later, she committed suicide. Freddy was then adopted by Mr. Underwood, an abusive and alcoholic man. Young Freddy suffered from his father’s abusive and uncaring ways; because of this he became a violent kid. He enjoys killing animals and most of the time opted to be alone. During his teenage years, he became worst; he did self-mutilation and felt pleasure in doing it. Most of his classmates called him “Son of a hundred maniacs.” Later, he killed his father. He married a woman named Loretta and had a daughter named Kathryn. They lived in Freddy’s childhood home at 1428 Elm St. As time passed, when Kathryn was still young, children went missing. Loretta accidentally found out, in their basement, that Freddy hid torture tools, his famous clawed gloves and newspaper clippings of missing children. She promised her husband that she won’t tell; but this didn’t satisfy Freddy, he killed her in front of their young daughter. After a few years, Freddy was arrested by the police but was later release due to some errors in evidence. Kathryn was sent for adoption. The Elm Street neighborhood was disappointed by the court’s decision, thus they decided to put the law in their hands. They hunt Freddy and burned him to death. Before Freddy died, three demons made a pact with him. That he will live forever but he should bring horror to the young one’s dreams. So it was done, Freddy becomes the king of nightmares.
Jason Vorhees of Friday the 13th. On June 13, 1946, Pamela Vorhees (and husband Elias, who disappeared for unknown reason) bore a son named Jason. The boy was raised by his mother alone. Jason’s head was deformed, but his mother loved him dearly. On 1957, young Jason joined a summer camp at Camp Crystal Lake, where his mother worked as a cook. One day, near the lake, Jason was bullied by the other kids. As he tried to move away from the bullies, he accidentally slipped and fell in the lake. He shouted for help but the camp councilors were busy flirting with each other. Poor Jason doesn’t know how to swim so he drowned and died. Mrs. Vorhees couldn’t accept the injustice and she definitely wanted to avenge her son’s death. She killed almost all people who came to Camp Crystal Lake, especially camp councilors. A struggle with a girl named Alice brought end to Mrs. Vorhees’ life. What they thought was the end was just the beginning. Jason is back to continue his mother’s quest for revenge. Camp Crystal Lake is bound to have no peace.
Michael Myers of Halloween. Donald and Edith Myers lived in 45 Lampkin Lane, a peaceful and beautiful place just right for raising a family. They had two daughters, Judith and Laurie, and a son named Michael Audrey Myers. Michael was extremely shy, thus he opted to be alone most of the time. He was very close to his mother and grandmother. When his parents are away, he was often left in the care of their neighbor Mrs. Blankenship. Unknown to Michael’s parents, their neighbor is a member of a cult group “The Thorn.” Every time Michael goes to her house, she tells Michael stories about their cult and their beliefs; one of the beliefs is that every Halloween a member of the family must die in order to protect others; the young Michael was easily influenced by this belief. One Halloween night, his parents went out to catch a movie, his 16-year-old sister Judith went out on a date, while he and his sister Laurie were left in the care of Mrs.Blankenship. When Michael saw Judith went home, he sneaked out of Mrs. Blankenship’s house and slowly went in to their house. He knew that his sister was with her date inside the room. He hid and saw that his sister’s date quickly went out of the house. Michael went up and entered his sister room. He saw her wearing just underwear. Judith was horrified to see her brother wearing an odd costume and holding a kitchen knife. Michael stabbed her to death without hesitation. After the murder, Michael was shocked with what he had done. He was sent to sanitarium but was able to escape when he was 21 years old. He started his killing spree again, especially to his family members.
Billy Loomis and Stuart Macher of Scream. Billy and Stuart are best friends. They get along really well; even to do the wildest things — to kill. Sydney is the daughter of Maureen Prescott. Syd’s mom was well known for having love affairs with different men. One of the men whom she had affair with was Billy’s dad, which was the reason why Billy’s mom abandoned them. For this reason, Billy, with the help of his friend Stuart, killed Maureen — just to get even. With the wrong man accused of the killing being in jail, Sydney doesn’t know anything about the truth; Billy is even her boyfriend. Billy and Stuart seem to have fun killing so they made a plan of calling the neighbors, especially girls, play a game with them (on phone) then kill them. Their final victim was Sydney, Billy’s final revenge.
Dr. Lecter of Silence of the Lambs (and the following film series). Dr. Hannibal Lecter is the horror villain famous for cannibalism. He eats flesh and regards it as a delicacy. The story of young Hannibal showed the reason why he became what he is. Hannibal belonged to a rich aristocratic family in Lithuania. He had a sister named Mischa. When he was six years old, their house was invaded. His father, mother and their servants were all killed, leaving only Hannibal and his sister alive. They were captured by invaders. Not for long, his sister was killed and eaten by the invaders. Hannibal saw the horrifying act. Luckily he escaped. After that event, he stopped believing in God. Then when he grew up, he started to kill humans and made them his food. It was his means of revenge for his sister.
Sadako of The Ring. The film created a modern monster that haunted the new generation. Sadako Yamamura was a girl who had a strong mental power, just the same as her mother. But as time passed her mother and her stepfather found out that her power is, too, dangerous. So the poor little girl was pushed by her stepfather into the well and was left there until she died. What they thought was the end of Sadako was just the beginning. She is now back; full of anger and ready for revenge. Her means was a cursed video tape, that whoever watched it will die after seven days if the person did not passed it to another person. She will crawl out of the TV and will walk like a cripple. Her long dark hair covers her face, and then when she is ready to kill her victims, she will show them her scary face. The victims died looking horrified. Her spirit was never at rest because of what her stepfather did to her.
It’s surprising to discover that our horror villains were also victims before. What they have become is the effect of how they were mistreated; but, of course, this doesn’t justify the killings that they did. At least, now we know our horror villains better, not just their dark side but also their lighter side. Happy Halloween, everyone!
