Horror movies based on folklore, for example, have premises that carry timeless moral messages. The protagonists' strengths of character are tested in these films, and they sometimes even end in tragedy, on their way to establishing the importance of being conscientious. This is why horror movie villains sometimes seem to be in the right, like in Carrie, where even though the titular character ends up killing many people, her prior mistreatment at the hands of the deceased makes her actions feel justified.

Horror films reflect the anxieties of any given era. That's why there have been so many best horror movies come with life lessons, not the kind that viewers get beaten over the head with, but the kind that becomes clear through the fates of the characters who make questionable choices at every point in the movie. Hence, the "heroes" of some horror movies might be the real villains, as they usher in devastation.

10 Dana Polk

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

One can't be blamed for trying to protect themselves at all costs, especially in a life-or-death situation, but Dana's choices in The Cabin in the Woods have a deeper impact that makes her actions questionable at best. Firstly, she's the one responsible for starting the zombie attack by reciting incantations from a diary that would have been better left unread. This might be easy to forgive since they were being watched and would get attacked either way. However, what she does next is less forgivable, making The Cabin in the Woods a movie where people want the villain to win.

It's difficult not to see her as a villain.

Despite understanding the stakes of the ritual, and why they need to die, Dana and Marty both decide to doom humanity. Marty's an equal participant, of course, but Dana had the opportunity to put things in motion when asked to shoot Marty, and she didn't follow through. As a friend, and even as a person with a survival instinct, these are understandable actions, but it's difficult not to see her as a villain, especially when she knows she'll die anyway, but her sacrifice might save humanity.

9 Jill Roberts

Scream 4 (2011)

The Scream franchise is known for its satirical, meta, self-aware take on the slasher genre. Over the years, the Scream films have evolved with the slashers of the era to incorporate newer tropes to subvert or critique through their narratives. But, the best part of every Scream film remains the reveal of its Ghostface. Predictable or not, the reveal is always an entertaining moment for the reactions it elicits from the characters and because it often reflects on the latest generation through the motivation of the killer.

One of the more surprising Ghostface reveals is in Scream 4. It's particularly shocking because, while the killers are almost always one of the new characters, a direct relative of Sidney Prescott is a diabolical choice. Emma Roberts' performance up until the reveal carries foreshadowing that becomes more apparent on a rewatch, but it's still hard to not feel enraged every time one watches that revelation occur. It takes a horrible person to force one's sister to revisit her worst trauma just out of envy of her unwanted fame from being a victim, which makes Jill Roberts the best Ghostface.

8 Juno Kaplan

The Descent (2005)

One of the more common emotional Friday the 13th movies is realizing that Pamela Voorhees as a grieving, vengeful mother is a better killer than Jason Voorhees, whose motivation feels weaker.

When Juno dies in The Descent: Part 2, it's a bitter moment in the film, but considering everything she's done, it feels less sad than the other deaths.

However, the same can't be said of Juno Kaplan from the The Descent duology. Not only does she actively endanger her friends for adventure, but she also sleeps with her closest friend's husband. Irrespective of her grief, both decisions are incredibly selfish, and not easy to forgive, even though she risks her life to save the friend's life later. Plus, she abandons one of her other friends to her fate after she herself fatally wounds her. Calling her a villain might seem excessive, but she's the reason her friends are exposed to the murderous monsters in the first place.

7 Ellison Oswalt

Sinister (2012)

Ellison possibly takes the top prize among the people who intentionally move into cursed houses. His motivation makes him the worst of the lot. He isn't there out of curiosity or on a dare, he's there to monetize the haunting through his writing. His greed eventually dooms his family because living there marks them for death. His shady choices are the ultimate form of selfishness, as he ignores ominous occurrences to improve his career, and doesn't take any steps toward keeping his family safe until it's too late.

"Sinister's macabre story introduced audiences to director Scott Derrickson's otherworldly 'Bughuul' figure, which has since become a famous movie monster, spawning a sequel to the film that was released in 2015." - Mark Birrell - 10 Best Horror Movies Like Sinister

Ellison doesn't just become aware of the possibilities much earlier than he does anything about them, his reaction to the discovery is to withhold information from law enforcement. He wants to use the evidence of killings he finds in the attic to create a plot for his next novel, mentally conjuring a serial killer to explain the footage he finds. He actively ignores the inexplicable phenomena in the attic and, eventually, gets his family killed. He may not be the killer, and there may be a monster involved, but he's the villain for his family at least.

6 Adelaide Wilson/Red

Us (2019)

Jordan Peele is known for making horror movies that tackle social issues, like systemic racism in Get Out, and capitalism in Nope. He's also known for including a twist in the movie that makes viewers reassess everything that's happened until then. Us metaphorically explores the concept of classism through the story of the tethered, who are identical to the untethered or regular people, but are forced to live underground in hiding and feed on rabbits, while their doppelgängers above get to live regular lives. The contrast in privilege makes one wonder if the villains are even unjustified.

The plot twist in Us is obvious, but that doesn't detract from the horror of the situation. Since Adelaide is really her tethered self living in the outside world, that means she didn't just take over the life of her doppelgänger, she discovered a way to get the privileges that the other tethered don't have access to, but didn't attempt to help them through. While she doesn't seem to be a danger to her regular family because she's detached from the tethered and protects her children, if the tethered are to be considered victims, she's definitely a villain.

5 Christian Hughes

Midsommar (2019)

Ari Aster's horror films deal with grief. The main characters in each of them are coping with a loss and go through harrowing experiences during their journey to acceptance. The protagonist of Midsommar is dealing with the death of her family when she goes to visit the Swedish midsummer festival. Her boyfriend, Christian, believes the experience could help take her mind off things, and he insists on that to a toxic extent. He's so toxic that his death at the end still makes Midsommar one of the movies with "good for her" endings.

Christian's "sex" scene might have given his girlfriend a panic attack, but he was drugged and then non-consensually made to have sex. He's a victim in the situation and not a cheater.

Christian spends the majority of the time at the festival flirting with other women and gaslighting his girlfriend when she confronts him. He ignores her when she tells him that she's uncomfortable with the rituals being performed at the festival. He even claims that her grief makes her a killjoy, and he needs to spend time away from her. The sex ritual he has in the third act becomes the breaking point for his girlfriend, but he deserves sympathy for being forced into it. However, the rest of his misconduct still makes him a villain to her.

4 Grace Stewart

The Others (2001)

M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense has one of the most famous ending twists in movie history, which has become so iconic that reveals of the sort are referred to as "M. Night Shyamalan twists." In the same vein, Alejandro Amenábar's The Others has an M. Night Shyamalan twist, and it's revealed similarly to The Sixth Sense. Much like Bruce Willis' character in The Sixth Sense, Nicole Kidman's character is revealed in the ending of The Others to have been dead all along, and a ghost.

The final reveal cements her as the villain of the film.

Grace responds to being haunted by spirits in her house in quite an extreme fashion. After finding a woman in her daughter's dress, she attacks her, and then discovers it's her daughter she has attacked. Her behavior borders on paranoia the whole time, and then the final reveal cements her as the villain of the film. She coped with the loss of her husband by murdering her children in cold blood and then killing herself. Now, she's a ghost who haunts the living residents of her house.

3 Marie

High Tension (2003)

Slasher movies are characterized by memorable villains who viewers will believe are impossible to beat, and a final girl, albeit a sex-negative and regressive trope, who the audience will again believe can somehow actually outsmart the killer. Alexandre Aja's High Tension blurs the boundaries between the two characters for a fantastic twist ending. However, the ending simply makes High Tension a problematic slasher that demonizes both queerness and mental illness. The unrealized potential and the regressive politics make it one of the most controversial slashers of all time.

"The twist ending of Haute Tension never sat right with critics, as many reviewers felt that its outlandish revelations undid a lot of the movie’s effective tension and suspense." - Cathal Gunning - ScreenRant

High Tension has the makings of the perfect slasher - it is fast-paced, it has almost cartoonishly gory kills, and the final girl is flawed in her efforts to survive, but manages some moments of genius as she prepares to face the killer. But, then, it's revealed at the end that the "hero", Marie, is a lesbian who is acting on her homosexual urges that society demonizes, by killing people so cold-bloodedly in such horrifying ways. Her dissociative identity disorder is used to justify her villainy, but that's a harmful form of representation, of both mental illness and queerness!

2 Driver

No One Lives (2013)

Wanting to avenge one's wife's death can hardly be considered grounds for calling someone a villain, but Driver's bloodlust makes that possible. While he seems like the victim in the beginning, it is impossible to feel sympathy for him after it's revealed that he has a penchant for killing people for no reason. The fact that he has a girl locked up in the trunk of his car, who is the sole survivor of a group of fifteen, all of whom were clearly killed by Driver, clearly makes him the villain.

While the man who initially stops Driver and provides his wife the means to kill herself is a criminal, and does deserve punishment for his actions, his or his family's fate seem unfair. Driver kills each of them brutally, using the most horrifying tools and means to torture them before killing them. He's a methodical psychopath, so, even if he's the victim initially and the group of people he kills are all ruthless criminals, he's definitely the villain in No One Lives.

1 Amanda Young

Saw II (2005)

Viewers of the Saw franchise who have kept up with the films now know her as Jigsaw's assistant who kept his legacy going after his death, but Amanda wasn't always on his side of the traps. She's the only known survivor of a Jigsaw trap in Saw II, and hence, the only person who's been forced to play his sick game twice. Her will to survive becomes apparent as the game progresses, as she manages to make the sacrifices necessary at every step to help a child survive, as one by one, the participants start dying.

However, the Saw movies are known for their shocking twists, and it's revealed that the game is days old. Daniel's father rushes to find him still alive, but before he can do anything, he's attacked by Amanda. She had become Jigsaw's assistant after surviving his game, and was an accomplice in the game all along. Everything that happened was predestined, and no one can save him now either. For those who consider Jigsaw justified in his games, Amanda is perhaps in the right too. But within the rules of a horror film, her role is eventually that of a villain.