[Editorial] 9 Modern Horror Characters Who Deserved Better

Please note: This article contains full spoilers for all of the titles listed.

In horror, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing our lead character battle against the odds – bullies, ex-partners, serial killers, aliens, ghosts and/or a variety of other supernatural beings – to come out victorious and get their happy ending.

However, there are some occasions where no matter how hard they fight, our hero is never quite given the ending or happiness that they deserve. Often, there are also other heroes in horror that serve as collateral damage and must suffer in order for others to survive. 

Whether it's taking one for the team to distract the killers, being used as leverage, or making a noble self-sacrifice -  it's often the case that the nicest of the nice guys do, in fact, finish last.

George – Creep (2004)

In the British horror Creep, Kate (Franka Potente) narrowly escapes the predatory advances of a colleague on the last tube home, only to be ‘saved’ when he is dragged off the carriage by an unseen attacker. When he returns moments later, covered in blood and telling her to run, she does so – into the dark tunnels of the London underground.

Soon she is fighting for her life against a terrifying half-man, half-creature. When it catches up to her, she is knocked out and wakes up in a cage next to sewage worker George (Vas Blackwood). George is warm and sweet and, without hesitation, risks his life several times to ensure Kate’s safety.

In a final battle against the ‘creep’, George gains the upper hand, but is prevented from killing him by a momentarily sympathetic Kate. Much to our horror, her moment of naivety lands George with his head impaled on a very sharp spike. 

Agnes – Speak No Evil (2022)

This Danish thriller from Christian Tafdrup follows family of three – Bjorn (Morten Burian), Louise (Sisdel Siem Koch) and their young daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) - as they vacation in Tuscany. There, they meet another family of three – Patrick (Fedja van Huet), Karin (Karina Smulders) and their young son Abel (Marius Damslev) – and immediately hit it off. When Patrick invites Bjorn and his family to go and stay with them in their remote house in the Netherlands a few weeks later, there is almost an immediate awkwardness which is then followed by a series of excruciatingly uncomfortable events.

Writing off the discomfort they feel as misunderstandings and differences in the cultures, Agnes’ parents make more and more mistakes in the name of being polite to their hosts – putting the three of them in more and more danger. In the final act it is finally revealed that Patrick and Karin are the darkest kind of evil. They are a couple that murders other couples to steal their children, cut out their tongues and use them to lure in the next family. In the most disturbing finale of 2022, this is exactly what happens to poor Agnes as she faces the brutal consequences of her parents' choices. 

Sarah - The Descent (2006)

The Descent opens like a feel-good adventure film about a group of friends doing outdoor activities together, but soon takes a devastating turn when the main character Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) loses her husband and daughter in a dramatic car accident. 

One year later Sarah joins her friend Juno (Natalie Mendoza) and a small group of women to explore some caves in the Appalachian Mountains. After they descend into subterranean darkness and begin exploring, tensions quickly rise as the group realise that, not only are they lost, but they are also not alone down in the caves. Someone or something is crawling around in the darkness and hunting them down. 

As if Sarah hasn’t had it hard enough, she also discovers whilst fighting for her life, and the life of her friends, that Juno was sleeping with her husband before he died. 

Depending on which version of the film you watch, and ignoring the sequel (as you should!) she also remains trapped in the cave after hallucinating her escape, which is utterly depressing after everything she’s already faced.

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Scott - Wrong Turn (2003)

In this iconic 00’s horror, Jessie (Eliza Dushu), her young-and-in-love friends Carly (Emmanuella Chriqui) and Scott (Jeremy Sisto) find themselves in a road collision with medical student Chris (Desmond Harrington). Soon it seems that their accident is not at all an accident – their tyres have been purposely destroyed by a family of hungry cannibals that are hunting them through the woods.

Around the mid-way point, Chris and Scott decide to play hero by distracting the cannibals and leading them away from the women. Chris succeeds, narrowly avoiding the clutches of their attackers, however Scott is not so fortunate. As he runs towards the safety of their car, with his fiancé Carly crying and screaming out for him, Scott is shot in the back by several arrows and stumbles down a hill to his death. 

Despite Wrong Turn being one of those horror films that never quite gets taken seriously, there's something about this death that always has me yelling ‘noooo’ at the screen (even after watching it 1000+ times).

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Woody - Summer of 84 (2018)

It’s summer of 1984 and fifteen-year-old Davey Armstrong (Graham Verchere) has a terrifying suspicion that his neighbour, Mackey (Rich Sommer) - a beloved local police officer, may be responsible for a decade-long string of child murders in the area. At first his friends Dale aka ‘Woody’ (Caleb Emery), Curtis (Cory Gruter-Andrew), and Tommy (Judah Lewis) don’t believe Davey, however as the evidence against Mackey piles up, they all agree to help him investigate further.

Despite the crusade against Mackey being led by Davey, it is ultimately his loveable best friend Woody that faces the consequences of making such accusations. When the boys finally have enough evidence that the police believe them and put out a warrant for Mackey's arrest, he is already one step ahead – hiding in Davey's loft waiting to take revenge. 

When Davey and Woody settle down for a sleepover, believing they’re safe, Mackey emerges from above and abducts both children. After a disturbing game of cat and mouse, Mackey finally punishes the boys by slitting Woody’s throat, and letting Davey go - but not before reminding him that he will now have to live in constant fear for the rest of his life.

Mother – mother! (2017)

Jennifer Lawrence gives one of her best performances in Darren Aronofsky’s psychological horror which centres around a couple only ever referred to as Mother and Him (Javier Bardem). Throughout the film, a series of uninvited guests appear in their house, much to Mother’s frustration – Him seems all too happy to have them there. 

As more and more guests arrive, their behaviour escalates from frustrating to outright disrespectful and Mother seems increasingly isolated from her husband and what is going on in her own home. The frustration soon turns to complete horror in a terrifying final act in which Mother's newborn baby is ceremoniously passed around the unwanted guests without her permission, leading to one of the most disturbing sounds you could ever hear – the snapping of the baby's neck.

As Mother tries to avenge her poor baby, the guests turn on her and she is savagely beaten.  The film ends with her setting the house ablaze whilst still inside. 

Sang-hwa - Train to Busan (2016)

Probably the most loved character in Korean horror cinema, Sang-hwa (Don Lee) is the expectant dad and unexpected hero in Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan.

Despite how rude and dismissive our lead Seok-woo (Gong-Yoo) is, Sang-hwa repeatedly goes out of his way to save his daughter, as well as his own pregnant wife, from the hoard of violent zombies that have taken over the train. Amongst the chaos, there comes a time where these two fathers, their children and a few others are separated from the other passengers. The passengers, scared that the group is infected, refuse to let them into the safety of their carriage.

In a heart-breaking moment for all, our hero Sang-hwa bravely sacrifices himself to hold back the hoard whilst Seok-woo and the others force their way in. *Cue communal sobbing*

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Jordan - Tragedy Girls (2017)

Fans of The Boys will recognise Jack Quaid and his incredible ability to play the most loveable and naïve characters ever (except for the one film where he doesn’t, but I won’t spoil that), and his role in Tragedy Girls is no different.

Tragedy Girls follows wannabe-influencer besties McKayla Hooper (Alexandra Shipp) and Sadie Cunningham (Brianna Hildebrand) who are willing to do anything to get their blog more followers – including creating their own series of brutal murders to report on.

Quaid plays Sadie’s love interest, and the local sheriff's son, Jordan. For a while in the middle of the film, when the girls fall out over a disagreement on whether or not to kill him, it seems like Sadie likes him enough to seriously change her ways and stop killing people.

Unfortunately, though, it's chicks over dicks for these girls, and when they kiss and make up, Jordan has to go. They hang him before setting the building on fire. 

Adrien – Raw (2016)

Ah sweet, sweet Adrien. It would be remiss of me not to include a character so beloved by all of us here at Ghouls. 

Adrien (Rabah Nait Oufella) is the roommate and only friend of lead character Justine (Garance Marillier) in Julia Ducournau’s coming-of-age cannibalistic thriller Raw. Justine has just started at an exclusive veterinary school and has developed an interesting taste for raw meat which eventually escalates from animal to human. 

Her older sister doesn’t help her, her classmates mock her, and even her teachers seem to be completely uninterested in her suffering. But Justine has Adrien by her side – a man who supports her, doesn’t judge her, and even allows her to use him for her own sexual pleasure despite his preference for men. 

Adrien being the friend all girls dream of only makes it even more devastating when Justine awakes one morning to find that he has been stabbed to death and partially eaten by her sister... 

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