10 Horror Movies Where The Monster Isn't The Villain

Never judge a book (or a gross monster) by its cover.
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[@benmcfee]

There's also _La Llorona._ In that one, the "monster" actually functions as kind of a good guy. If nothing else, the guy she's haunting is _definitely_ the villain of the piece.

[@ReicantheJester]

the South Korean "Into the mirror" if I recall correctly that was a ghost of a woman that was killed and whose body was hidden behind a mirror. Where she began haunting the place first when her sister got a job at the same place, fearing her killers would target her sister as well.

[@DGneoseeker1]

As for the last one on the list I can't remember if it was outright pointed out, but I believe the ghost was constantly riding his shoulders not out of malice or revenge, but because she loves him and wants to be with him forever. She does him no harm. It's just that knowing she is there and what he did drove him completely mad.

[@sarahcolegrove9139]

I feel compelled to mention 13 ghosts. Spirits of the dead trapped in a "house by a psychopath that wanted to open the 'eye of hell'? Yeah, that uncle was the villain.

[@EmillyOrr]

There are a lot of Halloween anthology films, some good, some bad. Trick r' Treat is my favorite, because Sam is very clear on the rules: the door is knocked. The candy is given. Do NOT take the outdoor decorations down before November 1st. The house residents survive. So simple. And hijinks definitely ensue past that.

[@derrickhaggard]

Also Anna Paquin's character of Laura despite being a flesh-eating werewolf she's not really a villain as in one of Trick r' Treat's connected stories the person she devours for her first time wolfing out Principle Wilkins is a true monstrous villain in human form as he is a serial killer who preys on little kids, and young adult women and after Laura lures him in, captures him, begins to transform scaring him and resulting in him now begging for mercy she plainly states before finishing her transformation and devouring him alive that her prey will not be the innocent instead it will guys like him the guys who target women, and either deliberately hurt them physically, and emotionally/mentally, or deliberately kill them in cold blood and like the murderous principle when they start begging for mercy in an attempt not to become her latest night-time doggie treat she won't show them mercy as they didn't show the women who were pleading for mercy any mercy before hurting them or killing them, so they won't receive any mercy from her.

[@jeezycreezy4220]

Arguably, the Alien films fall into this category. The xenomorphs are just animals doing animal things. They have no sense of good or evil, they're just trying to survive and grow their hive. The true villan is the Weyland-Yutani corporation, who want to capture xenomorphs for their own puposes.

[@ASoulphoenix]

It's their role, victims. An experiment to the Engineers, a profitable weapon for (half?) the humans and a trophy for the Yaujta (Predators)

[@tzkoopa]

The alternate ending to I Am Legend will always be the canon for me as it ties in with the original book so poetically.

[@christophersayers598]

A villian is a hero in their own story

[@Meep55412]

Nice to see Shutter on a list. One of my favorite Asian horror movies.

[@themayhemofmadness7038]

What Lies Beneath is another one, if you do another video on this topic.

[@lordhirudo5311]

There was a movie I can’t remember the name of, but the plot revolves around a bunch of people dying in a haunted house. The twist comes when we learn the ghost was just trying to warn people about the very much alive maniac living in the walls.

[@Xylarxcode]

In the original story of I am Legend, they had another twist for the 'monsters aren't the villains'. In that one, at the end, Neville realizes that since he's the last remaining human and has been responsible for the deaths of many vampires, they've come to see him as the monster. He became their boogeyman. Vampires have inherited the world and the age of man has passed on into their myth, with him as the last remaining link. He's been their bad guy and all the hatred and fear they've shown him is because he's going around killing their kind without remorse. The movie version endings are not nearly as good as that one, if you ask me, but to each their own, ofcourse.

[@FreeRangedPuppets]

Is the original story also called I Am Legend?

[@Will-dn9dq]

​​@@FreeRangedPuppetsyes by Richard Matheson. Inspiration for Stephen King an many writers. Also started the thoughts for future ghouls aka zombies night of the living dead

[@Will-dn9dq]

You missed a major plot difference! The woman he finds out us infected an yet acts human. He finds there's 2 types of infected. The dead mindless ghouls an the infected living! He became their boogeyman killing them indifferently in their sleep during the day. Society has become vampires humans are extinct. He the last one soon to die is legend

[@patrickginther8527]

@@Will-dn9dq Richard Matheson. He wrote for 'The Twilight Zone' and 'Star Trek' as well.

[@Will-dn9dq]

@@patrickginther8527 yes indeed he did. Wrote many great story's an screen plays. The trilogy of terror films came either directly from him or based on his story's.

[@anthonyohara2132]

#1 is, and probably always will be ‘American Werewolf in London’. Two men who locals distrusted, simply because they were outsiders were not properly warned of the dangers of the moor, leading to the death of one and the mauling of the other. The survivor is then told he must kill himself to avoid a horrible curse. Unable to believe his fate, he is transformed by the curse, hunted and killed.

[@downingj8288]

This is a pretty good list. Good job Sean

[@megfialkovich1628]

Right away, good on you for mentioning Shelley’s Frankenstein, even just as a necessity. The story is definitely bedrock for a lot of Anglo-Saxon concepts of the “monster” protagonist

[@Army_Dog]

Some movies that could fit on this list: 1) Toxic Avenger 2) Let the Right One In 3) Creature from the Black Lagoon 4) Suspiria

[@aroha9090]

Let the Right One In isn't right for this list

[@Army_Dog]

@@aroha9090 why not?

[@richardjamesgallardojr.7584]

I think enemy mine should be an honorable mention on this list the real monsters were the humans and at the end of the movie

[@stevenbailey]

I think Mama fits in this category too. And maybe Predator in AvP?

[@adamschank7703]

I believe the actual name of the alien hunter race is Yautja.

[@jamieserrano827]

There’s a reason why Sam killed the woman in the opening story it’s because she ignored tradition and took down her decorations before it was time to

[@BoringMiner2004]

I made the mistake of watching Before I Wake a couple years ago, trying to get my mind off my mom's passing from cancer. It made me sob.

[@NordicDan]

My one complaint about Sleepy Hollow was the use of the Ichabod Crane character. If they had only given him a different name, the story of the film would've been a near flawless follow-up to Washington Irving's original story, bringing the tale of the Van Tassel family and the Hessian to perfect closure. They could've even referenced "a school teacher by the name of Crane was the most recent to go missing" at some point (possibly by Christopher Lee at the beginning) and it would've worked perfectly.

[@valentinemiller8680]

I do get your point, but I think the reason that Ichabod was made to be a constable was because of Ichabod's intelligence, as well as the fact that Ichabod was not a local. Throughout the story, Ichabod has a very different opinion of nature and the town compared to the rest of the residents who have lived there their entire lives, and he is an outsider. Furthermore, Ichabod was incredibly intelligent, as after his disappearance, it's stated that most of the locals pull their children out of the schoolhouse, because they don't think anyone can measure up to how good of a teacher Ichabod was. So I see why Burton thought that this change would be good, because it emphasizes some of the central parts of Crane's character in the original tale, just with a different job.

[@Ravenz91]

The remake of Shutter was solid too

[@ClockworkEngineer]

Hellraiser and Hellraiser 2. Cenobites aren't the villains until the series badly falls off in quality in Hellraiser 4. They don't really appear in Hellraiser 3, those are something else.

[@valentinemiller8680]

Good point! There's also that one comic where a teenage girl solves the Lament Configuration, and after the Cenobites are summoned and wind up in the attic where the girl is, they find out that this girl is being abused by the adult she is living with (who I think is either her father or her uncle, I need to reread the comic), and they are so appalled by what this girl has gone through and how innocent she is (she literally thinks they are angels sent to protect her like she prayed for) that they leave her alone and take her father instead, even though she's the one who opened the configuration. They didn't even strike a bargain with her, they just rescued her from her abuser and left. They can easily show compassion at times, they aren't these evil menacing villains.

[@ClockworkEngineer]

@@valentinemiller8680 Definitely from the first 2 films, they are alien in morality, rather than anything on the good/evil spectrum.

[@pur3d3m0n67]

why wasn't the messengers on this list

[@PrimetimeD]

Nightbreed! Score.

[@Donathon-f6f]

You know, the older I get ..the more I long to finish out my days in Midian... just saying

[@steelcurtain187]

I’d like to throw Alien on the list. Weyland Yutani is the real villain. The alien just exists

[@kelst75]

I feel like Barbarian was a bit like this. Yes, the mother was a bit of a monster but she was just a product of the Frank's gross breeding plan. Plus, the AJ character was a predator, so also a monster. Those two were the real villains.

[@mccuish]

Shutter is a great movie. I honestly was not expecting that twist at the end.

[@Demonstray]

Awesome list! Can't wait for a "10 More" video on this, after reading the suggestions in the comments.

[@dlhrocker2460]

SHUTTER YES! After watching it I was all for the ghost to torment the guy the rest of his life because he willingly let her get abused by his friends and took pictures of it all! Also with Stir of Echoes the second one can also apply to this list

[@MasamuneShinto]

Re - Frankenstein: While Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 film does stay largely faithful to Mary Shelley’s novel, at no point does the Frankenstein Monster (aka Adam aka Caliban - depending on the version you refer to) tear out Elizabeth’s heart in the book. Such an act would be considered far too abhorrent for mid-19th Century audiences. Adam’s worst act in the book is to strangle various victims. The “heart-ripping” sequence was meant as a tribute to the Grand Guignol aesthetic of violent pulp theatre which was popularised several decades later in the late 19th Century and has been continued to today by a steadfast community of very faithful thespians, film makers and fans. The most popular productions of the Grand Guignol heyday were pieces about Sweeney Todd and Dr. Crippen. Most infamous of all was the Lyceum theatre’s take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” which ran its production in 1888 during the notorious Whitechapel murders, and saw it’s star (German-American thespian Richard Mansfield) become one of the prime suspects in the case.

[@ellnats]

frankenstein its number 10, thank you

[@BlackHatCinephile]

🥉

[@simonmeadows7961]

The Devil's Backbone ought to be on this list. But I shan't elaborate here in case you haven't seen it. But i recommend you do watch it.

[@ADDButterfly]

Stir of Echoes was an amazing film. Just amazing, and a bit sad.

[@TheRadical42]

Man is Shutter an excellent movie! Lots of creepy scenes, wonderful scares, real ghost pictures in the background (Like the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall), and a brilliant story. If you haven't seen it check it out!

[@SarahCherriBomb]

This one is a bit of a stretch, but some of the points you made in this gave me the courage to say that I kinda feel like the Xenomorphs aren’t fully monsters. While they are dangerous, I feel like I could argue that they are just following a clear instinct. And in the first three movies, which are the main ones I’ve watched, the only reason Riley and the other characters are dealing with Xenomorphs is because they came to the Xenomorphs’ home planet and allowed the Xenomorphs to become a threat. Their blood-spree is especially justified in the second movie, because while the first and third one involves a xenomorph stumbling into said area after accidentally being transported to said area after, again, the humans went to the XENOMORPHS’ home planet, the second film took place on the Xenomorphs’ home planet which Ripley and the other astronauts came to with the intention of killing the Xenomorphs because they were somehow posing a threat by living on THEIR home. If you think about it, the Xenomorphs were just minding their business on their home planet when these random creatures they’d probably never seen before showed up and in the second movie, tried to make a base on THEIR planet. If anything, the Xenomorphs could be argued as being animals defending their territory from intruders and the queen could be described as a queen defending her subjects or even a mother defending her kids. (I believe this was mentioned in one of this channel’s episodes but I can’t remember which one)

[@EmonBooker]

Candyman should be included on this list

[@RandomHorror]

He was the result of pure hatred and racisum. All he wanted was to be with his love.

[@ggr1zz]

His death was horrible and his soul should be put to rest however…killing someone for saying your name in the mirror, I don’t think meets the criteria.

[@RandomHorror]

@ggr1zz Hey, I'd be pissed off if someone said my name 5 times in the mirror.

[@derrickhaggard]

Katie's ghost from Unfriended 1 deserves to be on this list as she was the innocent victim of a cruel prank that led to cyber-bullying so bad that it caused Katie to commit suicide and take her own life the characters we assume to be the main protagonist group they're the true villains as not only is it revealed that they're responsible for the cruel prank but when Katie as part of her ghostly revenge plan reveals their darkest secrets it reveals that our real antagonist group were not nice people who did some horrible stuff to each other.

[@crystalshaw8744]

" Like he's got bills to pay" 😂😂😂

[@harrydresden64]

Yes!! Love it when this is done in a story :) Some more films: "A Monster in Paris" and "Colossal" (2016)

[@wesleyogilvie8105]

The more you learn about society and its system, the more you realize that the villians may have had it right all along.

[@manaash4316]

Magneto was right 😭

[@Austin-jg6ge]

Exactly

[@devinomatsu2444]

then you become the Villian's and everyone cries about you doing it commitment failures but that's the honest work of brainwashing

[@PatGunn]

Not in reality

[@devinomatsu2444]

@@PatGunn they are the System

[@DustinWilton-l1h]

In the book Frankenstein, the monster is definitely the villain. Totally different from the movie.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

I'd say the monster is a character who has an arc. He starts out as an innocent being and gradually decends into becoming a villain. He starts out innocent enough, but turns bitter and vengeful in the end. At first, he tries to act kind and hopes people would then come to recognize that there is no need to fear him and would accept him. When that doesn't work out, he tries to find a still semi-sensible solution by trying to persuade Frankenstein to creating a companion for him, so they would have each other and could otherwise isolate themselves from humankind. Which is already a kinda selfish approach, because that would mean to create another person to suffer from the same hardships as him just for his benefit. When Victor doesn't comply, he first resorts to blackmail, then fully gives in to a thirst for revenge, he becomes a serial killer and ultimately embraces being the monster everyone thinks he is.

[@DustinWilton-l1h]

@@chrisrudolf9839 true. He’s definitely a dimensional tragic villain but in the end, he is responsible for his actions. I find it interesting the difference between book & screen versions. In the movies he’s a grunting simpleton. In the book he actually frames a woman for a murder he committed, causing her death in the process.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

@@DustinWilton-l1h Have you seen the new-ish movie (90ties or early 2000nds, not sure) "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" with Kenneth Branagh as the titular character? That version is much closer to the book than the old black & white classics.

[@DustinWilton-l1h]

@@chrisrudolf9839 haven’t yet. Gotta check that out. There is an obscure UK film Terror of Frankenstein (1977) that is almost dead on the story as well.

[@valentinemiller8680]

I think in the book both the monster and Victor are the monsters, but the book emphasizes that the creation in a monster because Victor is a monster himself, and Victor was all his creation had to learn from. Victor refuses to take much responsibility for the life he created, and basically leaves him to his own devices. Victor's ego and refusal of taking responsibility was what lead to his creation becoming a monster, so while they are both monsters, Victor is still the true monster because without him, his creation wouldn't exist, or if he bothered to improve himself, his creation could become a good person. But when all you have to learn from is a monster, you're going to become one yourself.

[@mohamedsaghour2585]

The woman and gothica should've been here too

[@kristalsmith8134]

Gothika should definitely be on this list

[@ROCKONplaceboforever]

Good list 👏👏👏

[@mutolover3851]

You missed Hellraiser

[@BlackHatCinephile]

🥈

[@willhuey]

Frank is the real villain in hellraiser not the cenobites

[@heatherhannigan5230]

fear street part 3

[@thefisherking78]

Now I gotta watch that again lol

[@zhoppa]

jurassic park franchise

[@RandomHorror]

Because they were so preoccupied with if they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

[@JaxonIrving]

Frankenstein is the blueprint for this. The Monster, is not inherently evil, in fact he seems to be childlike, and almost gentle. Its just he is giant and incrediblly powerful.

[@mertvyjkosmos]

Haven't watched fully your video, but you definitely should include movie "The Woman" (2011)

[@Mixedbeats18]

Sadako? or is a gray area?

[@shannonpotratz489]

I'm a bit surprised The Devil's Backbone isn't on this list...

[@alexanderingraham8255]

I still prefer the “I Am Legend” book’s ending to either movie. The title drop goes HARRRDD! 😎

[@filmfangirls9163]

Yes!!! I love Apostle!!

[@Apathygrrl]

Also the ghosts from Crimson Peak. They were warning all the new brides to get out of there.

[@stewarta5993]

i absolutely love Illiana. she's so beautiful ❤️

[@tomesofawesome8041]

All I will say is, "Alma Wade" from F.E.A.R.

[@anhurtorrez]

When i first saw this the first movie that came to my mind and hoped that it was on this list Nightbreed. I was not disappointed i love that movie for excally that reason its on this list.

[@An0nymous_L0gic]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: those kids broke into the Sawyer house unprovoked and they are allowed to defend their property

[@RandomHorror]

In all fairness, they did enter just walked in trespassing.

[@ggr1zz]

Defending their property doesn’t include torture and cannibalism. Shooting them, sure but they went way beyond defending. They even hunt them down after a couple escape the property. Definitely doesn’t qualify

[@ApocalypseKurtz]

Apostle was a cool movie

[@ashleytaylor7621]

Number 11 sauron from rings of power

[@andrewrichards9513]

3rd time asking for basketcase vid 👍🏻

[@marcusjohnson6856]

Hellraiser! The real villains are Frank and Julia!

[@Will-dn9dq]

Frankenstein in the movie has an idiot's brain by mistake. The book he didn't have mental handicap. As there was no igor to drop.the dr brain 😂

[@tommywilkinson33]

Describing the book version of Frankenstein’s monster as “Unjustifiably brutal”… yeah I don’t think you really read the book maybe. The monster in the book was intelligent enough to speak several different languages, developed his sense of self by hiding in the shadows and watching a family go about their lives for literal months. All the while he was intelligent enough to learn but also realize he was an eternal outcast from society that would not and could not ever be accepted or have the same things other people have like a family or friendship or love. He had no idea if he was mortal or immortal, no sense of faith or belief because he existed in a state outside of every other human being that came before him. Brutal: Yes. Unjustifiable? No.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

Understandable? - Yes. Justifiable? - No. There are several instances (in the book as well as in the movie) in which the creature kills innocent people in a fit of rage, and at least once (when he murders Victor's bride) he does so not in a spontaneous uncontrolled outburst of rage, but cold, deliberate and with previous announcement. He murders an innocent woman who never harmed him merely as a means to take revenge on Victor. No matter what happened to him before, no jury would acquit him. Especially since he isn't a mindless brute who acts on instinct in the book, but highly intelligent and at that point fully aware of the situation (after having overcome his initial desorientation). At that point in the story, the creature is a monster ... or at least a cold blooded murderer. He does deserve sympathy, because he starts out innocent and well-meaning and it's the cruel way he is rejected by his creator and society that ultimately turns him into a monster. If he just went and took revenge on Victor himself, we could argue that he was justified. (If we accept the archaic "and eye for an eye" logic as "justice", but that's a debate we don't even have to go into here, because he doesn't limit his agression to people who actually harmed him). Victor's irresponsible experiments and his faillure to own up to his mistakes and care for the creature he brought to life are the main reason for the story's tragic events and we could argue that this makes Victor the worse villain. But it wasn't Victor nor the people who rejected the creature and were afraid of him, who made the creature chose to murder innocents. Becoming the monster everyone saw him as was still the creature's own decision. Again, his motives are somewhat understandable. "Everybody hates me, so why should I not hate them. Everybody would want me dead, so why shoudn't I kill them." But he is intelligent enough to also understand why people react to him that way. That most of them act out of fear, not malice.

[@tommywilkinson33]

@@chrisrudolf9839 I would have to argue that even though the monster is intelligent, can learn, and has the general form of a human it is incorrect to apply the same sets of morals and beliefs to it as you would any other human. I think the closest comparison would be animals in that we know many are very intelligent creatures. We also know they can and have killed humans. And though we typically apply the sense of it being out of necessity or survival we don’t necessarily attribute a moral code to animals and prefer to think of it as mere instinct. But how do you apply the same standards and morals to a creature and not necessarily a human. Yes, he can speak and reason and understand societal norms, but he isn’t bound by them because he doesn’t exist them, just like an animal doesn’t live in human society there’s no moral basis behind its actions if it kills another human. The creature has no fear of losing status or property because it doesn’t have those things. And it’s unfortunately intelligent enough to realize what it cannot have and part of that is being part of the society it seems like it should be in. He is in effect a new animal, something different from human but we like to try and humanize him because of his appearance and his behavior.

[@promethiac2641]

Jaws: The Mayor The Thing: Nosy Scientists eager for assimilation Halloween: Negligent/Abusive Cycle Friday the 13th: Same Nightmare on Elm Street: Parents and their secrets The Exorcist: The makers of Ouija Boards Saw: Callous and Greedy Healthcare system.

[@MyWorldYourView]

Should add the T-Rex from Jurassic Park films. While she tries to hunt them once, it was a mistaken attempt at hunting. Yeah, at the lawyer, but already set him up as a villain of sorts. Otherwise, T-Rex saves the human characters every time.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

T-Rex is a predator animal who acts on its hunting instincts. It can per definiton not be a villain, he is a dangerous force of nature.

[@lisaroney9493]

love this Chanel 🩷

[@bheast86]

FRANKENSTEIN/BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN would deserve to be number 1

[@Scott-y9g5f]

In resident evil its umbrella corp, that is the real villian group

[@haxacodex3784]

I say Abigail. All the other characters were horrible people who kidnapped a child and were willing to kill her to hide their identity. Yes Abigail is a blood thirsty Vampire but as far as we know she only killed other people in the criminal world. She was essentially an assassin, and if Agent 47 , John Wick and Leon the Professional are considered good guys then Abigail isn’t a villain at all. She just uses her teeth instead of guns.

[@jennifersmith-clark6418]

King Kong although not a horror movie per se. The Alien from Alien & Aliens isn't evil they are just following its biologic imperative. The company and David in th newer films are really the baddies

[@phoenixraine2002]

You missed Wildling

[@christophermerlot3366]

I'd make the argument that in the original Texas Chainsaw, Leatherface isn't the villain. He's a childish simpleton egged on by his nightmarish family.

[@APZachariah]

Aliens. Burke was the villain.

[@DirtyRoomKnives]

Frankenstein's monster kills a handful of people, mostly out of vengeance. That's pretty villainous..

[@Xenac55]

Because they were ostracized by society and also was never called a monster, only ever a creature. The creature has the mental capacity of a literal child

[@DirtyRoomKnives]

@@Xenac55 To start with, yes. But even if we dismiss the murders of Clerval and Frankenstein's wife ( on their wedding night no less), he killed Frankenstein's innocent little brother and then framed the equally innocent Justine for the murder, whereafter she was executed for it. But by all means, defend his actions. And he was referred to as a monster, both by himself and certain characters in the novel.

[@Lexinada]

@@DirtyRoomKnives totaly agree, read it for the first time this year, and from what I've heard before everyone said that the Monster is sympathetic and misunderstood, and society and Frankenstein is the actual monster. But the Monster truly earned his name, so horrible and a creature made of vengance, malice and evil. Justine had done nothing to him, she happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong place sleeping and all he could think was "were she alive, she would treat me unkind therefor I will lay the blame of my murder of a child on her"

[@Sunprism]

Puppetmaster, never has been the case, weirdly

[@faeriegore]

The deformed twin in House of Wax, tho.

[@MimiTthatsMe]

Samantha was str@ngled hence her inability to communicate as a ghost. She was a nerd, not mentally impaired, I believe

[@MrManCave]

👍🏾🔥

[@ThatGuyBill1985]

I really wanted to like Nightbreed, but it was just such a jumbled mess. I feel like it was made soley to show off great practical effect creature design.

[@adelucas4824]

there is an extended directors cut floating about that fills in some of the gaps

[@RavynArcadia]

You mean "I Am Legend the ending that should have been the real ending" The theatrical shit ending completely ruins the name of the movie and shouldn't exist.

[@Katetanic]

Wait, Kanker man? I thought it was the answer man. Hell, the film is called the answer man.

[@djeeno]

Lady Van Tassel is not a satanist, she's a witch. don't fall victim to lazy writing, it's a bad look.