The world is already filled to the brim with real monsters.
In 2026, we have just discovered that most of the elites are cannibalistic pedophiles. It’s written all over the Epstein files.
And they are currently turning the USA into a WW2 wannabe.
I was hoping for lizard people, but what we got was soooo much worse.
Yet, for some unknown reason, the mainstream cinema still refuses to give us an evil character that doesn’t have a tragic backstory.
The Disneyfication of evil
Not everything needs to be put through a Disney lens. We don’t need filtered monsters when we are surrounded by them. People are evil, just because they want to and can be.
One of my favorite visceral movies is Eden lake. The ending sticks with you the most.
Why ? Because no one tried to filter it through heart-shaped glasses.
It is brutal, yet realistic. Not supernatural, not excused.
How many true crime episodes have you watched where the family knew their son (it’s more often than not the son) either hurt or murdered someone and kept quiet, hiding him behind wall of lawyers and destroyed the evidence ?
That’s the true nature of vile humans. That’s what we are faced with.
The John Kramer paradox
While elevated horror tries its best to shake the status quo, Hollywood regularly decides that villains have to turn into protagonists. Hi Maleficient. Hi Megan. Hi fucking John Kramer ? WHAT ?
-I loved Saw X, don’t hurt me, but I’m not supposed to find a serial killer endearing when he goes on a revenge spree-
We need villains that enjoy being villains. That know they are evil and chose to be. Vecna could have been amazing in Stranger Things, if they put just 1% of effort into the last season.
While I get that the world is too much sometimes and we need to see the good in people, I don’t think it should spread to the horror genre.
Not every bad action needs to be excused or explained.
Pure malice of Mum and Dad
Mum & Dad (the british one, not the Nicolas Cage one) is an example of it, pushed to the max.
We don’t know why they are like this, and it makes it a 100 times more brutal to witness.
They are just fucked up monsters for the sake of it.
If they were to have a mainstream release today, they would have flashbacks to child abuse, or bullying to get a sense of pity they don’t deserve.
The Chucky lesson : complexity vs. redemption
There’s a conversation in the Chucky tv series that made me chuckle :
«Chucky: “You know, I have a queer kid.”
Jake: “You have a kid?”
Chucky: “Gender fluid”
Jake: “and you’re cool with it?”
Chucky: “I’m not a monster Jake.”
Chucky murders people, and enjoys it, but still shows some vulnerability without having to become a poor little saint.
That is what makes his character complex and endearing, not redeemed.
We can’t excuse real life people committing atrocities (although some still vote for them, but that’s a different topic) so why do we need this martyrdom thrown upon our horror villains ?
Jason and Freddy were shown to be vulnerable, while still maintaining their evil status for example. No one would think twice about calling them killers, so why would we need to excuse the behaviors of every single new horror protagonists ?
I’m not even going to touch the Freddy remake, because that’s a whole other problem.
But you get the idea.
Some people just want to see the world burn, no trauma attached.