Horror Movie Villainesses

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR MOVIES IN THIS POST. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED~!






When it comes to horror movies, 9 times out of 10 the villain will be a man. That's not to say that there's no female villains, far from it. But the most memorable villains are guys. Take a minute, tick off 5 names that come to mind. I'd be willing to bet that the following names are who you thought:


-Freddy Krueger

-Jason Voorhees

-Michael Myers

-Chucky

-Pinhead



Although one of the last two could've been swapped out with Leatherface. Around this time last year I wanted to do a blog about the top 10, or even top 5, female villains. There was just one problem.

I couldn't think of 10. Or five. I could only think of two. Two that had a suitably high body count and showed no remorse about their actions. One was pure evil, the other had a reason for her madness. So I googled female horror villainesses and looked at some of the names that came up. One was Angela from Sleepaway Camp. However, two things disqualified her in my mind. One, she was a victim of bullying so I see her actions as justified. Two...she's technically not a girl. In the sequel she is, but not the first. So I place her as "provoked victim" not a cold blooded villain.

Another name was Asami from the film "Audition." Granted, this woman seemed to fit the bill, except she had no massive body count. It appears she actually only kills one person and tortures the others. Although the torture scene towards the end is very impressive - it actually turned my stomach.

Sadako from The Ringu was a third name. However, she falls into the "provoked victim" as well. Carrie's mother, although narrow minded and ultimately insane enough to try to murder her daughter, isn't really up there. Nor is Annie Wilkes from "Misery."

There were a few others, but I cannot really judge if they'd make my list because I haven't seen the movies. Like any list, this can always be revised. But for now, there's only two that are top female horror movie villainesses.


1 - Pamela Voorhees, "Friday the 13th." How could I not put her? Granted, she could fall into the "provoked victim" category, but there's a major difference.


In 1958, the first two camp counselors were murdered. The camp shut down until "present day" in the film (which, going by the year the movie was made, would have put "present day" as 1980). As the new group of counselors start to overhaul the camp to make it ready to open, they are murdered one by one. At the end, Pamela explains that her son drowned because of the negligence of the counselors.

Now, lets assume that in 1958 when the first two counselors were murdered was the same year that Jason drowned. That would mean that Pamela waited twenty two years until the camp's re-opening to restart the murders. Twenty two years. You would think that over the years her desire to revenge would die down, but nope. This also rules out Pamela suffering from insanity - had she been insane, once the camp shut down, she would either have stalked the counselors directly responsible for her son's death or transferred her murderous rage to others.

But no, she waited. In the words of Mr. Smith from "The Matrix" she waited deliberately, purposefully. When the camp re-opened, she started again. That's not the action of an insane person. Far from it. She let her desire to vengeance go beyond simply killing the counselors who were responsible for Jason's death. She allowed it to explode into killing anyone who had any involvement with the camp when it was re-opened.

Pamela Voorhees was a pioneer for female villainesses. She was the first in the "slasher" genre. Before her, there had been your sophisticated evil villainesses like Asa Vadja (played by the talented Barbara Steele) in "Black Sunday" or your cunning, cold villainesses like Cleopatra in Tod Browning's "Freaks" but there had never been a woman who had taken killing to the extreme like Pamela Voorhees did. The fact that the actress, Betsy Palmer, was such a sweet, lovely woman made the contrast between them that much more startling. Betsy was superb in the role. You really felt the rage that consumed her.

Without Pamela, we might not have gotten other female villainesses who bypassed having men do their dirty work for them and instead went straight for the butcher knife. Women such as Mrs. Loomis in "Scream 2," Baby Firefly from "House of a 1000 Corpses" and "Devil's Rejects," Marie from "High Tension," or Brenda Bates from "Urban Legend" can be seen as descendants of Pamela's. Without her, we might not have gotten the second female on my list...



2 - Julia Cotton, "Hellraiser" & "Hellbound: Hellraiser 2"


This is probably an unexpected choice. However, let me explain and perhaps you'll find yourself agreeing with my reasoning.

When we first meet Julia in "Hellraiser" she is the wife of Larry Cotton and step-mother to Kirsty Cotton. She comes across as a chilly, if not downright cold woman and we soon learn that she slept with her husband's brother, Frank, prior to their wedding. When Julia realises that Frank can be restored through the sacrifice of victims, she lures men to their home and kills them. Granted, she almost didn't kill the first victim, being very hesitant but her lust for Frank eventually overcame any reservations she had. After that, she shows no mercy and even offers up her own husband in the end so Frank can take his skin. She also has no objections to Frank attempting to murder her step-child.

This is pretty heinous behaviour for a woman, despite the fact that she had a motive (love, or lust, or obsession whichever it was) but even still if she was that head over heels for Frank, she could've called off the marriage all together (although Frank, you quickly find out, isn't the type to settle down - his restlessness and desire for new experiences is what brought him to the Cenobites in the first place). But you get the feeling that, although Larry was a nice guy, he never excited the pure, primal lust that Frank excited in Julia. Frank, himself, was a primal force of nature - through glimpses of flashbacks and items that Julia finds, we see that Frank searched the globe and engaged in every sort of carnal experience the world had to offer. There was nothing he refrained from, but it all eventually bored him. This continuing search finally led to the puzzle box known as the Lament Configuration. In a way, Frank and Larry are the personifications of the struggle women find themselves caught in - the "bad boy" or the "nice guy." Like Julia, we must choose between them.

I get the feeling that, except for her affair with Frank, Julia led a pretty straight laced life. The good wife, maybe attempting to be a kind step-mother to Kirsty (although we see the relationship is pretty frosty), a receptive hostess - Julia is rather bland, to be honest. When Frank is re-introduced back into her life, the dissatisfaction she feels with her life as well as the obsession that has never left her completely, bursts from within. She is consumed by the fire of her passion, despite the evil that goes hand in hand with it.

In a way, I identify with Julia. Maybe that's why I like her so much. She shed her "good wife" skin to revel in the raw emotions that Frank brought out of her. She craved his touch, even after her encounter with him so long ago, and stopped at nothing once she realised she could have him again. Julia is very much a creature of her passion, her lust - put simply, her emotions. After restricting herself for years, she couldn't deny her feelings any longer. Frank brought that out of her.

For years, I, too, have restrained myself and denied parts of myself that I thought were wrong or sinful. It took the right person to bring the sexual part of my personality out and into bloom. Now I embrace those parts of myself. ...Except I'm not murdering anybody! I have digressed...

Getting back to the focus of this blog though, Julia chooses Frank in the end, and winds up killed. So, although responsible for the deaths of an unknown number of strangers and her own husband, plus the attempted murder of her step-daughter, Julia doesn't seem to have the body count of Pamela Voorhees.

Enter "Hellbound: Hellraiser Two." This film made Julia the central villainess to go alongside the doctor that brought her back. We're not quite certain if Dr. Phillip Channard realises he's going to resurrect Julia when he brings one of his mental patients into contact with the mattress Julia was seen lying upon in the first film, but that's what happens. From here, Dr. Channard brings living victims from his mental hospital to Julia so she can take their flesh and blood to complete her regeneration.

This is where the body count kicks in. In the scene where Kyle enters a room in Dr. Channard's house, he sees the rotting bodies of numerous mental patients that Julia has killed before becoming a victim himself. I wasn't able to count them all, but there were quite a few. A far cry from the unknown number of murders she committed in the first, certainly. When confronted by Kirsty, she slaps the girl so hard she knocks her out. This comes after one of the best lines I've ever heard from any movie genre.

"They didn't tell you, did they Kirsty? They changed the rules of the fairy tale. I'm no longer just the wicked step mother. Now I'm the evil queen. So come on! Take your best shot, Snow White!"

The way she says this, with such malice and hatred in her voice - it gives me chills every time I hear it. Julia is fully restored and at the peak of her power. From there she takes revenge on Frank, betrays Dr. Chennard (although considering his curiosity opened the box, it might not be perceived as betrayal so much as the fulfillment of his desire), and seeks to murder Kirsty and Tiffany. Julia has no redemptive motives in this movie, she is fully evil, seeking only to murder those who would prevent her from walking the earth once more.

In a way, because I identify so strongly with Julia, I prefer her over Pamela. Then again, I'm not a mom so I can't identify with Pamela about losing a child. But I can identify with Julia's desire to break free of the monotony of her life, the desire and lust she felt for Frank suppressed for so long until it broke free.


These two comprise my list of ultimate female villainesses. If you feel there's someone that I haven't mentioned that should be on here, feel free to leave me a comment. If there's a horror movie featuring a villainess, let me know - I'm always wanting more horror movies to watch!