One of the most important aspects of storytelling is to create interesting characters that resonate with audiences and contribute to the overall narrative. Writing characters that go through some type of character arc throughout the film or series is a surefire way to create characters that audiences engage with and want to see more of. Growth is vital to the perception of a character because it shows people that this particular character went through something in their life and will forever be altered by that experience. Even in comedies, we can see characters go through an important arc that leaves them different from how they started out. Michael Scott from The Office was always the goofball who devoted too much energy to being the Scranton branch manager of Dunder Mifflin. By the time his character left the show, he had matured and realized that leaving Dunder Mifflin was the key to creating the family he had always wanted.
One genre that may not be the first that comes to mind when discussing character arcs would be the horror genre. Believe it or not, horror has some of the most interesting and exciting character arcs put to screen. Anything can happen in a horror movie, which means that anything can happen to the characters in it. Characters in these films often experience brutal, harrowing events that inevitably affect them for the rest of their lives. Whether it be a psychotic killer with a personal vendetta against them or a supernatural force stalking them, characters in horror movies by nature experience a character arc. Some of these arcs are truly rewarding. With that in mind, here are ten satisfying character arcs in horror movies:
10 Erin – You’re Next (2011)
You’re Next is a slasher that blends horror with comedy in a unique that makes the multiple twists that happen even more entertaining. The premise follows a young couple, Erin (Sharni Vinson) and Crispin (AJ Bowen), as they head out to Crispin’s parents’ weekend home to celebrate their wedding anniversary, only to have the home attacked by masked assailants during the big family dinner.
Leading up to the anniversary dinner, Erin is focused on making a good impression in front of her boyfriend’s family. She wants to get along with Crispin’s siblings and connect with his mom. After the attack happens and the initial shock wears off, Erin’s entire demeanor changes. She immediately switches to survival mode and starts instructing the family members on how to stay alive. She becomes almost like a warrior in her brutal and persistent fight to make it out of that house. She doesn’t hesitate or think twice about what she’s doing, she just does it.
9 Sarah – The Descent (2005)
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After a tragic accident that has left her on her own, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) joins her friends on a trip to the mountains where they will go on a cave expedition in caves that have never been explored before. When the expedition goes horribly wrong and the group ends up trapped, they must fight to make their way out alive as they are attacked by terrifying bloodthirsty creatures in The Descent.
Sarah is an emotionally distraught woman who is still grieving over the loss of her husband and daughter a year prior to this trip. Her grief and guilt consume her, which leaves her a barely functioning human being. She can barely be around her friends. By the time the group is fully attacked by these cave creatures, and she’s watching her friends die around her, something in Sarah snaps. She is no longer the weak, grief-consumed timid woman she was at the beginning of the film. She is viciously determined to make it out of that cave and save her friends in the process. She turns her grief into a weapon and lets loose a primal instinct to survive.
8 Damien Karras – The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcist is still often regarded as one of the scariest films of all time, and even though it was released 50 years ago, it still holds up. There are quite a few key players in this movie that all experience a character arc to a certain degree given the circumstances they found themselves in. Even Regan goes through a character arc by the end of the movie as her childhood innocence is taken from her after being possessed by the devil.
However, Father Damien Karras goes through maybe the most satisfying arc of the whole movie. At first, Father Karras is a staunch non-believer in anything supernatural and doesn’t feel that exorcisms are a necessity, despite it being a service that the church provides in extreme circumstances. Even when Chris (Ellen Burstyn) explains her situation to him, he doesn’t believe her. It isn’t until Father Merrin brings him to the MacNeil house to perform the exorcism himself, that Karras begins to understand the true gravity of the situation. He immediately jumps in to help Father Merrin combat the devil using all of his might and courage. Father Karras eventually sacrifices himself in order to save Regan and rid the MacNeils of this horrible spirit.
7 Nancy – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The original A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of horror icon Wes Craven’s best films. Freddy Krueger is an iconic horror villain and is truly menacing in his first outing. The concept of the spirit of a serial killer invading the dreams of teenagers in order to kill them is honestly a bit terrifying. From the get-go, Nancy knows that something sinister is happening on Elm Street. She desperately tries to convince the adults around her that someone is after her and her friends, and that person is using their own dreams to get to them. Throughout the movie, she is frustrated, angry, and on the verge of a breakdown because no one is listening to her.
The only person who gives her claims serious thought is her boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp) who ends up not listening to her and meets his demise because of it. After that, she no longer cared about getting anyone to believe her. Nancy was determined to end Freddy’s reign of terror with or without help. Instead of trying to escape him, she goes after him herself. She uses his own tactics against him to trap him and effectively rid the neighborhood of him. Or so she thought.
6 Ash – The Evil Dead (1981)
The original The Evil Dead is a highly influential film in the horror genre for a plethora of reasons. It has such an interesting blend of gory horror and campy comedy that makes this film and its franchise something entirely unique to other horror franchises. If you are not used to this brand of horror, getting through this film may be a challenge, but it is so worth it. A big part of that is because of Ash Williams, played to perfection by Bruce Campbell. Ash goes to this remote Tennessee cabin in the woods with a group of friends and is seemingly a normal boy-next-door type. The trip starts out as planned until they listen to a recording with chants from an ancient book that unleashes savage demons called Deadites. The unexpected chaos that ensues is an absolute bloodbath accompanied by the Deadite’s wicked sense of humor.
Ash watches his friends get picked off one by one or possessed without any clue as to how to get rid of them. He certainly doesn’t seem like he would be the sole survivor of the night. Except, after his sister and his girlfriend are taken by the Deadites, Ash becomes unhinged. He slowly starts to become more and more deranged and by the end, he is completely changed as a person after battling the gruesome Deadites all night.
5 Carrie White – Carrie (1976)
Another prominent film that is adored by horror fans is the original Carrie from 1976 starring Sissy Spacek as the titular character. Spacek gives an unforgettable performance as Carrie White in this Brian De Palma-directed adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. Carrie is a painfully shy, timid girl who is sheltered by her ever-controlling religious mother. She doesn’t have any friends at school and is continuously picked on by the popular kids. The poor girl can’t catch a break anywhere in her life.
In addition to the relentless bullying and criticism, Carrie is so sheltered that she doesn’t even know what a menstrual cycle is and is terrified when she has one for the first time. She finally thinks that life is turning around for her when the popular kids invite her to the prom, but that dream is pummeled when they dump a bucket of pig’s blood on her in front of the entire school. It is then that Carrie unleashes the full extent of her telekinetic powers on the students and sets out for revenge. Years of bullying, harassment, criticism, abuse, and never belonging finally get to her, and she shows no remorse for her actions. We don’t want to say that the students had it coming, but they had it coming.
4 Doug – The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
The 2006 remake of We Craven’s original The Hills Have Eyes follows the same premise as its predecessor. A family travels through the desert on a trip to celebrate the grandparent’s wedding anniversary with their three children and their granddaughter. Things take a turn for the worse after a suspicious gas station attendant informs them of a shortcut that will take them through the desert hills. They discover that they are indeed not alone in those hills and that everything they do is seen.
Doug (Aaron Stanford) is the grandparent’s son-in-law, and he is just an average guy with a 9-5 job. There’s nothing particularly unique about him, he’s just a husband and a dad as many men are. He’s essentially an unassuming average Joe. By the end of the movie, he saves not only himself but his entire family. He goes from an average citizen to a formidable opponent against this clan of mutilated desert people, and he becomes a force to be reckoned with.
3 Tree Gelbman – Happy Death Day (2017)
Happy Death Day puts an inventive spin on the slasher subgenre by making it a horror comedy and subverting the expectations for a final girl. The movie follows Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a college sorority girl who is still grieving the death of her mother years before. With her birthday on the horizon, she’s hoping to have fun with friends and escape the grief for a while. That plan is thrown out the window when she is killed on the night of her birthday but wakes up the next day and discovers that she is repeating the same day over and over again.
Tree at first struggles to grasp what is happening to her before she decides to try to end the loop. She goes through a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the movie as she goes from confused to irritated to determined to desperate. Toward the end of the movie, she finally has enough of the nonsense and becomes hellbent on ending the nightmare. She crafts makeshift weapons and learns how to fight, so she can finally end the cycle, and in the process becomes one of the best modern final girls of the horror genre. Tree was also a relatively selfish person at the start of the movie, and by the end, she learned to be more open and accepting of others.
2 Sidney Prescott – Scream (1996)
Inarguably one of the best final girls of all time is none other than Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell). Scream revitalized the slasher genre in 1996 and did so once again with its requel film in 2022 with its endless horror references and self-aware nature. It also changed the standard for final girls in the genre. Sidney starts the film as a grief-stricken teenager still reeling over the death of her mother the year before. She is clearly traumatized, and the only people in her life that seem to understand are her best friend Tatum (Rose McGowan) and her cop brother Dewey (David Arquette).
Sidney’s trauma is triggered when Ghostface starts terrorizing Woodsboro, and Sidney doesn’t hide her fear about the masked killer. When everyone is over at Stu’s house for the party, Sidney’s life changes once again. It’s at this party that she discovers who the killers are and what their motives was. Once she makes these discoveries, Sidney no longer waits for help. She takes matters into her own hands. She outsmarts both Ghostfaces repeatedly throughout the third act and finds clever ways to get ahead of them. She is ultimately the one to put an end to the killers’ murder spree and never once hesitates or overthinks it. She goes from a traumatized victim to a hardened survivor who can take care of herself.
1 Pearl – Pearl (2022)
The prequel follow-up to Ti West’s incredible slasher film X delves into the story of the killer of the first film. Pearl explores the backstory of Pearl and how she became the psychopathic killer we see in X. The most important lesson the audience learns from the prequel is that Pearl always had a dark side to her. This innate instinct to cause harm and inflict pain was always there. However, when she was a young newlywed, she tried to bury it down deep. She didn’t want anyone to know that there was something inherently wrong with her because it would derail her dream of being a famous dancer.
She spends most of the film toying with her dark side and abruptly covering it up whenever someone is around. She tries desperately to come across as a “normal” girl that could have a life outside her parents’ farm. When she finally gets the opportunity to audition for a dance company, and they don’t accept her, her spirit is broken. This is after she has already killed a few people, but now the little remorse she might have felt is gone. After an incredible nine-minute monologue Pearl recites to Misty, she gives into her dark side and accepts who she is. She easily leaves a trail of bodies behind her as she waits patiently for her loving husband to return from war.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
