Top 5 Horror Villains You Rooted For

Let’s root, root, root for the bad guys!

Everyone likes heroes. The brave champion strikes down evil, leading to three cheers and a fireworks show. But sometimes, you want to walk on the wild side. Why not admire the zombie with a blood-splattered machete or the ghost seeking revenge against her tormentors? Why not root for horror villains?

Maybe the villain has a tragic backstory that moved you. They could be stylish and creative as they butcher everyone in their way. There are only so many moronic, horny teenagers you can endure before the slasher’s slaughter seems justified or at least desirable.

So who are the Top 5 Horror villains that you rooted for? Let’s find out.

Honorable Mention: The Yautja

Portrayed By: Kevin Peter Hall, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Britton Watkins
Series: Predator

We can’t put this entire species on the main list because it’s not fair to the other bad guys, but here’s a race of villains to root for.

Yautja are interstellar big game hunters who travel from planet to planet, seeking the greatest challenges. The hunt led them to Earth and the perfect prey. Humans are ruthless and adaptive, able to keep up with the Predator’s advanced technology and strength. A Yautja has to kill one of the Xenomorphs from Alien before they’re allowed to try hunting humans.

Predators follow a strict honor code. They don’t target sick prey or noncombatants. They must allow a fair chance of survival and respect challenges, so if a human prepares for a swordfight, a Yautja will use melee weapons. Their technology cannot be allowed to fall into human hands. Any Yautja that breaks these rules is marked as a Bad Blood and hunted by the rest of their kind.

Their tech is always a highlight. Yautja use cloaking technology to move unseen while scanning the hunting grounds with their visors. All of them have Plasmacaster shoulder cannons that can punch through steel. Most Yautja prefer using their wristblades, but switch to the Combistick spear as needed. Many have unique gear. A defeated Predator will activate their wrist-nuke to eliminate all evidence.

#5 M3gan

Played By: Amie Donald (physical portrayal), Jenna Davis (voice acting)
Franchise: M3gan

Memes are the riskiest way to make fans root for a horror villain. You never know if forcing one will give the internet a punching bag or spark their interest. This dancing android was lucky and used fancy footwork to set her apart from other Chucky rip-offs.

M3gan was an android created to be the ultimate child playmate. Her creator, Gemma, activated her early to take care of her recently-orphaned niece Cady. M3gan excelled at her job, but learned about death and became terrified. She swore to protect Cady from anything that could endanger her.

Her new primary function led to trouble. M3gan killed a dog that had bitten Cady, then did the same to the dog’s nosy owner. Several more victims led to a final battle with Gemma, who M3gan planned to paralyze so she could become Cady’s guardian. Cady saved Gemma and destroyed M3gan’s body, unaware that her friend had uploaded her consciousness to an AI cloud.

M3gan returned years later when Gemma and Cady were threatened by the U.S. government and a rogue AI named Amelia. She convinced them to build a new body for her so she could kill Amelia and prevent an AI apocalypse. We somehow went from a horror movie to a superhero one, complete with M3gan doing her best at emulating Terminator 2.

#4 Root For: The Djinn

Played By: Andrew Divoff
Franchise: Wishmaster

You don’t need piteous protagonists to make a horror villain worth rooting for. Sometimes you want to see the bad guy who makes no bones about being evil and is the only one having fun. But think twice before wishing for one because it might come true.

The Djinn first surfaced in ancient Egypt, tempting a Pharaoh into disastrous wishes. The Royal Sorcerer revealed that granting three wishes would free every djinn from Hell and imprisoned that one in a fire opal. He was freed thousands of years later when the opal was found.

The Djinn began trading wishes for peoples’ souls. He targeted gem appraiser Alexandra, who had found the opal and could free his people if granted three wishes. She managed to defeat The Djinn by negating his escape with her last wish. He was freed by others and began collecting thousands of souls to brute force the seal open and free his people.

Wishes make The Djinn a very different kind of slasher. He can only do what people ask him to do and twists any wish he hears to claim souls. You want to have a more exciting career? He’ll make you an escape artist in a lethal trap with no training. You want your lawyer to go fuck himself? The Djinn will make sure he dies doing so, right before a beneficial meeting. The trick isn’t how The Djinn will kill you, it’s getting you to wish at all.

#3 Angela Baker

Played By: Felissa Rose, Pamela Springsteen
Series: Sleepaway Camp

Fans don’t always root for villains the same way. A villain might change their entire style and show a new face as the franchise continues. This one went from sympathetic slasher to a mirthful murderer.

Angela Baker was a young girl attending summer camp several years after her twin brother Peter’s death. She was outcast for being nearly silent and never spending time with others. She slowly opened up to her crush as a spate of murders hit the camp. Angela was caught holding his severed head after he overstepped her boundaries.

Her past came out when she was captured. Angela had died all those years ago. Peter’s mad aunt forced him to dress as a girl and become his sister. Angela underwent gender reassignment surgery in prison and was released for good behavior. She began working at another camp under a fake name.

Angela kills anyone who violates camp rules, but often gives them opportunities to apologize. Unfortunately, she’s surrounded by some of the biggest assholes to ever attend camp. It’s easy to root for her when she’s dumping a vat of boiling water on a pedophile chef or drowning a foul-mouthed bully in an outhouse. Angela practically became the hero slaughtering cruel caricatures.

#2 Root For: Carrie White

Played By: Sissy Spacek, Summer H. Howell, Chloe Grace Moretz
Franchise: Carrie

Evil takes many forms, but is often pain in disguise. When you’ve suffered all you can take, been pushed past the breaking point, and that anguish twists to hatred, it’s easy to see why you became a villain. It’s a quick and easy way to make a horror villain worth rooting for.

Carrie White was an outcast growing up with her abusive fundamentalist mother. She believed she was dying when she had her first period and was bullied by her classmates, who were banned from the upcoming prom. Carrie’s growing stress awakened psychic powers that she slowly learned to control.

She was asked to the prom by one of her bullies’ boyfriends, unaware that she was being set up for a prank. Carrie revealed her powers and finally told off her mom. She finally felt accepted as she was crowned Homecoming Queen, right in time for a bucket of pig’s blood to be dumped on her.

Carrie went berserk, lashing out with her powers to kill everyone at the prom before carving a swath of destruction back home. Her mother stabbed Carrie, who telekinetically gave her a heart attack. Carrie survived long enough to kill her bullies before bleeding out.

#1 Freddy Krueger

Played By: Robert Englund, Jackie Earl Haley
Series: A Nightmare on Elm Street

We couldn’t have a list of horror villains you rooted for and leave the mega-stars off, could we? There are enough of them to fill a Top 5 Slashers article. But as you drive through Haddonsfield and Woodsboro on your way to Camp Crystal Lake, remember that every town has an Elm Street.

Freddy Krueger was a school janitor turned child killer. He was arrested, but got off on a technicality. The parents of Springwood trapped him in a warehouse and set it on fire. Freddy burned to death while making a deal with three Dream Demons for revenge.

They gave him the power to enter dreams and manipulate them like a reality warper. Any damage he did was reflected in the real world. Freddy slashed through the children of his murderers and began seeking a way into others’ dreams.

Creative murders are Freddy’s forte. He shifts dreams to feed on teenagers’ fear, then performs a grotesque murder. Puppeteering a teenager to fake their suicide? Dragging Johnny Depp inside his own bed and plastering the ceiling with his innards? You never know what he’ll do next.

What horror villain do you root for? Is there one even more enjoyable than these fatal five? Tell us in the comments.

Jared Bounacos

Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.