20 Horror Movie Villains With Motives You'll Understand

Top 20 Horror Movie Villains with Understandable Motivations

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the horror baddies who had the most sympathetic motives.

#20: Leatherface

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974)
While he is typically portrayed as a sadistic serial killer, the truth – at least in the original entry – is not that clear cut. Leatherface’s murders and penchant for wearing masks of human skin are undeniably horrifying, but his motivation stems mainly from a twisted sense of family loyalty. He is a figure molded by abuse and forced to commit atrocities by his far more sadistic relatives, all of whom take advantage of Leatherface’s intellectual disability. Gunnar Hansen, the man who portrayed the iconic killer, describes him as “a big baby” who is “completely under the control of his family.” His actions are brutal, but one could argue that he is nothing but a puppet.

#19: Alex Hammond

“Prom Night” (1980)
There are prom disasters, and then there’s what happens in this movie. In this cult classic, a high school prom is ruined by a masked serial killer who picks off the students one by one. Said killer is Alex Hammond, a man driven by vengeance after witnessing his sister’s death as a young child. Her demise was caused by a number of cruel children, whose torment directly led to Alex’s sister falling out of a window. The kids are now grown up, and Alex is having his revenge. His quest for retribution against those responsible showcases how grief can manifest into a destructive force, making us question whether Alex is truly malevolent or just deeply wounded.

#18: Victor Crowley

“Hatchet” (2006)
Kane Hodder is a horror legend, having played Jason Voorhees in a number of “Friday the 13th” films. In 2006 he picked up another bladed weapon, this time as the malicious Victor Crowley. And poor Victor has quite the tragic backstory. Born severely deformed, Victor was hidden away by his father, who feared how the outside world would react to his son’s appearance. He was right to be scared, as young Victor soon became the victim of local teens who threw firecrackers into his house. It was in this fire that Victor was accidentally killed by his own father. Now resurrected as a vengeful spirit, Victor hunts anyone who ventures into his swamp. Some people just want to be left alone.

#17: The Xenomorph Queen

“Aliens” (1986)
Many of James Cameron’s films are centered around mothers, and “Aliens” is no different. This is a movie about motherhood wrapped in a sci-fi veneer, with both Ripley and the Xenomorph Queen serving as loving and protective parents. While the Queen is responsible for countless deaths, her motivation is relatable on a purely primal level. The Queen acts out of instinctual necessity rather than malice, being nothing but a mother who is fiercely protective of her offspring. She’s simply following the same fundamental drive most species have to ensure the survival of their own children. Unfortunately, these children just happen to be murderous aliens hungry for human flesh.

#16: Billy Loomis

“Scream” (1996)
There are supernatural slashers who kill just for the sake of it, and then there are human slashers with grounded motivations for their violence. Billy Loomis belongs in the latter category. Billy’s murder spree seems like classic slasher fare until we learn about his serious mommy issues. Billy’s father had an affair with Sidney’s mother, and his mom subsequently abandoned the family. Young Billy was permanently scarred by these revelations, resulting in a warped sense of revenge against Woodsboro and Sidney. In fact, Billy is his own therapist, blaming his “deviant behavior” on “maternal abandonment.” He is almost sympathetically childish, a young man who is acting out because everything he knew fell apart.

#15: Sweeney Todd

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (2007)
Now that we think about it, a lot of killers are motivated by revenge, aren’t they? Sweeney Todd is a vengeful barber who secretly terrorizes London, slicing up his customers and turning their bodies into meat pies. So, uh, yeah, that’s not cool. However, Todd has a tragic backstory, as he was betrayed by corrupt authorities and stripped of all that he loved. Judge Turpin exiled Todd, then known as Benjamin Barker, and took his wife as his own while raising their infant daughter as a ward. While no amount of blood can bring back what was lost, Barker’s transformation into The Demon Barber underscores how desire for revenge can consume even the most righteous among us.

#14: Chef Slowik

“The Menu” (2022)
Ralph Fiennes knows how to play villains, and he can proudly add Chef Slowik to the long list. Inviting a number of high profile guests to his exclusive restaurant, Slowik takes them on an unforgettable culinary experience. Only, this dinner doubles as punishment for their wonton elitism. Slowik takes playful revenge on those who have seemingly wronged him and made him lose passion in the thing that he loves. When one guest compliments his simple cheeseburger, his eyes practically glisten with tears. It’s a reminder of the spirit he once had for cooking – a spirit that has been slowly eroded by those who take advantage of his talent and manipulate it for their own personal status.

#13: Asami Yamazaki

“Audition” (1999)
This famous piece of J-horror is widely known for its grotesque climax, in which young Asami gleefully torments a number of people. She first appears as an innocent love interest, meeting the grieving Shigeharu and posing as his new partner. But before long, she reveals her sadistic nature. Having been abused by her own stepfather, she targets men she feels have taken advantage of her. The torment she inflicts on others is nothing but a deeply-seated desire for revenge against the opposite gender. Asami paints an unsettling portrait of someone molded by abuse seeking agency through her own methods, however disturbing and immoral they may be.

#12: Sam

“Trick ‘r Treat” (2007)
This little known but widely praised film is an anthology that follows an adorable little demon named Sam. This pint-sized trick-or-treater has a serious grudge against those who break Halloween traditions. However, his main target is Mr. Kreeg, a bus driver who was bribed by local parents to dispose of their unwanted children. Targeting a man who attempted to kill eight kids will not make you many enemies, even if his method of justice is rather unorthodox. And while Sam spares Kreeg, the driver is eventually killed by the undead children who arrive at his doorstep. We suspect Sam probably had something to do with that…

#11: Eli

“Let the Right One In” (2008)
We all need to eat. Unfortunately, some people are vampires, and they need to eat humans. That’s the case with Eli, a young blood drinker who befriends a lonely boy named Oskar. Eli is an ancient vampire who uses a provider named Håkan to kill their victims. They then drink the blood that Håkan collects, being unable to survive on any other sustenance. Eli’s actions are driven by pure survival instinct rather than malice, and they seem unwilling to murder innocent people, often using Håkan – and later Oskar – to do the dirty work for them. It’s a rotten hand to be dealt, and Eli is doing the best with what they’ve been given.

#10: Pamela Voorhees

“Friday the 13th” (1980)
As Casey tragically discovered in “Scream,” it was Pamela Voorhees committing the murders in the first “Friday the 13th,” not her psychotic son Jason. And she has a much more understandable reason to be doing so. Back in the late 50s, her son Jason supposedly drowned in the lake because all the camp counselors were busy getting freaky. You know, as horror movie teenagers always are. She murdered the two counselors she believed responsible, and later kills the batch of newcomers because she doesn’t want another tragedy to befall someone else’s child. So, she directly causes more tragedy and kills other people’s children. Her logic is a little out of whack on that one, but everyone processes grief differently.

#9: Samara

“The Ring” (2002)
Based on Sadako from the original Japanese film, Samara has one of the most tragic backstories in horror history. Her biological mother attempted to drown her in a fountain, she was ostracized by her community, and when she caused her adoptive mother to go insane, she was suffocated with a garbage bag and thrown down a well. She then died of hypothermia and starvation after seven days. She then created the videotape both to exact vengeance on the world, which she sees as heartless, and to share her tragic story. It’s a win-win for her. Not so much her victims, though.

#8: The Ghosts

“Poltergeist” (1982)
The ghosts in “Poltergeist” aren’t messing around. Sure, they start rather small by bending silverware and stacking furniture, but before long, they’re kidnapping young Carol Anne. However, we later learn that most of these ghosts are merely lost and confused souls that are attracted to the comfort and warmth that is Carol Anne’s life force. We also learn that there is a head honcho ghost called the Beast manipulating all the spirits around him, most of whom just want to move on in peace. Now, just imagine being a confused spirit, clearly dead but not knowing that you are. Wouldn’t you too be attracted to the so-called “Earthly pleasures” of Carol Anne’s life force?

#7: Gill-Man

“Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1941)
“Creature from the Black Lagoon” shares a lot in common with “King Kong,” and much like that classic film, the titular villain is rather sympathetic. He’s the last surviving member of an ancient race of creatures from the Devonian period, which certainly sounds lonely and terrible. And when his secluded home is intruded upon by outsiders, he goes to investigate the expedition’s camp, only to be attacked by scared and panicked research assistants. He kills them in a fit of rage and self-defense, and naturally begins to think that these intruders are violent and untrustworthy. Poor Gill-Man was just trying to live his best life, and these nosy scientists just had to go and ruin everything!

#6: Jigsaw

“Saw” franchise (2004-)
The Jigsaw Killer is a complete psychopath, no doubt about that. But unlike a lot of fictional serial killers, he actually has a motive. Back when he was just a civil engineer named John Kramer, he learned that he had an inoperable brain tumor and attempted suicide to spare himself the agony. Upon surviving, John discovered a newfound love for life and attempted to, um, “help” others who don’t appreciate their own. In John’s own words, “most people are so ungrateful to be alive.” Good intentions, dude, but that doesn’t mean you get to torture them with these absolutely insane traps and contraptions. You could have just, like, become a therapist or something.

#5: Red & the Tethered

“Us” (2019)
The Tethered are some of the creepiest villains thanks to their complete lack of humanity and emotion. As Red explains, this is because the Tethered are clones created by the government to “control” their real-world counterparts. However, the project was a failure and they were abandoned underground, mindlessly tethered to the surface world. Needless to say, they wanted their freedom. Red’s story is even more tragic, as we learn that Red is the real Adelaide, having been choked out and swapped with her Tethered as a child. Now just imagine being choked, kidnapped, taken from your parents at a young age, and forced to live underground with a bunch of freaky, mindless zombies. We think we would lose it, too.

#4: The Controllers

“The Cabin in the Woods” (2012)
“The Cabin in the Woods” is basically the horror movie version of that old moral thought experiment – do you intentionally divert a trolley and kill one person to save five others? That’s essentially the predicament that the controllers are put in. In order to appease the eldritch Ancient Ones and literally save the planet from total annihilation, they are forced to kill five people every year. Yeah, they kill these people in horrifically violent ways with zombies and serial killers and freaking mermaids or whatever, but really, it’s five people in exchange for billions. No one said being a cabin director was easy!

#3: The Candyman

“Candyman” (1992)
Despite his fun-sounding name, the Candyman is not sugary and sweet. In fact, he’s a vengeful and murderous figure of folklore who grotesquely disfigures his victims with a sharp metal hook. But once upon a time, the Candyman was simply a man trying to live his life. He was a famous portrait artist in the late 1800s, and he fell in love and fathered a child with a white woman. However, this resulted in a lynch mob cutting off his painting hand (hence the hook) and smearing him with honey, resulting in bees literally stinging him to death. He now haunts the location where his ashes were scattered, wreaking vengeance upon an area that wrongfully and unceremoniously caused his death.

#2: Angela Baker

“Sleepaway Camp” (1983)
In some ways a ripoff of “Friday the 13th,” “Sleepaway Camp” received harsh reviews upon release but is now famous for its twist ending. Angela Baker is revealed to actually be Peter Baker, who was presumed dead years ago. After being traumatized by the violent deaths of his father and sister, Peter was sent to live with his aunt, who desperately wanted a daughter and raised Peter as a girl. Angela is also frequently tormented at summer camp and even assaulted by the camp cook. The constant harassment mixed with existing trauma causes Angela to snap, and she eventually takes her frustrations out on the campers who wrong her. Yep, it’s another revenge story!

#1: The Monster

“Frankenstein” (1931)
Aside from maybe Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster is the paragon of horror movie villainy, and Boris Karloff’s made-up face is the very symbol of classic movie monsters. That said, he is arguably the most understandable and humane villain in movie history. It all begins when his frightened response to a torch is mistaken for aggression, and he is chained in a dungeon and tortured. After understandably disposing of his captors and escaping, he unintentionally murders a young girl while playing with her by a lake, resulting in the mob that eventually kills him. He’s a far more sympathetic figure than he was in the novel, and it makes us wonder – would all this have happened if the scientists simply treated him humanely?

Which character do you sympathize with the most? Let us know in the comments below!