Top 20 Times The Crazy Guy Was Right in Horror Movies

“The Omen” (1976)
No child is perfect, but hearing that your son is the literal antichrist is a tough report card to hear. Given the circumstances though, it’s safe to say that Father Brennan was onto something. After bringing Damien into this world, the priest’s quest for repentance leads him to deliver a chilling warning to the Thorn family - forsake their son, or they’ll be placed into eternal timeout. Unfortunately, it’s hard to take parenting advice from a stranger, especially a stranger like this. Brennan’s crusade only leaves him shish-kebabbed. Ultimately, his warning was too little, too late.

“Urban Legend” (1998)
A rainy night, a girl driving alone, and an awkward gas station attendant - sounds like the start of its own folktale, right? But, in this case, the danger was lurking in the backseat instead of by the gas pump. When McDonnell struggles to find the words to warn her of the unwanted passenger, she mistakes him as the threat and drives off. Hauntingly, he musters his voice mere moments too late, and can only cry into the unforgiving storm as she unwittingly endangers herself. No good deed goes unpunished, and despite his best intentions, McDonnell ended up with pepper spray to the face and a gallon of survivor's guilt.

“The Happening” (2008)
Gardening is supposed to be relaxing, so when fatalities spread across the nation, not many green-thumbs point blame at their shrubbery. But, in classic M. Night Shyamalan fashion, the root of the problem was the actual roots themselves. However, a certain nursery owner actually spoils the director’s trademark twist near the very start of the movie. Of course, at the time, it’s hard to take the word of this plant-whisperer seriously since he talks to his greenery and seems a few leaves short of a full bush. But, apparently all that speaking to vegetation paid off with a special kind of “sixth sense.”

“Frailty” (2001)
At first, the patriarch of the Meiks household just seems like a religious fanatic turned serial killer. He tells his sons Fenton and Adam that he’s been tasked by God to destroy demons disguised as humans. But then comes the twist ending, which confirms that the victims were genuinely inhuman after all. It may not look like it as he teaches his sons to become murderers, but Dad Meiks was actually a righteous man. He was probably never a candidate for Father of the Year, but no one can say he ever shirked his work.

“Carrie” (1976)
Apparently, Mother really does know best. Well, at least, about some things. Carrie’s mom Margaret is a cruel and abusive religious fanatic. Her beliefs about the sinfulness of natural biological processes are way off base. It could be argued that her treatment of Carrie helps turn her daughter into the murderous monster that she becomes. But she was right about a few things. One was that going to Prom was a bad idea. The other was that Carrie’s telekinetic powers were hella scary. Margaret may still be a villain, but as Carrie’s rampage proves, she was right to be fearful.

“Oculus” (2013)
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the most insane of all? Well, admittedly, heroine Kaylie’s obsession with an antique mirror is… unusual. But she has a good reason. When she and her brother Tim were children, the mirror induced hallucinations, leading to the deaths of their parents. Tim took the blame, and years later, isn’t convinced by Kaylie’s theories. Just when her self-confidence is about to shatter, the mirror finally shows its true nature. Validated, Kaylie’s exclamation is downright cathartic.

“Child’s Play” (2019)
It was certainly disturbing to see six-year old Andy wrongfully blamed for Chucky’s murders in the original 1988 film. But it’s arguably even worse in the remake, where Andy is aged up. As a 12 year old, he should have been taken more seriously when he started accusing Chucky of diabolical acts. Yet his warnings are completely dismissed and he becomes the prime suspect. As Chucky himself proves, being small doesn’t mean that you should be taken lightly. The truth eventually comes out, but only when Buddi dolls terrorize an entire mall.

“Jeepers Creepers” (2001)
Every 23rd spring, for 23 days, this titular monster wakes up and gets to sniffing. Local psychic Jezelle Gay Hartman is onto his tricks, but at first, her message just leaves siblings Trish and Darry confused and terrified. Admittedly, she could probably work on how she presents the information. To her credit, she ends up tracking them down personally to make them heed her warning. By then, though, they’d already had more than a few run-ins with the unkillable Creeper, which eventually succeeds in kidnapping Darry.

“Evil Dead” (2013)
The characters in this cabin in the woods movie thought they had every reason to ignore Mia’s warnings … at least at first. You see, she was experiencing withdrawal symptoms from her heroin use. But it soon becomes apparent that the stench of decay she described had a real cause - animal corpses in the basement. And after Eric reads an incantation from a foreboding book, well, maybe they should have been more receptive to her pleas. At the least, her sheer terror warranted a change of location. Honestly, after how her friends treated her, it’s hard not to feel a little vindicated when Mia goes full-Necronomicon on them.

“10 Cloverfield Lane” (2016)
Unlike the first “Cloverfield,” this sequel derives much of its tension from brilliant character work. Rather than a violent and destructive alien attack, this movie quietly focuses on the drama between “normal” people Michelle and Emmett and the “crazy” survivalist Howard. While Howard claims that he is keeping the two safe from the toxic outside air and dangerous alien creatures, Michelle and Emmett suspect that he’s just a cuckoo psycho imprisoning them for his own amusement. Emmett saw a bright red flash in the distance before entering the bunker, but nothing concrete. It’s not until Michelle kills Howard and escapes the bunker that she learns the devastating truth – the aliens are in fact real, and they are very, very dangerous.

“Scream” (1996)
“Scream” is very satirical and meta, so much so that it repeatedly comments on its own clichéd plot. This most often takes the form of Randy, the wacky movie nerd who knows all the tropes of the horror genre. No, he’s not crazy in the traditional sense, but he is often treated as the weird outsider. Randy has a lot of theories – he immediately points the finger at Stu, and in the video store he blames Billy, states that Sid’s dad is a red herring, and predicts that Billy’s motive is simple and easy to understand. Turns out, he is correct on all fronts! Both Stu and Billy were the killers, Sid’s dad WAS a red herring, and Billy’s motivation was simple: old fashioned revenge and jealousy.

“Tremors” (1990)
Burt Gummer is a pure survivalist stereotype: he’s firmly anti-government, he’s concerned about some type of impending, cataclysmic World War III, and he owns a bunker stocked to the gills with provisions, food, weapons, and ammunition. The people of Perfection treat him like the resident nutcase…that is, until the graboids come a-callin’. Suddenly Burt is everyone’s best friend, as he’s the one with the weapons and homemade bombs necessary to stop the (sure enough) cataclysmic invasion of the graboids. Maybe it’s not quite World War III, seeing as how the problem is isolated to Perfection, but it certainly feels like it to the citizens of the town!

“Final Destination” franchise (2000-)
How much faith do you put in dreams and so-called precognition? Maybe you believe in it, maybe you don’t. That’s the question that kickstarts the plot of every “Final Destination.” For instance, in the first one, high school student Alex has a premonition that the plane he and his classmates will be flying in will blow up, and when he attempts to save everyone, he causes quite the commotion. Sure enough, the plane explodes shortly after takeoff. As if that’s not enough, he later tries to convince everyone that they cheated Death and that it will claim them in the order they were meant to die on the plane. Ms. Lewton doesn’t believe him. And sure enough, she is quickly skewered. Needless to say, everyone believes him after that.

“The Invisible Man” (2020)
After escaping from an abusive relationship, Cecilia struggles with trauma, still feeling like her ex is close by. It turns out that her suspicions are far more than paranoia. There really is someone stalking her, sabotaging her life and making it seem like she’s lost the plot. His torment eventually succeeds in convincing everyone that Cecilia is violent and dangerous - and even that she’s killed her own sister! It’s a chilling portrayal of domestic violence and gaslighting. Thankfully, Cecilia sticks to her guns, and is eventually vindicated.

“Halloween” (2018)
2018’s “Halloween” took a surprisingly honest look into how a traumatic experience can permanently affect someone’s life and mental well-being. Forty years after the events of the first movie, Laurie is feeling the consequences of her past: she is a recluse who has PTSD and is entirely devoted to defending herself and her family from another possible attack. Of course, this causes an enormous strain on her personal relationships, and she is ostracized from her family as a result. Everyone urges Laurie to seek help and move on because there’s no way Michael will return. That is until Michael returns and kills countless people. And who’s there to protect her family? None other than crazy ol’ Laurie Strode.

“Friday the 13th” (1980)
The “crazy guy in some backwoods location warning the protagonist about a killer” is an old horror movie trope. But it’s perhaps best embodied in the first “Friday the 13th” by the aptly named Crazy Ralph. As you can probably tell by his loving nickname, Ralph is seen as mentally unstable by the citizens and tourists around Crystal Lake. He continuously warns people about the “curse” of Camp Crystal Lake, and they in turn ignore his so-called “drunken ramblings.” Well, Camp Crystal Lake isn’t “cursed” per se, but it is the home of a particularly violent and vengeful mother who isn’t above burying axes in people’s faces. Just think of all the lives he could have saved had anyone bothered to listen!

“Rosemary’s Baby” (1968)
Rosemary’s instincts about her neighbors are spot on. Only, things are even worse than she fears. They’re not just meddlesome, they’re part of a Satanic cult that includes her husband. Together, they plan to have her bear the devil’s son. Her moments of distrust are completely warranted, but she’s surrounded by people telling her that she’s rude and delusional. Of course, that’s because they’re all in on it. By the end, they’ve succeeded in isolating her, leaving her with no one to turn to when her worst fears are realized.

“Get Out” (2018)
“Get Out” is another highly intelligent horror movie that knows the tropes, its audience, and their expectations. And so we got Rod, who represents not one but two horror trope categories: a comical Black man. This is essentially a death sentence in horror movies, as people well-versed in the genre will tell you that both Black and funny characters NEVER make it to the end. Well, not only does Rod make it to the end, but he also ends up saving the day thanks to some well-placed suspicion and diligent research. But this only comes after he was literally laughed at for his theory that the Armitage family were kidnapping and brainwashing black people to use as sex slaves. He wasn’t quite on the money, but he certainly got the gist of it!

“The Cabin in the Woods” (2012)
This is yet another brilliant subversion of expectations, as the funny stoner guy not only survives the whole ordeal (well, to a certain point anyway), but his weird ramblings actually turn out to be right. Right from the offset, Marty is logically paranoid and cautions the group against a lot of stupid things, like reading creepy Latin phrases out loud. He also finds surveillance equipment and correctly assumes that he’s on some sort of reality TV thing. Heck, he even discusses being controlled by mysterious “puppeteers.” As we later find out, he and the group ARE being manipulated by puppeteers in a control room. It all sounds like typical stoner paranoia, but in this case, the stoner has a point. Many points, in fact.

“Jaws” (1975)
One could certainly make an argument that all three protagonists of “Jaws” are seen as the “crazy” ones. Brody encounters many obstacles on his path to protect the citizens of Amity Island, including a wishy-washy coroner and a mayor hellbent on protecting the town’s economy above all else. No one seems to believe Brody or Hooper’s claims about an abnormally large great white shark (especially once a tiger shark is caught), and everyone actively ignores their warnings. And when it comes to hunting the shark, Quint gets no respect and is dismissed for asking for way too much money. It’s not until the fatal Fourth of July incident that the trio are FINALLY taken seriously.