Dr. DVD

Let me say from the start that I would like to limit this to horror/splatter movies that people really only watch for the death scenes and typically don't give a shit about the characters involved. Basically, about 95% of the horror movies made. (Basically, you can talk about anything but Jaws).

It seems that while almost all characters who meet with some horrendous fate are mostly annoying to the point where you're rooting for the bad guy, they do attempt at some times to humanize the victim beforehand. This doesn't necessarily make you wish the victim live, but kind of makes you feel like a heel for watching their misfortune.

My picks right now:

Urban Legends-Tara Reid is and always shall be annoying, and her character here was no exception. But when she is helpless before the killer and then mutters: "I don't want to die," it does make you feel a bit.

Urban Legends 2 (I know, looks like a pattern)- young girl is placed in a bathtub of ice and has apparently had here kidneys removed. Brief moment where she reaches back to check if this has happened to her, and when she realizes it has, she doesn't freak, but just looks like she's ready to cry. She's screwed no matter what happens, and for a brief moment she seems like more than just a victim.

Human Centipede- one girl cries "I want my mom!" before the doctor sedates her. The other that attempts to escape actually confesses she would rather drown than be transformed in the experiment. These girls are annoying for the most part, but this does make their fate more tragic.

Groucho

One of the most extreme examples of this would be The Devil's Rejects.

Dr. DVD

That is an interesting one. They humanize the Rejects victims, then they turn tables at the end and attempt to actually humanize the bad guys in some way. The bit with Baby running from a crazed psycho at the end was a great role reversal.

Groucho

I was thinking about this very subject recently while re-watching the original Friday the 13th movies. In the first two entries, the victims are very sympathetic. But as the series goes on, the victims become more and more one-dimensional and annoying -- the trend seems to have started in the mid-80's or so.

That's one cool thing about The House of the Devil. As part of it's retro feel, they also brought back the notion of a likable heroine.

Solid Snake

Yeah....fucking great film.

DthRdrX

Poor Guy ... I felt even worse when I learned the actor, Tom McBride, died of AIDs.

Dr Mabuse

That scene in Zombie's 'Halloween' where Danielle Harris is laying on the floor was pretty disturbing stuff. When Brad Dourif showed up even more so.

Carpenter's film is superior of course, but none of the attacks were as disturbing as that one.

Hokeyboy

I always felt bad for that first kid who got butchered to death in Hostel.

And though not a horror movie, the guy who picked up a hitchhiking Charlize Theron in Monster. Yikes.

Kurt D

^ which somehow makes me think of the family Henry and Ottis murdered on video in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

cactusoly

Are we are in Bizzarro world? Did I just read some positive comments about Rob Zombie's Halloween?

Mabuse

What's the workprint exactly?

Supermallet

I always felt terrible for the dad in Hellraiser. He was just trying to save his marriage and he got skinned for it.