“House of the Devil” is widely regarded as the first horror movie ever made. In a handful of minutes, the devil conjures a woman from a cauldron and tortures two noblemen with bats, witches, and disappearing furniture, only to be brought down by that old ace in the hole, a giant crucifix.
In the years since, horror villains have evolved alongside our collective fears and desires, proving that what we repress returns to haunt and hunt us.
Aries essayist and villain apologist Agnes Repplier had a recipe for a baddy, “A villain must be a thing of power, handled with delicacy and grace.
He must be wicked enough to excite our aversion, strong enough to arouse our fear, human enough to awaken some transient gleam of sympathy.
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