10 Horror Movies With No Obvious Villain

WhatCulture

Head-scratching, but also fantastic.

Transcript

00:00While most films make it obvious who the villain is supposed to be, the distinction between who's

00:04good and who's evil isn't always made clear to viewers. Rather than being cut-and-dry tales of

00:08good versus evil, certain films, like those we're covering today, tend to be more nuanced in their

00:13terror. So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are

00:1610 Horror Movies With No Obvious Villain. 10. Devil

00:21Claustrophobic thriller Devil is the perfect premise for a whodunit-style horror where

00:26anybody could be the killer. This flick sees a group of strangers find themselves trapped

00:30together when the lift that they're in mysteriously breaks down. Now, being stuck in a lift is enough

00:34to ruin anybody's day, but things are made a lot worse when one of these strangers is the literal

00:38devil. Whenever the lights go out, one of the trapped is killed. Meanwhile, a small team of

00:43security guards and investigating police officers work together to try and figure out what's going

00:46on and discover who the killer is before everybody is killed. It's a race against the clock to find

00:51answers while the bodies start piling up. Executed with an endearing B-movie charm that has all the

00:56idiosyncrasies M. Night Shyamalan is famous for, there are enough red herrings thrown in throughout

01:00its snappy 80-minute runtime to keep viewers second-guessing themselves to who the devil in

01:04disguise is. And coming from the mind of Shyamalan, nobody will see the reveal coming when it's time

01:09to unmask the true villain. 9. Bug

01:12An underrated psychological horror helmed by The Exorcist's William Friedkin, Bug is one flick that

01:18will definitely get under your skin. The film centers around alcoholic waitress Agnes, who's been left

01:23reeling from the death of her son and an escape from an abusive relationship. One day, she's

01:27introduced to Peter, an ex-soldier, and the pair strike up a close relationship. However, events

01:31take an insane turn when Peter confesses that he believes the government has infected him with

01:36microscopic bugs, and despite Agnes being understandably skeptical to the claim, she soon

01:40becomes swept up in the conspiracy. The pair shut themselves away in Agnes' motel room and cover the

01:45wall in tinfoil. As their speculation grows increasingly outlandish, their behavior likewise becomes more

01:50extreme until the tension explodes into a violent finale. No matter how ridiculous Peter's claims

01:55may seem, the script leaves a tiny shred of doubt that he could be telling the truth. This ambiguity

02:00is only reinforced further in the closing shots, which suggests that everything may have actually

02:04been one big delusion. While Peter is the instigator of the carnage, he's simply just another victim to

02:09his own probable paranoia and mental illness. 8. Raw

02:13Before shocking audiences with car-based body horror titan, French filmmaker Julien Duconu,

02:19traumatized moviegoers with cannibal coming-of-age film Raw. Focusing on a vegetarian

02:24veterinary student, Justine, who also makes a cameo appearance in Titan, Raw sees her life

02:28descend into bloody carnage when, at a hazing ritual, she's forced to eat raw meat. Doing so,

02:33however, awakens an uncontrollable desire in her to consume more meat. It doesn't take long for this

02:38new craving to take a sinister turn. With no way to quell her newfound hunger, Justine finds herself

02:43drawn to human flesh. Though Justine is seen committing stomach-churning acts of gratuity,

02:48with eating her sister's severed fingers being one of the most unpleasant scenes to endure ever,

02:52she's never actually framed as a villainous character. Unlike other on-screen cannibals,

02:56she's much more of a sympathetic character. College is a whole new situation for her in

03:00which she's experiencing many things for the first time, and in discovering her new pleasures,

03:04these manifest symbolically through her devious appetites. Raw is a fierce feminist horror film

03:09that's about a young woman coming to terms with and learning to control her urge for pleasure.

03:137. Relic

03:15In a similar vein to how the titular monster of the Babadook was a manifestation of an

03:20exhausted mother's grief, under-seen Aussie horror gem Relic uses the horror genre to explore

03:25abstract concepts to heartbreaking effect. After receiving word that her elderly mother Edna has

03:30gone missing, Kay, alongside her own daughter Sam, rushed to her tired-looking country home. But when

03:35Edna mysteriously reappears with no memory of what happened, events take a rather malevolent turn.

03:39Edna's erratic behavior grows increasingly dangerous while the house itself begins to shift

03:44into a labyrinth of molded corridors and dead ends. Anyone going into this film without knowing

03:48what it was about would assume they're in for a creepy supernatural affair in which the house and

03:52its aged owner have become possessed by an evil entity. However, it soon becomes apparent that the

03:56affliction haunting this family isn't supernatural at all. Edna has Alzheimer's disease. She's unable to

04:01recognize her own family, which is as terrifying for them as it is for her. The instant viewers

04:06realize this, Edna is no longer the threat that she once was. As the final heart-aching shot

04:10highlights, she's a vulnerable woman terrified of losing her family.

04:146. Bodies, Bodies, Bodies

04:16Part devilish horror comedy, part taught-whodunit-style thriller, this feature debut sees a

04:22group of wealthy twenty-somethings get together for a hurricane party at one of their parents'

04:27house. To take the festivities up a notch, they decide to play the titular party game.

04:30The rules are simple. Whoever gets a piece of paper with the X on it is the killer,

04:34with it being down to the others to try and figure out who they are. However,

04:37the game becomes real when the players start to turn up dead. With tensions running high

04:41between the group, uncertainty about newcomer B, and talk about another party-goer who nobody's

04:46seen since the night before, anybody could be the killer. As the numbers begin to dwindle,

04:50the paranoia amongst the survivors only escalates. Like John Carpenter's The Thing,

04:54part of the horror comes from second-guessing every character. Unlike that genre-defining classic,

04:59though, there's an extra twist here in this flick that reframes the nerve-shredding

05:02murder mystery in a hilariously new light. Without spoiling the surprise, the finale

05:06of Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is the perfect punchline to a film that revels in satirizing the social

05:11media generation.

05:125. Midsummer

05:14After losing her family in a horrific tragedy, Dani is invited to the Swedish countryside to

05:19witness a rural community's Midsummer festivities alongside her boyfriend Christian and his group

05:23of friends, who also aim to study their traditions. While the idyllic summer setting initially promises

05:28a welcoming environment, events soon take a dark turn when the group witnesses the cult's brutal

05:32rituals before they find themselves at the center of this escalating horror. While it's easy to label

05:37the cult as the obvious villains here for the murderous actions they commit, writer-director

05:41Ariaster's Midsummer is much more nuanced than its Wicker Man premise suggests. As cruel as the cult

05:46appear to be, they're never as cold or as heartless as Christian. His strained relationship with Dani is

05:50the center of most of the conflict, and the core of Dani's character art throughout much of her ordeal.

05:55Whereas Christian is constantly neglectful and antagonistic towards her, the cult actually

05:59welcomes her with open arms and give her the much-needed empathy and emotional support she

06:03needs. It's only through this newfound acceptance that Dani has the strength to break up with

06:07Christian during the film's finale, even if it is in the most extreme way.

06:114. The Lighthouse

06:13After terrifying moviegoers with his feature debut, The Witch, writer-director Robert Eggers

06:18shifted his attention from the forest in 17th-century New England to a desolate 19th-century

06:22lighthouse for The Lighthouse. Whereas The Witch's themes of religious superstition and

06:26paranoia were manifested in the form of the titular witch, The Lighthouse has no such physical

06:30villain. The film follows newly employed lighthouse keeper Winslow, as he takes a job at a run-down

06:35lighthouse on a barren island under the supervision of veteran sailor Wake. The pair's relationship

06:40soon becomes strained thanks to a combination of Wake's cruelty and the poor working conditions.

06:44And when a storm rolls in and strands them on the island, it doesn't take long for alcohol-induced

06:48chaos to break loose. With both men driven to the brink of madness, all sense of time and reality

06:53hit breaking point by the time the events reach their climax. It becomes impossible to tell if

06:58the men have simply lost their minds or if something more supernatural is underfoot. Perhaps

07:01the light which Wake forbids Winslow to see really does have otherworldly properties. Or maybe it was

07:06Winslow's disregard for the maritime superstition that doomed them both.

07:103. Pulse

07:12Kyoshi Kurosawa's haunting ghost story, Pulse, remains a chilling meditation on online culture

07:17over two decades after its release. When spirits start to use the internet as a gateway into the

07:22world of the living, people begin to mysteriously vanish while forbidden rooms start to crop up

07:26around Tokyo. Sealed with red tape, these rooms are said to be where the ghosts can be found.

07:30Anyone who encounters one of these spirits becomes overwhelmed with an immense sense of loneliness

07:34until they disappear, leaving only a shadow of themselves behind. While they don't appear often,

07:39the ghosts are immensely unsettling presences whenever they show up. Anyone familiar with

07:43the spine-chillin' forbidden room scene will know how creepy Pulse can be. Other J-horror ghosts from

07:48The Ring or The Grudge, those in Pulse, aren't inherently evil. Rather, they're simply immeasurably

07:53lonely and lacking in any sense of purpose. This feeling of sadness is what haunts the streets of

07:57Tokyo as it slowly turns the bustling city into a literal ghost town. The eerie atmosphere and

08:02deliberate slow pace only heighten the ominous sense of dread as Kurosawa weaves a poignant

08:07meditation of the internet and society much more chilling than any traditional ghost story.

08:122. Let the Right One In

08:14Vampires are one of the most iconic movie monsters to have graced our screens. From the likes of

08:20Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee's legendary performances in classic monster movies to cult

08:24classics like Daughters of the Darkness or From Dusk Till Dawn, these blood-sucking terrors of the night

08:28are instantly recognisable horror villains. But not all vampires are as obviously evil as Dracula,

08:33and for proof of that, look no further than adored Swedish horror, let the right one in.

08:38Based on the novel of the same name, the film centres around a timid 12-year-old boy named

08:42Oscar, who fantasises about enacting revenge on his high school bullies. But his life changes when

08:46he meets his mysterious next-door neighbour and the pair spark up a close relationship.

08:50Now, despite her murderous antics to quench her thirst for blood, she is Oscar's only source of

08:55support. She teaches him to stand up for himself and, in one gruesome scene, dispatches his bullies.

09:00But Oscar is no angel either. He expresses a desire to kill from the very start and ultimately

09:04gives in to his violent cravings with some encouragement from his neighbour. In short,

09:09this is a love story that is as beautiful as it is bleak.

09:121. Lake Mungo

09:14Presented as an intimate documentary, writer-director Joel Anderson's Lake Mungo

09:18sees the Palmer family talking about the death of their 16-year-old daughter, Alice,

09:22who drowned near the family home. They express the immense grief they feel about her loss alongside

09:26the difficult memories of the tragedy and discovery of her corpse. However, the sombre events then take

09:31a more supernatural turn when Alice's brother Matthew discovers what he believes to be apparitions

09:36of Alice within the video footage. From here, Lake Mungo delves deeper into its themes of loss

09:40as the family members ponder on Alice's ghostly presence and what it could mean. To them, there's

09:45nothing malicious about this haunting. Rather, it's just a profoundly personal experience. But there's

09:49something far more unnerving lurking just below the surface of this Aussie mockumentary horror.

09:54Astonishing twists that will not be spoiled here reveal a darker secret behind the teenager's

09:58death. And these shocking revelations tap into a chilling existential dread that serves to make

10:03the tragic circumstances all the more harrowing. With no real antagonist presence to speak of,

10:07Lake Mungo's horror is rooted in its existential terror and poignant explorations of grief.

10:13And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 horror movies with no obvious villain. I hope that you

10:17enjoyed that and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section

10:20below. As always, I've been Jules. You can go follow me over on Instagram at RetroJay,

10:23but the O is a zero. Hope to see you over there and you can check out all the Warhammer

10:27miniatures that I've been painting. Yes, I'm a nerd. But before I go, I just want to say one thing.

10:31Today, we spoke about horror movies with no obvious villain. And you know what, my friends?

10:34You listening to this video, you're not a villain either, so stop beating yourself up for mistakes

10:39that you've made in the past. Nobody is perfect and you deserve to live a healthy and happy life.

10:43I know you're a good person and I want nothing but the best for you. I want you to go out there

10:46and achieve happiness, love and success because you deserve those things and do not let anything

10:51or anyone else tell you otherwise, all right? You're a massive ledge. Now go out there and smash

10:55it today. I believe in you. As always, I've been Jules. You have been awesome.

10:58Never forget that. And I'll speak to you soon.

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