10 Ways That Horror Movie Villains Make Committing Murder Unnecessarily Difficult

Horror movie fans recently learned of the announcement for Saw 10 due for a 2023 release, which will continue the grisly killings by the Jigsaw Killer. While Saw has a number of deaths, a lot of these were delayed due to Jigsaw’s tactics. There are other killers that have been guilty of the same actions that have denied them the kills they’ve sought.

These range from slasher villains like Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees, to supernatural antagonists such as It’s Pennywise. Horror movie killers have indulged in methods that have been counterproductive to their need to kill, with some intended victims even managing to flee to safety. It’s interesting to see how certain traits and attitudes unite so many villains.

10/10 Wearing Masks That Obstruct Their Vision

Fans have generally come up with memes that sum up horror movie tropes, which include referencing villains’ tendencies to wear masks. While it does look cool for an antagonist to wear these, the masks end up becoming a hindrance more often than not.

In fact, You’re Next saw the protagonist bank on the villains’ masks obstructing their vision and laying traps for them that ultimately killed the baddies. Films such as Friday the 13th and Scream have also had various moments where victims attack the villains’ masks to impair their vision and flee.

9/10 Hunting Victims In The Dark

Horror movies derive fear from the audience primarily using the cloak of darkness. This is effective in terms of the viewing experience but isn’t nearly as effective as it would be to hunt victims during daylight. Targets usually tend to flee into the night to evade their pursuers, who need to locate them.

Villains like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers do their best work in secluded areas, which means they can hunt during the day since the chances of being spotted by onlookers are minimal. Instead, they choose nighttime and end up spending a lot of time navigating the darkened outdoors.

8/10 Donning Clothing They Can Easily Trip Over

Scream films rarely ever feature kills made with finesse, with Ghostface having to kick and stumble around before they can slay their target. Ghostface’s failing comes from wearing a cloak that can easily be stepped on and tripped over, which has happened numerous times.

Most horror movie killers tend to needlessly wear clothing that can act as baggage, such as Jason Voorhees wearing layered clothing that only adds weight to his apparel and slows down his running. It seems that horror antagonists prefer aesthetic appeal over practicality in this regard.

7/10 Using Impractical Weapons

The ultimate intention of horror movie killers is to dole out victims’ deaths, yet they use weapons that don’t act as the quickest method to do so. Slasher movie villains stick to knives as their weapon of choice, which makes things messy and doesn’t ensure a quick demise.

Protagonists tend to get hit on occasion but managed to survive because the weapons used against them didn’t get the job done. It’s the reason why the heroes that go up against Jason, Freddie, Michael Myers, and more live to tell the tale since things like knives and cleavers don’t have the instant firepower as a gun would.

6/10 Letting The Victims Become Aware Of Their Presence

Nobody gives away the location of horror movie villains better than the villains themselves, who have the habit of taunting their targets. It’s basically redundant to tell a person an antagonist plans to kill that they’re about to do just that since it prolongs the effort and removes the element of surprise.

Films like Child’s Play and Scream have had the killers outright tell their targets where they are, which has prompted the protagonists to escape death right in the nick of time. The point of letting their presence known might be part of what satisfies these killers, but it negatively affects their intended outcome.

5/10 Confidently Revealing Their Evil Plans

Just about all Child’s Play and Scream movies have ended with the villain’s defeat after the heroes understand what their plan is. This is mainly possible because the baddies outright reveal what they have in mind, which gives the heroes the idea of how to foil this plot.

Since the killers’ plan of ending their target, it’s nonsensical of them to delay it by telling the person a plan they shouldn’t be knowing. Even the supernatural being Pennywise let the children he was targeting know he preyed on their fears, which inevitably meant they avoided being eaten and turned the tables on him instead.

4/10 Not Fleeing When It’s Most Prudent To Do So

There are times when an antagonist needs to delay their attempt at a kill because their path has been hindered. Rather than retreat to strike again, the villains do the opposite and get themselves defeated with no way of completing the kill at all.

In It Chapter Two, when Pennywise realized he was outmatched by the protagonists’ united front against him, he simply tried half-hearted attacks rather than escape to replenish his health. In Saw 3D, Mark Hoffman kept meandering about the city even after his cover was blown and ended up captured by Dr. Gordon when he took too long to skip town.

3/10 Turning On Their Own Co-Conspirators

Films like Saw, Scream, and Child’s Play have had villains team up with other people for the common goal of slaying the protagonists. However, these characters end up forgetting who they’re supposed to be killing and tend to betray each other instead.

Scream saw the main two villains waste time throwing accusations and doing a terrible job at stabbing one another to stage the event, which gave Sidney time to flee. Saw showed Mark Hoffman and Amanda Young conspire against the other, ultimately leading to both characters’ demise and the end of Jigsaw’s games.

2/10 Not Bothering To Dispose Of The Bodies That Expose Their Existence

Even the most depraved villains in horror movie history tend to be messy individuals who don’t bother cleaning up after a kill. This has the effect of delaying their spree since the discovery of the bodies ends up alerting everyone else, forcing the villains to sneak around and limit their killing potential.

Jigsaw in Saw was a notorious example, as he kidnapped people discreetly but the bodies left behind attracted the authorities and a subsequent manhunt forced the villain into hiding. Child’s Play’s Chucky gives himself away by being in proximity to his target’s bodies, which makes people around them curious if there really is a killer doll out there.

1/10 Engaging In Pointless Cat-And-Mouse Games With Victims

There’s no doubt that the biggest reason for the delay in the killing of targets comes from the villains’ knack for the cat-and-mouse game. This has them prey on their intended victim, giving away positions of advantage just to mess with the person they want to kill.

Everyone from Freddy Krueger, Ghostface, Jigsaw, Jason, Chucky, It, and many more have been guilty of this. Where slashers like Jason might make their victims run around a forest while he’s in pursuit, psychological villains such as Jigsaw will mess with their target’s minds to see how they react. The problem with this is that, in addition to delaying the kill, certain victims manage to escape.

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