Kids are creepy, especially in movies. They see stuff that isn’t there, say stuff that scares the crap out of their parents, and some of them (think Damien,The Omen) are just downright evil.The evil childhas become a movie trope in itself, discussed at length by film critics and horror fans alike; but in these discussions of creepy kids, teenagers often get left out.
Stuckbetween childhood and adulthood, teenagers aren’t quite either. They’re afraid, confused, and moody; and yes, some ofthemare terrifying, too — the characters below more than others.
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Carrie White (Carrie, 1976)
Everyone knows Carrie, and almost everyone is scared of her. The eponymous character ofStephen King’s debut novel, Carrie is a 16-year-old girl with a pitiful life: at home, she is abused by her pious mother and at school, she is bullied for being weird. But Carrie has the gift of telekinesis, and on prom night, she’ll make everyone regret how they treated her.
Each movie Carrie is scary in its own way, but Sissy Spacek inBrian De Palma’s 1976 adaptationtakes the cake. It’s hard not to think about the classic without conjuring the image of a blood-soaked Spacek staring into the abyss. The visual is haunting, and not only because it comes moments before the brutal massacre of her schoolmates. Her actions might not be justifiable, but they’re more understandable than some of the others on this list.
Billy Loomis and Stu Macher (Scream, 1996)
These two characters come as a pair,taking the identity of Ghostfacein Wes Craven’s iconic 90s slasherScream. Billy Loomis, played by Skeet Ulrich, is the protagonist Sidney’s (Neve Campbell) boyfriend, and Stu Macher, played by Matthew Lillard, is his best friend, whom he convinces to help him commit a killing spree in their town of Woodsboro. Billy’s motive? He states there is none, but he’s a horror fan with some maternal abandonment issues. And Stu’s motive? Fan theories say he loved Billy.
Billy and Stu are terrifying in different ways. Billy is a psychopathic liar who dates Sidney as part of his elaborate revenge scheme. He plays the part of a caring boyfriend while harboring the secret that he killed Sidney’s mother. And what’s worse, he has no remorse for it. Stu isn’t much better. He might seem like a bumbling idiot, buthe’s incredibly dangerous. He may even enjoy killing more than Billy, and he has no sob story to excuse that.
Brett (Eden Lake, 2008)
Brett is one teenager viewers wouldn’t want to cross in real life. Hailing from James Watkins’Eden Lake, he is a delinquent who, along with his gang, enjoys torturing an innocent couple (played by Kelly Reilly andMichael Fassbender) on their weekend getaway. First pulling pranks on them, his desire for trouble soon escalates to murder and a fight for survival for the lovebirds.
Eden Lakeis a trip everyone will want to forget — viewers included. In a word (or two), it’sdeeply unsettling, mostly thanks to Jack O’Connell’s performance as the unhinged ringleader. Brett is a psychopath with no loyalty to anyone but his dog; even his friends aren’t spared from his rage. But there’s also something quite tragic about his character. His father physically and verbally abuses him, and it’s clear his evil nature is the result of neglect.
Kevin Khatchadourian (We Need to Talk About Kevin, 2011)
Played by Ezra Miller, whoserecent media scandalsare equally unsettling, Kevin is as sadistic as they come. Based on the Lionel Shriver book of the same name, Lynne Ramsey’sWe Need to Talk About Kevinfollows the relationship betweena hopeless mother (Tilda Swinton) and her sociopathic son over the course of several years, beginning when he is a baby and ending when he is a murderous teenager.
We Need to Talk About Kevinisn’t a horror movie, it’s rather a psychological thriller, but Miller’s chilling performance would have viewers fooled. In fact, his embodiment of the serial killer is so convincing that it’s hard to believe this is the same person who played the warm and loveable Patrick a year later inThe Perks of Being a Wallflower. There is nothing warm or loveable about Kevin; he isevil through and throughand makes a strong case for nature in the nature vs nurture debate.
Jeffrey Dahmer (My Friend Dahmer, 2017)
Evan Peters might’ve wowed audiences as Jeffrey Dahmer in Ryan Murphy’s recentMonster, but Ross Lynch’s portrayal of the serial killer in Marc Meyers’My Friend Dahmershouldn’t be ignored. Based on Derf Backderf’s graphic novel of the same name, this psychological horror documents the coming-of-age of Dahmer, focusing on his traumatic childhood and real-life experiences in high school.
Jeffrey Dahmer, the character, is infinitely scary because he’s based on a real (terrible) person. Additionally, we can trust what happened in the movie happened in real life, as Backderf, the author of the graphic novel, actually was Dahmer’s friend. Puttingthe question of ethicsaside for a moment, from a psychological point of view,My Friend Dahmeris very intriguing. And though Lynch plays Dahmer with some degree of sympathy, his inherent evilness prevails.
