WHO'S WHO OF HORROR

There are typically three types of characters in horror, the characters all tend to fit into one of these categories...

THE BAD GUY

Of course we wouldn't have a horror without a good villain. They can be anything from a ghost to a masked killer. They're the threat throughout the film and are normally difficult to get rid of.

Shown Below from The Shining, 1980 with Jack Torrance:

(The Shining, 1980)

THE HERO

The hero is normally the person most at risk in the film/series. They normally stop the villain, or at least survive the events of the narrative.

One of the most iconic horror movie heroes has to be Laurie Strode shown below in Halloween H20, 1998 with Michael Myers:

(Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, 1998)

GOODBYE GUY

Probably my favourite character in horror has to be the character that is created to get killed off. There are normally multiple of these characters in each film/series, and you know as soon as they come onto the screen, they're not going to last for the whole narrative.

One character I love in this role is Glen Lantz, played by a very young Johnny Depp in the 1984 film, A Nightmare On Elm Street:

(A Nightmare On Elm Street, 1984)

These are the most common types of characters featured in the horror genre, ones that will feature across loads of films and series within the genre...

Thanks for reading!