Horror is full of bad boyfriends/husbands, but here are some especially vile ones. With lovers like these, who needs enemies? Just in time for your Halloween movie binges, we take a deep dive into the guys who prove to be waving the bloodiest of red flags. Spoilers for Halloween Ends, Hellraiser (2022), and Scream (2022), as well as a bunch of older horror movies (Rosemarys Baby, Christine, Edward Scissorhands, Scream 1996, Midsommar, The Invisible Man 2020).
TW: discussion of rape/sexual assault, unhealthy/abusive relationships, gaslighting, and other heavy topics. Proceed with caution. Some of the clips will feature violence and gore.
Possibly one of the earliest and most memorable bad boyfriends, Guy (John Cassavetes) is horrible in every way a husband can be. Literally, selling his wife to the Devil in exchange for a successful acting career?! Cannot get much worse than this. Even worse, he doesnt get any comeuppance whatsoever and is so blas about the whole horrifying experience.
Arnie (Keith Gordon) is a case of is it the evil magic or were they always like this deep down? Originally a sweet nerd, he goes through a Spiderman 3 change into a greaser jerk after he buys Christine, the Yandere car. For a good portion of the movie, theres a question of whether Christine or Arnie is the one committing the murders, as Christines windows are blacked out. But ultimately, Arnie is behind the wheel when he tries to kill his former best friend and former girlfriend, effectively choosing Christine over them.
The original Gaston character, Jim (Anthony Michael Hall) cannot handle the idea of his (ex)girlfriend falling in love with a monster. In response, he not only sets up Edward for multiple crimes for which Jim is to blame. Jim ultimately is responsible for Edward being unable to live in the normal world. (Though frankly, when its populated by people like him, who would want to?)
Its incredible how a man whose face we almost never see manages to be one of the most hateable antagonists in modern horror, but thats Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) for you. Watching Cecelia slit his throat is one of the most satisfying deaths of a horror antagonist to me.
I dont think I need to say much about this character, played by Jack Reynor, that hasnt already been said. Hes proof that sometimes the kindest thing you can do is break up with someone before you hurt them more than you have. Unfortunately, he doesnt and keeps trying to convince himself hes a nice guy for stringing along his mourning girlfriend and gaslighting her into thinking its her fault hes pulling away.
Billy (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu (Matthew Lillard) might be fun to watch, but theres no doubt they were terribly shitty boyfriends to their girlfriends. Stu targets his ex-girlfriend Casey for dumping him and ultimately seems okay with Billy killing Tatum, which is bad on its own. Billy is somehow worse for having killed his girlfriends mother, only to then decide that isnt enough and he also needs to punish Sidney by gaslighting her, tricking her into sleeping with him, and then trying to kill her and her dad. The newest Scream (2022) makes it even worse by revealing he had cheated on her enough that he got a fellow classmate pregnant.
Richie (Jack Quaid) is a weird case in that hes arguably a good boyfriend to his real girlfriend (fellow Ghostface killer Amber Freeman) but is a terrible boyfriend to Sam. The whole reason he was dating her was to frame her for the Ghostface killing spree in hopes of getting a new Stab movie made. Which is both pathetic and disturbing, showing the lengths he will go to make his fanfiction a reality.
Another character who literally started dating the final girl just so he could use her, Trevor (Drew Starkey) is horrible for not only his betrayal and manipulation of Riley but also for being willing to sick the Cenobites on unknowing victims for the sake of something as basic as money. Trevor is also probably a reference to Kirsty Cottons husband who tried to kill her for her inheritance, but that movie script was not originally going to be a Hellraiser movie and is not well regarded in the fandom, so I chose this Trevor.
Corey (Rohan Campbell) is actually a reference to an earlier character on this list, Christines Arnie Cunningham: A sweet but bullied nerd who slowly becomes more confident and more assholish as he is exposed to a malevolent force. Its made even worse by the fact that his romance with Allyson is barely a few days old when he goes through his heel change, which does a disservice to both of their characters. After going on a roaring rampage of revenge while dressed as the guy who killed both of his girlfriends parents, he tries to kill her grandmother and when that fails, he kills himself to frame Laurie in hopes of driving Allyson away. Thankfully, it doesnt work for long, and Allyson is ultimately able to fix her relationship with her grandmother.
Who is the worst boyfriend / husband / lover in horror in your opinion? Let us know in the comments!
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The Worst Boyfriends in Horror Movie History - The Mary Sue