The 411 Movies Top 5 10.02.09: Week 185 - Top 5 Horror Heroes

Posted by Trevor Snyder on 10.02.2009

The 411 crew temporarily ignores the villains we all love, and instead finally gives the the good guys and gals of the horror genre their due.




One of the interesting things about the horror genre is that it is arguably the only genre where the villains are typically the main attraction. Oh, sure, there have been some memorable villains in the worlds of action, sci-fi, and comedy, but usually it is the adventures of the heroes that we keep going back to see.

In horror, though, the villain is usually the main character. You don't go to see the new Friday the 13th movie because you're really interesting in seeing what "Horny Teenager #5" is up to. You go because it's a freakin' Jason movie!

That being said, the horror genre has given us a lot of great heroes over the years, and I thought it was about time we gave them their moment in the spotlight as well, with a look at:

THE TOP 5 HORROR HEROES

TREVOR SNYDER

HONORABLE MENTIONS

The Monster Squad - Any kid who grew up on this movie and didn't want to be a member of the Monster Squad is no friend of mine.

Alice, from the Resident Evil trilogy - I'm not gonna lie…this is all about me liking watching Milla Jovovich kick zombie ass.

Selene, from Underworld - I'm not gonna lie…this is all about me liking watching Kate Beckinsale kick werewolf and vampire ass.

THE TOP 5

5. Peter, Dawn of the Dead (1978)

A lot of fans might be tempted to go with Ben from Night of the Living Dead, but it's important to remember that in many ways Ben is just as hard-headed as Harry – and, in fact, Ben's decisions do eventually lead to everyone's death. Ken Foree's Peter, on the other hand, has a good head on his shoulders, and seems pretty darn adept at dealing with a zombie apocalypse and keeping those close to him safe. Sure, things spin out of control in the end, but Peter can't really be blamed for the foolish actions of his fellow SWAT member Roger or arrogant helicopter pilot Stephen. If everyone had just followed Peter's lead, stayed cool and played things smart, they might all still be living in that mall today.

4. Police Chief Martin Brody, Jaws

One of the things that best defines a hero is the ability to overcome their own fears. When a killer shark starts snacking on his community, Brody must rise above his aquaphobia and go out on the hunt. Sure, he's joined by a seasoned fisherman and a wise ichthyologist, but in the end it's Brody who takes the Great White bastard out. Unfortunately, this apparently put Brody on the "shark shit list," and this lead to his undoing later on (unless, like me, you refuse to even acknowledge the continuity of Jaws: The Revenge). But, for that one moment, Brody was a guy who looked right into the eyes of his biggest fear, and told it "smile, you son of a bitch."

3. Shaun, Shaun of the Dead

People love an everyman hero, and Shaun is nothing if not an everyman. A perpetual slacker who just can't seem to get anything right (particularly his love life), it takes a full blown zombie breakout for him to finally realize his potential and become the man he can be. I don't think Shaun would have ever chosen for it to have to happen this way, but that's what makes him a hero – when everything goes to hell, he spends surprisingly little time bitching about the situation, and instead is almost instantly putting together plans and trying to keep everyone safe and together. This may be a zany zombie comedy, but Shaun is a perfect example of a real hero.

2. Laurie Strode, Halloween (1978)

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode wasn't horror's first "final girl," but her portrayal pretty much ended up defining the concept. The great thing about Laurie is that she's just a regular girl. That sounds cliché, but it's true – she's not the one you would guess would make it to the final reel (especially in the first film, when her connection to Michael Myers has still not been revealed). But there's a strength inside this otherwise average plain Jane, a strength that is undeniable, even if it only manifests in when it absolutely has to. Personally, I choose the ignore Halloween: Resurrection, because I've always felt the image of Laurie tenderly touching her brother's hand for just a second, and then chopping his head off, is a perfect way to end her story.

1. Ashley J. Williams, The Evil Dead Trilogy

He's a coward, yet also a braggart. He's a putz, yet also surprisingly adept at making things (you think you can build a mechanical hand?). He is, by series end, something of an arrogant jerk. Let's face it, the guy would be awfully tough to be friends with. But when the deadites come for you, Ash is the guy you want in your corner. The ultimate testament to Ash's awesomeness is that he is arguably the only horror hero who is just as iconic (and marketable) as the genre's most famous villains. Hail to the king, baby.

SHAWN S. LEALOS

5. The Frog Brothers, The Lost Boys

The town is being taken over by bloodsucking freaks. Keifer Sutherland has just turned your bother into a vampire. Who you gonna call? It's not the Ghostbusters because they are ranked higher at the number three spot. Nope, you're gonna call the Frog brothers. It is true, Edgar and Alan's mouths may be bigger than their brains, but they know what they are doing. And if the going gets tough, they get going. Say what you want about Corey Feldman, but this performance defined him. If rumors of both brothers returning for a third movie are true, count me in.

4. Shaun and Ed, Shaun of the Dead

They were two ordinary guys, one a shop worker the other a slacker. They would rather spend all day playing video games or drinking at the local pub. However, they found themselves smack dab in the middle of a zombie outbreak. With few weapons and even fewer brain cells, they set out to save Shaun's girlfriend and mom before ending up in their beloved pub with the end of the world waiting outside the door. The movie is full of awesome moments as director Edgar Wright pays a loving homage to George Romero's creation and his two lead characters get great kills and even better one-liners. What better way to kill a zombie then with Prince's Batman soundtrack?

3. Ghostbusters

When there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? There is no one better at getting that pesky ghost out of your house then the good doctors, Venkman, Stantz, Spengler and Winston Zeddmore. Despite everything Bill Murray has done, and he has done a lot, it is Ghostbusters that may be his greatest moment.

2. Tallahassee, Zombieland

This may not be fair since most people have not seen the movie yet, but Woody Harrelson brings so much greatness to his performance as Tallahassee, he has to go on this list with a bullet. He is a no nonsense ass kicker. He doesn't just kill zombies because he has to. He does it because it is damn fun. Whether he is using a baseball bat, hedge clippers or a semi-automatic machine gun, he is The Man. His final stand at the end of Zombieland is the thing of legend. See this movie and you will understand why Woody Harrelson is a God among men.

1. Ash, The Evil Dead Trilogy

I named my son after this character. No, really. Ash went from being the dorky reluctant hero in the first Evil Dead, to the slightly deranged loner in the second to the arrogant Chin of all Chins in the third. All along the way, Ash remains the icon of all horror heroes. He has the best one-liners ("This is my boomstick!", "Give me some sugar, baby") and kills deadittes with the greatest of ease. The Evil Dead remains one of my favorite horror movies, the second movie is on the top of numerous critics' top horror lists and Army of Darkness is just awesome. There are heroes and then there is Ash. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

STEVE GUSTAFSON

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Laurie Strode, Halloween - She is the primary heroine of the first, second, seventh, ninth, and tenth films in the series. She's a SURVIVOR!

Nancy Thompson, Nightmare on Elm Street - She faced down Freddy Krueger and lived. That's gotta tell you something. She's a dream WARRIOR!

Selene. Underworld - Not just a pretty face! She's one tough vampire that could teach the gelled up, emo Twilight kids a thing or two.

THE TOP 5

5. Van Helsing, Van Helsing

Look, this guy is the ORIGINAL vampire slayer. Even if he's had a questionable movie career. I'm not going to try and convince you this movie was any good. Because it wasn't. BUT I would love to remake this. The potential for a very cool movie is still a small burning ember in this pile of...well, you know. A movie about a vigilante vampire hunter who mixes it up with classic horror film monsters. That's a no-brainer. At least it should have been. We do have Solomon Kane to look forward to, but my expectations are tempered.

4. Tommy Jarvis, Friday the 13th

"I'm Tommy Jarvis and I'm here to kill Jason Voorhees." - Tommy Jarvis
You know what's tough about this? Horror films hinge on the bad guy. The thing that goes bump in the night. So too often the "hero" is looked on as reactive. Or is a little "off". Like this dude. What a crazy story this guy has. He is one of the series' most recurring characters and is played by various actors. The fact that he survives, for better or worse, makes him stand out to me. The fact that he was played by Corey Feldman makes him lose some points to me.

3. Sidney Prescott, Scream

I was thinking back to old school horror films that I enjoyed as a kid and all I could think of was the classics. What hero stands out in Wolfman? The Mummy? Modern horror films have done a good job at establishing the good guy to really counterbalance the "horror". Take Sidney. What's not to love about Sidney? She's intelligent, resourceful and slowly becomes stronger over the course of the series, while all the time haunted by the presence of evil in her life. I really enjoyed the progress they made with her character and call me loony but I'm semi-curious to see where they are going in the 4th one.

2. Ellen Ripley, Alien

Nothing sexier than a woman with a flamethrower. Unless it's aimed at you, of course. Ripley not only changed the way audiences looked at female action/horror heroes, she changed influenced the action/horror genre itself! Not content to sit back and be the damsel in distress, Ripley took matters into her own hand. So impressive was Sigourney Weaver in her role as Ripley that she was selected by the American Film Institute as the 8th greatest hero in American cinema history. Entertainment Weekly stated that Ripley was "one of the first female movie characters who isn't defined by the men around her, or by her relationship to them."

1. Ashley 'Ash' J. Williams, The Evil Dead

Who else could be numero uno than Ash? Good. Bad. He's the guy with the gun. 'Nuff said.

TODD VOTE

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Laurie Strode - The reason Laurie gets only an honorable mention is because in Halloween Resurection, Laurie pretty much gave up on survival. It was evident that she had nothing left to fight Michael with, and at the beginning of Resurrection it was either her or him.

Tina Shepard - I may be in the minority, but I really liked the idea used here of Jason being pitted against a foe that could finally hold their own with the machete weilding maniac.

Tallahassee and Columbus - Yeah, I know Zombieland is not officially released yet, but these two have done enough just from the trailers and keeping up with the movie to earn an honorable mention from me.

THE TOP 5

5.The Monster Squad

You have to give props to a group of kids that can hold their own with the Universal Monsters. A group of misfit children have a club where they do what else, but talk about monsters. Things turn serious when strange occurrences start happening in their town. The kids pick up on the fact that Dracula has returned, and is up to no good again. This is easily one of my favorite movies growing up. The awesome that is The Monster Squad can best be summed up with "Wolfman's got nards"!



4.Jack Crow (John Carpenter's Vampires)

Does it get any more manly than Jack Crow? Yeah maybe a little bit, but any man that can ask a preacher if killing vampires gives him wood is okay in my book. James Woods played the role perfectly. I wish we could have gotten him in the sequel instead of Bon Jovi.

3.Shaun and Ed

The two guys who very well may be responsible for the resurgence of zombie cinema. Shaun of the Dead was a great film, and would easily make my top 5 zombie movies. The thing that makes Shaun and Ed so likeable was the everyman quality that they portrayed. Just don't say the Zed word.



2.Tommy Jarvis

Jason's greatest adversary until he met Freddy Krueger. Tommy Jarvis may have as good of a survival record as any other character in horror films. Tommy has defeated Jason twice, and a Jason wannabe to boot. Of course it could also be said that Jarvis is solely responsible for Jason becoming an undead psycho, but that's a top 5 for a different time.

1.Ashley "Ash" Williams

Was there any doubt as to who number one could be? Ash goes from a reluctant pussy hero to a full on egotistical, crazy badass in the span of three films. The man has faced entire armies of the undead in film. But his legend extends to comic books too. He has squared off with the Marvel Zombies, albeit an alternate universe version Ashley G. Williams. Let's not forget that his name is iconic enough that a sequel to Freddy vs. Jason was planned at one time to include the chainsaw wielding hero, but also ended up playing out in a six part comic book series. Add in encounters with the Re-Animator, not to mention a team up with fellow Raimi creation, Darkman, and Ash is an easy pick for number 1.

LEN ARCHIBALD

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Van Helsing, Hammer Dracula Series: Peter Cushing as the vampire-slaying do-gooder was Christopher Lee's greatest foe for a heap of the classic Hammer films for nearly 20 years. Crazy how they both wound up on the DARKSIDE in the Star Wars Universe (in different timelines, of course.)

Father Merrin, The Exorcist: Max Von Sydow is a walking landmark of cinema. His collaborations with Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman are legendary. When he took on the role of the elderly priest summoned to cast out the demon in poor little Regan's body, the audience knew they were in for a treat. C'mon…a show of hands to those who have randomly bellowed, "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELLS YOU!" at least once in your life.

Tommy Jarvis, Friday the 13th: Tommy Jarvis was the first horror movie "hero" I remember relating to in my youth. From Corey Feldman's use of a machete that would make Robert Rodriguez blush, to Thom Matthew's idiocy (but eventual redemption), this was Pam Voorhees' special little guy's greatest nemesis. The less said about A New Beginning, the better.

THE TOP 5

5. Laurie Strode, Halloween

Funny how I only have two women in the genre where it is practically an unwritten rule for those of the female gender to thrive. Here is the prototype "final girl". Jaime Lee Curtis' most iconic character was innocent, but not a "oh golly gee whiz" perfect pagan of virtue. She was fragile and was easily terrified, but had resolve and common sense (other than turning her back on her brother for that one moment in the original.) And she had an actual true motive and link to the killer that made everything matter. How would YOU feel if you found out that the masked, serial-killing psychopath that's bumping off random teenagers was your sibling – and even worse, was looking to KILL YOU, TOO?

4. Ben, Night of the Living Dead

Yeah, color me (HAHAHAHAHA) tickled when I first watched George A. Romero's mark on the cinematic world to find that the lead character, the hero and the one with ANY COMMON SENSE just happened to be the guy with the same color skin as me. WHAAAAAT? All this time I was lead to believe that the black dude could only be some poor janitor, homeless person, token or whatever other stereotype there is to be killed off in the first few minutes of a horror movie. Duane Jones played his role masterfully, as the guy who has been able to grasp a sense of calm before the storm (and basic English language, no slang for those who look for ANY reason to call "them coloreds" dumb.) Man, this must have been a terrible shock for those who harbored ill feelings towards darker-skinned people back then. Of course, they probably celebrated at the end – which is more frightening than the zombies who were trying to devour Ben and his merry band of misfits.

3. Ash, Evil Dead Trilogy

Not #1? BLASPHEMY! I'm awaiting all the "anybody who doesn't have Ash as #1 is an (insert tired and overused internet cliché catchphrase here.) No matter. Bruce Campbell is indeed the man, fighting off the Book of the Dead, his possessed buddies, beheading his one-true love, fighting off his own possession, his hand, his evil alter-ego and billions (yes, I said it…BILLIONS) of Deadites with only a chainsaw hand and his trusty boomstick. Well played, sir. Well played.

2. Nancy Thompson/Heather Langenkamp, A Nightmare on Elm Street

Here's a movie hero/heroine done right and done with justice for all involved. Nancy exemplified everything perfect about a foil for a horror-movie villain: a realistic character that DOESN'T need to be completely virtuous with a hint of naiveté in facing down her arch-nemesis for the first time – then returning to do battle with better knowledge of how to fend off her foe later on to keep new blood away, all culminating in a fight for her family and sanity against a darker, more twisted version of her enemy thought vanquished in her mind, but remembers her all to well as his main "bitch". Craven may not have much anymore, but when he is on – he is ON and Nightmare's treatment of Nancy – and Craven's ultimate use for her in her final showdown with Freddy Krueger was perfect.

1. The Monster Squad, The Monster Squad

This was easy for me, as when I first saw this, I was the same age as the youthful protagonists who would go on to unleash hell on every one of the Universal Monsters. I mean, who as a kid wouldn't LOVE to take a shot at Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon – and find time to bond with Frankenstein's monster? The best part – all the rules that applied in the movies applied in this fantasy/real world! If I was able to assemble all of my superfriends and turn them into a bunch of ass-kicking monster hounds, I'm sure I would have been able to stay up late for the rest of my life! The one thing that always got me was the absolute genius of kicking The Wolfman in the nards.

"…Wolfman's got NARDS!"

Well, yeah. He's a wolfMAN. Classic.

Next week, we'll take a look at the best masks in horror history. Tell then, feel free to follow me on Twitter and check out my personal blog (which I promise I will start to update regularly soon) at Night of the Living Trev. Have a good week.