Head-scratching, but also fantastic.
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00:00 While most films make it obvious who the villain is supposed to be, the distinction between
00:03 who's good and who's evil isn't always made clear to viewers.
00:06 Rather than being cut and dry tales of good versus evil, certain films, like those we're
00:10 covering today, tend to be more nuanced in their terror.
00:13 So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10
00:16 Horror Movies With No Obvious Villain.
00:19 10.
00:20 Devil
00:21 Claustrophobic thriller Devil is the perfect premise for a whodunit-style horror where
00:26 anybody could be the killer.
00:27 This flick sees a group of strangers find themselves trapped together when the lift
00:30 that they're in mysteriously breaks down.
00:33 Being stuck in a lift is enough to ruin anybody's day, but things are made a lot worse when
00:36 one of these strangers is the literal devil.
00:39 Whenever the lights go out, one of the trapped is killed.
00:41 Meanwhile, a small team of security guards and investigating police officers work together
00:45 to try and figure out what's going on and discover who the killer is before everybody
00:49 is killed.
00:50 It's a race against the clock to find answers while the bodies start piling up.
00:53 Executed with an endearing B-movie charm that has all the idiosyncrasies M. Night Shyamalan
00:57 is famous for, there are enough red herrings thrown in throughout its snappy 80-minute
01:01 runtime to keep viewers second-guessing themselves to who the devil in disguise is.
01:05 And coming from the mind of Shyamalan, nobody will see the reveal coming when it's time
01:09 to unmask the true villain.
01:11 9.
01:12 Bug
01:13 An underrated psychological horror helmed by The Exorcist's William Friedkin, Bug
01:17 is one flick that will definitely get under your skin.
01:20 The film centers around alcoholic waitress Agnes, who's been left reeling from the
01:23 death of her son and an escape from an abusive relationship.
01:26 One day she's introduced to Peter, an ex-soldier, and the pair strike up a close relationship.
01:30 However, events take an insane turn when Peter confesses that he believes the government
01:34 has infected him with microscopic bugs.
01:37 And despite Agnes being understandably skeptical to the claim, she soon becomes swept up in
01:41 the conspiracy.
01:42 The pair shut themselves away in Agnes' motel room and cover the wall in tinfoil.
01:46 As their speculation grows increasingly outlandish, their behavior likewise becomes more extreme
01:50 until the tension explodes into a violent finale.
01:53 No matter how ridiculous Peter's claims may seem, the script leaves a tiny shred of
01:57 doubt that he could be telling the truth.
01:59 This ambiguity is only reinforced further in the closing shot, which suggests that everything
02:03 may have actually been one big delusion.
02:05 While Peter is the instigator of the carnage, he's simply just another victim to his own
02:09 probable paranoia and mental illness.
02:11 8.
02:12 Roar
02:14 Before shocking audiences with car-based body horror 'Titan', French filmmaker
02:18 Julia Ducournou traumatized moviegoers with cannibal coming-of-age film 'Roar'.
02:23 Focusing on a vegetarian veterinary student, Justine, who also makes a cameo appearance
02:26 in 'Titan', Roar sees her life descend into bloody carnage when, at a hazing ritual,
02:31 she's forced to eat raw meat.
02:33 Doing so, however, awakens an uncontrollable desire in her to consume more meat.
02:37 It doesn't take long for this new craving to take a sinister turn.
02:40 With no way to quell her newfound hunger, Justine finds herself drawn to human flesh.
02:44 Though Justine is seen committing stomach-churning acts of gratuity, with eating her sister's
02:49 severed fingers being one of the most unpleasant scenes to endure ever, she's never actually
02:52 framed as a villainous character.
02:54 Unlike other on-screen cannibals, she's much more of a sympathetic character.
02:58 College is a whole new situation for her in which she's experiencing many things for
03:01 the first time, and in discovering her new pleasures, these manifest symbolically through
03:05 her devious appetites.
03:07 'Roar' is a fierce feminist horror film that's about a young woman coming to terms
03:11 with and learning to control her urge for pleasure.
03:14 7.
03:15 Relic
03:16 In a similar vein to how the titular monster of 'The Babadook' was a manifestation of
03:20 an exhausted mother's grief, under-scene Aussie horror gem 'Relic' uses the horror
03:24 genre to explore abstract concepts to heartbreaking effect.
03:27 After receiving word that her elderly mother Edna has gone missing, Kay, alongside her
03:31 own daughter Sam, rush to her tired-looking country home.
03:34 But when Edna mysteriously reappears with no memory of what happened, events take a
03:38 rather malevolent turn.
03:39 Edna's erratic behaviour grows increasingly dangerous while the house itself begins to
03:43 shift into a labyrinth of moulded corridors and dead ends.
03:47 Anyone going into this film without knowing what it was about would assume they're in
03:49 for a creepy supernatural affair in which the house and its aged owner have become possessed
03:53 by an evil entity.
03:54 However, it soon becomes apparent that the affliction haunting this family isn't supernatural
03:58 at all.
03:59 Edna has Alzheimer's disease.
04:00 She's unable to recognize her own family, which is as terrifying for them as it is for
04:04 her.
04:05 The instant viewers realize this, Edna is no longer the threat that she once was.
04:09 As the final, heart-aching shot highlights, she's a vulnerable woman terrified of losing
04:13 her family.
04:14 6.
04:15 'Bodies, Bodies, Bodies'
04:17 Part devilish horror comedy, part 'Tort Whodunit' style thriller, this feature debut
04:21 sees a group of wealthy twenty-somethings get together for a hurricane party at one
04:25 of their parents' house, to take the festivities up a notch, they decide to play the titular
04:29 party game.
04:30 The rules are simple, whoever gets a piece of paper with the X on it is the killer, with
04:34 it being down to the others to try and figure out who they are.
04:37 However, the game becomes real when the players start to turn up dead, with tensions running
04:41 high between the group, uncertainty about newcomer B, and talk about another party-goer
04:45 who nobody's seen since the night before, anybody could be the killer.
04:48 As the numbers begin to dwindle, the paranoia amongst the survivors only escalates.
04:53 Like John Carpenter's 'The Thing', part of the horror comes from second-guessing every
04:56 character.
04:57 Unlike that genre-defining classic, though, there's an extra twist here in this flick
05:00 that reframes the nerve-shredding murder mystery in a hilariously new light.
05:04 Without spoiling the surprise, the finale of 'Bodies, Bodies, Bodies' is the perfect
05:08 punchline to a film that revels in satirizing the social media generation.
05:12 5.
05:13 Midsummer
05:15 After losing her family in a horrific tragedy, Dani is invited to the Swedish countryside
05:19 to witness a rural community's midsummer festivities alongside her boyfriend Christian,
05:23 and his group of friends, who also aim to study their traditions.
05:26 While the idyllic summer setting initially promises a welcoming environment, events soon
05:29 take a dark turn when the group witnesses the cult's brutal rituals before they find
05:33 themselves at the centre of this escalating horror.
05:35 While it's easy to label the cult as the obvious villains here for the murderous actions
05:39 they commit, writer-director Ari Aster's 'Midsummer' is much more nuanced than its
05:43 wicker-man premise suggests.
05:44 As cruel as the cult appear to be, they're never as cold or as heartless as Christian.
05:49 His strained relationship with Dani is the centre of most of the conflict, and the core
05:52 of Dani's character art throughout much of her ordeal.
05:55 Whereas Christian is constantly neglectful and antagonistic towards her, the cult actually
05:59 welcomes her with open arms and gives her the much-needed empathy and emotional support
06:03 she needs.
06:04 It's only through this newfound acceptance that Dani has the strength to break up with
06:07 Christian during the film's finale, even if it is in the most extreme way.
06:11 4.
06:12 The Lighthouse
06:13 After terrifying moviegoers with his feature debut 'The Witch', writer-director Robert
06:17 Eggers shifted his attention from the forest in 17th century New England to a desolate
06:21 19th century lighthouse for 'The Lighthouse'.
06:24 Whereas the witch's themes of religious superstition and paranoia were manifested in
06:27 the form of the titular witch, 'The Lighthouse' has no such physical villain.
06:31 The film follows newly-employed lighthouse keeper Winslow, as he takes a job at a run-down
06:35 lighthouse on a barren island under the supervision of veteran sailor Wake.
06:39 The pair's relationship soon becomes strained thanks to a combination of Wake's cruelty
06:42 and the poor working conditions.
06:44 And when a storm rolls in and strands them on the island, it doesn't take long for
06:47 alcohol-induced chaos to break loose.
06:50 With both men driven to the brink of madness, all sense of time and reality hit breaking
06:54 point by the time the events reach their climax.
06:56 It becomes impossible to tell if the men have simply lost their minds or if something more
06:59 supernatural is underfoot.
07:01 Perhaps the light which Wake forbids Winslow to see really does have otherworldly properties.
07:05 Or maybe it was Winslow's disregard for the maritime superstition that doomed them
07:09 both.
07:10 3.
07:11 Pulse
07:12 Kyoshi Kurosawa's haunting ghost story 'Pulse' remains a chilling meditation on online culture
07:17 over two decades after its release.
07:19 When spirits start to use the internet as a gateway into the world of the living, people
07:22 begin to mysteriously vanish while 'forbidden rooms' start to crop up around Tokyo.
07:27 Sealed with red tape, these rooms are said to be where the ghosts can be found.
07:31 Anyone who encounters one of these spirits becomes overwhelmed with an immense sense
07:33 of loneliness until they disappear, leaving only a shadow of themselves behind.
07:37 While they don't appear often, the ghosts are immensely unsettling presences whenever
07:41 they show up.
07:42 Anyone familiar with the spine-chilling 'forbidden room' scene will know how creepy Pulse can
07:46 be.
07:47 Other J-horror ghosts from 'The Ring' or 'The Grudge', those in 'Pulse' aren't
07:50 inherently evil, rather they're simply immeasurably lonely and lacking in any sense of purpose.
07:55 This feeling of sadness is what haunts the streets of Tokyo as it slowly turns the bustling
07:59 city into a literal ghost town.
08:01 The eerie atmosphere and deliberate slow pace only heighten the ominous sense of dread as
08:05 Kurosawa weaves a poignant meditation of the internet and society much more chilling than
08:10 any traditional ghost story.
08:12 2.
08:13 Let the Right One In
08:15 Vampires are one of the most iconic movie monsters to have graced our screens.
08:19 From the likes of Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee's legendary performances in classic monster
08:23 movies to cult classics like 'Daughters of the Darkness' or 'From Dusk Till Dawn',
08:27 these blood-sucking terrors of the night are instantly recognisable horror villains.
08:30 But not all vampires are as obviously evil as Dracula, and for proof of that, look no
08:34 further than 'Adored Swedish Horror - Let the Right One In'.
08:38 Based on the novel of the same name, the film centres around a timid 12-year-old boy named
08:41 Oscar, who fantasises about enacting revenge on his high school bullies.
08:45 But his life changes when he meets his mysterious next-door neighbour, and the pair spark up
08:49 a close relationship.
08:50 Now, despite her murderous antics to quench her thirst for blood, she is Oscar's only
08:54 source of support.
08:55 She teaches him to stand up for himself and, in one gruesome scene, dispatches his bullies.
09:00 But Oscar is no angel either.
09:02 He expresses a desire to kill from the very start and ultimately gives in to his violent
09:05 cravings with some encouragement from his neighbour.
09:08 In short, this is a love story that is as beautiful as it is bleak.
09:12 1.
09:13 Lake Mungo
09:15 Described as an intimate documentary, writer-director Joel Anderson's 'Lake Mungo' sees the
09:19 Palmer family talking about the death of their 16-year-old daughter, Alice, who drowned near
09:23 the family home.
09:24 They express the immense grief they feel about her loss alongside the difficult memories
09:27 of the tragedy and discovery of her corpse.
09:29 However, the sombre events then take a more supernatural turn when Alice's brother Matthew
09:33 discovers what he believes to be apparitions of Alice within the video footage.
09:37 From here, 'Lake Mungo' delves deeper into its themes of loss as the family members
09:41 ponder on Alice's ghostly presence and what it could mean.
09:44 To them, there's nothing malicious about this haunting, rather it's just a profoundly
09:47 personal experience.
09:48 But there's something far more unnerving lurking just below the surface of this Aussie
09:52 mockumentary horror.
09:54 Astonishing twists that will not be spoiled here reveal a darker secret behind the teenager's
09:58 death, and these shocking revelations tap into a chilling existential dread that serves
10:02 to make the tragic circumstances all the more harrowing.
10:05 With no real antagonist presence to speak of, 'Lake Mungo's' horror is rooted in
10:09 its existential terror and poignant explorations of grief.
10:12 And there we go my friends, those were 10 Horror Movies With No Obvious Villain.
10:16 I hope that you enjoyed that and please let me know what you thought about it down in
10:19 the comments section below.
10:20 As always I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Instagram @retroj but the O is
10:24 A0.
10:25 Hope to see you over there and you can check out all the Warhammer miniatures that I've
10:27 been painting, yes I'm a nerd.
10:29 But before I go I just want to say one thing, today we spoke about horror movies with no
10:32 obvious villain, and you know what my friends, you listening to this video, you're not
10:36 a villain either so stop beating yourself up for mistakes that you've made in the
10:39 past.
10:40 You are perfect and you deserve to live a healthy and happy life.
10:43 I know you're a good person and I want nothing but the best for you.
10:45 I want you to go out there and achieve happiness, love and success because you deserve those
10:49 things and do not let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise, alright?
10:52 You're a massive ledge, now go out there and smash it today.
10:55 I believe in you.
10:56 As always I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that and I'll speak
10:59 to you soon.
10:59 (gentle music)