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They may seem like damsels-in-distresses, but they're really badasses.
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00:00Although horror films tend to have their fair share of cannon fodder, there's normally at
00:04least one character who has the adaptability and determination to outsmart and defeat the villain.
00:09More often than not, the hero or final girl tends to emerge victorious by the skin of their teeth
00:14to ensure the climax is as tense as possible. But there are times where the lead comes out
00:19on top over their adversaries without breaking a sweat. Now, we have already got a list on this
00:24very topic, but there were just so many more to talk about. I'm Ellie for What Culture,
00:27and here are more horror movies where the victim is more dangerous than the villain.
00:33Starting with Julie, Trilogy of Terror. Trilogy of Terror opens with cocky high schooler Chad
00:38finding himself drawn to his timid professor, Julie. After repeatedly propositioning her,
00:43Julie reluctantly agrees to see a drive-in movie with Chad. While at the drive-in, Chad drugs Julie
00:48and drags her unconscious body to a motel where he takes pictures of her naked body. Though Julie
00:53says their date was a one-time thing, Chad uses the photographs to blackmail Julie into becoming
00:58his lover. He humiliates the professor and forces her into a degrading relationship,
01:03thinking he has Julie in the palm of his hand. In reality, Julie was in control the whole time.
01:08Just before fatally poisoning Chad, Julie reveals she deliberately courts sexual predators and lures
01:13them into a false sense of security before eliminating them. She informs Chad she implanted
01:18the idea of wooing her, meaning she's been manipulating him from the beginning. The storyline
01:22ends with another young man meeting Julie, oblivious he's to be her latest victim. Even
01:27though Chad thought he had everything planned out to a T, Julie was 10 steps ahead of him from day one.
01:32Charlie, fire starter. In this Stephen King adaptation, a couple are experimented on by a
01:38secret government program called The Shop, in the hopes of endowing them superhuman abilities.
01:43When their daughter, Charlie, manifests powers, the shops start hunting her, intending to turn
01:48the young girl into a weapon. This is easier said than done, since Charlie has pyrokinesis,
01:53meaning she can create and control fire. Not only that, her powers are fueled by her emotions.
01:58Since kids have trouble controlling their emotions, especially while looking at the people who murdered
02:02their mother, it's no surprise that Charlie's rage and power is pretty much unlimited. What's worse
02:07is the more the government agents try to attack her, the more likely they'll piss her off,
02:11often resulting in them being reduced to cinders. The shop's mission seems doomed from the start,
02:16since they're ordered not to kill Charlie but to contain her. Since they're not using lethal force,
02:21Charlie has no problem taking her pursuers down again and again. Even when they do shoot at her,
02:26Charlie just melts the bullets in the blink of an eye. The janitor, Willy's Wonderland.
02:31Heavily inspired by Five Nights at Freddy's, Willy's Wonderland centers around a silent drifter who
02:36agrees to work overnight in a family entertainment center to pay for car repairs. Little does he know,
02:41although the animatronic mascots in the building are possessed by the spirits of serial killers.
02:46Although this supernatural development should be enough to cause the average person to run for
02:50their lives or call for help, the janitor remains unfazed. When the machines attack,
02:54he retaliates in turn, reducing them to bloody scrap metal. It's worth mentioning that nothing
02:59is revealed about the lead character at any point. We never learn about his background,
03:03family, or his motivation. Just to make him more enigmatic, the janitor never utters a word.
03:08But whatever he's experienced must have been hell on earth, since he has no trouble taking
03:12down these evil automatons. Even though he could have accepted help from the other characters,
03:17he never asks for it. Then again, he doesn't need to, since he batters and eviscerates these
03:21robots like it's his job. The sinister androids are scary, but there's no doubt the drifter is
03:26significantly more terrifying.
03:27Crystal, The Hunt
03:29In Craig Zobel's satirical horror, Crystal awakens alongside several strangers in a field,
03:34only to learn they're being hunted as deplorables by wealthy elites. Having no understanding of their
03:39surroundings or enemies, most of the hunted are overcome with panic, making it easier for the
03:44elite to put them down. Crystal, on the other hand, served in Afghanistan, and so proves to be
03:49astoundingly adaptable. She evades and overwhelms the hunters, killing most of them single-handedly.
03:54Several victims believe in safety in numbers, encouraging them to befriend Crystal. But
03:59Crystal only looks out for herself, since the others constantly jeopardize her chances of survival.
04:04After making short work of the elites, Crystal learns the location of their boss, an entrepreneur
04:08called Athena Stone. During the climax, Athena explains how each of the deplorables spread false
04:13rumors online about her, destroying her reputation. Based on this revelation, it's assumed Crystal
04:18was one of the people who unfairly lampooned Athena. However, she reveals Athena mixed her up with
04:23an online troll with a similar name, meaning Crystal is innocent of any wrongdoing. Even though Crystal
04:28kills Athena moments later, watching her disarm the graced mogul with simple facts is equally satisfying.
04:34Jen. Revenge.
04:36Prior to directing The Substance, Coralie Farja helmed a visceral horror thriller called Revenge.
04:41The story begins with a married entrepreneur, Richard, bringing his mistress, Jen, to his villa,
04:46where she is sexually assaulted by his friends. When she threatens to call the police,
04:50Richard pushes her off a cliff. After somehow surviving, Jen sets her sights on punishing her
04:54tormentors one by one. Despite being outnumbered, unarmed, and suffering horrific injuries,
05:00it's clear early on Jen is the one in charge. Simply put, Jen has a level of determination that's
05:05so unreasonable it's borderline superhuman. Knowing her wounds render her vulnerable,
05:10Jen refuses to engage with her attackers in the open. Instead, she lures them away from each other
05:15and waits until the opportune time to make her move. Once she eliminates Richard's men,
05:19he decides not to take any chances and comes at her with everything he's got. After being shot in the
05:24stomach, Richard pins her to the ground and strangles her, giving her seemingly no means to escape.
05:29Refusing to die, Jen bores her hand into Richard's open gut, leaving him in enough agony for her to
05:35overpower and kill him. Darcy. Oddity. The Irish folk horror revolves around a blind clairvoyant called
05:42Darcy, who shows up unannounced at the home of her brother-in-law, Ted, to investigate the murder of
05:47her twin, Dani. Stranger still, Darcy has inexplicably brought along a nightmare-inducing mannequin
05:53while she uncovers the truth behind her sister's fate. Now, it's eventually revealed Ted hired an
05:58employee called Ivan to kill Dani so he could start anew with his mistress. Suspecting Darcy is onto him,
06:04Ted encourages her to leave. Being blind, it should be easy for Ted to overpower her.
06:09When Ted devises a trap that renders Darcy fatally wounded, he believes he's gotten away
06:13with two murders scot-free. But Darcy has one trick up her sleeve before she dies. When Ivan
06:19enters the house to finish Darcy off, she brings the mannequin to life, revealing it's not a mannequin
06:23at all, but a golem. The golem terrorizes Ivan and leaves him so hysterical, Ted has him killed,
06:29knowing he'll expose him. Returning to his home, Ted believes once again
06:33he's evaded the authorities, but in the end, he dooms himself after playing with Darcy's haunted
06:38bell, which summons a ghost who kills whoever rings it. Even though Darcy seemed helpless,
06:43she exacted vengeance on her sister's murderers from beyond the grave.
06:47Martin, Dead Snow 2, Red vs. Dead
06:51Dead Snow 2, Red vs. Dead kicks off immediately after the events of the first film, with Martin
06:56having his arm ripped off by Nazi zombie Commander Herzog. Shortly after, the undead dictator exterminates
07:02locals and revives them as goose-stepping soldiers, allowing him to seize control of the town.
07:07Though Martin intends to put a stop to the ghoulish army, he has one major problem. Although
07:12surgeons managed to give Martin an arm transplant, they didn't realize the limb belonged to a zombie.
07:17As such, Martin finds himself battling against his newly acquired hand, which instinctively
07:22maims and pulverizes anyone in his proximity. With Martin unable to control his cursed appendage,
07:27it looks like he doesn't stand a chance against Herzog, especially with his battalion growing
07:32in size every hour. However, Martin eventually turns his biggest weakness into his greatest strength.
07:37Over time, he learns to use his new body part to revive the dead, adding their numbers to his own.
07:42After unleashing his own legion against Herzog's malevolent forces,
07:46Martin turns the tables on the tyrannical despot, allowing him to defeat him once and for all.
07:51Grace, ready or not
07:53On the day Grace weds wealthy aristocrat Alex Ledomas, she's told she must take part
07:58in hide-and-seek as part of a family tradition. But Grace soon discovers this seemingly innocent
08:03game is part of a satanic ritual. It turns out her husband's family sold their souls for power
08:08and must slay Grace by dawn or be cast into hell. Since Grace has to hide in a house she's unfamiliar
08:13with while lugging around a massive wedding gown, she seems well and truly screwed. And yet the bride
08:18proves to be boundlessly resourceful. She strategically hides in the dumbwaiter and uses it to
08:22discard weapons. Despite suffering from brutal injuries, including a nail in the hand,
08:27Grace sucks it up. She waits until the family bicker to hide in a new location since the
08:31Ledomas are too distracted to notice. However, the smartest thing Grace does is be nice to Alex's
08:37brother, Daniel. Won over by Grace's kindness, Alex turns on his family moments before dawn breaks.
08:43Failing to fulfill the deal, the Ledomas explode in a batch of blood before being banished to hell.
08:48Although Grace's adaptability kept her alive, it was her kind heart that ultimately saved her.
08:53Beth, Hostel Part 2
08:55Hostel Part 2 follows a young woman, Beth, and her friends who are lured into a Slovakian
09:00hostel while traveling through Europe. To her horror, Beth learns the facility sells tourists
09:05to clients to torture and kill them. These torturers are considered the worst of the worst,
09:09since they dismember and decapitate their victims solely to satiate their primal urges. But despite their
09:14numbers, resources, and weapons, these sadists never quite met someone like Beth. Unlike other
09:20horror protagonists who rely on luck or rescue, Beth observes her captors, learning their behavior
09:25and patterns. Rather than panicking when captured, she assesses her situation and looks for an
09:29opportunity to exploit these creeps. Instead of trying to fight her way out physically,
09:34she leverages her wealth and status to negotiate. Now, that's not saying Beth doesn't get her hands
09:38dirty. When she's purchased by a torturer, she stabs him to death. Rather than giving him a swift execution,
09:43she hacks off his genitals and feeds them to a dog. Even these torturers would balk at that.
09:48After escaping, Beth has the opportunity to ride into the sunset. Instead, she tracks down the woman
09:53who lured her to the hostel and lops her head off. And finally, Mary, American Mary.
09:58As this list proves, it's unwise to prey on someone who's highly intelligent or an experienced fighter.
10:04But as America Mary highlights, the dumbest thing a sicko can do is take advantage of a person who's well
10:09versed in surgery. In the film, medical student Mary Mason is drugged and abused by her mentor,
10:15Dr. Alan Grant, compelling her to drop out of the course. Refusing to give up on her dream or her
10:20revenge, Mary kidnaps Grant, performing surgical procedures on him to improve on her skills.
10:26Rather than killing him, Mary keeps her abuser alive in a state of constant suffering, chopping off
10:31limbs and placing hooks into his bare skin. At first, it's satisfying to see Grant get his comeuppance,
10:36but over time, it's difficult to watch Mary toying with his body. Adding to the humiliation,
10:41she takes pictures of Grant's mutilated body and shows them to her clients to boost her business.
10:46Sadly, Mary's vengeance brings her little satisfaction. After embracing her dark side,
10:50Mary finds herself unable to control her urges, causing her to attack and kill innocent people,
10:56including a police officer. Sure, Grant was a monster, but Mary proved to be infinitely more dangerous in the end.
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