When Horror Hits Too Close to Home
Fictional movie villains often terrorize real U.S. cities and states. Ranker data suggests that even the most beloved of bad guys are often hated by the people who live closest to them.
Photo: The Dark Knight/Warner Bros.
It’s a well-established fact that people love to identify with the bad guy. TV viewers swoon for antiheroes like Tony Soprano and Walter White, while we often remember iconic movie villains like Darth Vader, the Joker, and Hannibal Lecter better than the heroes who are supposed to defeat them. Even when the baddie is an unsympathetic serial killer like in Nightmare on Elm Street, it’s Freddy Krueger who’s actually selling tickets — not the terrified teens he’s menacing.
But you might be surprised to learn that we have a lot less sympathy for the devil when he’s in our own backyard. According to Ranker data, movie fans tend to despise the monsters whose fictional crimes take place in their own region of the country. Take a look at the evidence below and you’ll see that villains who are adored by movie lovers nationwide are often hated in their own hometowns.
The Northeast — Joker (The Dark Knight)
Though Batman is technically the protector of Gotham, everybody knows the fictional city is a stand-in for New York. That should explain why 72% of those living in the Northeastern United States dislike the terrifying (and completely made-up) Clown Prince of Crime. The Joker enjoys overwhelming popularity in every other part of the country, especially in the Southwest, where a whopping 96% of voters rank him highly. We understand New Yorkers are defensive about their hometown, but if you’re that worried about a comic book clown, we’ve gotta ask: why so serious?
Photo: Carrie/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
The South — Carrie White (Carrie)
Stephen King’s original novella Carrie is set in his home state of Maine, but the 1976 movie that made the story famous, directed by Brian De Palma, changes the location to North Carolina. That change apparently had a major impact on viewers below the Mason-Dixon Line, because 76% of Southerners loved the movie, more than any other region in the U.S. But in spite (or maybe because) of their affection for the film itself, 87% of Southerners don’t care for the movie’s protagonist, Carrie White. Careful, y’all — we already know she’s a sore loser when it comes to popularity contests.
The Midwest — Candyman (Candyman)
The 1992 horror movie Candyman ranks among the top 6% of films on Ranker’s list of “Best Horror Movies of All Time,” an incredibly competitive category with over a million votes. We only bring that up to emphasize how strange it is that 60% of Midwestern readers disdain the film and its memorable monster, a higher percentage than any other region in the country. Is it any coincidence that the movie is set in Chicago, the Midwest’s primary urban hub?
Photo: Candyman/TriStar Pictures
Photo: The Shining/Warner Bros.
Mountain/Central Region — Jack Torrance (The Shining)
Another transplanted Stephen King antihero, The Shining’s Jack Torrance moves his family from Maine to the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Nearby Ranker voters would rather he chopped his family up somewhere else, with 63% of those in the Mountain/Central region voting the iconic Jack Nicholson character down. Interestingly enough, while Torrance is unpopular in his new home state, The Shining itself is beloved by 68% of Ranker readers in the region.
The West Coast — Samara Morgan (The Ring)
The 2002 film The Ring takes place in rainy Seattle, and that’s had a negative impact on the movie’s reception on the West Coast. Readers from Alaska down to California are more likely than voters in any other part of the country to hate Samara Morgan, the drowned girl from the movie’s haunted videotape — just 47% of that region’s voters view her positively.
Photo: The Ring/DreamWorks Pictures
Photo: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre/Bryanston Distributing Company
The Southwest — Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
The Southwest is a notable exception to this interesting trend we found. 58% of those living in Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas approve of Leatherface, the region’s most notable villain. While we’d love to call this finding a fluke (after all, only 36% of the neighboring South felt the same way), a recent survey from FrontierBundles found something very similar to be true about Texans specifically.
Meanwhile, in space…
Turns out that movie bad guys like Darth Vader who do all their villainy on other planets tend to be viewed positively by people in all regions. Hollywood screenwriters and producers, take note!
Photo: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Photo: Insidious/FilmDistrict