10 Psychiatric Diagnoses Of Horror Villains And Their Victims
1
0 
Unsurprisingly, many horror movie antagonists grapple with severe mental illnesses, disorders, or physical ailments that manifest in disturbing behavior. Transforming into monsters, they perpetrate heinous acts on innocent victims, engaging in stalking, murder, rape, molestation, and bullying.
This often sets in motion a cruel cycle of torment, suffering, madness, and criminality, wherein the initial victims become victimizers, targeting others who are often guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The abhorrent nature of their actions sometimes leads to confusion, with some likening their deeds to the acts of demonic entities, immortal bogeymen, mutants, ghosts, or even the devil himself.
While these films may entertain both supernatural and natural explanations for the depicted events, medical science typically acknowledges a singular cause—mental illness. Whether afflicting the movie’s villain or victim, as exemplified by Stephen King’s monstrous entity in “It,” mental illness takes on various forms, all horrifying and dreadful to witness.
10 Michael Myers and Laurie Strode
The representation of mentally ill characters in horror films, as well as other cinematic genres, is frequently “wildly inaccurate” from a psychiatric standpoint. However, students at Rutgers University who are enrolled in Professor Anthony Tobia’s REDRUM course see horror films, such as A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Psycho (1960), and Halloween (1978).Tobia gives them instructions to “focus on an abstract and symbolic understanding of the plot summary or aspects of character analysis… germane to [discussions of] a full spectrum of mental illnesses,” as opposed to “taking the films at face value.
The class concluded that Michael Myers, after killing his sister Judith (Halloween), exhibits symptoms consistent with conversion disorder—sudden onset experiences of blindness, paralysis, or other symptoms, evidenced by his inability to speak after the murder. Additionally, the class suggested he displays traits of voyeurism and autism.
Upon escaping a mental hospital, Myers returns home with the intent of killing his other sister, Laurie Strode. Laurie, who was adopted after their parents’ murders, experiences stress due to his stalking and attempts on her life. In Halloween II (1981), Laurie’s therapist tells her she shares the same “illness” as her brother. However, if the class’s diagnosis of Michael is accurate, it becomes unclear what the therapist meant, as Laurie is not depicted as suffering from conversion disorder, voyeurism, or autism.
Possibly, the therapist was referencing the diagnosis given by Sam Loomis, Michael’s psychiatrist, who labeled him as “pure evil.” It’s worth noting that such a diagnosis is not strictly found in any volume of the profession’s “Bible,” the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).
9 Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling
Dr. Glen O. Gabbard’s insights into Hannibal Lecter draw from Thomas Harris’s novels, and these perspectives are relevant to the film adaptations as well. The movie franchise, featuring Lecter and FBI agent Clarice Starling, is rooted in Harris’s literary works.
Gabbard, while analyzing Hannibal (1999), notes a self-contradictory psychology in the character and describes Harris’s stance on psychiatry as “ambivalent.” He questions whether “sophisticated readers” would accept Harris’s portrayal of a “hard-core psychopath with enduring and loving attachments to internal objects.” Gabbard, however, sees Lecter as a character intended to represent a psychopath.
According to Kaylor Jones, a Psychology & Counseling program student at Grand Canyon University, Lecter fits the criteria of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), sometimes known as psychopathy or sociopathy, as described in the DSM. ASPD is defined as a “remorseless, habitual, and pervasive disregard for or violation of the regard for others.” This aligns with Lecter’s charismatic and superficially charming persona, his ability to manipulate people, and his capacity to switch off empathy at will.
While psychology and psychiatry support Harris’s depiction of Lecter as an antisocial psychopath, the focus shifts to Clarice Starling. How has her intense conflict with Lecter likely affected the FBI agent? To explore this, we turn from Harris’s novels to the CBS television series Clarice (2021). Set a year after Buffalo Bill’s murder spree, the series concentrates on Starling, portraying her as grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) stemming from her encounter with Lecter and, significantly, from her own childhood. The series delves into the trauma Starling experienced as a child, particularly the disturbing cries of lambs being slaughtered on her relative’s Montana farm, haunting her in nightmares.
8 Freddy Krueger and Nancy Thompson
Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), unfolds in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio, where teenager Nancy Thompson and her high school friends become targets of Freddy Krueger’s stalking and murders.
Krueger’s motives are multifaceted. One aspect is revenge—he targets the children of parents who had burned him alive after his escape from legal consequences for murdering their sons and daughters. However, Krueger’s actions also reveal a disturbing pedophilic disorder, evident in the fact that his victims were killed in their beds.
According to Dr. Tobia, there is a complex layer suggested by Nancy’s mother, Marge, whom he suspects of having an affair with Krueger. Despite Krueger’s history of killing other children, he spares Nancy, deeming her “special.” Marge’s use of the name “Fred” instead of “Freddy Krueger,” as the other parents refer to him, hints at her personal connection to him. Marge’s possession of Krueger’s hat and glove suggests a deeper involvement than just acknowledging him as a child killer. Tobia proposes that Marge’s affair with Krueger is a factor in her alcoholic state, leading her to conceal the truth about the adults’ murder of Krueger until she can no longer do so.
Simultaneously, Nancy begins to intuit the truth in her dreams, symbolized when she runs to the basement during Freddy’s pursuit—a place resembling Krueger’s boiler room where she may have been imprisoned.
Tobia identifies Nancy’s psychological condition as nightmare disorder (ND), characterized by repeated awakenings with recollection of terrifying dreams involving threats to survival, echoing Nancy’s recurring dreams of being pursued by a child murderer. Additionally, Tobia sees the film as a metaphorical representation of narcolepsy, with its onset during adolescence and marked by hallucinations. The parents’ collective act of burning Krueger after his legal acquittal signifies the genetic nature of the teens’ affliction. However, Tobia concludes that A Nightmare on Elm Street delves deeper than a sleep disorder, suggesting that Nancy’s sleep pathology is likely rooted in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and her history as a victim of childhood sexual abuse.
7 Leatherface and Sally Hardesty
In the 2003 remake of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it is suggested that the antagonist Leatherface suffers from neurodegeneration. Although the movie is ambiguous about the specific neurodegenerative disease, the term itself is challenging to define even among medical experts. This condition could potentially lead to additional complications such as neoplasm, edema, hemorrhage, and trauma of the nervous system. If Leatherface’s diagnosis at the age of twelve is accurate, it presents an unusual case since older individuals are typically at a higher risk than those younger.
Leatherface’s physical condition is hinted to be exacerbated by the bullying he endured during childhood. The 2003 remake and the 2006 prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, reveal that Leatherface was born disfigured with a skin disease, leading to relentless bullying and mockery. Ashamed of his appearance, he began wearing a small leather mask, a habit that persisted into adulthood, almost becoming a part of him.
The heinous crimes committed by Leatherface and his family have lasting effects on their victims, including the final girl Sally Hardesty. After surviving the villains’ rampage in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hardesty’s fate becomes uncertain. The franchise’s loose continuity portrays her as either dying in 1977 (Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 [1990]), surviving as a hospital patient (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation [1994]), or spending decades in an insane asylum (Texas Chainsaw Massacre [2003 remake]).
Catatonia, a well-understood neuropsychiatric syndrome, is depicted in Hardesty’s character, marked by abnormalities in motor behaviors, immobility, speechlessness, and unusual movements out of context to the environment. Malignant catatonias, more severe forms, exhibit abnormalities in autonomic functions such as fever, diaphoresis, tachycardia, and hypertension. The classic form involves mutism, posturing, and stupor, but less dramatic features are often misidentified.
6 Regan MacNeil and Father Karras
