Love hurts. And love hurts way, way worse in a horror movie! To celebrate the holiday of chalky heart-shaped candy and flying babies inexplicably equipped with lethal weapons, we’re giving roses to ten of the harshest betrayals in horror.
Lovers or platonic friends looking for more be damned, no one is safe from a good ol’ fashioned backstabbing. And the consequences are much more intense than just changing your relationship status to “It’s Complicated”. Let us pity the fools who found themselves on the wrong end of treachery.
Billy Betrays Sidney – Scream (1996)
Ah yes, Wes Craven’s tale of how sometimes it’s actually cool to judge a book by its cover. Sidney (Neve Campbell) spends a lifetime of mulligans and naivetes standing by her obviously bug-nuts boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich) as murders begin to plague the town of Woodsboro. Rather than just massacre all of her friends and be done with it (like good honest movie slashers do) Billy goes the extra scumbag mile and coerces Sidney into sex out of her guilt from being a mildly distrusting girlfriend.
Mere minutes later, Billy drops the most obvious bomb ever (this side of Tom Cruise’s Mummy reboot), revealing that he’s actually the killer! Thankfully Matthew Lillard and all of his awesomeness swoops in with the twist of a second killer. Otherwise, they would’ve had to name the film after it’s working title “Billy is a D*ck“. I’m not sure that’s true, but it’d be a better world if it was.
Sidney Betrays Derek…Kinda – Scream 2Â (1997)
This one might be a bit of a stretch, but Sidney shouldn’t be let off the hook so easily. I totally get it, your old boyfriend turned out to be a murdering psychopath who killed your mother and destroyed your life. Boyfriends, amiright? And yes, the same thing appears to be happening again with your new beau Derek (Jerry O’Connell). Still, what a treacherously cold move to “brand him the Candyman” right before one of the real Ghostfaces (Ghostfaci?) murders him right in front of her.
Come on, Sidney. Either break up with him when he so obviously deserved it, during that mortifying and shameful display in the cafeteria earlier, or stand by your man. Preferably the former, as I still get brutal secondhand embarrassment watching that scene 26 years later.
Rose Betrays Chris – Get Out (2017)
Meeting your partners parents is hard enough as it is. Most civilized significant others would do their best to ease the awkwardness and discomfort, but not Rose (Allison Williams). Rather than actually loving Chris (like most Chris’s deserve), Rose merely delivered him to her parents, who planned to remove his brain and implant someone else’s in some ungodly process of achieving immortality. That’s right, every boyfriend’s worst nightmare come true.
Bad enough as this sounds, it’s arguably only the second worst betrayal in Get Out, as Rose goes on to betray all of humanity by eating Fruit Loops in that freakish display of consuming the Loops and the milk separately. Thankfully, this one has a happy ending. Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) escapes, Rose learns her lesson by way of shotgun wound, she recovers from her injuries, and goes on to invent a robot named M3GAN.
Crispian Betrays Erin – You’re Next (2011)
Couples don’t have to do everything together, contrary to popular belief. In particular, if you plan on hiring assassins to take out your entire family, maybe leave your lover at home for a girl’s weekend out. Crispian (AJ Bowen) isn’t your average goober, however. One of the more gutless dweebs to ever pollute a movie screen, the Cherub-faced f*ck leaves Erin (Sharni Vinson) to be mercilessly terrorized and hunted by his hired goons as he cowers in the nearby woods.
Erin ain’t having it, though. Lost in what had to be countless conversations about cryptocurrency and sandals with socks was the revelation that Erin grew up within a survivalist compound. Unbeknownst to the betrayal about to hit her, she slays her way through the night just to merely survive and is rewarded by a phone call from Crispian mistakenly revealing his grand scheme. Erin does the noble thing and puts him out of his dangerous dork misery shortly afterward, but the treacherous twist had to hurt like a blender to the head.
Dodger Frames Owen – Cry Wolf (2005)
To this day, I’m still not entire sure what happens in Cry Wolf, but there’s definitely betrayal in there somewhere. A group of prep-school friends, including newbie Owen (Julian Morris) and his new crush Dodger (Lindy Booth), play a game called Cry Wolf (better known nowadays as One Night Ultimate Werewolf) after one of the students is found murdered in the woods. Several incredibly stylish and completely misleading “kill scenes” later, it’s revealed that Dodger manipulated Owen into killing her teacher/lover, Mr. Walker (Bon Jovi), and basically no one else is actually dead.
Framing Owen for murder is such a cruel way to betray someone who has the hots for you, Dodger. You give love a bad name. Sleeping with a student is never advised either, Mr. Woods. It leaves your career, and sometimes your life, livin’ on a prayer. You probably should have just runaway before your mistress decided she wanted you dead, not alive. He really took his bad medicine for that one. Why is Bon Jovi even in this movie?
Juno’s Trifecta of Treachery – The Descent (2005)
Where to start with Juno? It’s one thing to sleep with your best friend’s husband. It’s another to lead said friend and accompanying besties into an unknown cave system under the guise of it being safe and thoroughly explored. Then, its a real giant leap to stabbing one of your friends in the throat with a pickaxe and leaving them to die at the hands of blind, carnivorous bat people.
Juno (Natalie Mendoza) should really have reached a point of self-reflection after Betrayal #1. “Is it really necessary to trick my friends into this death trap of a cave?” “Man, I’ve really been dropping betrayals left and right here, how about I NOT leave my friend to bleed out and become a mutant’s lunch”. Treachery must have a lot in common with Pringles, once you pop the fun don’t stop. Unless of course Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) find’s out about all the Pringles you’ve been eating, stabs you with a pickaxe, mirroring what you did to Beth (Alex Reid), and leaves you to be eaten in the same fashion. Then the fun stops.
Alex Betrays Grace – Ready or Not (2019)
It’s good to know before you say “I do” if your pending spouse is a real gamer. Grace (Samara Weaving) knew she was marrying into the “Le Domas Family Games Company”, but her fiancé Alex (Mark O’Brien) neglected to mention the family’s gaming tradition is pretty hardcore. His ancestors traded fortune for a cursed ritual whereby every new family member draws a card signifying which “game” to play on their wedding night. Having drawn “hide and seek”, Grace must be hunted and killed by dawn or the entire family will die.
We could’ve probably conjured up enough forgiveness for Alex not reading Grace this fine print on their marriage license- love makes you do crazy things after all. But it didn’t stop there. Alex double crosses Grace once it’s obvious she’s likely not going to get over this one very easily, deciding that if he can’t have her, she might as well die. A bit of an overreaction on Alex’s part if you ask me. Best to sleep on these kinds of things before they get blown out of proportion 👀
Hugh Betrays Jay – It Follows (2014)
Look, no one is perfect. We all have some level of baggage we load onto our partners. Neglecting to mention that making love will result in a lifelong terror-run escaping an entity that never stops chasing you until it kills you…well…we’re going to have to check that bag, as it exceeds the weight limit for the overhead bin. High up on our list of brutal betrayers we find Hugh (Jake Weary), who leads on and seduces Jamie (Maika Monroe) for the sole purpose of putting some distance between him and this entity (and it’s incredible stamina).
Unfortunately, no true justice is served to Hugh, for as long as Jay is alive, he will be safe from the entity’s reach. We can pretend he’s alone and scared out of his pants on fire, though, and at least Jay found love with a friend willing to take on the curse, shielding her from it as long as he can. There’s got to be some Final Destination type solution where “death” skips Jay and mutilates Hugh though, right? We deserve that crossover. Along with a Tony Todd cameo.
Guy Everybody Betrays Rosemary – Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Paramount Pictures“Poor Rosemary” is an understatement. Nosy elderly neighbors, chalky-tasting chocolate mousse, a husband who sells your womb to Satan in exchange for stage actor success; The list of grievances goes on and on. Rosemary (Mia Farrow) really takes the brunt of betrayals on this list, as they’re all directed at her. Her husband, Guy (John Cassavetes) makes the aforementioned deal with Satan. Her neighbors are actually members of a satanic cult and set the whole thing in motion. The OBGYN she didn’t really want in the first place, is a member of the cult. Her doctor she really DID want labels her a lunatic and threatens to have her committed. And you just know that baby is going to double cross her eventually.
Everybody Betrays Everybody – Midsommar (2019)
Behold, a movie that really should have been called National Lampoon’s Swedish Betray-tion. Here we go. Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) betrays his friends by luring them to a sacrificial Midsummer festival in Sweden. Christian (Jack Reynor) betrays Josh (William Jackson Harper) by plagiarizing his idea for a thesis. Josh betrays the commune by photographing sacred texts he’s been warned not to. Christian enters the ring of betrayal again and betrays Dani (Florence Pugh) by being the star participant in an impregnation ritual (albeit drugged all to hell).
Dani counter-betrays Christian from the top rope by choosing to sacrifice him via hollowed out bear in a 4-alarm fire. Mark (Will Poulter) betrays the commune by peeing on a sacred tree. Giant rocks betray an elderly commune couple launched at them from great heights. I never saw the 3-hour extended cut, but by the law of averages there must be several more treacheries snuck in there. Betrayus Maximus.
What other betrayers in horror can you name? Can YOU tell us why Bon Jovi is in Cry Wolf? Join the conversation on Nightmare on Film Street’s official Discord! Share your love of all things horror with other fiends at the NOFS Horror Movie Fiend Club on Twitter!
