The nature of evil is difficult to contemplate, and even
harder to visualize. Movie villains often
have clear motivations that are spelled out explicitly. The audience is made to understand how and
why they came to be. The audience is also
made to understand what their goals are, and just how they plan to go about getting
them accomplished. Such rules are
considered mandatory for proper storytelling.
However, backstory and exposition are sometimes unnecessary. An effective villain can simply be a force of
nature, with no rhyme or reason as to his existence or actions. The most horrible acts often occur without
the benefit of logical explanation. The
horror genre, which is a great medium for examining mankind’s collective fears,
has many examples of how such characterizations can be employed to optimum
effect. In
1978, writer/director John Carpenter offered a vision of evil that revealed it
to be a faceless, emotionless void. It was
simply titled Halloween.
