20 Most Vicious Acts of Revenge in Horror Movies

320 Most Vicious Acts of Revenge in Horror Movies

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today were looking at the most brutal acts of retribution in horror movies. There will be spoilers!

Trimagasis Final Cut

The Platform (2019)

The prison in The Platform is hell in a tower. Prisoners are fed via a platform with food thats lowered throughout the facility. The film follows Goreng who finds himself imprisoned with a man named Trimagasi. Unfortunately, for Goreng, Trimagasi is a cannibal. After tying up Goreng, he begins cutting into Gorengs leg. Just when it looks like everything is over Goreng, another inmate, Miharu, arrives and she's able to wound Trimagasi. With her encouragement, Goreng is able to turn the tables on Trimagasi and not only kills him but also eats his flesh.

Jens Quest

Revenge (2017)

What starts off as a romantic getaway in the desert for Jen quickly becomes a nightmare. Not only does her boyfriend, Richard, turn out to be married but shes assaulted by one of his friends. Things go from bad to worse when Richard finds out about what happened. Instead of offering her help, he and friends instead attack her and leave her for dead. Despite her dire circumstances, Jen comes back to hunt down the men who have wronged her, taking them out one by one. All in all, its brutal but you cant say they didnt have it coming.

Marys Payback

Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)

Mary Banner was just an innocent girl looking to enjoy her prom night, but a cruel prank ruined everything. Lured by a group of jocks, she ends up locked in a trunk and suffocates to death. 35 years later, Mary returns to exact revenge on the descendants of those responsible. She doesnt just haunt, she makes sure they suffer in ways as horrific as the pain she endured. One victim is electrocuted, another is attacked by spiders in a truly skin-crawling moment. Others die off in really gruesome ways. Perhaps the most horrifying death goes to Roger, whos trapped in a tanning bed and roasted alive. Yeah, its as bad as it sounds.

Beth Gets Even

Hostel: Part II (2007)

Revenge can be very appealing, especially when youve been through the worst like Beth and her friends. The girls are tricked into going to a luxurious spa by a nude model from their art class, only to end up as victims of the twisted Elite Hunting Club. After being captured and tied to a chair, Beth is left to the mercy of Stuart. Before she can be tortured and killed, Beth is able to turn the tables on him. She seduces him into untying her and from there she overpowers him and is to buy her freedom from the Club but not before emasculating Stuart. And the nude model who set Beth up? Lets just say, she learns betrayal comes with a deadly price.

Erins Perfect Plan

Youre Next (2011)

If youre plotting to eliminate your family for inheritance money, make sure theres no one like Erin from a survivalist background. Failure to do so wont just ruin your plan, itll end in pure carnage. Because not only will she pulverize one of your guys skulls with a meat tenderizer, shell crush anothers head with a blender. Then when you try to sweet talk her into siding with you, she'll be so disgusted, shell stab you in the neck. Yep, Erin doesnt mess around. Crossing her is a fatal mistake because when it comes to vengeance, shes in a league of her own.

Mark & Joshs End

Midsommar (2019)

After witnessing old folks leap off a clip in some wild ritual, youd think Josh and Mark would tread more carefully. They dont. Mark urinates on a sacred tree. Turns out this strange community doesnt take disrespect lightly, whether its deliberate or not. Inga, a commune member, lures him away and before you know it, hes turned into a creepy scarecrow. Josh does something even dumber. He sneaks into their temple to take photographs of some sacred texts, which he was warned against doing. He gets caught and is bludgeoned to death by another commune member who wears Marks face as a mask. Its a terrifying price to pay for disobedience.

Surprise!

The Invisible Man (2020)

We cant deny that we were on Cecilias side when she turned Adrians own twisted game on him. Trapped in a violent relationship with her manipulative boyfriend, she starts out broken. Even after she escapes, he doesnt leave her alone. He fakes his death and with an invisibility suit he torments her psychologically, frames her for the murder of her sister and ultimately destroys her credibility. To put an end to things once and for all, she pretends to reconcile with Adrian at his house. What he doesnt know is that she took one of his invisibility suits and uses it to make it look like he took his own life. With that final, brutal act, shes finally attained both freedom and vengeance.

Red on a Rampage

Mandy (2018)

In this surreal horror, Nicolas Cage plays Red, a veteran lumberjack living happily with his girlfriend, Mandy. Their happy life is shattered when Mandy catches the eye of a deranged cult leader, Jeremiah Sand. This unhinged cult breaks into their home and burns Mandy right in front of Red. However, Red doesnt just grieve, he unleashes hell. He takes down the demonic biker gang one after another. Each kill gets more intense and more visceral. The worst is reserved for Jeremiah. Red corners him in an underground lair, and as he begs for his life, Red crushes his head with his bare hands. Dont mess with a lumberjack!

Brendan's Comeuppance

Fresh (2022)

Sometimes its not just about getting even, its about making the punishment fit the crime in the most twisted way. Steve, who is really Brendan, seems charming at first, until he drugs Noa and chains her to the floor. He reveals that hes a cannibal and also sells human body parts to high-paying clients. Noa doesnt wait to be rescued. After her escape attempt fails, she flirts with him and while pretending to want to perform an intimate act on him shes able to bite down on his nether region. While hes hurt, she uses the opportunity to free the other women held prisoner and together they descend on Brendan with Noa delivering the killing blow.

Revenge on Dracula

Renfield (2023)

What happens when a loyal servant decides to stop serving his dark master? In Renfield, its the beginning of Count Draculas downfall. Renfield has spent decades or even centuries doing Draculas dirty work by feeding him innocent victims and cleaning up his mess. Somewhere along the way, Renfield decides hes done being a puppet. Teaming up with Rebecca, a cop whos tired of being pushed around, they take the fight to Dracula. After an all-out, blood-soaked brawl, they dont just kill Dracula. They try everything. They trap him, crush him to pieces, encase those pieces in concrete and scatter his remains. Dracula has seen many things, but never a revenge so intense.

Bloody Prom

Carrie (1976)

Hopefully the students at this Prom night danced like there was no tomorrow - because for most of them, there wouldnt be one. Following a very cruel prank involving pigs blood, Carries psychic rage ensures she isnt the only one covered in red. The most tragic part is that most of her victims are completely innocent. She hallucinated that everyone was laughing at her, and unfortunately, that was enough for Carrie to turn on them all. Honestly, those that died first got off easy compared to the ones she left in the burning gymnasium. The only small justice is that the real culprits, Chris and Billy, met an even worse end via an exploding car.

Galloping On

Thriller A Cruel Picture (1973)

The kidnapped Madeleine endured unspeakable trauma from pimp Tony and the clients who paid to assault her. So, its certainly vindicating to see her take out her assailants, one by one, in gruesome fashion. Naturally, she saves the best - or, in this case, the worst - for last. Tony is shot in both knees and dragged into a field. His final fate involves a hole, a rope and a very speedy horse. Suffice it to say, this exploitation film definitely lived up to its title of a cruel picture. At the very least though, Madeleine gets serious points for creativity.

Haunted

Shutter (2004)

Talk about being haunted by the past. This film tells the story of a young photographer, who watched his friends commit a heinous crime against his former girlfriend. Because of this, she ended up taking her own life, and from beyond the grave, she seeks revenge. As a ghost, she coerces her attackers into taking their own lives too. The guilty lover thinks hes being saved for last, but instead, she leaves him alive. Her ghost, however, is a literal weight on his shoulders, one that he cant ever escape. This fate begs the question: whats actually worse? Death by haunting, or living with the knowledge of everything hes done?

Ghost of a Chance

Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007)

As a ghost trapped in a decrepit asylum, there isnt much else to do besides plot ways to get back at your murderer. However, Dr. Vannacutt apparently didnt consider that when he performed horrifying experiments on the inmates. With the power of a mystical idol, he was even able to control their spirits in the afterlife. But, once theyre freed, they quickly make up for lost time. The group of tortured souls unleashed decades of pent-up aggression on the doctor - ripping him to pieces. Its a downright grisly end, but given everything Vannacutt put them through, payback was long overdue.

A Freaky Fate

Freaks (1932)

Beautiful trapeze artist Cleopatra thinks shes above the so-called freaks in the carnival sideshow. She plots to marry Hans, a person of short stature, and kill him for the inheritance. When the sideshow performers welcome her into their ranks, she mocks and humiliates them. Her scheme exposed, the performers turn her into what she hates the most: one of them. The film kindly spares us from the actual mutilation, but the quacky aftermath is enough to prove it wasnt pleasant. Sure, shes technically still living, but in Cleopatras eyes, wed bet this is a fate much worse than death.

Blended

Unfriended (2014)

The recipe for this ghastly murder is as follows: a Skype call, a guy with a big mouth, and a very angry spirit. However, the most important step is to blend it all together. Unfortunately for Ken, he had to learn that last step the hard way. Of his friends, his only real crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, and saying some mean things about the deceased Laura. Apparently, that was enough for him to become the main course in her post-mortem haunting. And, if his friends reactions are any indication, his dish is a total jaw-dropper.

Pointed Payback

Audition (1999)

Shigeharu is a downtrodden widow looking for love. So he sets up an audition process, pretending that its for a movie role. But he doesnt quite find what hes looking for in Asami. The fact that he was in a prior relationship enrages his new girlfriend. Asami drugs him and gets some slow, agonizing payback by the way of needles. Her vengeance is by no means justified; theres nothing wrong with the fact that Shigeharu was married before. But in Asamis twisted mind at least, this does constitute revenge. Just thinking about this scene is enough to make even genre-diehards shiver in their seats.

Makeshift Guillotine

I Saw the Devil (2011)

This thriller is all about how far a man is willing to go to avenge the murder of his pregnant wife. As Kim Soo-hyun quickly proves, the answer is very, very far. He tracks down the killer, Jang Kyung-chul, and rigs him up to a guillotine that will drop when the door opens. And whos unwittingly doing the honors? None other than Kyung-chuls own family. The mode of death is quick, but right before he goes out, Kyung-chul is hit with the knowledge that his own child is dropping the blade. The most haunting part of this execution is knowing that the falling knife will be the last thing Kyung-chuls family sees of him.

Microwave Dinner

The Last House on the Left (2009)

They say no good deed goes unpunished, but its some decidedly bad deeds that are punished in this revenge horror-thriller. After Krug, Francis and Sadie attack Mari and almost kill her, they take refuge in the Collingwood lake house. Maris parents John and Emma take them on, one after the other, dealing out gruesome kills. But the bloodiest comes in the final minutes. John decides that he wants his vengeance reheated and sticks Krugs head into a microwave. From there, all it takes is a pop, and Krugs skull has painted the appliance red. Like most things reheated in a microwave, its not ideal, but its quick, and it gets the job done.

Hooked

I Spit on Your Grave (2010)

After Jennifer is assaulted and almost killed, shes left with a lot of trauma. She channels it into stalking down and killing her five attackers. Each of their deaths are sadistic and bloody and will burn into your brain. But even among them, Stanleys stands out. Hes captured in a bear trap, bound to a tree, and has his eyes served up to the crows. To make it even more twisted, Jennifer films it all - just like they filmed what they did to her. Leave it up to a novelist to craft such a poetic end.

Which vicious act is the most brutal? Let us know in the comments!