10 Horror Movie Characters Who Were Their Own Worst Enemy

Most of us tune into a horror movie hoping to see what cruel and twisted ways the villain can conjure up to antagonise an often hapless group of characters, taking great delight in the frights that follow. And most of the time we get what we pay for, leaving the cinema feeling that enough haemoglobin has been spent, spilled and splattered to slake our thirst for at least another week. But, occasionally, we get short-changed in the worst of ways.

Because sometimes protagonists don't need a big bad to send them reeling into terror, murder, mayhem and death. Sometimes they manage it themselves. Whether by time travel, duplication, alcoholism or a distant relationship with reality, these characters manage to screw up their lives beyond repair, causing the breakdown of their relationships, the death of their friends and often grievous injury to themselves.

Here are 10 of the best, many of whom you may already be on first-name terms with, and some of whom you'll wish you never met. But beware: Nuclear-grade spoilers lie ahead. Don't say we didn't warn you.

2003's psychological horror flick Identity treads a fine line between compelling mystery and shamelessly bonkers surrealism.

Serial killer Malcolm Rivers (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is on trial, awaiting a verdict on whether he will receive the death sentence for his crimes; meanwhile a group of ten strangers gather in a hotel, and begin being killed off one by one. But how do these narratives connect? Well, riding in on the wave of split personality films of the late '90s and early '00s (Fight Club, Primal Fear), Identity sought to take things one step further down the science-fiction chain, by having the vast majority of the film's action take place within one man's head.

All ten characters are distinct personalities of Malcolm's, and Ed (John Cusack) has been tasked with rooting out and eliminating the one murderous persona, in hopes of liberating Malcolm from their deadly designs. Unfortunately, not all goes to plan and Malcolm's evil personality, the nine-year-old Timmy (Bret Loehr), triumphs by killing all the others, assuming full control of Malcolm's psyche once and for all. And, if that's too much to wrap your head around, think how Malcolm feels!