Thanks to Pearl is one of the more recent villains coming out from A24. She is someone to both fear and empathize with due to her insecurities and dangerous behavior.
She, along with other antagonists from this production company, knows how to scare audiences with their disturbing actions and almost too-real behavior that can make one fear how easy it is to encounter characters like them in reality.
Ada's Father - Lamb (2021)
Lamb sees a couple coping with the loss of their baby when they discover a strange human/sheep hybrid born on their farm. They name her Ada, raising her as their own in this bizarre horror story of family drama.
Part of the drama is dealing with her biological parents. Although her mother is easy to handle, her father is something else. He is less of an ongoing antagonist and is a more mysterious presence throughout, with only Ada aware. He watches everything from afar before finally intervening. He has an intimidating appearance and even justifiable motives. He looks out for his daughter yet forces her out of her new family. Granted, her adoptive parents aren't innocent either, so perhaps he believed they needed to suffer.
Black Phillip - The Witch (2015)
The Witch is a bewildering piece of cinema about a Puritan family haunted by a supernatural force that inhabits the nearby forest. What lurks there is a coven of witches who serve under the Devil.
Black Phillip is nothing but a bystander throughout most of the film, yet still gives a suspicious presence due to how much it's built up that he might know more of what's going on than expected. His actual appearance is never fully shown, but it's probably for the best since he already comes off as a menacing and dangerous character lurking quietly. He's a memorable villain with the subtle ways he manipulates the family and lets them take care of each other before going after the remaining member with charm.
Darcy - Green Room (2015)
After a punk band witnesses a murder at the bar they're performing at, the staff keeps them prisoner to keep things quiet and hope they'll also be scapegoats for their illegal activities.
Patrick Stewart plays Darcy in Green Room. He's the owner of the venue where everything takes place. Darcy first gives the impression of someone trying to defuse the situation. In actuality, he's no one's friend and has no problems making his hostages suffer if they refuse to comply with his wishes. He is a cold and calculative villain with malicious intentions that reach the surface when his hostages try to claw their way out to freedom. They can only fear for their lives when he tells them there's no escape.
The Men - Men (2022)
In Men, a woman named Harper does her best to cope with a tragedy by taking a trip to the English countryside. Upon arriving there, she comes across several men who might mean well at first but have more to them than similar faces.
The males residing in the local area are terrifying with suffocating behavior that escalates throughout. They make it impossible for Harper to process her complicated emotions due to needing to offer their outdated perspectives on the matter. As briefly mentioned, they also carry the same face, which makes for more off-putting viewing when each of them becomes drawn to her and ensures she doesn't leave the area. It's all terrifying but also an ingenious metaphor for using vulnerable women as scapegoats.
Howard Howe - Tusk (2014)
Kevin Smith wrote and directed this monstrous movie about a man who takes another hostage as he constructs a walrus suit for his prisoner to wear.
Howard Howe is the antagonist in Tusk. He takes on a Dr. Frankenstein persona in this insane situation he's formed. The unhinged man has let his guilt for eating an old walrus friend fuel him into luring victims to his home in the hopes of turning them into a replacement for Mr. Tusk. His delusions make for a disturbing villain dedicated to reuniting with his companion. His fogged-up mind prevents him from seeing how wrong this all is as he only wishes for a strange form of closure, no matter how many need to suffer to achieve it.
"Chris" - The Hole in the Ground (2019)
The Hole in the Ground has a single mother named Sarah who moves to a new town with her son Chris when they encounter the titular hole. After this, she notices something might be amiss with Chris when he displays some odd behavior.
Creepy children are a popular trope in horror, and it can be hard to come up with something fresh for this concept. "Chris," on the other hand, is a scary villain with his deadpan demeanor and sudden outbursts. It's later revealed the reasoning behind his disturbing behavior when Sarah sees who (or better yet, what) he truly is, making him all the more terrifying. Although the film lacks originality, it's still excellent in showcasing themes of parental fears through this scary boy.
Paimon - Hereditary (2018)
A24 horror movie that became an instant classic as it showcased the unsettling of a family trying to cope with two family deaths possibly connected to something supernatural.
Paimon is an antagonist the Graham family and the audience are unaware of at first. He becomes more known after the second death in the family results in terrible choices fueled by grief. He's behind every terrible situation and goes on escalating everything. Each event comes out of the left field, such as possessing family and having his cult of followers stalk them. The demon king carries an alarming presence whether he's using someone as a vessel or not. All that's needed are unexplainable events to let everyone know he's there.
Thomas Wake - The Lighthouse (2019)
The Lighthouse is a surreal film where two men tend to a lighthouse while slowly losing their minds and facing their past sins.
The chaotic film has an equally chaotic antagonist in Thomas Wake. Both he and Ephraim Winslow descend into madness while there, but Wake has his own level of insanity. What makes him especially scary is that there's no certainty about who he is or his motivations. Is Wake just an overbearing boss who enjoys berating Winslow? Is he a deathbed illusion for the younger man? It's tricky figuring out what's going on, but Wake is an unsettling person to be isolated with, which makes him all the more frightening. He has an unpredictable range of emotions and is prone to violent rages if things don't go his way.
The Harga - Midsommar (2019)
story by modern horror director Ari Aster where Dani Ardor struggles with her grief and her relationship with her emotionally unavailable boyfriend. It's when they visit a Swedish community with friends that she finds solace.
The villains here are the Harga. They are textbook examples of a cult as they take advantage of Dani's vulnerable state by making her feel welcomed. When they aren't doing that, they're using the others as sacrifices for their terrifying ritual. What makes the Hargo so scary is that they, at first, seem to live an idyllic lifestyle where they're empathetic to all, but it's later revealed they have an unorthodox and fascinating, but equally horrifying, take on death. Achieving this comes from twisting situations, making them more appealing to potential followers. They're dangerous manipulators who feel they're doing no wrong, even when murdering.
Pearl - X (2022) & Pearl (2022)
X. She's someone who believes she hasn't lived life to the fullest and feels there's no escape from her isolation.
Pearl is a terrifying movie villain people can relate to on some level. She puts her dreams aside to focus on her family and marries a man she hoped would give her fulfillment when that wasn't the case. Her feeling alienated follows her to her old age, along with the only joy that comes from hurting others. She's a disturbed individual who makes the most out of life, which sometimes means taking a life. It doesn't matter if it's a group of adult filmmakers or her own family. No one can stop Pearl's wrath, making her a formidable and truly terrifying A24 horror villain.
