This guy’s definitely one of the more hateable horror villains I’ve seen recently and is probably the most clear-cut example in the story (while he shows some intelligence it’s fairly minor so I don’t think he has any problem counting).
The work?
Abigail is a 2024 comedy-horror film focusing on a gang of criminals who kidnap a young girl for ransom, only to learn she is not only the daughter of a ruthless crime lord but is also a vampire.
Who is he?
Frank, formerly known as Adam Barrett, is a corrupt detective who initially played both sides while supposedly infiltrating Kristof Lazar’s organization, but after being exposed he abandoned his job and his family to become a full-time criminal, and is later targeted by Abigail in revenge for betraying her father.
What Makes Him Pathetic?
- When assigned to infiltrate Lazar’s ranks, he found he enjoyed a life of crime and played both sides, holding off on arresting three of his men for months and only reluctantly doing so. He also didn’t care about Abigail subsequently killing the three to keep them from testifying, only being concerned that his betrayal was now known by Lazar.
- He callously abandoned his family to become a criminal, claiming it was for their own good but in reality not caring about them.
- He’s by far the most sadistic of the kidnappers, having no objection to kidnapping Abigail who he thinks is an innocent child, and bullies Joey into going along with it when she objects. Furthermore, the fact that he calls the gang "his crew" suggests that he was the one who initially took on the job and recruited the other members, making him primarily responsible for the kidnapping.
- Of all the kidnappers, he is the most willing to torture and murder Abigail even when he thought she was harmless, and when the others suggest they at least try to reason with her or her father he rejects this in favor of killing her. When kidnapping her, he tries to punch her in the face and has to be restrained from doing so by Joey, later holds a gun to Abigail’s head and screams threats at her just because she saw his face, and when she lies about him being "Valdez" he pushes the other kidnappers to "get rough" with her, showing no objection when Peter holds her at gunpoint and is seemingly about to shoot her.
- When Abigail points out later that he was willing to torture and kill her when he thought she was just an innocent child, he gives an obviously insincere apology.
- He shows little concern for the rest of the gang aside from valuing them as allies against Abigail, trying to ditch them as soon as he realizes they could be in danger and not seeming to care much when they’re killed by her, even helping Joey kill a brainwashed Sammy himself and showing no remorse for this.
- He makes a deal with Abigail behind the others' backs to let him go if he frees her (while only caring about his own escape) then goes back on his word and leaves her locked up (while she was lying about letting him go and was easily able to break out of her cage he didn't know this at the time).
- He makes a deal with Lambert to become a vampire so they can rule Lazar's criminal empire, then immediately backstabs and murders Lambert so he can have it all to himself. He then turns on and attacks Joey and sadistically tells her he'll make her his slave and force her to murder her own son, who's just a child. This disgusts even Abigail (who he'd left for dead) and she comes to Joey’s rescue and they team up to stop him.
- He overpowers Joey and bites her (which would have turned her into a vampire as well had he not been killed) then tries to mind-control her into murdering Abigail, trying to kill them both himself when this fails.
- He’s overall the most detestable character in the film and has no true redeeming traits by the end, and is even worse than Abigail or her father as he’s willing to kill completely innocent people including children, while the latter two mostly limit themselves to targeting other criminals or people who betrayed them.
What Makes Him a Pinhead?
- He does not research who has hired him or who the target is, which could have tipped him off that it was a trap by Abigail and her father.
- He’s excessively smug and condescending to his teammates and acts like he’s smarter than them despite not being as competent or in-control as he claims.
- He’s a coward as despite inciting the others to kill Abigail, he initially hangs back when they try and lets Sammy go ahead of him.
- He consistently underestimates Abigail’s strength and intelligence, being manipulated by her more than once and smugly mocking her for being “gullible” when he leaves her locked up, only to be caught by surprise when she reveals she lied about how to escape and is able to break out herself.
- He thinks becoming a vampire will instantly make him unstoppable and doesn’t consider that it may take a long time to learn to use his powers to their full extent, as Abigail points out when his attempt to brainwash Joey fails.
- His death is hilariously undignified as Abigail gleefully mocks him before she and Joey stake him, causing him to explode into bits with blood spraying everywhere in an over the top fashion.
Preventions?
Not really. Any concern for his allies is mainly pragmatic and he drops his care for them once he no longer needs them, and while he does briefly call Joey out for being estranged from her son (which is hypocritical since he himself abandoned his family) he’s clearly condescending and unempathetic in how he says it and given he’s fully willing to kill them both later it’s clear he subverts it. He also has a number of funny lines but the humor mostly comes from what an uncaring jerk he is so it doesn’t make him sympathetic.
Verdict?
Yep.