While horror fans always hope that the main characters in a movie will be compelling, since they have to carry the entire story, there are often many supporting characters who are crucial as well. Maybe they're the best friend of the final girl, a love interest who knows exactly what's going on, or someone who is one of the first people to die but who fans still remember.
From an important person in Jordan Peele's brilliant Get Out (2017) to Drew Barrymore's amazing Scream (1996) character, there are several minor people in horror movies who have their own scary storylines and meaningful quotes.
Rod Williams (Get Out)
Fans are interested to see Jordan Peele's new horror movie Nope as Get Out is such a stand-out movie.
Chris Washington's (Daniel Kaluuya) best friend Rod Williams (Lil Rel Howery) is one of the best supporting characters from any horror movie and also one of the funniest parts of Get Out. Rod, who works in TSA at the airport, can tell that something terrible is going to happen and lets Chris know that visiting Rose Armitage's (Allison Williams) parents probably won't be a great idea. When Rod helps Chris, Chris asks how he knew where he was and Rod says," I'm TS-motherf*ckin'-A. We handle sh*t. That's what we do. Consider this situation f*ckin' handled." Rod is so important because he serves as a warning and helps share the movie's message.
Max Neurick (I Know What You Did Last Summer)
Johnny Galecki played a small role in I Know What You Did Last Summer as Julie James's (Jennifer Love Hewitt) friend Max Neurick. In the '90s horror movie that still holds up, Max has a huge crush on Julie and wants nothing more than to steal her away from Ray (Freddie Prince Jr.).
Max's part in the story is brief but hard to forget as his death is terrible. While Max is working in the pier shack of his small town, as he's a fisherman, Ben Willis brutally murders him. This death scene is one of the most shocking from the movie and while horror fans could guess that minor characters would die along with some of the main ones, it's still a huge moment when Max's life ends.
Anne-Marie McCoy (Candyman)
In the 1992 movie Candyman, Anne-Marie McCoy (Vanessa Estelle Williams) is a single parent, and her son is Anthony, who becomes the main character in the 2021 direct sequel. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's character Anthony becomes the Candyman, and it's his mother who knows all about about the legend and myth of the Candyman.
The big reveal at the end of the 1992 film involves Candyman taking Anne-Marie's baby Anthony and Helen (Virginia Madsen) being determined to stop it. Helen does return the baby to Anne-Marie, and Annie-Marie is one of the most important supporting characters in the Candyman franchise. Anne-Marie has suffered, seen real pain and suffering, and she has chosen not to give Anthony details about his past.
Casey Becker (Scream)
While Scream 3 has a bad opening scene, the 1996 movie Scream has what is generally thought to be the most epic way to open any horror film in history. Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) prepares herself for a night of popcorn and scary films, and instead, Ghostface calls her, quizzes her on the genre, and kills her boyfriend Steve Orth (Kevin Patrick Walls) before murdering her in an incredibly gruesome way. Casey is a great supporting character as she's sweet and audiences care about her immediately.
In an interview with Hot Ones, Drew Barrymore shared that she thought it would work well if Casey was killed. She said that she doesn't like when the main character in a horror movie survives. Barrymore said that she wanted the film to be different: "What I wanted to do is to take that comfort zone away. I asked if I could be Casey Becker so we would establish this rule does not apply in this film," according to Entertainment Weekly.
Molly Cartwell (Halloween: H20)
Halloween H20 is actually a good movie, although it's not as popular as the first, classic film from 1978, and Michelle Williams played Laurie Strode's (Jamie Lee Curtis) son John's (Josh Hartnett) girlfriend Molly Cartwright. Molly is a solid supporting character who has some smart dialogue. Molly and John have a sweet teenage romance, and John explains that he hasn't celebrated Halloween because "it would be in bad taste to celebrate," which injects some humor and levity into this difficult and sad situation.
Molly is part of an interesting exchange when Laurie asks her what she thinks about Victor Frankenstein and Elizabeth, the person who he loved. In a parallel to Laurie going after her own Halloween creature, Michael Myers, Molly says, "Victor had reached a point in his life where he had nothing left to lose. I mean the monster sought to that by killing off everybody that he loved. Victor finally had to face it. It was about redemption... it was his fate." Molly is much smarter than her peers and a great part of the movie.