Couples. Partners. Lovers. Siblings. Spouses. Besties. Some of the most fascinating horror characters come in pairs. Whether they team up for good or evil, these characters are inextricably linked together to their fates. In Episode 142 we explore some of our favorite horror duets.
At first, we had talked about making a Valentine’s Day episode. Horror for Lovers! But then when we decided upon saying horror couples, that brought up all sorts of fun opportunities. More than just romantic pairs, what about siblings? Best buddies? The power of the complimentary couple opens the drama up for collaboration, dialogue, tension, comedy, and inspiration.
Some of the best tropes are tied to couples. Beauty and the Beast. Evil twins. “Not without my spouse!” The buddy road trip. The investigative pair. Couples who kill together. Dysfunctional families.
True, it’s hard to find a movie that doesn’t involve couples in some way. But what we wanted to explore was movies that hinged on the pairing as a primary motivating engine for the story. Movies that relied upon the strength of the two characters. If you think of the movie, and you have to consider both characters, then it’s a pair worth talking about.
For the purpose of this podcast, we are ruling out the antagonistic duos. So, no Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. No Freddy and Nancy. No King Kong and Ann Darrow (though I was certainly tempted). Some consideration could be made to couples who start as partners and end as enemies (Get Out, the Shining) but for the most part, what we concentrated on was couples who worked together or were romantic partners.
Plenty to choose from, right? Who would you have picked?
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