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Boo! Did I get you? Probably not but that is fine. In a world where cheap jump scares are prioritized to create fear in an audience, it is hard to come across characters who are effective not because of a hokey mask they wear but because of their deeply disturbing psychology. Thankfully, ​No Country for Old Men, ​a 2007 film by the Coen Brothers,​ ​and "A Good Man is Hard to Find," ​a short story by Flannery O’Connor,​ ​contain two examples of the latter. 

The Coen Brothers’ film follows a killer named Anton Chigurh as he tries to recover stolen money from a man named Llewelyn Moss, while O'Connor’s story follows a grandmother and her family on a road trip to Florida before they meet an escaped convict named The Misfit. Chigurh and The Misfit both devalue monetary or material rewards, are indifferent to the idea of innocence, and when prompted with an opportunity of redemption, choose to reject it. 

Neither Chigurh nor The Misfit commit their crimes for monetary gain because money does not have value to them. During a confrontation with Chigurh, a man named Carson Wells, a fellow bounty hunter played by Woody Harrelson, attempts to bargain for his life by saying, “You could have the money, Anton.” Chigurh is not a traditional assassin where he kills specific targets for a price. Although he is trying to recover the money Llewelyn stole, he does not want it for himself, and it is ultimately meaningless to him. Similarly, when the grandmother is talking to The Misfit she says, “Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!” The Misfit replies, “‘There never was a body that give the undertaker a tip." The Misfit is essentially saying that dead people do not pay, and money is worthless when compared to the weight of life and death. Money is not a motivation for these two men. In reality, Chigurh and The Misfit are both nihilists. 

Chigurh and The Misfit do not care about the consequences of their actions and operate on the notion of randomness. “Innocent” or “guilty” does not matter to Chigurh. Technically, Llewelyn is guilty of stealing the money, so therefore it could be argued that his death is somehow warranted. However, Chigurh also kills a seemingly innocent man whose car he pulls over at the beginning of the film. To Chigurh, life is meaningless. He does not care who he kills. The Misfit is the same. He says to the grandmother, "I found out the crime don't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it." The Misfit does not feel remorse for the horrible crimes he commits because there is no severity to them in his mind; he even says he forgets about the things he has done eventually. Like two scorpions, it is in both Chigurh and The Misfit’s nature to be truly apathetic and operate completely outside the bounds of what would be considered rational or moral. However, they are both given opportunities for redemption. 

The Misfit and Chigurh are presented with female figures who try and show them they have the ability to control their own humanity. After her mother’s funeral, Carla Jean, Llewelyn’s wife, returns to her house to find Chigurh waiting there for her. She tells him, “You got no cause to hurt me . . . You don’t have to do this.” Chigurh offers her the chance to flip a coin to decide the outcome of the situation, to which Carla Jean responds: “The coin don’t have no say. It’s just you.” Carla Jean is right. Chigurh is the one in control of his own humanity. If he let Carla Jean live, obviously it would not excuse his past actions, but it would be the first moment of mercy the audience would see from him. Chirugh is so bound by his twisted principles, however, that he cannot fathom this option, so he turns to the coin--to the randomness of fate he understands. His chance of redemption dies with Carla Jean, and then, in what can be called divine intervention, he immediately gets into a near fatal car accident. Meanwhile, in The Misfit’s final interaction with the grandmother, she looks up at him and touches him on the shoulder, saying, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!" This action is so startling to The Misfit that he shoots the grandmother three times in the chest. This moment of affection shown by the grandmother is The Misfit's chance at redemption. The intimacy and tenderness is too much for The Misfit to understand. He, like Chigurh, chooses to remain a wild animal. 

Chigurh and The Misfit are both nihilists who act randomly rather than out of lust for money or power, and even when offered a chance to reclaim their humanity, they are too far gone to accept it. When people think of monsters, they often imagine deformed figures like Frankenstein or bloodsuckers like Dracula. Chigurh and The Misfit could appear to be normal people if someone passed them on the street. They are grotesque on the inside. They are such effective antagonists because they are like sharks. There is nothing behind their eyes. No plan, no reasoning. Just pure chaos and the same instincts of a predatory animal in the wild. In some ways, Chigurh and The Misfit are scarier than a vampire or zombie because they lack a basic understanding of human empathy and kinship that breeds psychopathy and creates the true monsters of the world. 

Zoe Neely's critical essay won third prize in the Ninth Annual Humanities and Sciences Writing Contest. Her short script, "Queen of the Deck," also won third prize. Zoe is a sophomore majoring in Animation at the School of Visual Arts. "I am a passionate and dedicated animator, illustrator, and graphic designer," Zoe writes. "I love coming up with stories and bring them to life through art." Zoe was an illustrator for several children’s books, and was runner up in the 2019 and 2020 Kids Film It Festival animation category for her films “Cat Fight” and “Joe” respectively. Zoe has worked with companies such as My Malibu Swimsuit, Chicken Joe’s Restaurant, and NxtGen Nexus, creating promotional materials. Zoe has been a board member and head graphic designer for Burning River Baroque, a non-profit early music organization, since 2016.