'Pet' May Feature 2016's Scariest New Villain

Historically, horror movie psychopaths have come in two distinct breeds: those who demonstrate erratic behavior right off the bat (an obvious example is the hitchhiker in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), and those able to function perfectly normally in society (like American Psycho's Patrick Bateman). But while Dominic Managhan's new character falls into the latter set, he's far, far more frightening than Bateman. I'd go so far as to argue Seth in Pet is 2016's scariest psychopath. Because if you compare him to Bateman, Seth's terror doesn't lie in not caring enough, but in caring way, way too much. As the trailers for Pet have shown so far, Seth isn't an adrenalin-fuelled financier, but the dictionary definition of a nice guy. He's an animal shelter employee.

But when Seth gets hung up on a crush from high school, he starts building a cage and doing an awful lot of research on her likes (seafood), relationship status (single), and bus routes. Midway through the trailer, the pretty lady he's been crushing on hard is in the cage. There's even a new exclusive clip from Pet on Entertainment Weekly 's site that shows the painstaking care Seth takes over his plan: putting together the cage, stealing drugs from the shelter and testing their strength on himself.

Here's the chilling trailer:

According to Robert Kennedy, "Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves." Whether or not our society deserves a psychopath like Seth, there's no getting around it: he's the dictionary definition of terrifying in 2016, because he comes across like such a nice guy. He's not muscle-bound and quasi-superhuman like Bateman — he's skinny and rocks white t-shirts like Ryan Atwood or the drummer in your favorite indie band. Watching the clip above is profoundly unsettling because he's the guy you're supposed to be dating: He's so attentive, he remembers you from high school, he sends you flowers.

But perhaps the character development of Seth and Bateman isn't so different. Bateman was meant to be terrifying not because he's so distant, but because he embodies the ruthess impulses that motivated successful capitalists in the '80s (status, money, an obsession with his looks) but taken to the extreme. Similarly, with Seth, the makers of Pet take an emotion I'd wager many people can relate to — crushing on someone who doesn't feel the same way — and takes it to the most extreme place possible.

So if you're looking for a movie that'll really get under your skin, pencil this one on your calendar. It drops Dec. 2, so make sure you get an early night on Dec. 1. You won't be sleeping well for a while, if these previews are anything to go by.

Images: Magic Lantern