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Red and allies
Red Miller
- Played by: Nicolas Cage
The film's protagonist, husband of Mandy Bloom. A formerly violent man who settled down when he met the title character, Red's peaceful life is disrupted when Jeremiah Sand comes into the picture and abducts his wife.
- Ambiguously Human: After digesting the Black Skulls' LSD, he's implied to not be human any longer, being granted abilities such as telepathy, and a Voice of the Legion.
- Animal Motifs: Tigers. He wears a shirt with a tiger face, and roars like a tiger while he downs vodka in the bathroom. Later, he meets the chemist's pet tiger.
- Badass Boast: Gets a couple towards Jeremiah Sand at the end.Red: The psychotic drowns where the mystic swims. You're drowning, I'm swimming.
Red: I'M YOUR GOD NOW. - Badass Normal: Even before taking the LSD, he single-handedly takes on the demonic Black Skulls gang, even killing one with just a boxcutter.
- Barbarian Hero: Red may not be an actual barbarian, but he's almost certainly meant to evoke this trope. He's a solitary man who lives alone in the wilderness, who is heavily implied to have some sort of violent past that he's left behind to live with Mandy. His enemies include a depraved, cowardly cult leader who may possess some sort of magical ability, and his gang of demonic biker servants (mirroring the Sorcerous Overlord trope often found in barbarian stories). When he's called into action, he does so with medieval weaponry, specifically an ax forged by his own hand and a crossbow, and in hand-to-hand confrontations he's The Berserker.
- Berserk Button: Woe be unto whoever rips his favorite shirt, even if they're a Black Skull. It's because it was the same shirt Red was wearing when he first met Mandy.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's a quiet, humble man who mostly just keeps to himself. When sufficiently provoked though (and Jeremiah MORE than accomplishes that), he is an absolutely unstoppable force of violence.
- Blood-Splattered Warrior: After his battle with the Black Skulls, there isn't an inch of him that isn't stained red.
- Chainsaw Good: Averted. He uses a chainsaw to fight one of the Children ... who grabs an even bigger chainsaw. Their duel is about as clunky as it would probably be in real life.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Gagged with barbed wire, stabbed in the gut, and Forced to Watch as the love of his life dies by fire. Red's vengeance is well-earned.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Panos Cosmatos states that he was violent prior to meeting Mandy. It remains unclear how so, but he's implied to be a Vietnam veteran. Considering how he doesn't hesitate in tasting the Black Skull's LSD, he could be a recovering addict as well.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Partially justified, as he's trying not only to numb the mental anguish, but the physical pain by chugging down a bottle of vodka.
- Emotional Bruiser: Red is capable of absolutely inhuman violence, but it's all motivated by his deep love for Mandy and his anguish at her murder.
- Forced to Watch: He's strung up by the hands with barbed wire while he's made to watch Mandy burn to death.
- Happily Married: From all appearances, him and Mandy truly love each other, and her death sends him over the edge again.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Downplayed. While his revenge against the Children of the New Dawn is brutal even before he takes the Black Skulls' LSD, he still retains a solid moral compass, sparing Sister Lucy, the only member of the cult innocent of any real wrongdoing despite having an opportunity to kill her alongside Brother Swann.
- Horrifying Hero: By the climax of the film he's become a blood soaked maniac who coldly and methodically butchers his prey while speaking with a Voice of the Legion. If not for his love of Mandy he might become a being like the Black Skulls.
- Impossibly Cool Weapon: The Beast, an axe with a spear at the bottom of the handle. And he forged it himself.
- Large Ham: What more would you expect from Nicolas Cage? Most notably, the bathroom scene where he breaks down after Mandy dies.Red: (while fending off a Black Skull) YOU RIPPED MY SHIRT! YOU RIPPED MY SHIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRT!
- Love at First Sight: A flashback near the end shows that he fell in love with Mandy pretty much as soon as he made eye contact with her.
- Manly Tears: Red is a supremely manly man, and Mandy's death reduces him to a sobbing, screaming wreck.
- Meaningful Name: Red is a significant part of the movie's color palette. He also spends a good chunk of the last quarter of the movie soaked in blood.
- Mook Horror Show: Visits this upon the Children of the New Dawn after tracking down their compound. Unlike the Black Skulls, only one person manages to give him a real fight. The rest is absolutely one-sided butchery.
- Nice Guy: At the beginning, he's a friendly, likable person whose interactions with Mandy are incredibly sweet. Even during his rampage, he's not without the capacity for mercy and kindness, sparing both the Chemist and Sister Lucy, despite their affiliation with the Children of the New Dawn.
- One-Man Army: All but a few deaths in the movie are his handiwork.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Becomes just as brutal as the Black Skulls while out for revenge against them and the Children of the New Dawn for killing Mandy.
- Pet the Dog: Even after going full Blood Knight in his rampage, he spares Sister Lucy, the only innocent member of the cult who seems to be the most victimized by Jeremiah.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The last quarter of the movie is all him getting revenge on the Black Skulls and the Children of the New Dawn for killing Mandy.
- The Quiet One: After taking the LSD, he continues his Roaring Rampage of Revenge mostly in silence. By the time he speaks again, it's only two lines and he has a Voice of the Legion.
- Thousand-Yard Stare:
- After he frees himself from his restraints and watches Mandy's ashes blow away, he walks back in his house and catatonically plops down on the bed with this exact look on his face.
- After finishing off the last of the Children, he's left staring ahead with a hollow expression as he recalls his first meeting with Mandy, still feeling his loss despite taking revenge.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: Implied. Despite succeeding at wiping out the Black Skulls and the Children of the New Dawn, Red is left driving off into the distance with a hollow expression as he thinks back to first meeting Mandy, feeling no solace after taking revenge.
- The Vietnam Vet: Implied. He's clearly skilled in guerilla warfare, and given his Dark and Troubled Past, it's likely he served in the war.
- Would Hit a Girl: He beheads Sister Marlene, and throws her head to Jeremiah.
Mandy Bloom
- Played by: Andrea Riseborough
The title character. A novelist, illustrator, and the wife to Red Miller.
- Ambiguously Evil: Entirely open to interpretation, but the red color wash usually shines on her. Normally, in the movie, the color is a motif for evil, as it's often shown on Jeremiah Sand.
- Badass Normal: More subtly than Red, but she single-handedly crushes Jeremiah's spirit by laughing at him when he tries to rape her. Bonus points because she's drugged and barely in her right mindset when she does.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: She's wrapped up in a sack, strung up feet first and burned alive.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Her father tried to force her to beat a flock of starlings to death with a crowbar. Given the scar on her, it's likely he physically abused her, too.
- Disposable Woman: Her murder motivates Red to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Happily Married: From all appearances, her and Red truly love each other, and her death sends him over the edge again.
- Metalhead: A classic 80s metalhead, given her Black Sabbath and Mötley Crüe shirts.
- Nice Girl: She's kind and compassionate, even managing to help Red become a better person.
Caruthers
- Played by: Bill Duke
An old friend of Red's. Owner of a crossbow known as the Reaper.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has his moments.Caruthers: So, what you hunting?
Red: Jesus freaks.
Caruthers: Didn't know they were in season. - The Hermit: He lives in a trailer out in the middle of nowhere with a "FUCK OFF" sign on his door.
- Mr. Exposition: Gives Red all the information he needs to know on the Black Skulls.
Children of the New Dawn and associates
Jeremiah Sand
- Played by: Linus Roache
A failed folk musician turned vain, entitled, cowardly leader of the Children of the New Dawn cult.
- Asshole Victim: It's nothing short of cathartic to see him die gruesomely.
- Badass Longrobe: Probably the only good thing he has going for him is that he has an epic bathrobe
◊. - Bad Boss: If he wants something, he won't hesitate to sacrifice his own followers to the Black Skulls to get it. He's also horribly abusive to them, belittling Marlene and forcing Lucy to nearly shoot herself just to prove his twisted idea of what love is to Red.
- Beware the Silly Ones: As hilarious as his narcissism can be, he's still a dangerous cult leader.
- Big Bad: It's his obsession with Mandy and brutal murder of her once she mocks him that triggers the main events of the movie.
- Break the Haughty: After being humiliated by Mandy, he runs out of the room sobbing and asking his reflection to "tell him what to do". The last time we see him, it's clear his spirit has been crushed, and he's unable to come to terms with the realization that he is not the demigod he thinks himself to be.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Red crushes his head between his hands, and one of his eyes pops out. Though it's entirely justified.
- Deal with the Devil: His description of his meeting with an unidentified "him" sounds a lot like this, though the lyrics on Lift It Down mention Christ in a positive light.
- Depraved Bisexual: Implied. His conversations with Brother Swan carry an air of sexual attraction, though he primarily goes for women, raping his female followers on a routine basis.Jeremiah: (blubbering while cornered by Red) I'll blow you man, I'll suck your fucking diiiiiick!''
- Dirty Coward: For all his power and the hold he has over his followers, he's really nothing but a sad, pathetic little man who can't fend for himself when faced with danger, instead relying on the Black Skulls to do the heavy lifting for him.
- Entitled Bastard: As most of the tropes under this folder suggest. He thinks that anything he wants, he's owed.Jeremiah: They were wrong, and you were right... You are not separate from all that is, so all that is, is yours.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In his mind, Jesus' "mistake" was not sending someone else to be crucified in his place. The idea of self-sacrifice is clearly lost on Jeremiah (for obvious reasons).
- Evil Is Hammy: He's rather loud and bombastic, to say the least, as befitting a cult leader.
- Evil Is Petty: After Mandy laughs at him (while drugged out of her skull), Jeremiah not only decides to murder her in a horrible and painful fashion, but he insults her and Red's relationship, as well as telling Red that she's an "ugly whore".
- Evil Sorcerer: Possibly. He has the Tainted Blade of the Pale Knight, "retrieved from his abyssal lair", according to Brother Swan, and he has the Black Skulls summoned with an artifact called the Horn of Abraxas, paying them with a blood sacrifice in exchange for Mandy.
- Eye Scream: Jeremiah's left eye pops out as Red fatally crushes his skull.
- Faux Affably Evil: When it suits him, he's polite, apologizing to Mandy for having her kidnapped and drugged. Mind you, this is before he flips out when she rejects his advances and burns her alive.
- Freudian Excuse: His mother was abusive to him, locking him up in a closet while she brought men home, and his father just sat by and did nothing, though it's never used to make him appear sympathetic at all.
- Hate Sink: Utterly pathetic and loathsome, personifying the toxic masculinity that the movie was created specifically to mock.
- He-Man Woman Hater: While he clearly doesn't care about anyone who isn't him, he sees women in particular as second-class citizens and deserving of being treated like slaves and used for sex. And murdering them when they reject his advances.
- "I Am Great!" Song: "Amulet of the Weeping Maze" is this in a nutshell. The lyrics depict him as some sort of great prophet who's above everybody else."Jeremiah Sand was a righteous man, whose heart was full of love..."
- It's All About Me: He's incapable of separating himself from anyone else. During his rant to Mandy, their faces blur together to emphasize this.
- Jerkass: Simply put, he is just not a nice person. He belittles Mother Marlene — who adores him — snapping at her for not immediately going to fetch Brother Swan, and views his followers as expendable when it comes to getting what he thinks he's owed.
- Laughably Evil: At times, his inflated sense of self-worth can make him rather funny. It's part of why Mandy laughs at him.
- Light Is Not Good: Jeremiah pontificates about the hot, beautiful light he was bathed in, supposedly by God, and he considers himself "a righteous man whose heart [is] full of love". He embodies none of the righteousness he likes to see in himself, and is ultimately just a small, petty, loathsome man with delusions of grandeur.
- Likes Older Women: Marlene is significantly older than him, but that doesn't stop him from having sex with her.
- Love at First Sight: What Jeremiah thinks happened between him and Mandy; as far as he cares, she's a kindred spirit who silently called out to him and is worthy to share in his glory. In reality, she's little more than a Lust Object to him, and the instant she acts in a way he doesn't like, he suffers a breakdown and condemns Mandy to a horrible death.
- Madness Mantra: After Mandy laughs in his face:Jeremiah: (sobbing while looking in the mirror) Tell me what to do, tell me what to do, please tell me what to do ...
- Meaningful Rename: He was born Jeremy Reigart, but changed his name later in life after a religious experience.
- Mood-Swinger: One moment he'll be calmly talking to his followers, only to snap at them just moments afterwards for no good reason.
- Narcissist: Thinks he's his god's gift to women and that if he deserves to have anyone or anything that he's drawn to. He also refers to himself in his song, "Amulet of the Weeping Maze" as a "righteous man whose heart was full of love".
- Non-Action Big Bad: Though he's the driving force behind most of what goes on in the movie, he never does much of anything himself, short of stabbing Red once.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: At first, he just seems like an entitled asshole with a god complex, but then he's revealed to have the Black Skulls under his thumb.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Jeremiah's treatment of the women around him shows that he has quite a misogynist streak; he uses the women in his cult for sex and becomes obsessively fixated on Mandy after seeing her exactly once, having her kidnapped and drugged (making it clear that consent isn't high on his list of priorities) only to reject her as an "ugly whore" when she laughs at his bloated ego.
- Psychopathic Manchild: One indication of just how much of a loser he is behind the charismatic cult leader persona is his sheer petulance. His sense of entitlement often leads to childish tantrums when he realizes that he can't have whatever — or whoever — it is that he wants. Though he seems to be an Evil Sorcerer, so much of his power goes to waste towards his own petty gain.
- Religion of Evil: It's unclear just what it is that the Children believe, but between his rant to Mandy sounding an awful lot like he made a Deal with the Devil, their connection to a demonic biker gang, his disdain for Jesus' self-sacrifice (though ironically enough, he refers to "the light of Christ" in one of his songs, and he sometimes wears a crucifix) and the look on Red's face when he read the cult's scripture, it's likely that there's something inherently sinister and possibly even Satanic in their doctrine.
- Self-Made Orphan: Poisoned his own parents and made off with their fortune.
- Sissy Villain: There's not much that's physically impressive about him, he's almost effeminately emotional, and he's implied to swing both ways. He also freaks out when Red throws Marlene's severed head at him.
- Small Name, Big Ego: A failed folk musician who leads an insignificantly-sized cult that lives in the hills, yet he thinks that he's all-powerful and is entitled to whatever he wants.
- Stylistic Suck: He's not a very good musician. As a matter of fact, his music is either painfully bland or just flat out painful, but it's completely intentional to show that he's nowhere near justifying his ego.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Mandy laughs at him, he completely loses himself. By the time Red confronts him, he's sitting in a room, half-naked and swinging between loudly raving about how he's superior to Red and begging for mercy.
- Villains Want Mercy: He's absolutely pathetic when trying to beg Red not to kill him.
Brother Swan
- Played by: Ned Dennehy
Jeremiah's favored follower, seemingly fulfills the role of The Dragon to him. Also Marlene's husband.
- Ambiguously Bi: While he's married to Marlene, he's implied to be a sexual partner to Jeremiah.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Gets the spear end of the Beast stuffed down his throat.
- The Dragon: Jeremiah's right-hand man and seems to be second in command.
- Face Death with Dignity: Ironically, unlike his boss, he accepts that he's about to die without begging for his life.
- Kick the Dog: Brother Swan opts to taunt Red about Mandy's death when he knows his number's up. He even makes a bad pun about it (by way of a Neil Young reference).
Mother Marlene
- Played by: Olwen Fouéré
One of Jeremiah's lovers, and the most devoted to him. She was the first person to ever agree with Jeremiah's preachings.
- Sadist: She smiles and laughs as Mandy burns alive.
- Villains Want Mercy: She offers Red sex if he lets her live. It doesn't work.
Sister Lucy
- Played by: Line Pillet
A young member of the cult that Jeremiah keeps under his thumb.
- Break the Cutie: This poor woman. She's clearly been through a lot to the point where she'll do whatever Jeremiah tells her, even if it means she'd risk suicide.
- Token Good Teammate: Out of everyone in the cult, she's the only one who seems to have anything resembling goodness, weeping when Brother Swan is killed. Red spares her in the end.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: We don't see her doing much of anything evil aside from holding Mandy down while Marlene drugs her, but she seems to be the most mistreated out of the Children. It's heavily implied that Jeremiah keeps her in line with a series of rapes.
Brother Hanker
- Played by: Alexis Julemont
- Plucky Comic Relief: He provides a bit of humor while the Black Skulls are being summoned by pulling the car window up and down repeatedly for several minutes straight.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Does barely anything of worth before getting an axe chucked in his face.
Brother Klopek
- Played by: Clément Baronnet
One of the cult's more physically able members.
- Ax-Crazy: Seems a little too excited watching Mandy burn alive.
- Badass Normal: He manages to put up a good fight with the LSD-fuelled Red, even if chainsaws clearly aren't the best dueling weapons.
- The Brute: He's more physically capable than most of the Children, though he also seems fairly dim-witted.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies before he can receive much characterization.
Brother Lewis
- Played by: Stephan Fraser
The youngest and most expendable member of the cult.
- Butt-Monkey: The other members clearly don't respect him, and have no issues sending him to his death.
- Human Sacrifice: The rest of the cult sacrifice him to the Black Skulls.
- The Load: He doesn't seem to contribute much to the cult, and it's implied that the only reason Jeremiah keeps him around is to sacrifice him later.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: The first character in the movie to die, without establishing much personality beyond meekness.
The Black Skulls
- Played by: Ivailo Dimitrov (Skratch), Hayley Saywell (Sis), Kalin Kerin (Scabs), Tamás Hagyuó (Fuck Pig)
A demonic, drug-peddling biker gang serving as muscle to the Children of the New Dawn.
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: In this case, having the bikers in question only be Hells Angels would be an improvement. Or perhaps the "Hells" part is a little bit more literal than usual.
- All There in the Manual: None of their names are ever spoken in-universe, but they're listed in the credits.
- Ambiguously Human: After a dose of the Chemist's LSD, they haven't been entirely the same. It's highly likely they're not human anymore in anything except outline.
- Badass Biker: More like badass demonic bikers.
- Combat Sadomasochist: The LSD they took leaves them in constant pain, but they're so far removed from humanity at this point that they don't give a shit.
- Dark Is Evil: In case their name didn't make this obvious, they're decked out literally from head to toe in black. They're also responsible for strings of gruesome murders.
- Defiant to the End: After Red has disarmed him and is preparing to give a coup-de-grace, Skratch mocks him for Mandy's death."SHE IS STILL BURNING."
- Demon of Human Origin: Probably. They were just a "normal" outlaw biker gang before tasting the Chemist's LSD, but afterwards, they require blood sacrifices after being summoned to carry out a deed. At the very least, they're Satanists, as implied by the sigil of Lucifer on Sis' vest.
- The Dreaded: When Caruthers has to warn Red that he might not come back from his quest of vengeance against them, that says pretty much all you need to know.
- Evil Counterpart: To Red, by the end of the movie. Though they've presumably always been a bad lot, Red maintains his heroism even after tasting their LSD.
- Evil Gloating: Most of their sparse dialogue consists of this.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Their voices sound like erupting volcanoes.
- Expy: Being decked out in lots of black leather, being humans who may or may not have become demons and in constant pain that they enjoy, they're for all intents and purposes a biker variation of the Cenobites, and there's four of them, to boot, as there were in the original Hellraiser. And as demon bikers, they're also similar to the Plague.
- The Heavy: Jeremiah pays them in blood to do his bidding, but they're fundamentally independent operators and far more threatening than the pathetic hippies that make up the Children.
- The Hedonist: Fuck Pig is implied to be a Serial Rapist and is seen watching porn with his face buried in a mountain of cocaine.
- Humanoid Abomination: Probably. They look human in outline, but otherwise, there's no obvious humanity left in them. They're summoned by an occult artifact and have impossibly deep voices, shrug off neck wounds from a crossbow, and are in constant pain, which they actually love.
- Made of Iron: The spiky one survives a crossbow bolt and bike wipeout before absolutely no selling Red's attempt at Car Fu. Later, their leader receives a crossbow bolt to the throat without flinching before calmly pulling it out as if it were a splinter.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Does "Black Skulls" sound like a group of people you'd want to meet? Special mention goes to Fuck Pig.
- Perverted Pig: Invoked by "Fuck-Pig" who gruesomely murders people by raping them with a codpiece that has a knife on it that he uses as a dildo.
- Serial Killer: A gang of them. Caruthers explains that they're responsible for numerous disappearances and murders in the wilderness, and when they capture Red, they bring him back to a house they've apparently invaded and butchered the inhabitants of.
- Serial Rapist: The bladed, bloodied dildo Fuck Pig wears, along with the nude corpses in the bedroom, implies that he gets his kicks raping people to death.
- The Smurfette Principle: They have one female member, though it's almost impossible to tell without looking at the credits.
The Chemist
- Played by: Richard Brake
- Affably Evil: He's nothing but polite, helpful, and sympathetic to Red, and manufactured the drug that created the Black Skulls and is highly creepy.
- Ambiguously Evil: Though he manufactured the drug that turned the Black Skulls into whatever they are, we don't get to know much about him otherwise. He seems genuinely saddened when he finds out what they did to Red.
- Ambiguously Human: It's clear that something isn't quite right with the guy, probably due to his constant exposure to the Psycho Serum LSD that he himself makes, but other than his appearance its clear he's far more relatable than his "customers" are; the man himself also apparently is either omniscient and/or can communicate telepathically and may or may not be this universe's fucked up version of God.
- Heel Realization: His encounter with Red has him come to the realization that keeping a tiger prisoner to test drugs on isn't a nice thing to do.
- Pet the Dog: He allows Red to live and hunt down the members of Jeremiah's cult, after expressing sympathy to him for Mandy's murder.
