Fantomas etc. Question in Foreign Horror Forum

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Fantomas etc. Question

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Grant	Fantomas etc. Question	Lead	[-]
Sep 16 11 8:53 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've brought this up before, but I have a very general question about the Fantomas type of story - I keep forgetting exact names for it, but the kind of story where the colorful villain is the main character repeatedly, and you're expected to "root" for him in a tongue-in-cheek way, but not EVERY way. My question is, in how many stories is a character like that changed from a colorful villain into a sort of "anti-hero"? I know it's a fine line in a way, but there are some examples I can name. There's "Kilink: Strip and Kill," which is evidently the only Turkish Kilink movie that makes him the "good guy," but it manages to also make him as ruthless as always, simply by making him a ruthless spy for the country, who gets rid of a lot of other spies. And even though my copy isn't dubbed or subtitled, that seems to be at least part of the idea of the original "Kriminal" (as opposed to the sequel) - he's a murderous thief who gets rid of OTHER thieves (murderous or not, I'm not sure about that part), or at least one of them. And even though I only saw it very early on, I think that might be the idea for "Flashman." Again, it's a very general question, but are there any other films in the whole "Fantomas" / "Kriminal" etc. category (from any given country) that take the VILLAIN who goes on those killing sprees idea and sort of nudge it into that anti-hero you're actually expected to CHEER idea? Last Edited By: Grant Sep 16 11 10:38 PM. Edited 1 time.
davlghry		#1	[-]
Sep 16 11 12:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Does Diabolik fall into this category? Also, on TV, serial killer Dexter preys on those "who have it coming."
Grant		#2	[-]
Sep 16 11 12:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Judging by the movie, Diabolik is sort of tricky when it comes to that, because he kills the gangster character and his men, but also those security guards at that wealthy couple's mansion. Plus, there's that line about no one who knows his identity "living to tell." I still haven't seen Dexter, it's still just a name to me. Is he by any chance in that "romantic" category like Diabolik, Kriminal etc., or is he some kind of comical nerd (when not killing people), as the name Dexter kind of suggests? Last Edited By: Grant Sep 16 11 10:46 PM. Edited 1 times.
HawkeyePierce		#3	[-]
Sep 18 11 2:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I don't really feel Fantomas is the one we are supposed to be rooting for if you are referfing to the 60s films with Louis de Funes and Jean Marais. De Funes, who represents the law and/or 'the system' in the film series, is obviously inept but Marais is without quoestion the hero of the trilogy and the one we're rooting for. 'Fantomas' is really cool. I'm a big fan of the De Funes comedies from the 60s and 70s. Living in the Netherlands, quality releases of 'Fantomas' and other films of his are (thankfully) easily obtainable. Great stuff!
Grant		#4	[-]
Sep 18 11 5:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	HawkeyePierce wrote: I don't really feel Fantomas is the one we are supposed to be rooting for if you are referfing to the 60s films with Louis de Funes and Jean Marais. De Funes, who represents the law and/or 'the system' in the film series, is obviously inept but Marais is without quoestion the hero of the trilogy and the one we're rooting for. Yes, that's just it, I'm asking about ones that don't follow that pattern, like that one single Kilink movie I mentioned, where he stops killing innocent people and starts killing "only" bad ones, but in the same "super-villain" ways as before. Or (even though this one is a parody) Argoman, because he's the "likeable rogue" character who's pitted against the OTHER kind of villainous character, making him the hero. Are there others like that I don't know of?
HawkeyePierce		#5	[-]
Sep 19 11 3:43 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've seen the Fantomas films a million times, but most of the other films in this genre I'm unfamiliar with. Good point though, I hope someone can shed some light on this.
HalLane		#6	[-]
Sep 21 11 9:31 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Phibes?
Grant		#7	[-]
Sep 21 11 6:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	More than anything, I'm curious about the romantic kind of really ruthless anti-hero (romantic in the usual sense of the word), but with or without costumes. Like, again, Kilink in that (evidently) one single Kilink film where he stops killing innocent men and innocent women, but moves straight from that to killing gangsters and killing their molls. In other words, any story of this kind that changes the reason for watching the character from a COMPLETE guilty pleasure to (in a way) only a PARTIALLY guilty pleasure, because of all the BAD people he does the things to. But again, it's that extra detail of the character and WOMEN that I'm always curious about, though not for any serious sociological kind of reason. (Not just in European costumed character films, even though I asked about it here.)

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