I'd say Helen incurred the most loss and was the one who was actually targeted in the worst way.
I disagree that Julie and/or Helen were targeted the worst. Barry probably got it the worst, in my opinion. As far as actual physical pain goes anyway.
Julie got the first note and then she got Max's dead body in her trunk. Ben was playing mind games with her, but didn't try to harm her until the Fourth of July anniversary.
Helen got a "haircut", so to speak haha, and "soon" written on her mirror. But, like Julie, these were just mind games and mental harassment, but Ben didn't attempt to really harm her until the fourth of July. And she got a pretty long chase scene but it's not like Ben deliberately dragged it out. He just couldn't catch her. Barry got murdered in front of her, but I think that had more to do with him seeing an opportunity to finally kill Barry. Helen just happened to see it. And yeah, it sucked for Helen to also see Elsa's murder and dead body, but again, he probably didn't plan on murdering Elsa...she was just in the way. When he finally did catch Helen, he killed her pretty quickly.
As far as Barry? Well, Ben jacked his car and then ran him over and slammed him into the building with his car...that alone could have killed him, and this was before the fourth of July anniversary! It seemed Ben probably had the most hatred for Barry (and that's understandable...Barry showed the least remorse and it was his idea to dump the body). So Ben was also trying to screw with Barry before the anniversary...but the fact that Ben actually put him in the hospital while he was just toying with the others kind of says a lot. And then, once the Fourth of July rolled around, Ben targeted Barry first out of the four of them. It was pretty clear, to me anyway, that Ben wanted Barry gone ASAP.
What does seem strange to me is the fact that Ben didn't seem to go after Ray at all. I know the filmmakers were probably just trying to use him as a red herring, but still! Ray supposedly got a "letter", but we never saw it. I just found that to be a bit strange. If he were to show mercy on anybody, I figured it would have been Julie, not Ray.
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mxcallah
8 years ago
I'd be so angry if I had to run around town at night, in 90+ degree North Carolina summer weather, in heels and a silk dress. I mean...Helen got it REAL bad.
Who cares about Barry? He's an entitled POS who abused everybody into corroborating his delusional take on what happened; and he did this via intimidation and threats. I would have killed him too. Like at the end of "Killer Joe" when the stupid family all decide to help Joe kill Emile Hirsch's character....Helen, Julie, and Ray should have just killed Barry and been done with it.
I agree with your assessment on Barry - Ben Willis REALLY wanted him dead. As did Collingsworth Wilson in the book. He shot Barry and clipped his spine...paralyzing him; but it was meant to be SHOOT TO KILL. CW admits this to Helen during the big reveal scene in the book - I think chapter 14? Regardless, he takes pleasure in knowing that Barry may never walk again, despite really meaning for the gunshot to be fatal. That happened while Helen gets a picture of a little boy on a bike taped to her front door and Julie gets the "IKWYDLS" infamous note.
I think that's what is a big conflict of opposites between the franchise's media. The book has an antagonist that is completely deranged and psychologically disturbing (CW really takes pleasure in mentally abusing the 4 main characters)...where as Ben Willis is just a Michael Myers/Jason/Freddy-proxy and complete killing machine. You can't help but feel for Ben Willis though...I'd be pretty pissed too. ESPECIALLY at Barry.
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mxcallah
8 years ago
In the movie, he tries to kill Ray several times during the end sequence on the boat, as he does with Julie. When all is said and done, at the end of the day, Ben Willis had every intention of killing them all, even though the level of harassment between the 4 is allocated unevenly. Same thing in the book; the harassment quotients across the 4 characters are not even; with Barry probably incurring the most extreme consequences - and rightfully so. He's actually more of an animal in the book than the movie; so the movie's characterization was spot-on.
I think Ray got it particularly bad in the novel. In the book, it's revealed that CW/or "Bud" as was his alias, really had every intention of breaking Ray psychologically because the one thing that Ray cared about (Julie) was going to be taken away from him. I think one of the last line's of the book is Ray narrating; saying that CW hurt Ray the most out of the 4 because CW knew Ray couldn't live in a world that Julie wasn't in. Meanwhile, Julie and Helen incurred minor physical injuries and Barry is wheel-chair bound for life. LOL
The redeeming quality of the book vs. the movie is that in the book, Helen survives her attack, falls out of a window in her apartment (similarly to falling out of the store's 2nd-story window) and goes to the police; sending them to Julie's house, just in time for the cops and Ray to intercept CW and prevent Julie's murder. I hope the 2017 remake, even though it's dropping the inventions of the previous films, in some way/shape/form mirrors this ending.
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scodders
8 years ago
In the movie, he tries to kill Ray several times during the end sequence on the boat, as he does with Julie. When all is said and done, at the end of the day, Ben Willis had every intention of killing them all, even though the level of harassment between the 4 is allocated unevenly. Same thing in the book; the harassment quotients across the 4 characters are not even; with Barry probably incurring the most extreme consequences - and rightfully so. He's actually more of an animal in the book than the movie; so the movie's characterization was spot-on.
I actually still think Ben went very easy on Ray during the finale sequence on the boat. His main target seems to be Julie, and he only goes after Ray when Ray attacks him. He doesn't seem to want to kill Ray, but just wants to fend him off.
Here's an example. When Julie freaked out when she finds out that Ray is Billy Blue, she runs away from him. Ray chases after her, but Ben jumps in and knocks Ray out. He yells at Julie to go hide on his boat. Julie runs off onto the boat, leaving Ben with the PERFECT opportunity to quickly kill Ray. He could have snuck in a quick stab or two, and then quickly tossed him into the water before going after Julie. Ray was borderline knocked out, and lying on his back in a lot of pain. Ben had the opportunity to kill him, but he instead just LEFT him there and directed all his attention to Julie.
The only time Ben actually attacked Ray was when Ray sneaks back onto the boat and challenges him. Even then, Ben just pushes him off the boat, and then quickly goes after Julie again. And later on, when Ray pulls Julie out of the ice section of the boat, Ben flies out of nowhere and punches Ray. He then pulls out his hook on Julie and makes one final attempt to kill her. Notice how he only pulled out the hook after Ray is out of the way. He could have stabbed Ray and then shoved him, but no. He saved the hook for Julie.
Ben seemed to hardly notice Ray, treating him only as an after thought. Julie was his main target on the boat for some reason.
Maybe Ben would have gone after Ray after he killed Julie, but for whatever reason he passed on multiple opportunities on killing Ray.
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