The Family That Slays Together: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

This is basically [[Siblings in Crime]] but with the parents (and maybe a few other extended relatives) having a hand in the villainy, as well.

* In ''[[X-Men]]'', when The Brood attack New Orleans, they target the children of the local thief and assassin clans for assimilation, giving this trope as their reasoning: Since they are preparing an invasion they need soldiers, so hosts with the right instincts are very desirable.

* [[Mad Scientist]] Doctor Sivana and his children, Georgia and Thaddeus Jr., from ''[[Captain Marvel]]''.

* The Roarks from ''[[Sin City]]''.

* The Daltons from ''[[Lucky Luke]]'', with the family matriarch Ma Dalton who occasionally helps her sons escaping the [[Cardboard Prison]] du jour and planning some of their crimes. Of course, given that they're in a very family-friendly title, nobody's really at risk of getting killed.

* [[Franco Belgian Comics]] ''Les Cranibales'' is, of course, about a [[Cannibal Clan]] [[Devil in Plain Sight|living in a modern french city]]. [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|It's actually an all-ages series]] where the situation is [[Played for Laughs]].

== Film ==

* ''[[Frailty]]'' has this. However, {{spoiler|two of the family members were legitimately called by [[God]] to destroy demons (seriously) while the other one becomes a straight-up [[Serial Killer]], and his first victim is his own father (who was one of the ones called by God).}}

* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in ''[[Natural Born Killers]]'' where it's hinted that Micky and Mallory end their killing spree after they decide to settle down and have kids.

* ''Wedding Slashers'' involves a daughter trying to escape one of these and start her own life. Suffice to say, her relatives aren't pleased.

* ''Timber Falls'' had a family of backwoods religious fanatics who abduct couples and force them to concieve, due to the only female member of the group being infertile.

* Mother, and her sons Ike and Addley, from ''Mother's Day''. There's also Queenie, Mother's woods dwelling sister who is just as murderously insane as the rest, but hates her relatives.

* ''[[The Strangers]]'', presumably.

{{quote| '''Dredd''': Cursed Earth pirates, murderers, scavengers. And, of course, scumbags.<br />

'''Dredd''': [Later, to Fergie] l forgot to mention it. Your new friends, they're cannibals. }}

* ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' includes a [[Family Feud]] between two families who routinely kill members of the other family and teach their children to do so too.

* Invoked by [[Discworld|Terry Pratchett]] in regard to the Agatean Empire royalty - one has to be a murderous bastard to survive the court intrigues and as a result, some features get reinforced every generation.

** Although a bit more civilized about it than most examples, the Selachii noble family of Ankh-Morpork have a long-standing tradition as Assassins. The Boggis family is equally well-embedded in the Thieves' Guild, though Ankh-Morpork thieves generally avoid killing their victims (because the Assassins' Guild considers that to be trespassing on ''their'' bailiwick, and because it's hard to rob someone ''again'' in the future once they're dead).

* The Grissoms from ''[[Friday the 13th]]: Carnival of Maniacs'' killed for fun, and sometimes food.

== Live Action TV ==

* The Family of Blood and the Family Slitheen from ''[[Doctor Who]]''.

** Also true for the Winchesters, and other hunter families, although less with the homicide. SA Henriksen, who spends a season and a half on a quest to catch Dean, thinks they are this, straight-out. A hunter mentions this phrase in episode 3x01, just before kissing his wife.

* [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in ''Scoundrels'', which is about a family of criminals who decide to go clean after the father gets a long prison sentence.

* The ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Bloodline" is about a family (a mother, father, and young son) who kill a family to abduct their daughter as a future mate for the son. {{spoiler|Gets very creepy when it turns out that this is how the family continues; ''[[In the Blood|they've been doing this for generations]]''. And then at the very end of the episode, it turns out that the family has other branches, and the last shot of the episode is another similar set (mother, father and young son) preparing to kill some other people.}}

** "Open Season" had brothers [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game|who hunted people for sport]], having been taught to so by their uncle, a paranoid psychotic who had died some time before the events of the episode, leaving them continuing as [[Siblings in Crime]].

* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]:'' Rita Repulsa, her brother Rito Revolto, and their father Master Vile during part of the third season. Much campier than most examples on this page.

* The [[Lex Luthor|Luthors]] of ''[[Smallville]]''. Patriarch [[Magnificent Bastard|Lionel Luthor]] is a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] version of the [[Rags to Riches]] story, and tries to raise his son, [[Manipulative Bastard|Lex]], to be every bit as devious, cunning, and unethical. Lex in turn mentors his illegitimate sister, {{spoiler|Tess Mercer}}, who he successfully transforms into [[The Baroness]]. And that's without taking into account their bastard brother, Lucas, who managed to become a sociopath even without daddy's involvement, or Lex's numerous clones, who cover the board from [[Enfante Terrible]] (Lx-15) to [[Axe Crazy]] [[Evil Old Folks]] (Lx-3). In the [[Alternate Universe]] of Earth-2, the family stayed together, and by adding adoptive son [[Superman|Clark]] [[Evil Twin|"Ultraman"]] Luthor to the family, transformed LuthorCorp into a [[Mega Corp]] version of [[The Empire]].

 

== Western Animation ==

** ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' also has the Royal Flush Gang, a family that makes their living on crime; however, they have an [[Averted Trope|aversion]] to killing people.

** The Mayhems, another family of robbers, from "The Eggbaby".

* This is what happens in [[The Simpsons]] with Sideshow Bob in "The Italian Bob",rather than shun him,his wife and baby help him kill the Simpsons. Exaggerated in "Funeral for a Fiend" when even Bob's brother and parents help him try to kill Bart, too.

* An episode of ''[[Martin Mystery]]'' featured a family (consisting of a father, mother and daughter) who made routine sacrifices to an [[Eldritch Abomination]], and in exchange they recieved [[Immortality]] and a comfy home in the being's realm.

* Parodied in an episode of [[The Venture Bros]], appropriately named "The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together."