Jennifer Paige
Jennifer Paige
- Played By: Joanna Going
- Action Survivor: Not military or law enforcement, she nevertheless manages to survive where many others did not.
- Adaptation Name Change: Her last name in the book is Paige, but in the movie her surname is Pailey.
- The Medic: Doctor, in fact.
- Promotion to Parent: In the book, hers and Lisa's mother has died of an aneurysm. In the movie, she takes Lisa to live with her because their mother drinks too much, and Lisa's boyfriend is a bad influence.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: In the film, is a very pretty woman with pale skin and dark hair. The novel version is a redhead, though.
Lisa Paige
Lisa Paige
- Played By: Rose McGowan
- The Cutie: Especially in the book, due to her age and inexperience. In the movie she's older, and more competent, knowing how to load and use a gun where her sister does not.
- Damsel in Distress: Especially in the book, given her age. In both the book and the movie, the Wargle-replica attempts to molest her in the hotel bathroom.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Both versions; the book opens with her arguing with Jenny about dating, and in the movie, she's gone to live with Jenny to get her away from a loser boyfriend.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Is said to look much like her sister.
Sheriff Bryce Hammond
Sheriff Bryce Hammond
- Played By: Ben Affleck
- Big Good: Out of all the characters, he's the closest to the role of true hero.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Involving a child and guns.
- The Leader: The Sheriff, and formerly an FBI agent.
Deputy Stu Wargle
Deputy Stu Wargle
- Played By: Liev Schreiber
- Asshole Victim: While his death is horrible, it's hard to feel sorry for him.
- Black Eyes of Evil: After he comes back from the dead as a replica, he gains the ability to show these.
- Catchphrase: "Hey, wanna see something?" (in The Movie)
- Came Back Wrong: The only real thing normal about him after his resurrection was his appearance. Which begins going out the window as soon as he reveals his true nature. The film adaptation plays with this, with it seeming more like he’s basically the same person, but with the ability to act on his perverted and creepy desires.
- Deadpan Snarker: In the film adaptation, with emphasis on the deadpan. After being turned into a replica, he loses all the deadpan but keeps all the snark.
- Dirty Old Man: He's actually middle-aged, but he makes several perverted comments about Lisa.
- Humanoid Abomination: After the Big Bad brings him back as a replica to terrorise the other survivors.
- Jerkass: He's a boorish slob who likes to use his badge to throw his weight around, and all his fellow officers hate him.
- Large Ham: The film adaptation at first averts this, with him being a very stoic Deadpan Snarker, but he plays it straight after the Ancient Enemy brings him back as a replica.
- Laughably Evil: In the film adaptation, he becomes this after being turned into a replica.IT'S LIMBO TIME! HOW LOW CAN YOU GO!
- No Social Skills: Not that he cares. He's well-aware everyone hates him, but he's got job security so long as he doesn't screw up too badly.
Dr. Timothy Flyte
Dr. Timothy Flyte
- Played By: Peter O'Toole
- Cool Old Guy: This becomes very evident in Snowfield. He sounds like a kook, but he's very smart, and right.
- Spared by the Adaptation: The Ancient Enemy kills him in the book, but in the film he survives and is later seen promoting his book on a talk show.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Not that he was actually a cuckoolander, but his colleagues thought he was. Unfortunately, he was actually right.
- The Worm Guy: He's the sole scientist out there to theorize that such events as the Roanoke disappearance and the extinction of the dinosaurs were the work of the Ancient Enemy, and as is usual of this trope by the time we meet him in the book he's been laughed out of academia, forced to write for boondock-supermarket-trash tabloid newspapers in order to pay the bills, and is shanghaied by the government because of the fact that his name was found written in blood on a wall and even then they keep sneering at his theories until it's too late.
General Galen Copperfield
The Ancient Enemy
The Ancient Enemy
The Ancient Enemy in one of his guises
The Ancient Enemy is an intelligent monster, capable of taking on a wide variety of guises. He is characterized by a sadistic character and, in all seriousness, considers himself Satan. He longs to bring evil to everyone only for the sake of the process itself. He has the ability to assimilate the knowledge and skills of all those whom he devoured (according to Flyte, initially the Ancient Enemy was just a very hungry monster, but having devoured a large number of people, he adopted their vices and ideas about Evil). In human form, he speaks exclusively with obscene language.- Big Bad: Sees itself as the ultimate Big Bad, in that it believes itself to be Satan.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Most of its body mass is some kind of non-cellular tissue that it can mold into any shape it likes. Its actual cells are dispersed throughout this mass.
- For the Evulz: Its only reason for doing anything.
- Eat Brain for Memories: Everything that the Enemy absorbs, it keeps the memory of. It's theorized by Dr. Flyte and the rest that the reason the Enemy believes itself to be Devil is because of so many humans absorbed that, in their final moments, believed it to be something unholy, so it pretty much started to believe its own hype.
- Eldritch Abomination: Of a particularly horrifying variety. It can assume any shape it wants, can send multiple bits of itself off to torment its prey, can manipulate technology as it sees fit, and believes itself to be the Devil.
- Historical Rap Sheet: Mass disappearance events such as the Roanoke Colony? Its fault.
- Jerkass: Very much so. It delights in tormenting its prey, and views humans as cattle.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: It has quite the filthy mouth.
- Smug Snake: Big time. Spends much of its screen time gloating about how superior it is.
- Spared by the Adaptation: It is unambiguously destroyed in the book, but is Staying Alive at the end of the movie.
- Time Abyss: Its species dates back to the time of the dinosaurs, and it's implied that this specific individual does as well.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: It can change parts of itself into virtually any living creature it can imagine. It's unclear if the entire mass can do this effectively, simply because the Ancient Enemy's full body is too large to pass for any other organism.
