This article is about the character Horace from The Love Bug (1997 film). For other characters, see Horace (disambiguation).
Horace is an evil black VW beetle and Herbie's evil twin who appears in the 1997 television remake of The Love Bug, equipped with modifications and vicious behavior he will win at all costs even as far as to kill Herbie.
Background[]
Personality[]
Unlike Herbie who is full of love, Horace is full of hate. He is a true mean racing machine that will do whatever it takes to win, like his owner desires. He's also a sore loser when he fails to win a road race between him and Herbie.
He can get bored quite easily and due to being very competitive, he likes to go fast rather than being cooped up inside a garage. Sometimes he can be beyond Simon's control when driving on the streets at high speeds or losing his temper.
Role in the Film[]
In the film, Horace was built by Dr. Gustav Stumpfel, the same person who created Herbie only to be created with an opposite personality due to the use of a personal picture of an unloved person rather than a well-loved person. He becomes the personal race car of Ex Formula-One race driver Simon Moore III. When Simon decides to eliminate the competition he sends Horace and Rupert to find Herbie and kill him. Rupert was about to do the job himself until Horace did the honors and brutally smashes Herbie to death with Rupert watching in horror.
Much to Horace's disgust, he saw Herbie rebuilt while Simon took him out for some exercise. So they decided to have a road race over the ownership of the two cars. Using modifications to cheat, Horace and Simon try piercing Herbie's tires, shooting grenades at him, even split him in two in order to win. Despite all their efforts, Herbie still wins the race. Furious over losing to Herbie, Horace tries to destroy him by running him down. Unfortunately, he misses and goes off the edge of the dam and blows up when he crashes into the Earth.
Trivia[]
- Since both Horace and Herbie were built in the same way and by the same person, he is known to fans as Herbie's "evil twin".
- To date, Horace is the only non-human villain in the Herbie franchise.
- The sound effect used for Horace's growl is the "growling bear."
- Like Herbie, Horace is never referred to as 'the Hate Bug' or 'Horace the Hate Bug' in his appearances.
- While Horace only appeared in one film, he made a big impact on the franchise.
- Two 1965 Volkswagen Beetles were used as Horace in the 1997 Love Bug. The first of the two survived production, and currently remains in screen-used condition.[1]
Gallery[]
.jpg "LoveBug97 (34).jpg (36 KB)")
_-_YouTube.jpg "Herbie vs Horace part 2 from The LoveBug (1997) - YouTube.jpg (30 KB)")
