Reverend Philip Shooter

Reverend Philip Shooter is an antagonist in the dark comedy film Hot Fuzz. He was portrayed by Paul Freeman.

Origins
He was one of the prominent members of the Neighbourhood Watch Alliance; the secret fascist organisation in the town of Sandford. Posing as a charismatic, friendly and likeable vicar by day, by night Reverend Philip Shooter was a cold hearted mobster. Recently, Frank Butterman's wife had killed herself out of despair due to Sandford not winning Village of the Year. So, Frank formed an organisation out of the elite elders of the town and decided to take justice into his own hands. In his own words, everybody who broke the law in Sandford would "get their just desserts." Unfortunately, due to Frank's immorality, this meant murder.

Biography
When overachieving police officer Nicholas Angel is sent into "retirement" by his colleagues, he is regretfully shipped off to the remote Midlands village of Sandford, where he soon becomes acquainted with the townsfolk. He meets the Neighbourhood Watch Alliance; and, while seeing them as just harmless old delusional fools, he doesn't see them as anything sinister. He first meets Reverend Philip Shooter here who comes across as likeable, charming, charismatic, if a little pompous and arrogant. The Reverend politely asks Nicholas if he will be so kind to read a homily for a Sunday service; to which Nicholas confesses he has no real faith in religion. The shocked Reverend then asks if Nicholas is an atheist; to which Nicholas just says he needs some convincing in religion. The Reverend tells Nicholas he is an agnostic.

During the meeting; Nicholas learns that the town elders are more concerned about petty matters like the Living Statue and the hoody problem in town. However, he still sees the elders as eccentrics and doesn't believe them to be sinister. That is, until two actors turn up murdered (barely disguised as accidents) and Nicholas immediately suspects Simon Skinner, the manager of the local supermarket. So, Nicholas confronts Skinner, but nothing comes up.

Reverend Shooter is next prominent when he organises the church fete, coincidentally just after the murder of a millionaire who owned an appalingly large house. Reverend Shooter conducts the church fete and announces that Nicholas Angel, the "Police Force" officer, (Nicholas corrects him with "Service") will announce the winners of the raffle. However, Nicholas is eager to meet local journalist Tim Messenger, who let slip he knew a thing about the previous deaths. Reverend Shooter calls for Simon Skinner to come up as he won; but the man is in the toilet. Unfortunately, as Nicholas rushes off to meet Tim at 3 pm sharp, a church spire falls on Tim, killing him.

Nicholas suspects these are murders, so he orders Frank to quarantine off the square and churchyard. The CSI turn up but come to no real suspects. So, angry, Nicholas interrogates Skinner, just after Leslie Tiller, the gardener, is found murdered. Still, nothing comes up. Skinner sends the gigantic trolleyboy, Michael, after him to kill him, but Nicholas gains the upper hand, knocking out Michael.

Reverend Shooter next appears at the churchyard, where all the villainous members of the NWA have gathered. Reverend Shooter is among them. He tells a shocked Nicholas they do care about their community. Nicholas attempts to arrest them all, but is shocked and alarmed when his boss, Frank Butterman, appears, in charge of the comittee.

Frank and the NWA attempt to kill Nicholas, revealing the true horrific nature of their crimes by showing Nicholas decomposing corpses of their victims in the vaults, but Danny, Frank's son and Nicholas' friend, tricks them into thinking he killed Nicholas, escorting Nicholas out of town.

Next day, a vengeful Nicholas returns to Sandford, recruiting the schoolchildren into his private army. Nicholas gets the children to black out the cameras, and he storms the NWA. After taking down the hotel owners, Reverend Philip Shooter appears, yelling for this insanity to stop, and asking Nicholas if he can just be a man of peace. Nicholas tells the reverend that while he may not be a man of God, he is a man of justice, and that he has the grace to know right from wrong. An angry Philip Shooter literally shoots Nicholas, telling him to "Fuck off, grasshopper!" but then an angry Danny shoots the reverend in the shoulder, disabling him.

The reverend is out of action throughout the remainder of the fight. He is later seen arrested and processed; then sent to jail for his murderous crimes.

Personality and Traits
The Reverend Philip Shooter was a deceitful, villainous individual, manipulating everybody into thinking that he was a delightful, caring soul when in fact he held lots of contempt for his fellow humans and loathed anyone lower than him. He was a bigot, as he helped slaughter those like the hooded teenagers that he believed were lower class. He had no value for morales or life, thus making his sermons a hypocrisy. It's possible he had no real faith in God, yet he shouted JESUS CHRIST upon being shot. However, like the Nazis, he may have truly believed that what he was doing was the right thing and saw himself as an executioner doing God's work. In fact, given the NWA's motto THE GREATER GOOD, this is more than probable.