Horace the Hate Bug (or also simply known as 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 completely the opposite. He is in reality a true mean racing machine that will do whatever it takes to win, like his owner desires. He's also noticeable as 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 get out and run, 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 a vicious and evil personality. 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 settle this in a road race. Using modifications to cheat, Horace and Simon try piercing Herbie's tires and even try splitting him in two but he, with a heart of love. wins the race. Angry over losing to Herbie he attempts to destroy him by once and for all by running him down. Unfortunately, he misses and goes off the edge of the dam and blows up when he crashes into the dried-up Earth.
Trivia[]
- Horace is shown to have three body modifications which are used to keep Herbie from winning the race at the end of the film. They include: a tire-slashing drill located in his right front hubcap, a grenade launcher underneath his rear license plate, and a laser hidden in his hood handle used to cut Herbie in half.
- Horace shares some references to other villainous cars like Christine who was an evil living female 1958 Plymouth Fury, K.A.R.R. from Knight Rider was an artificial intelligent prototype vehicle of K.I.T.T. equipped with gadgetry modifications, and The Car from the 1977 same name title.
- Since both Horace and Herbie were built in the same way and by the same person that would make them siblings. Fans of the franchise have actually dubbed Horace as Herbie's evil twin.
- To date, Horace is the only non-human villain in the Love Bug franchise.
- The sound effect used for Horace's growl is that from the, "growling bear."
- Even though Horace appeared in only one film, he has made a big impact on the franchise.