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Jul 19, 2021 · 1. Jack Torrance in The Shining. Of course, we had to kick start this list with Jack Nicholson’s phenomenal portrayal of Jack Torrance. Even though the film is from the early ‘80s, it...
- 4 min
- Melanie Curry,Milan Polk
May 2, 2024 · Looking through our fingers and ranking the best, scariest, dumbest, etc. characters in classic, creative, and totally forgettable horror movies. Over 13K filmgoers have voted on the 70+ characters on Most Utterly Terrifying Figures In Horror Films. Current Top 3: Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, Regan ...
- The Thing
- The Babadook
- Hannibal Lecter
- Valak
- Xenomorph
- Jigsaw
- Jason Voorhees
- The Entity
- Pazuzu
- Chucky
'The Thing'
When it comes to monster horror thrills, there may be no figure as astute at evoking a sense of heightened paranoia as the titular villain in John Carpenter's classic The Thing. The sci-fi horror follows a crew of American researchers in Antarctica as they are set upon by the transforming, assimilating alien, which picks them off one by one as they struggle to determine who they can trust. While the monster enters the film as a dog, its transforming capabilities lead to a glorious display of...
'The Babadook'
An Australian movie that has become a glistening example of modern elevated horror, The Babadookis already an icon of the genre. The film follows a struggling widow as a monster in her young son’s picture book manifests in their house, steeping the family into a paranoid nightmare. With a heartfelt and earnest story operating as its basis, The Babadook adds more layers to its plot with thought-provoking metaphors and no small amount of building horror. While mounting suspense and an eerie, em...
'The Silence of the Lambs'
One of the rare horror movies to win big at the Academy Awards, The Silence of the Lambs is among the most revered films the genre has ever produced. A key reason for its brilliantly chilling magnificence is Sir Anthony Hopkins’ incredible performance as Hannibal Lecter, the incarcerated cannibalistic, serial killing ex-psychologist FBI cadet Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) must interview to apprehend an at-large murderer. With an eerie sophistication, Lecter always seems in complete control,...
'The Conjuring' Franchise
As one of the best new horror franchises, The Conjuring films have produced no small number of great villains, from the possessed doll Annabelle to the shocking image of the Crooked Man. However, there is little doubt that the single most terrifying character in the franchise thus far is Valak, AKA The Nun (Bonnie Aarons), who notably petrified audiences as the major antagonist of The Conjuring 2. Valak was nightmarishly frightening inThe Conjuring 2, haunting a London family under the guise...
'Alien'
The 1970s were pivotal in the evolution of cinematic horror to what audiences know today, and while the decade produced many great horror villains, there aren’t many as enduring as the xenomorph from Alien. Essentially a sci-fi slasher, Alienrevolves around the crew of a spaceship as they are picked off by the violent alien after responding to a distress signal. Much of the monster’s impact needs to be accredited to H. R. Giger’s design, which masterfully portrayed it as being primitively and...
'Saw' Franchise
Jigsaw, whose real name is John Kramer (Tobin Bell), is a mysterious man inSaw who kidnaps people he thinks take their lives for granted. Jigsaw puts them through a series of gruesome tests, leading to some of modern horror's most revolting scenes. His identity remains a mystery throughout most of the first film, though his backstory is explained in the sequels, where it is revealed Kramer has terminal cancer and is frustrated with having to watch people waste their lives. With his traps insp...
'Friday the 13th' Franchise
Jason Vorhees (Ari Lehman), the iconic killer from the Friday the 13th franchise, murders people to get revenge for how he was treated and for the murder of his Mother at the end of the first film. Jason is a large, silent killer who appears out of nowhere to haunt and torture his victims. He wears a hockey mask to hide his face, and it’s hard to say which is more terrifying -- the all-white, soulless-looking mask he dons or the disfigured face beneath. Another terrifying factor is that Jason...
'It Follows'
A refreshing spin on the genre, It Follows focuses on a fatal curse passed between victims via sexual intercourse. After acquiring it, university student Jay (Maika Monroe) finds herself fighting to survive. Known as 'The Entity,' the malevolent force is capable of taking on different forms to pursue its prey, including close friends to its targets, in order to get closer. Despite working on a tight budget, It Follows has become one of the most celebrated and haunting horror films in recent y...
'The Exorcist'
The Exorcist is widely regarded to be the best horror movie of all time. The possession horror film focuses on Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and her daughter Regan (Linda Blair) as it becomes apparent that a demon has possessed Regan. The terrified single mother turns to two catholic priests in a desperate attempt to save her child. The terrifying demon who possesses Regan is known as Pazuzu, a figure that the original novel's author, William Peter Blatty, derived from Mesopotamian religions,...
'Chucky' Franchise
A tongue-in-cheek slasher with a penchant for twisted humor, the comedic punch on display in the Chucky films doesn't prevent the titular antagonist from being one of the scariest horror movie characters. Starting with the 1988 classic Child's Play, the series focuses on a children's doll possessed by the soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif). Filled with jump scares and some brutally gory death scenes, the ever-evolving Chuckyfranchise has successfully played on the common phob...
- Ash. Played by: Bruce Campbell. Film(s): Army of Darkness, Evil Dead II, The Evil Dead. Here is your number one, and The Chin has it by an overwhelming margin.
- Freddy Kreuger. Played by: Robert Englund. Film(s): A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Wes Craven's New Nightmare.
- Hannibal Lecter. Played by: Anthony Hopkins. Film(s): Hannibal, Red Dragon, The Silence Of The Lambs. Jonathan Demme's adaptation of Thomas Harris' serial killer novel is magnificent, but every time that Anthony Hopkins appears on screen, it becomes a fully-fledged masterpiece.
- Peter. Played by: Ken Foree. Film(s): Dawn of the Dead. The coolest character in any Romero zombie film (and, by extension, any zombie film), Ken Foree's SWAT guy is cooler than a cucumber Cornetto, equally adroit at wearing turtlenecks and cooking romantic meals as he is roundhouse-kicking zombies and ominously intoning, 'When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth'.
Oct 31, 2022 · Not all horror villains are created equal. We break down the 31 most terrifying and enduring horror movie icons, from Dracula to Jack Torrance to Michael Myers.
Oct 31, 2020 · In honor of Halloween, we came up with a ranked list of the 50 most iconic horror villains, from Freddy and Jason to Cujo and Black Phillip.
Oct 22, 2022 · By Alison Foreman. October 22, 2022 6:00 pm. (Clockwise from bottom left): "Terrifier 2," "Halloween" (2018), "Blue Velvet," "The Babadook," and "Us" Courtesy of Everett Collection. What’s a horror...
