The 40 greatest horror movie villains of all time, ranked
From classic fiends like Dracula and the Mummy to modern maniacs like Chucky and Ghostface, we count down the most iconic boogeymen to ever hit the big screen
Film Features Evil clown
When you think of what makes a great horror movie, what springs to mind? A likable protagonist, such as a kick-ass scream queen or final girl? A spine-tingling score or a fear-inducing soundscape, like in John Carpenter’s Halloween? Maybe it’s jump scares, inventive kills, or hyper-realistic practical effects. While all of these ingredients delight fans, the truth is that no horror film truly works without a compelling, memorable boogeyman.
Whether it’s a masked psychopath, a gargantuan beast, an acid-bleeding extraterrestrial, a pint-sized possessed doll, or good old-fashioned werewolves, ghosts, and demons, the horror genre has introduced some of the most nightmare-inducing antagonists ever put to celluloid. Just in time for the Halloween season, The A.V. Club put cinema’s most iconic horror villains to a vote. We took into consideration character design, originality, personality, scare factor, and kill tactics. But most of all, we evaluated their longevity, everlasting impressions, and overall impact on horror and pop culture. And to narrow things down a bit, we disqualified rabid pets and wild animals (sorry Jaws, Cujo, and Cocaine Bear).
Some of the monstrous creations here only appeared in a single film, while others gave birth to undying franchises. But all of these maniacs have legions of fans, largely thanks to the gloriously over-the-top ways they dispatched their victims. From Universal’s classic freaks such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy, to golden-age slashers like Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers, to sadistic newcomers like Terrifier’s Art the Clown, here’s our ranking of the top 40 movie monsters and psycho killers of all time.
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“Let’s hit the fuckin’ road! We’re giving our neighbor a joyride!”The omission of Frank Booth from this list is a travesty! Maybe technically Blue Velvet isn’t a horror movie, but it’s sure scarier than a lot of movies on this list.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding who the villain is in the post, but Dr. Frankenstein is certainly more of a villain than the monster. The monster is supposed to be the character you sympathize with.
Puttin on the Ritz!
I beg your pardon, but the omission of the Tall Man from the Phantasm movies is inexcusable.
He got honorable mention, but he should be top 10.
It blew my mind when the kid looks at a picture of The Tall Man, and then The Tall Man looks back. And when he walks past the ice truck.And Phantasm was a blueprint for how Musk plans to send people to Mars.
I like Freddy at 1. Pretty good list. My mentions would include Dr Herbert West and Angela from Sleepaway Camp
Yeah. It’s not bad. I’m not sure Godzilla, the Predator and the Xenomorphs count as horror… But, then I’m not sure what they do count as. Maybe we can make some room for Killer Klowns.
Wow, I just showed my 8 year old niece the KK trailer yesterday. She loved it. Think I’ll wait a couple years to let her watch though.
I suspect that you are underestimating your niece if you think that you can keep a motivated 8 year old girl away from anything in this internet era.
Tell me about it. Her name is Annabelle. The first time she got on youtube by herself she searched her own name. More than a couple sleepless nights after that, and still she asks to watch it constantly. She even dressed as movie Annabelle last Halloween.
Maybe point her to Poe’s Annabel Lee for some variety.
It’s a fun film. Not 8-year-old appropriate (generally). But, fun.
FWIW, I let my 3 under 10’s watch it last year. They thought it was okay but my 5yo still watches it pretty regularly. Aside from a little innuendo and a few bad words, it’s not too bad. I think they’re all young enough for most of that to go over their heads 🤷♀️
The first Alien is unquestionably a horror movie.
Valid point! I remove my objection.
Yeah, Cameron took things in a different way, and most of the rest of the franchise followed that lead. But I don’t know if I can think of a single movie that scared me more than Alien (I did see it at a very young age). It combined the Jaws template with disorientation terror in all those Giger landscapes, body horror, and more. Great movie.
Based on online recommendations, I just watched Sputnik on Hulu. It’s got some of that good ol’ Alien feel (though not nearly as good). Yet, takes things in a slightly different direction. Worth watching.
I’ll check that out. Thanks.
I was sure they’d say Michael as #1 but my heart belongs to Freddy
“My mentions would include Dr Herbert West”
I love Re-Animator, but Herbert West was *not* the villain in that flick.
Sure most of the movies stink, but Jason should be #3 just on name and brand recognition alone.
The series’ reputation gets dragged down by some of the higher-concept entries (Manhattan, X, Jason v. Freddy) but across the board there are more good ones than bad. IIRC up through maybe installment VI they all deliver to some degree or another.
For my money 1, 6, 4 and Jason Goes to Hell (hot take) are the best of the bunch. It’s really a 50/50 mixed bag of whether the movie are entertaining or not. But outside of the first one none of them are “good” from a critical standpoint but they are fun and entertaining which I think a lot of people forget a movie can be. But the less we talk about part VII the better. And sure, part V stinks but at least they tried something different.
I actually haven’t seen Hell and so didn’t comment on it one way or the other. II and III are both solid slashers to me and what set the overall tone for what we think of Jason being.
I do like 2 & 3, even with part threes silly 3D effects. But my main complaint with them is that they are just re-skinned versions of part 1. Personally I think Jason from part 6 is the go to “Jason” that everyone thinks of. The unstoppable, un-dead killing machine. Also, after just watching all but Jason X over the last couple of weeks I would like to dispel the notion that Jason was slow and miraculously just showed up when he needed to. Sure he showed up randomly sometimes but he was always pretty fast but lumbering. A bull in a china shop if you will.
I know the joke was always that no matter how fast people ran he could catch up with them, but my take has been that he spent his life lurking around in the background and always knew the most direct route from point A to point B so he could cut people off at the pass.
I feel like 4 was when they really just tried to make more of the characters unlikeable so that you wouldn’t care when they got killed.
I agree. On pure presence and cultural relevance. Jason Vorhees #3, Michael Myers #2 & Freddy Krueger #1. I like Halloween movies more than most A Nightmare on Elm Street movies but Freddy just does SO MUCH MORE. Michael Myers is an awesome “Unstoppable Force” but he’s mute and FK has SOOO much dialogue.
I didn’t care for the fact that Nicholson is already halfway to crazy town before they ever get to the Overlook. In the novel he’s a normal guy under massive pressure to write his novel and gradually becomes what we get in the film. And the indelible image to me in The Ring is not Samara, it’s the mother finding her dead daughter in the closet. That was totally unexpected and set the tone for the rest of the movie.
“I didn’t care for the fact that Nicholson is already halfway to crazy town before they ever get to the Overlook.”
Oh look, some douche is parroting Stephen King’s bullshit complaint about the movie.
And the overly wide jaw look for every horror movie since.
That was kind of Stephen King’s objection to casting Nicholson in the film. He didn’t think it was going to be surprising for the audience to see him go crazy.
Completely agree about Jack Torrance. It’s a shame because it’s one of King’s most fully realized (and believably tragic) characters. I’ve grown to appreciate the movie for its other great qualities but for years I couldn’t get past Nicholson’s over-the-top performance.
Would YOU get in a car to spend months in isolation with this guy? I think not…
I didn’t care for the fact that Nicholson is already halfway to crazy town before they ever get to the Overlook. That was one of King’s complaints about Nicholson as Jack Torrance. He took it further, noting that audiences had just seen Nicholson in Cuckoo’s Nest and was predisposed to think of him as bull-goose-loony….I agree with that, but still like the movie. A redeeming feature of Nicholson’s acting is when Jack confronts Wendy about those nonsense book pages, and although he comes at her menacingly, at the same time he’s mocking her voice and… acting like a murderously abusive husband. Rather than a demon-possessed one. Made it scarier to me.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I love the movie and think that’s its only real misstep. But having him become that way due to the influence of the Overlook and its spirits is also a more frightening story. The bartender Lloyd (whether real or in Nicholson’s head) poisoning him against his family is chilling.
Freddy has 3 “great” movies? Part 1, 3 and New NightmareMichael has 3 “great”movies Part 1, H20 and HalloweenFreddy is a cool concept but I much rather Michael.Bruce the shark is really #1 because he had the best movie ever! :)Leatherface did truly have maybe the best pure Horror movie ever.
Star for Bruce <3
Thanks! Bruce the Shark is one of the 3 best Bruce’s ever.Bruce the Shark, Bruce Wayne and Bruce Lee. Poor Bruce Campbell is at 4! 🙂
Bruce the Shark, Bruce Wayne and Bruce Lee. Poor Bruce Campbell is at 4! :)Bruce Dern deserves a place on the Best Bruce List.
I mean, he killed John Fucking Wayne.Plus, he begot Laura.
I’d argue Halloween 2, the original one was an ok film. Obviously not as great at the first but not nearly as bad as say the very last one they just did.
I’m bias when it comes to Halloween as I liked the original 2 and 4. But I know not everyone does.
Bruce the shark is really #1 because he had the best movie ever! In the novel My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, the protagonist (a horror fan of the first magnitude) makes a great case for Jaws as a slasher movie. I’m sure it’s been said before, but Jones gets to everything in the movie: it really does have all the elements. (The Final Girl, it’s pointed out, is a guy in this one, but Brody starts out timid and unaware, becomes vengeful and dangerous, just like Laurie Strode or Alice Hardy or Sidney Prescott.)Anyway this is just a way of saying you all should read Stephen Graham Jones if you haven’t. The Only Good Indians is also masterful, and no, I am not Stephen Graham Jones…
I’ve heard this theory before but didn’t realize it was from a book. Thanks, will check it out one day.And yes it totally is a slasher as it explains why at the end he keeps coming back even if as a Shark he would be full after eating Quint.
I read The Only Good Indians! But, I thought it was just ok. I couldn’t quite figure out the “rules” of the monster, and it seemed like it was punishing people that didn’t need to be punished or didn’t realize why they were being punished.
I just finished My Heart is a Chainsaw last week and now I see all these articles through Jade’s eyes and realize I’ve got a lot of catching up to do if I want to understand all her references 🙂
I also love Halloween 3 (not as much as the original, of course). It’s bat shit crazy. But, your statement of “Michael” has three great movies holds up.
Yeah Halloween 3 was ahead of it’s time but I will say as a kid when it came out I was so mad there was no Michael.
Where the hell is The Tall Man???Boyyyy!!!!!!!
He is scary as fuck! Good call!
They call it out themselves but having M3GAN on this list at all is absolutely a recency bias. I wouldnt even have her on the list at all but, at 20 is a sin. I also think Pamela Vorhees would be an honorable mention at most.
Yeah, these lists are obviously subjective, and I usually chuckle at people’s outrage, but that seems like deliberate trolling.
Should have been all the Cenobites, as a group. Pinhead isn’t even the coolest one.
I am also more of a “Chatterer” fan
Yup. I mean, he doesn’t really do anything, but he’s the most terrifying by miles.
Ugh, I’m sure it’s mandated or something, but these 40 slide slideshows are exhausting to even try to click through, even if I wanted to.
I don’t think the predator or godzilla should be in this list. The stalking entity from it follows deserves an entry, as it is similar to the thing, in carpenter ‘s film.
Alien is brilliant of course but I’ll never not titter at the xenomorph’s “jazz hands” moment.
Leatherface and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre film is the ultimate “stand your ground” film. Those annoying ass teens were flagrantly trespassing onto the Sawyer property, entering the house without permission. They deserved to die.
Because of the Nightmare Before Christmas, I will forever see the Gillman as a Gillwoman.
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The Nun and M3gan are already half-forgotten, goddamnit.
Can we give a collective honourable mention to the Armitages from Get Out?