One-slash wonders: 20 horror villains who never got another stab at fame

These one-and-done monsters and maniacs didn't launch their own franchise. But are any of them worthy of a return?

By Matthew Jackson | October 6, 2023 | 12:00pm

Film Features halloween

One-slash wonders: 20 horror villains who never got another stab at fame

Clockwise from top left: The Burning (MGM); Shocker (Universal Pictures); Valentine (Warner Bros.); Trick ‘R Treat (Warner Bros.); The Prowler (Sandhurst) (Screenshots: YouTube) Graphic: Rebecca Fassola

The horror genre was made for sequels, which explains why we’ve seen Dracula dozens of times and characters like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees have persisted for decades. It’s a realm of cinema so ripe for franchises that it’s often more notable when someone isn’t brought back.

In the realm of “one-slash wonders”—horror big bads who appeared in just one film and never scored a second chapter—there are lot of famous faces. While some definitely deserve a long-awaited follow-up, others are probably best left in a single installment. From slasher classics to new menaces, here’s a chronological list of 20 one-shot horror villains, and our thoughts on whether not they’re worthy of a comeback.

Billy and Agnes, Black Christmas (1974)

Black Christmas (1974) - Official Trailer (HD)

One of the foundational films of the slasher genre, is notable in part because its villains, while terrifying, never appear onscreen. We only get their voices in the form of demented arguments between what sounds like a brother and a sister named Billy and Agnes. Is it two people? Is it one person with two voices in his or her head? We don’t know, and that’s part of the horror.Should They Come Back? Black Christmas has proven popular and enduring enough over the years to get two reboots, but we’ve never seen a sequel, even though the original film leaves the killer alive and opens the door for more mayhem. So, should we get a sequel? Do Billy and Agnes deserve to kill again? It’s a tough call because the film is so iconic, but the right filmmaker with the right sensibility could latch onto that original story and deliver a legacy sequel to chill our bones on a winter’s night, so let’s see what happens.

63 Comments