From ghosts, ghouls, and all other manner of ghastly paranormal terrors to slashing serial killers armed with a wide range of grisly weapons, cinematic horror has given fans plenty of great and terrifying figures over the years. This has, naturally, sparked conversation as to which are the scariest of all time, capable of traumatizing viewers and sticking in their minds long after the film has finished.
The art of making a character such a frightening presence is not something left to chance.All the scariest horror villains tap into some primal, instinctual fear, wreaking havoc with the audience’s nerves and, sometimes, even their stomachs. From the twisted and sadistic to the monstrous and even to the outright evil, these 20 scary movie characters are horror legends who stand tall for their relentless ability to haunt audiences.
20Count Dracula
‘Dracula’ (1931)
Ever sinceBram Stokerfirst published his classic novel,Count Dracula has been an undying icon of horror(pardon the pun). His status as such has only elevated with his transcending to the silver screen, and while he has been depicted as everything from dashing and debonair to mercilessly monstrous, and even cynically, sickly uproarious across his many cinematic adaptations, it remainsBela Lugosi’s mesmerizing portrayal of the bloodsucking baron that is the most iconic and terrifying.
1931’sDraculachills with its eerie suspense, and remains competitive against more modern and graphic horror movies with its atmospheric intensity and Lugosi’s iconic villainous performance. His version of the character remains the quintessential cinematic vampire, one that all others have been judged against and one that has never been surpassed, even with the likes ofGary Oldman,Christopher Lee, andKlaus Kinskiexcelling in their own iterations of the role.
19Moder aka The Creature
‘The Ritual’ (2017)
Mixing pagan cult eeriness with survival suspense and the overwhelming, mind-boggling terror of cosmic horror,The Ritualthrives as one of Netflix’s best original horror movies imbued with one of the most horrific beasts the genre has seen in recent years. The film follows four friends’ hiking trip in Sweden, with their hopes of reconciling their friendship ravaged when they are attacked in the forest by an enormous entity. As they are picked off, they discover a community of cultists with a peculiar bond with the jötunn.
An ancient god-like being considered by the cult to be the offspring of Loki, Moder is as all-powerful as it is visually terrifying, making him one of the scariest horror movie characters. A towering figure with a human torso as a visage and an ability to use the body’s arms as appendages,Moder is one of the most striking and frightful monsters horror cinema has ever conceived. An incredibly creative source of nightmare fuel, Moder’s mere design is enough to makeThe Rituala daunting horror movie.
The Ritual
18Norman Bates
‘Psycho’ (1960)
Alfred Hitchcockis considered to be one of the truepioneers of modern cinematic horror. If that is the case, then Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is his most instrumental achievement. The meek motel employee is an unassuming figure upon his introduction, one who is certainly unsettling but doesn’t seem inherently harmful. When it appears as though his mother murders Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), Norman cleans up the scene to cover for her, at least, that’s how it seems.
The unforgettable twist at the end ofPsychoreveals that Norman’s mother had long been dead, he has performed taxidermy on her corpse, and he carried out the crime while dressed as her in a state of delirium. Perfectly accentuated by that penultimate shot—and the accompanying monologue—in which Norman slowly raises his head and smiles at the camera, Bates isa perfect embodiment of creepy evil, an easily dismissed craven harboring a volatile and murderous insanitybehind a kind face and a soft demeanor.
‘Sinister’ (2011)
A recent horror classic that was even able to become something of a mainstream hit upon release,Sinistercoasts off the terror imposed by its haunting villain to thrive as a deeply unsettling viewing experience. Ellison (Ethan Hawke) is a true-crime author desperate for a new hit who moves his family into a house where a family was brutally murdered to investigate what exactly happened. However, when he discovers the involvement of a supernatural deity, Ellison struggles to find the truth before his family is killed as well.
Whatever faultsSinistermay have are swept away by its relentless terror, with Bughuula visually striking evil whose menacing presence begins to seep into every frame of the film. A pagan Babylonian god, Bughuul is described as an entity that possesses the youngest child of a family, slays the family, then slowly consumes the youngest child’s soul. With the film incorporating some smart twists throughout, Bughuul thrives as a viscerally terrifying villain that haunts viewers long after the credits roll.
‘Jaws’ (1975)
The notion of creature features had been around long beforeSteven SpielbergmadeJawsin 1975, but the simple altercation of trading out a fictitious monster for a deadly animal was a refreshing spin that made the horror far more immediate. Set in a coastal holiday destination, it follows a police officer’s efforts to prevent the beaches from opening and, later, his union with a shark hunter and a marine biologist to hunt down the man-eating great white.
Interestingly, the shark—which has come to be known as “Bruce”—is rarely seen on screen, with Spielberg instead imbuing it with a sense of terror by only hinting at its premise, using a predatory POV andJohn Williams’ iconic and menacing score. The audiencefears the beast immensely by the time they finally get a proper look at it, by which point its enormity makes the blood run cold. There is a good reason why, even all these decades later,Jawshas a way of preventing viewers from rushing back to the beach.
15The Thing
‘The Thing’ (1982)
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 inJohn Carpenter’s classicThe 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 astounding effects and grueling body horror. The taut and relentlessly suspenseful horror has become a true classic of the genre and is ample proof that scary movie characters can come in all shapes and sizes.The Thingis amongthe best John Carpenter movies, largely thanks to the mysterious shape-shifting villain at its core.
14The Babadook
‘The Babadook’ (2014)
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 Babadookadds more layers to its plot with thought-provoking metaphors and no small amount of building horror. While mounting suspense and an eerie, emerging supernatural threat do most of the heavy lifting in terms of the horror, there is no doubt that when the Babadook finally appears, it immediately establishes itself as one of the most viscerally unnerving and haunting horror characters ever put to screen. Horror genreWilliam Friedkin was even disturbed byThe Babadook- what higher praise can there be?
The Babadook
13Hannibal Lecter
‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)
One of the rare horror movies to win big at the Academy Awards,The Silence of the Lambsis among the most revered films the genre has ever produced. A key reason for its brilliantly chilling magnificenceis Sir Anthony Hopkins’ incredible performanceas 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, manipulating Clarice and the situation to his advantage. Hopkins won Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Lecter, cementing the character’s place in cinematic history.
The Silence of the Lambs
12Valak (The Nun)
‘The Conjuring’ Franchise (2013-Present)
As one of the best new horror franchises,The Conjuringfilms 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 ofThe Conjuring 2.
Valak was nightmarishly frightening inThe Conjuring 2, haunting a London family under the guise of Bill Wilkins (Bob Adrian) while proving a powerful enemy for the Warrens as well. Her popularity has seen her become a regular feature of the saga, even netting two direct spin-offs,The NunandThe Nun II.
The Conjuring
11Xenomorph
‘Alien’ (1979)
The1970s were pivotal in the evolution of cinematic horrorto what audiences know today, and while the decade produced many great horror villains, there aren’t many as enduring as the xenomorph fromAlien. 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 toH. R. Giger’s design, which masterfully portrayed it as being primitively and predatorily savage as well as slick, evil, and imposing. While a number of sequels and spin-offs have been made, many of them flaunting their own spin on the xenomorph design,none of the new iterations have been as terrifying as the original alien.
