[Hyperventilating]
[Glass Shattering]
Grab on to your arm rests and prepare for a screamingly good time!
"Help!"
"Somebody help me, please!"
Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we're counting down our picks for the "Top Ten Horror Movie Icons".
"...and I'd like to know what they are!"
For this list:
We've rounded up those creative, iconic personalities from in front of or behind the camera that have shaped the horror film industry.
[Frightened Vocal Expression]
"Who let you in?"
[Screams Loudly]
You won't find Alfred Hitchcock here, though as he was the "master of suspense", not horror.
[Thudding]
Number Ten: Robert Englund
"Please, God."
"This... is God."
[Thunder Strikes]
Starting off our list is the man of everyone's nightmares.
"Come to Freddy."
This character actor has had a steady forty plus year career, but made a name for himself as
the terrifying, razor-gloved Freddy Krueger in the 1980s.
"Come out and show yourself, you bastard!"
Wes Craven's classic slasher film, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" gave birth to one of the most iconic horror movie villains ever
thanks to Englund's portrayal and it has since spawned multiple sequels and TV shows.
"The only thing to fear... is fear himself."
[Screaming]
Since then,
Englund has contributed his acting, directing, and voice over skills to over forty horror films, television series', and documentaries;
cementing his status as a legend and pop culture icon.
"Noooo!"
[Metallic Swipe]
"She's mine!"
"Mine!"
"Mine!!"
Number Nine: Tobe Hooper
[Chainsaw Whirring]
Next we move behind the camera for the writer/director mastermind behind some of the most
gruesome images ever put on film.
[Muffled Screaming]
This professor turned film maker first got notice because of his revolutionary slasher flick:
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".
"I hear somethin'. Stop. Stop!"
[Chainsaw Whirring]
This 1970s classic is considered one of the most influential films of the genre
due to it's gritty realism and unique, but brutal storytelling
which mainstream audiences had never experienced before.
[Laughing Mockingly]
[Blows Raspberry]
"Come on, Frankiln! It's gonna be a fun trip!"
Having changed the horror landscape for good,
Hooper went on to create and re-brand as many horror tropes as he could
while creating a string successful and visceral films like "Poltergeist".
[Growling]
[Air Whooshing]
"Mom, open the door!"
[Screaming]
"No! Don't touch my baby!"
Number Eight: Boris Karloff
"Permit me to present you with the most sensational find since that of Tutankhamun."
No matter what generation you're from, this actor's face is immediately recognizable... as long as he's in makeup.
Just like his fellow actor, "The Man of a Thousand Faces", Lon Chaney,
Karloff made a name for himself in the early days of horror.
Especially during the classic Universal monsters craze by playing heavily made up creatures of the night.
"Quiet."
"Quiet!"
Most notable is his, now iconic and often copied, portrayal of Frankenstein's monster...
which he played numerous times.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Maria."
[Silence]
"Will you play with me?"
He subsequently created a long career playing unforgettable monsters, crazed killers, and mad scientists.
[Screaming]
Number Seven: Stephen King
"Hi, Carrie."
Although he's dabbled a little bit in the world of cinema himself by directing and writing a few memorable projects,
the "King of Horror's" major contribution comes from his literary work.
"Wendy, I'm home."
Arguably the most successful and famous fiction writer of the last century,
he has written dozens of best selling novels that have delved into every frightening recess of our imaginations.
"Yes, I told you I was your number one fan."
The award winning author's material has been the inspiration for over forty of the most thrilling movies ever made
such as "Carrie",
"They're all gonna laugh at you."
"Misery",
[Unintelligible Screaming]
and "The Shining".
"...not by the hair on your chinny chin chin."
As well as popular TV mini-series' and countless short film adaptations
"Here's Johnny!"
[Screaming]
Number Six: Christopher Lee
Next on our list, we have one of the most prolific actors of all time.
With almost three-hundred different acting credits, Christopher Lee is best known for
having brought back the most famous bloodsucker, Count Dracula, to popularity on the big screens
starting in the late 1950s.
[Tired Grunts]
[Grunting Stops]
Seen often alongside Peter Cushing, they both became the faces of Hammer Horror Films
whose productions make up the second great era of horror.
[Branch Snaps]
"Somebody help me."
Since then, Lee has played countless villains.
From the mummy to Frankenstein's monster.
From Bond villain to Star Wars villain.
And even Saruman in the "Lord of the Rings" franchise.
"They will find the ring..."
"and kill the one who carries it."
"Frodo!"
Number Five: George A. Romero
"They're coming for you."
"Look! There comes one of them now."
Young George Romero set out to make a small indie movie and ending up creating a horror masterpiece.
His allegory of prejudice, "Night of the Living Dead", gave birth to the modern incarnation
of the zombie as we know them today.
"...wave of murder which is sweeping the eastern third of the nation is being committed by creatures
who feast upon the flesh of their victims."
The undead's stumbling corpses inspired him to make five sequels
and they've since infiltrated pop culture and spawned a new generation of gory entertainment on the big screen.
[Screaming]
His other horror thrillers like "The Dark Half" have won him numerous awards and cemented him
as a living legend of the horror industry.
Number Four: John Carpenter
"So, what is this big, big news?"
Here we have the director responsible for making Halloween even more terrifying than it ever was.
"What's the boogeyman?"
Although John Carpenter hasn't always strictly worked in horror, having been noted as a master of thrillers, action, and sci-fi,
he established himself as the man who brought the ruthless Michael Myers into our nightmares.
[Fabric Tears]
[Screaming]
[Soft Thud]
[Groaning]
Having turned Halloween into one of the biggest franchises of all time,
he is also credited for making one of the greatest horror remakes of all time with, "The Thing".
"Clear."
[Screaming]
Whether dealing with aliens, vampires, ghosts, or killer cars, Carpenter is a true visionary.
Number Three: Wes Craven
"Hello?"
[Over the Phone]: "Hello?"
"Yes?"
[Over the Phone]: Who is this?
"Mmm, who are you trying to reach?"
Rounding out our top three is the brilliant mind behind not one, but two of horror's biggest franchises.
"...Saying Freddy is this ancient thing?"
"Right."
Apart from "Nightmare on Elm Street" taking over in the 1980s, Wes Craven reinvented the genre he helped devleop
with the darkly comic slasher/satire "Scream" in the 1990s.
"Well, I'm getting ready to watch a video."
[Over the Phone]: "Really? What?"
"Oh, just some scary movie."
[Over the Phone]: "Do you like scary movies?"
"Uh-huh."
One of the most rewarded and revered horror film directors,
he constantly surprises his audience with his content and range
while working on countless other projects as producer or writer or through his work on television.
"...and juicy."
[Growls]
[Screaming]
A true modern day master of horror.
"What the hell is this?"
"That's just some stuff that I..."
[Loud, Intrusive Growling]
[Glass Shattering]
[Loud Yelling]
Number Two: Bela Lugosi
"I bid you welcome."
As we swing back to the golden years of horror, we celebrate the creature of the night himself
"Listen to them."
"Children of the night."
"What music they make."
This Hungary-born stage actor moved to America in the 1920s and the rest is history.
Probably one of the most recognizable actors to play Count Dracula ever,
this brilliant actor with his piercing eyes and unmatched accent appeared in over forty horror films.
"Your will... is strong, Van Helsing."
Whether he's playing a twisted mad doctor in one of his Edgar Allen Poe inspired thrillers...
[Unintelligible]
...or a misunderstood creature in "Island of Lost Souls",
there has never been a hypnotic, cinematic genius quite like him.
"Indeed."
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
"What are you?"
"Are you me?"
"I'm bad Ash... and you're good Ash."
"We'll tear your soul apart."
[Sobbing]
"So what do you think? Now or tonight?"
"Tonight."
Number One: Vincent Price
"Does it make you happy?"
For those who think they don't recognize his face, all they need to do is listen to that voice.
"Deepen those lines around the corner of the mouth."
"Not too much."
"There."
"There, that's better."
The unrivaled master of horror, Vincent Price made a career out of giving us chills for almost six decades.
"...Murder, torture, execution. Scares the living daylights out of people and I don't care for that kind of patronage.
His genius can even be felt through his voice-over and narration work in hundreds of films and TV series'.
"Darkness falls across the land."
"The midnight hour is close at hand."
And of course, who can forget his infamous cackle in Michael Jackson's Thriller?
[Cackling]
From mad scientist to the devil himself or through playing iconic characters like Doctor Phibes,
Price is the ultimate face behind the cinematic art of horror storytelling.
"He will have a face... like mine!"
Do you agree with our list?
"It reminds me of the broken battlements of my own castle."
Which horror icons do you think deserve the spotlight?
For more spooky top tens published everyday, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com!
"I won't do it!"
"No?!"
[Metallic Clang]