The best horror movie villains are more than just monsters. They're reminders of your own mortality,
who play on your worst fears and make you question the things you hold most dear.
That's what makes a terrifying villain… and these are the most terrifying of all.
Michael Myers first struck the sleepy town of Haddonfield in 1978's Halloween - and four decades
later, he's still at it. Myers has faced his fair share of reboots and retcons over the years,
but despite it all, the man himself remains pretty much the same. He's still got the gray
jumpsuit, the William Shatner mask, and the motivation to keep on moving, no matter what.
In the original Halloween, Myers was credited simply as "The Shape." And that's because
Michael isn't a person. He's the boogie man with a butcher's knife and the devil's eyes.
He prowls through suburban neighborhoods like an apex predator,
always searching for his next victim. And what makes him truly terrifying is that - in
the original movie, at least - there's no method to his madness. Michael kills people
because that's what Michael does, and there's no logic to it. He's random violence personified.
Worse still, no matter how hard you try, you can't stop this guy. No matter what you do, he's gonna
get up and keep coming. All you can do is run… and hope that the man in the mask doesn't catch you.
Cinema is practically crawling with evil aliens, but when it comes to inspiring
pure, primal horror, you can't get any freakier than the Xenomorph.
Designed by the legendary artist H.R. Giger, the Xenomorph first appeared in 1979's Alien,
and has since become known as one of cinema's most iconic sci-fi villains.
After starting off as a leathery egg, the Xenomorph's first form is that of the parasitic
facehugger, which implants a chestburster into the body of its victim. The chestburster then does,
well, pretty much exactly what you expect it to, and quickly evolves into the perfect killing
machine that is the fully-grown Xenomorph. From its unsettlingly phallic head to its dripping,
snarling maw, the creature looks like a reproductive organ come to life - one that
wants nothing more than to turn you into an incubator for more baby Xenomorphs.
By far the worst thing about the Xenomorph is it isn't just a killer. It's a violator - a genuine
monster that does all manner of unspeakable things to the bodies of its victims. This
is a creature designed to get under your skin… because that's the last place you want it to be.
"I can't lie to you about your chances, but… you have my sympathies."
Fighting off a terrifying monster is never fun, but it's always a little easier with
a buddy by your side. But what if you can't trust your friends - because one
of them could become that monster at any moment? Welcome to the world of The Thing.
Directed by John Carpenter, this 1982 horror classic finds a group of snowbound scientists
battling a slimy shapeshifter that can impersonate anything or anyone. That's what makes this alien
so frightening: When the Thing is on the loose, you can't even trust your own senses. Sure,
that guy standing next to you might look and sound like the man you've known for years,
but he might still bite your head off the second you turn your back.
That's when the paranoia sets in. Suddenly, friends start turning on friends,
all while the actual monster is killing everybody off,
one by one. This adds a whole new level of fear to an already terrifying situation - and
makes the Thing one of the most unique and horrifying villains in the history of cinema.
The scariest thing in the world is the idea of losing control - and, when you think about it,
that's exactly what you do whenever you go to sleep. After crawling into bed,
you slip into unconsciousness, where, for most people, the mind goes absolutely wild.
But hey, if you do find yourself trapped in a horrific nightmare, you can at least be glad
you'll wake up unharmed. Unless you're sharing that dream with Freddy Krueger, of course.
The sweater-sporting villain from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Freddy revels in
taunting his victims before finishing them off, usually in brutally inventive ways. Of course,
there are plenty of slashers out there with a little dramatic flair, but what
sets Freddy apart from the pack is the way he invades your mind and completely takes over.
Freddy is basically the god of nightmares. The laws of physics don't apply in the dreamworld,
so Freddy can create any scenario he wants. Theoretically, your bedroom should be the
safest place in your home, and when you close your eyes at night, you'll fully expect to wake
up the next morning. But when Freddy Krueger is lurking in the shadows of your subconscious,
there's no guarantee you'll live to see the sunrise. Worst of all,
there's just no getting away from him, either. After all… you can't fight sleep forever.
The Silence of the Lambs features one of the greatest serial killers in cinematic history.
But while Hannibal Lecter is a villain for the ages, he's not really the movie's principal
villain. He's not even the scariest - after all, there's something kind of charming about him.
You might despise what he's done, but you also can't help but admire him, because he's witty,
refined, and, thanks to Anthony Hopkins, he's absolutely electric to watch, too.
"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."
Jame Gumb, however, is none of those things. Played by Ted Levine, Gumb
is a genuine monster with a deeply disturbing kind of animal cunning
when it comes to hunting women. Maybe he's so unsettling because he's so realistic - in fact,
Gumb is most likely an amalgam of three real-life murderers: Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, and Gary Heidnik.
So whenever Buffalo Bill shimmies onto the screen, your skin can't help but crawl. Occasionally,
a flash of empathy creeps back into his mind, but for the most part,
he sees his victims as nothing more than sacks of meat, made to serve his despicable needs.
And while it's freaky to imagine yourself at the mercy of Freddy Krueger or the Xenomorph,
Gumb's dungeon is far, far worse… because, one day, you might actually find yourself down there.
Who killed Laura Palmer? For better or worse, Twin Peaks fans got their answer in season two
of the seminal TV show, when it was revealed the homecoming queen was killed by her own father,
Leland Palmer. Well, sort of.
As Special Agent Dale Cooper learned,
Leland wasn't to blame for the death of his daughter. The real villain was BOB,
a demon from the Black Lodge who had possessed Leland decades earlier. And this dynamic is
expanded on in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, a movie that depicts the last days of Laura Palmer.
During this movie, Leland is eerily possessive of his daughter, has no problem gaslighting her,
and when he's not harassing Laura, he's out killing sex workers instead. A kid is supposed
to feel safe in her own home, and parents are supposed to take care of their children.
But poor Laura can't even trust her own dad - the man who leers at her from across the room,
who sedates her mother so she won't hear Laura's screams,
and who, despite being possessed by a demon, is far too realistic a villain for comfort.
Despite all the blood and gore, the horror genre is pretty puritanical when it comes to sex.
After all, if a slasher catches you getting it on, you're probably about to meet the sharp edge of a
machete. Filmmaker David Robert Mitchell wanted to subvert that old trope, however, so he wrote
and directed It Follows, an atmospheric horror film about a girl with the world's worst STD.
After sleeping with her new boyfriend for the first time,
Jay Height learns that she got a lot more than a sexy date.
She's just received a curse, in the form of a shapeshifting creature that only she can see.
The nameless "It" will follow her for the rest of her life, ambling behind her until it catches up.
The only way Jay can get rid of It is by sleeping with someone else and passing on the curse.
It never speaks a word and never breaks into anything faster than a slow walk.
It just keeps on coming, one step at a time,
and it never, ever stops. And that's exactly what makes it so terrifying.
Most great horror villains have some sort of origin story. Freddy Krueger was a child killer
burned by his victims' vengeful parents. Michael Myers was a psychopathic little boy locked up in
a mental hospital. The Xenomorph had something to do with... whatever Prometheus was about.
[the Deacon roars]
But "It" has no origin. Appearing in Stephen King's novel of the same name and its ensuing
movie adaptations, this movie monster is a dark and evil spirit who is as old and mysterious as
the universe. It's an entity that's always been here, stoking the fear of its victims
before gleefully devouring their flesh. It can appear as basically whatever you dread
most - although it most famously takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
Pennywise has plagued the town of Derry for centuries, and has developed a particular taste
for young children. As a result, Pennywise's evil influence can be felt all over Derry,
and the adults are eager to turn a blind eye to the horrors happening in their streets.
Making things worse, Pennywise truly enjoys what he's doing. The more afraid you are,
the better he likes it. And even if you band together with all your friends to drive him off,
the Derry demon will just slink away into the sewers and wait for round two…
because no matter how hard you try, evil will always return.
Here's a question: What if there really is a god - and what if he
hates you? Whether or not you believe in a supreme being,
it's unsettling to think of an omnipotent force that's actively trying to destroy you. After all,
God is supposed to be loving. Martin Lang, however, is anything but benevolent.
Played to unsettling perfection by Barry Keoghan,
Martin is the teenage villain in The Killing of a Sacred Deer, an eerie film about a man caught in
the crosshairs of an angry deity. Granted, Stephen Murphy isn't exactly a great guy.
He's an alcoholic surgeon who negligently killed Martin's dad on the operating table. Even worse,
he absolutely refuses to take any blame for his mistakes or acknowledge any wrongdoing.
So Martin decides to use his inexplicable powers to deliver some Old Testament justice on his foe,
smiting Steven's family with a plague that involves paralysis, starvation, and eventually,
death. The only way Steven can save his family is by killing one of them to placate Martin.
What's truly upsetting is how matter-of-fact Martin is about the whole affair. He doesn't
cackle or grin. He doesn't even see himself as evil. He's just out for vengeance, no matter how
sadistic it might seem, and he won't stop until Steven makes the sacrifice. You can beg, you
can scream, you can pray all you want, but Martin won't be moved until you finally pull the trigger.
Nature is supposed to behave in certain ways, but the laws governing the universe don't
apply in Alex Garland's Annihilation - specifically, inside the Shimmer,
a mysterious electromagnetic field that's growing across the Southern United States.
The Shimmer first appears after a mysterious object hurtles through space and crashes into
a lighthouse, and, as its boundaries expand, it creates brand new lifeforms,
mixing and mashing the DNA of the creatures that pass through its otherworldly walls.
Working like a kind of gene splicer, the Shimmer occasionally creates some beautiful crossbreeds.
More often, however, it ends up creating hulking monstrosities that are as dangerous
as they are terrifying. Take this mutant bear, for example. A hideous,
sickly monster, the creature might be covered in fur, but its face is
made of exposed bone, with a human skull melded to the side of its head.
Worse still, this horrific creature can imitate the sounds of its victims,
so when it hunts a group of scientists, the bear screams out the final words of their
ill-fated friend. Of course, the moment you react is the one in which the bear pounces.
Dealing with a powerful predator is bad enough,
but running from a creature that's been perverted by nature? That's gotta be a whole lot worse.
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