The spooky season is here in full force, and I honestly can’t think of a better way to celebrate than by watching my favorite horror movies, but what makes a good horror movie if not a good horror icon! At least that’s how I judge the movies lol. With that being said I’m going to be taking you through my list of horror villains going from biggest flop to the biggest icon!
Jigsaw:
Easily the most morally incongruent figure in all of horror media. He has such a superiority complex about everything, and acts like the moral high ground over everyone else, but he’s literally just an old guy. In fact, he’s kind of a bad person too. He hears someone is addicted to drugs and puts them in a device that will rip up their face??? Yeah, that’s not really cool or a game at all Jigsaw, that’s just murder.
Freddy Krueger:
Honestly, Freddy Krueger is lame. He’s kinda stinky. Probably literally and also metaphorically. I think that he could be better incorporated with how he acts more menacing and goofy. Like in the first movie, he does a really good job, but then anything after that is more hit or miss, and a whole lot of bad puns. So I guess I can say he has one good movie.
Chucky:
The foul-mouthed best friend for life! Honestly Chucky would probably be much lower if it weren’t for the fact he has a queer kid, and he’s actually chill about it. So you know what good on you Chucky. You did one thing correctly.
Michael Meyers:
This is your pretty average slasher dude. He’s kinda normal guy-coded in all honesty. He mostly serves as this example of pure evil, but even then it’s not like he does anything super “cool.” I know that’s probably not a good thing to say about a murderer, but when the theme is horror, I want more to be done than just knife stuff, even if the knife stuff is cool knife stuff.
Jason Vorhees:
The sometimes undead, sometimes hockey maskless killer of Camp Crystal Lake, everyone knows him, but not everyone loves him. Personally, I certainly don’t mind the Vorhees. I think he does a good job of what he does, and if you’re the face of the slasher genre like he is, you must’ve done some good things to get on the list, and he certainly has.
Bruce the Shark from Jaws:
It’s a shark. This shark is cool :).
Xenomorph:
Those silly alien guys are so cool. They’re so rad. The way they hide and then attack, it feels exactly like an animal might kill people. At least that’s how they act when it’s just them on their own and not a collective amount of Aliens. However as a collective they are also a vibe. The xenomorph gets up there if only purely on vibes.
Pinhead:
I can always love a horror villain who has some theatrics to him. The line “I have such sights to show you!” will always remain in my head. Also his design is cool and to the point. As my dad might call it, “It does what is says on the tin.”
Count Dracula:
Count Drac just has that vibe you know? Like sure he’s an old white guy, but for an old white guy he’s kind of super slay? He also was a big help in starting the Universal Monsters and horror genre as a whole so major brownie points for that.
Ghostface:
I have to give massive props to Ghostface if only because he and his movie completely shook up the horror genre with it’s meta narrative. I think what also makes Ghostface work as a killer is the way that they change up the actual people behind the mask. This seems like a simple thing to compliment, but it is still a cool thing about the way they operate. Honestly I think Ghostface gets up here pretty high, even though I don’t like the Scream movies–Anyways!
Candyman:
The cultural significance of Candyman in horror cannot be overstated, and if nothing else, it introduced the genre to the one, the only, Tony Todd. His portrayal of Candyman in this movie does contain the same thing of Pinhead or other dramatic villains which I’m realizing besides a few exceptions is my favorite type of horror villain, so that’s always something to appreciate. Honestly if anyone in the horror genre is the king of drama, it’s Candyman.
LeatherFace:
My beautiful king! I loooooove LeatherFace, so this is definitely some bias on my part, but also at the same time, part of why I love him is how uncomfortable he makes me as a movie goer. He’s absolutely good at his job, but he’s also likeably chill enough to be relatable and nice, and he’s cool and I like him :).
Frankenstein’s Monster:
I don’t care if I’m more so taking from the book version of Frankenstein’s monster, but honestly they’re maybe my favorite horror dude period. Their struggles, conflict, their relationship with their creator. It’s all honestly so brilliant. Genuinely one of my favorite characters period. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s my favorite horror icon.