The 30 Most Terrifying Horror Movie Characters of All-Time

Of course, we had to kick start this list with Jack Nicholson’s phenomenal portrayal of Jack Torrance. Even though the film is from the early ‘80s, it still remains one the greatest horror films to ever—the iconic “Here’s Johnny” scene remains one of the best horror moments you’ll ever see.

Ah, more ‘80s films. What’s so interesting about this selection is that Jason isn’t technically the villain of the first film—it’s his mother who murders the campers. He actually didn’t don his signature mask until the third film in the franchise—but that iconic hockey mask and machete made him a character the audience couldn’t forget, and would forever associate with both the franchise and horror movies at large.

Okay—Carrie isn’t really evil. An overzealous religious mother and cruel high school classmates can make anyone mad and go on a path of murder and destruction. Hell, wouldn’t you want revenge if your classmates dumped pig blood on you at prom? A classic case where “the villain” is the actual hero.

This creepy doll was so beloved that she got her own film after fans saw her for, like, a second in The Conjuring. Maybe it’s her creepiness (that eye makeup is something else, y’all) or the fact that she’s inspired by an IRL doll who supposedly murdered at least one person, but Annabelle is the toy you definitely want to avoid.

Scream is the iconic horror film of the ‘90s, though I Know What You Did Last Summer runs a close second. But this Wes Craven-directed film didn’t revitalize the modern horror genre by just its plot—its success is mostly owed to its antagonist, Ghostface. And, while he’s not exactly creepy, his silent/violent demeanor (and phone voice) is horrifying enough to seend chills down your spine.

Before there was The Conjuring or any horror film about demons and devils, there was The Exorcist. Poor Regan MacNeil—she’s a 12-year-old girl who plays with an Ouija board (the No. 1 no-no in horror movies, duh) and gets possessed by the Devil. The ‘70s film paved the way for the modern horror movie, and set up two major foundations: don’t trust children and don’t play with Ouija boards.

Do Not Trust Dolls, especially dolls that say: “Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?” This horror slasher series follows a serial killer who transfers his soul into a “Good Guys” doll (Chucky) and terrorizes the doll’s owners. Talk about a toy gone bad. Next up? A Chucky series on USA/SyFy this fall.

Michael Keaton has had an incredible career—he played Batman, he was part of the Best Picture-winning film Spotlight, and he was truly hilarious in The Other Guys, just to name a couple highlights. But his greatest role is probably the titular character in Beetlejuice, where he’s so funny, so electric, and so memorable, despite really only having a handful of scenes in the movie (and this remains the same case for the 2024 sequel). The Beetlejuice films are more comedy-horror than straight-up horror, but Keaton’s Beetlejuice is he and director Tim Burton operating at the absolute peak of their powers.

A fictional character who originated as an urban myth and meme, Slenderman stars in, uh, Slenderman. Thanks to the power of the Internet, fans got to see this cultural phenomenon turned into a horror villain. But, even without the memes on Twitter, is anyone surprised that a tall, faceless entity that makes people vanish became a part of the horror film genre?

Michael Myers may haunt your nightmares, but Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode will always be there to hunt him down. Curtis would be the #1 scream queen of all time even from her performance in the original Halloween alone, but her especially badass turn in the new Halloween series (which began in 2018 and continues this fall) is just a little sugar on top bonus.

As the final survivor in the original Evil Dead (spoiler!), Ash has become a memorable horror character for dealing with one malevolent spirit after another. His most well-known image is from the later films and the Ash v. Evil Dead television series, where his right arm is notably replaced with a chainsaw.

Who doesn’t love Sigourney Weaver? The actress brought us the fearless Ripley, who first fights aliens in Ridley Scott’s original 1979 masterpiece. Although the slimy, bone-chilling Alien may strike fear into viewers, Ripley reminds them, actually, the Aliens should be afraid of her.

Stephen King’s Misery has a simple lesson to authors everywhere: Never meet your number one fan. Kathy Bates’ performance as Annie Wilkes was so good it won her an Academy Award for Best Actress and launched her decades-long film and television career.

Not only is Barbarian one of the most well-done, unique, and exciting horror movies of the last few years, but it’s also one of the funniest and most prescient, thanks to the character AJ, as played by modern Scream King Justin Long. A disgraced, “cancelled,” actor, AJ is a bad dude in a very “real world” kind of way; what he does that’s despicable is a lot more insidious and common than a monster just trying to stay alive (like “The Mother” in Barbarian, in fact!). But Long’s performance is the best part of this wild, wonderful movie.

Never fear when the Warrens are near. Based on the true stories of exorcist couple Ed and Lorraine Warren, 2013’s The Conjuring has now birthed multiple sequels and an entire universe of possessions and horror tales. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reportedly visited the real-life Lorraine Warren to get as accurate portrayals of her and her husband as possible.

You can’t walk away from It without being at least a little scared of clowns. Tim Curry first portrayed the not-so-funny villain in a 1990 miniseries, and Bill Skarsgard recently took up the mantle in a reboot of the same name and its conclusion in 2019.

1978’s Hellraiser introduced audiences to Pinhead, leader of the Cenobites. These disturbing extra-terrestrials have come back in nine sequels, seven of which Pinhead’s Doug Bradley has appeared in.

There’s Hannibal Lecter, and then there’s Clarice Starling. The FBI agent is one of the most well-known heroines in movie history, and Jodie Foster even won an Academy Award for playing opposite Anthony Hopkins’ equally memorable Dr. Hannibal Lecter. A new take on the character, starring Rebecca Breeds, just concluded its first season on CBS and will likely continue on Paramount+.

What did we say before? Never trust children. They start hallucinating children’s book characters like Babadook in The Babadook. A white-faced man in a top hat with razor-sharp teeth…the Babadook is one creepy MF-er.

The break-up movie to end all break-up movies? The modern era’s greatest cult movie? All of the above work to describe Ari Aster’s Midsommar, and the key to it all is from Dani, our point-of-view character played wonderfully by Florence Pugh. While Midsommar is ostensibly about a group of young Americans who find themselves increasingly shocked in the presence of a cult, it’s the way Dani deals with her relationship with her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor) that puts her in horror royalty.