Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Art the Clown, Norman Bates, John Kramer aka Jigsaw, Candyman, Leatherface, Chucky, Ghostface, Dracula, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, Freddy Krueger, Hannibal Lecter, Pinhead, the Xenomorph, these are all icons in the world of horror. And deservedly so, as their clout is well-earned. But the following horror villains (or side villains) deserve a similar level of clout, though they’ve yet to receive it. They aren’t entirely unheard of, especially in the horror lover circle, but as far as general audiences go, they’re no Terminator or Jack Torrance. And it’s odd, too, because most of the movies that house the following villains are quite well-known.
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These are characters who stick with you. Their impact is buoyed by the overall effective nature of the film, as is applicable to the aforementioned icons, but on their own they are still quite frightening.
10) Cooper from Night of the Living Dead
A seminal entry in the horror genre, Night of the Living Dead is one of the best and most important films of the 1960s. To this day it has a massive impact on the viewer, with graphic violence (for the time) and an ending that breaks your heart. But at the end of the day, the zombies of unknown origin aren’t really the villains here, it’s humanity.
And, while the redneck mob so important to the end scene qualifies (if they could tell Ben wasn’t a zombie, which is up for interpretation), there is one character who better summarizes humanity’s temperamental and self-serving nature, and that is Harry Cooper. He’s brash, curt, and is literally the type of man who thinks he should be the one holding the gun. But he’s the last one everybody else in the room thinks should be holding the gun. Cooper does a lot to up the tension in Night of the Living Dead, perhaps even more than the groaning undead.
Stream Night of the Living Dead for free with ads on Tubi.
9) Vincent & Ida Smith from Motel Hell
A genuinely creepy horror movie not enough people talk about, Motel Hell is a nice companion piece to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. And, in the same vein, Farmer Vincent Smith and his sister, Ida, are very much like the Sawyers.
These are people who bury human beings up to their necks, slit their throats, and use a tractor to break their necks. Why do they bury them? Because they want their victims’ meat to be prime. Pretty nasty stuff and indicative of a full disconnect from reality. Their parenting must have been pretty out there.
Stream Motel Hell on AMC+.
8) Alex Hammond from Prom Night
Prom Night is an iconic slasher, not far below the Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street sagas. But it has flaws. Most glaring is its outright boring first half.
The second half, however, is pretty nonstop, and it pays off with the reveal of its villain. Alex Hammond is the brother of protagonist Kim Hammond (Jamie Lee Curtis). That’s already a gut punch, but the movie also makes us understand him. He’s getting revenge against the selfish, awful kids who terrorized his younger sister so much she fell out of a window to her death and then just kept on living their lives without ever apologizing, much less confessing.
Stream Prom Night for free with ads on Tubi.
7) Slausen from Tourist Trap
Slauson is an avenue in Los Angeles that inspired a classic recurring joke on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Mr. Slausen, with an “e,” however, was the less comedic killer in Tourist Trap. That said, he thinks what he’s doing is pretty chuckle-worthy.
Slausen is a telekinetic man with multiple personality disorder who kidnaps young people and turns them into puppets. If that all sounds ridiculous, it is, but Tourist Trap is so creepy and Chuck Connors’ performance is so devoted that it all works quite well.
Stream Tourist Trap for free with ads on Tubi.
6) Belial from Basket Case
An ’80s horror movie that shouldn’t be remade, Basket Case is definitely a super odd product of its time. We follow a young man who carries his removed conjoined twin, Belial, in a basket, and that removed conjoined twin is a lumpy little toothed monster.
Belial is killing people because he resents them for having separated him from his brother, which does elicit some empathy from the audience, but he’s particularly brutal going about it. Toss in a great design and the fact he’s being carried in a basket and Belial is hard to forget.
Stream Basket Case for free with ads on Tubi.
5) The Mountain Twins from Just Before Dawn
A horror movie that is unfortunately impossible to stream (at least for now), Just Before Dawn is Deliverance if Deliverance were an outright slasher. And it works thanks to the fact that most of its violence takes place in broad daylight.
It also works because “the mountain twins,” both of whom are played by John Hunsaker, are like Leatherface in that they’re physically imposing. You believe they’re capable of murder. And, because they can’t stop laughing or smiling when committing heinous acts, you know full well they’re enjoying it.
4) “Harry Warden” from My Bloody Valentine
A top-tier slasher that should have started a franchise, My Bloody Valentine is a classic. And it hasn’t really been forgotten, seeing as how it got a remake back in 2009, but if any non-franchise slasher deserves to be seen in the same light as Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street, it’s this one.
For that matter, the Miner (once Harry Warden, now Axel Palmer pretending to be Harry Warden) deserves to be held in as high a regard as the Myers and Kruegers of the world. What’s great is just how conducive a miner’s get-up is to being a horror antagonist. A pickaxe is a formidable weapon, the all-black suit helps you hide in the darkness, and the head light helps you startle and blind your intended victims. “Harry Warden,” as it were, is quite formidable. Toss in the twist ending about it being a scarred boy who has grown up to emulate the man who killed his father and the Miner is terrifying and unforgettable.
Stream My Bloody Valentine for free with ads on Tubi.
3) Rawhead Rex from Rawhead Rex
Rawhead Rex actually sticks pretty close to Clive Barker’s short story in Books of Blood Volume 3. In fact, Barker himself wrote the screenplay. However, because of what he considered to be flat direction the author went on to disown it.
But as far as B-movie blood-soaked monster-fests go, Rawhead Rex is quite enjoyable. Its monster isn’t quite what is described on the page, but that’s part of the charm. He looks like a gorilla bear hastily departing the gym because he’s late for his audition to become KISS’ fifth member. Where else are you going to get that?
Stream Rawhead Rex on AMC+.
2) Conal Cochran from Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Compared to Halloween III: Season of the Witch‘s Conal Cochran, Michael Myers seems to have at least some moral standards. After all, Michael doesn’t kill kids (he tried with his niece Jamie, but still).
Conal Cochran pretty much only kills kids. Any adult who dies is collateral damage after snakes have crawled out of their now-deceased child’s skull. His plan is to mass murder children wearing his company’s Halloween masks. A pretty repugnant individual. It makes sense why Myers is the villain most inextricably linked to the franchise, but Cochran is worse (he’s also played very well by RoboCop‘s Dan O’Herlihy).
Stream Halloween III: Season of the Witch on Peacock.
1) Cropsy from The Burning
Slowly but surely, The Burning has been getting the praise it deserves, at least in the slasher aficionado circle. It’s tense, brutal, Friday the 13th-esque, and loaded with pre-fame stars. But the best part is Cropsy, a former camp caretaker who was horrifically burned by some jerk kids playing a prank on him.
Cropsy is essentially Tom Savini’s Freddy Krueger three years before Freddy Krueger was even a thing. Savini’s work on Cropsy’s face is jarring, Lou David was able to make his face work towards scares beneath all the makeup, and the garden shears stand as a pretty fantastic addition to early ’80s slasher weaponry. Other slashers have used garden shears (like Friday the 13th: A New Beginning) but, really, they’re owned by Cropsy and The Burning.
Stream The Burning for free with ads on Tubi.
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