Back in 2020, I threw together one of my very first big lists when I set out to rank the greatest female horror characters. I was pretty green at list-making back then, but after stumbling across it again recently, I figured it was prime time for an update. A ton of killer new entries have come along since then, while I also updated my catalog with some previously unseen classics.
This time around, I approached it fresh, like the original list didn’t even exist. I brainstormed and ranked every character I felt deserved a spot, without peeking at the old version. I wanted to see what ranking would happen naturally: Which newer ones would force their way in? How would the old favorites reshuffle in the rankings? Would any get the axe entirely?
Once I had my new list locked in, I finally compared the two side by side… and there were some real shake-ups. I ended up adding 18 new entries, which meant cutting 18 to make room, and a few of those cuts hurt.
For each entry now, you’ll see a “Previously Ranked” note at the bottom showing exactly what happened. Did it climb, drop, stay put, or get dropped altogether? Tracking the biggest risers, fallers, and cuts was honestly a blast.
Hope y’all enjoy this refreshed take on the baddest, most iconic women in horror! Drop your own thoughts in the comments!
20. Queen Xenomorph | Alien (Franchise)
The Xenomorph hive has one supreme, towering matriarch. The Queen. She stands elongated head and shoulders above everyone. She’s the mother of the entire hive, laying hundreds of eggs, and will stop at nothing to protect her brood. First unveiled in James Cameron’s Aliens, the Queen Xenomorph is a biomechanical nightmare with her inner jaw snapping with lethal precision, acid blood melting everything it touches, and her piercing hiss that carries an eerie intelligence, making her feel less like a mindless beast and more like a calculating empress defending her empire.
Previous Ranking: #31
19. Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina) | Audition (1999)
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned (is this the first time I used this? Wow), or maybe just a seriously deranged woman with a mean, jealous streak. Asami Yamazaki seems like the ideal wife for widower Shigeharu Aoyama, urged to date again by his teen son. She’s sweet, docile, and Aoyama enjoys her company. But signs slowly emerge that something is off about his new lady love. Digging into her past reveals a trail of body parts and dead bodies. Even still, he’s not prepared for the wrath incurred when Asami finds a picture of his dead wife still on display in his home. Cue the piano wire, needles, and chilling giggles as she ensures Aoyama will never love anyone as much as he should love her. So creepy.
Previous Ranking: #17
18. Erin (Sharni Vinson) | You’re Next (2011)
What starts as a seemingly typical family reunion at a remote rural vacation home quickly devolves into a bloody nightmare when three masked killers crash the party to pick off the wealthy Davison family one by one. What seems to be a paint-by-number house invasion has a refreshing twist. Erin, who is seemingly just the quiet Australian girlfriend who tags along for the weekend turns out to be lady Rambo once the shit hits the fan. Erin flips the script from prey to predator, turning everyday household items into lethal weapons.
Sharni Vinson is electric as Erin. She is cool under pressure and resourceful while knee-deep in blood and chaos, making her one of the most satisfying, badass final girls in modern horror. She becomes the hunter turning this standard setup into a fast-paced, refreshing revenge thriller.
Previous Ranking: #13
17. Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) | Friday the 13th (1980)
While Jason Voorhees would become the masked, machete-swinging legend of this franchise, it was his grieving, unhinged mother, Pamela Voorhees, who stole the show in the original film. Betsy Palmer delivers an unhinged performance with a maternal fury. Convinced the negligent camp staff murdered her “special” boy, she embarks on a brutal killing spree, slashing throats and beheading victims.
Betsy Palmer nails the role, sweet one second, snarling the next, making Pamela every bit as frightening as Jason would become. Her performance was so effective that it launched the franchise and etched her as the original camp killer.
Previous Ranking: #19
16. Eli (Lina Leandersson) | Let the Right One In (2008)
The 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In chronicled the story of Eli, a vampire with the body of a 12-year-old child. Played by young actress Lina Leandersson, Eli finds a kindred spirit in Oskar, a bullied boy who becomes an unlikely ally to the vampire. Extremely pained by a parasitic appetite, Eli circles back around to humanity, and as a relationship with Oskar develops, emotions (like trust and love) seep back in. Eli helps Oskar learn to stand up for himself as their relationship grows. Eli is willing to protect Oskar at all costs, but is it because of love, or does she have other intentions for him? Eli fits in several best of horror categories as one of the best vampires and one of the creepiest kids.
Previous Ranking: #20
15. Red/Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) | Us (2019)
Lupita Nyong’o pulls double duty as motherly Adelaide and the menacing Red. Lupita delivers an all-time great dual performance that anchors the entire film. As Adelaide, she’s the warm yet haunted mother willing to do whatever it takes to defend her family, and as Red, she’s a menacing nightmare with a raspy voice and score to settle. She makes Nyong’o’s physicality, vocal transformation, and emotional depth turn Red into one of modern horror’s greatest villains while making Adelaide’s quiet unraveling equally gripping. Being able to pull off double duty like this is a rare feat, making it one of the greatest performances in horror history.
Previous Ranking: #27
14. Barbara (Judith O’Dea) | Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Barbara may be one of the most recognizable and well-known female characters in all of history, but that doesn’t make her any less annoying and useless as the horde of the undead comes for her. What helps make this such a great character, however, is what she represents.
She is the embodiment of the realistic panic of the average person in a catastrophe. The part of the population that freezes, shuts down, and needs direction (or a slap) just to function amid overwhelming horror. Judith O’Dea’s performance is masterful and often underrated, turning Barbra from a potential scream queen into a tragic everyperson whose breakdown feels painfully believable. She’s not some empowered final girl or bad ass bitch saving the day. She’s the uncomfortable truth that not everyone rises to the occasion, and Judith delivers that tremendously.
Previous Ranking: #11
13. The Bride (Elsa Lanchester) | Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Elsa Lanchester delivers one of the most unforgettable and instantly iconic female characters in horror history with barely a minute of screen time. After the events of the 1931 film, the flamboyant mad scientist Dr. Septimus Pretorius blackmails Frankenstein into helping create a mate for the lonely, tormented Monster, threatening to expose him to the authorities if he refuses. Together, they build a towering, elegant figure with a dramatic shock of streaked black-and-white hair, stitched neck, and wide eyes.
Lanchester nails the performance, remaining mostly silent except for those guttural sounds and the one heartbreaking line…”No…”. The Bride is a beautiful yet tragic creation with her iconic towering beehive hair, the lightning-bolt streaks, the elegant white gown, and those haunting eyes have become one of horror’s most enduring images, parodied, homaged, and instantly recognizable nearly 100 years later.
Previous Ranking: #12
12. Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) | The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
On a road trip with friends to visit her grandfather’s grave, after reports of grave robbing turns into a hellish nightmare after running into the twisted Sawyer Family. Sally deserves praise alone for simply outlasting her friends and brother against the likes of Leatherface, but the fact that she endures a creepy dinner party where she’s the intended meal earns her high marks. She survives being tied up, taunted, and several hammer swings to her skull from Grandpa, only to free herself and throw herself through a second-floor window out of sheer instinct to survive. Then she fights through fatigue and overwhelming fear in one of the most intense chase scenes to finally make it to safety, which is no small feat.
Previous Ranking: #8
11. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) | Scream (Franchise)
It’s difficult to think of a final girl and horror heroine who’s endured as much as Sidney Prescott has. After the rape and murder of her mother, she then has to contend with being the target of the Ghostface killer at the young age of 17. The fact that the killer happens to be her own boyfriend, Billy Loomis, and his best friend, Stu, only twists the knife further, as her friends begin to die around her.
Even as Ghostface’s obsession refuses to fade, the mask and knife pass from one killer to the next across the decades, following her into adulthood. Betrayals pile up, and almost everyone she loves is taken from her as the attempts on her life never truly stop. Yet somehow, through it all, she emerges stronger and more unbreakable.
Previous Ranking: #6
10. Annie (Toni Collette) | Hereditary (2018)
This list is filled with a lot of great horror performances, but Toni Collette as this grieving mother is simply one of the best movie performances, period. She deserved an Oscar nomination, if not to just win the award outright. Annie already starts as a frazzled mom who just lost her mother. While trying to move on from this loss, she and her family suffer an extremely tragic event, where we witness one of the best-acted scenes of mourning and sheer terror of all time. Annie’s guttural screams echo throughout horror history. Her character is one of the more complex matriarchs out there, thanks to her desire to keep her family together while simultaneously pushing them away. There are times you sympathize with her and times you despise her actions, but Toni Collette simply kills it throughout the entire film.
Previous Ranking: #15
9. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) | Misery (1990)
Annie Wilkes is the ultimate obsessive fan turned nightmare captor. She is a former nurse who “rescues” famous romance novelist Paul Sheldon after his car crashes in a Colorado blizzard, only to drag him to her remote house and hold him prisoner while he recovers. At first, she’s the picture of sweet, doting small-town kindness, bringing him soup, fussing over his comfort, gushing about how much she adores his Misery Chastain series. But eventually her mask slips when Paul makes a decision about her beloved character in his latest manuscript that he doesn’t agree with.
Annie’s mood swings are lightning-quick. One minute she’s sweet and mothering, the next she’s hobbling his ankles with a sledgehammer. Kathy Bates is mesmerizing as this deeply unhinged woman whose love is violent and delusional. Kathy makes sure Annie isn’t a cartoon villain but disturbingly human. We are gripped by her as she becomes the scariest kind of monster…a number one fan.
Previous Ranking: #18
8. Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) | Psycho (1960)
In Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking 1960 masterpiece Psycho, Marion Crane is a tragically flawed woman whose impulsive decision sets her entire nightmare in motion. The legendary Janet Leigh plays Marion with subtle, relatable vulnerability, making her feel like a real person rather than a plot device. Her journey takes her to the Bates Motel, where she meets the shy, awkward Norman Bates and meets her fate in the infamous shower scene. That brutal, 45-second sequence with Marion’s screams, the slashing knife, the blood swirling down the drain, remains one of the most shocking and influential moments in cinema history. People who have never seen the movie know this scene.
Leigh’s performance is iconic with her wide-eyed terror and final collapse against the wall. Marion doesn’t survive (spoiler alert), but her death is the catalyst that defines the rest of the film, cementing Hitchcock’s reputation for subverting expectations.
Previously ranked: #3
7. Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) | A Nightmare on Elm Street (Franchise)
Nancy Thompson goes down as one of the first final girls to not stand idly by as Freddy Krueger sliced and diced the people around her. She made a plan to fight back and did just that, going one-on-one with the burned menace. She would help others reach their dream potential so more could fight the nightmare killer and go down as one of the strongest and most recognizable figures in horror history. Heather Langenkamp’s portrayal would help endure Nancy to our horror hearts as one of the best final girls ever to grace the screen.
Previous Ranking: #5
6. Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) | Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Despite being released in the late 1960s, Rosemary’s Baby remains a chilling masterpiece that terrifies modern audiences with its sinister blend of satanic conspiracy, paranoia, and cult horror. Mia Farrow delivers an unforgettable performance as Rosemary Woodhouse, the pregnant young wife who gradually realizes her seemingly friendly neighbors, and perhaps her own husband, are part of a malevolent coven with designs on her unborn child. What begins as a creeping suspicion escalates into a horrifying revelation far darker than she ever imagined.
Farrow wasn’t director Roman Polanski’s initial choice for the role; he felt she lacked the classic “all-American” look he envisioned. Yet after auditions, it became clear no one else could embody Rosemary so perfectly. Her vulnerability, quiet strength, and raw emotional depth bring the character’s mounting terror and isolation to vivid life, making it impossible to picture anyone else in the part.
Previous Ranking: #10
5. Clarice Starling (Jodi Foster) | The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs stands as one of the greatest psychological horror films ever made, and its unforgettable characters elevate it to legendary status, none more so than Clarice Starling, my personal favorite role from Jodie Foster’s illustrious career.
Clarice is a fiercely independent, razor-sharp FBI trainee determined to rise in a male-dominated field rife with sexism and condescension. She navigates derogatory comments and dismissive attitudes with steely resolve, refusing to let anything derail her pursuit of justice in the hunt for Buffalo Bill. Her intelligence, grit, and unwavering drive make her a quintessential strong female lead.
What truly sets her apart is the electrifying on-screen dynamic she shares with Hannibal Lecter, one of the most iconic protagonist-antagonist pairings in cinema history. Their tense, intellectually charged exchanges crackle with tension, vulnerability, and mutual respect, turning every scene they share into a masterclass in psychological depth.
Previous Ranking: #9
4. Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) | Carrie (1976)
There are plenty of Stephen King adaptations from the ’70s to today that could be discussed, but when it comes to powerful performances, no one could forget Sissy Spacek as Carrie White. In Carrie, Spacek’s character is bullied by her classmates and abused by her overtly religious mother until she finally snaps on prom night. Even though she may have become a “villain” after her telekinetic powers went into hyperdrive from the awful prank, I’d like to think most people were cheering her on as the bullies and her mother got what they deserved.
Previous Ranking: #4
3. Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) | The Exorcist (1973)
When it comes to infamous horror films, every moviegoer alive knows something about The Exorcist, and at its terrifying heart is 12-year-old Regan MacNeil, played by Linda Blair. She’s this bright, innocent girl who becomes the unwilling vessel for the ancient demon Pazuzu.
Linda Blair’s performance is nothing short of legendary, as it is one of the most powerful, physically demanding child acting feats in movie history. She is able to shift seamlessly from sweet, giggling kid to a snarling monster that makes Regan’s suffering feel all too real. Blair’s work earned her an Oscar nomination and cemented her as the face of possession cinema to this day.
Previous Ranking: #7
2. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) | Alien (Franchise)
Ellen Ripley stands as the gold standard for strong female leads in horror and sci-fi. No one else quite matches her.
As the warrant officer aboard the Nostromo in Alien, she’s introduced as the voice of calm, rational authority. She correctly interprets the mysterious transmission as a warning rather than a distress call and firmly enforces quarantine protocols by refusing to allow the infected Kane back on board. Her warnings are dismissed, leading to disaster for the crew, but her sharp intelligence, composure under extreme pressure, and unyielding toughness enable her to survive against one of the most terrifying villains ever created: the Xenomorph.
Throughout the franchise, Ripley is repeatedly called upon to confront the nightmare and save the day, evolving from a reluctant survivor into a relentless force. The fact that her role was originally written as gender-neutral (or even conceived for a male character) only enhances her power; she’s never defined by romance, vulnerability tied to her gender, or the men around her. Ripley is simply a pure, no-nonsense badass who kicks Xenomorph ass with brains, grit, and sheer determination.
Previously ranked: #2
1. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) | Halloween (Franchise)
Halloween night changed forever for teenage Laurie Strode when she unknowingly faced off against Michael Myers and lived to tell the tale. As the most responsible among her friends, she became one of horror’s rare final girls, burdened with protecting two young children in her care while evading the embodiment of pure evil, the Boogeyman himself. Not only did she survive, but she repeatedly fended off his relentless attacks throughout the Doyle house, cementing her status as an iconic final girl for the ages.
Over the decades, Laurie confronted Michael multiple times across the franchise, yet it was her final showdown that truly solidified her as the greatest female character in horror. She transformed dramatically from that initial encounter: once a shy, overwhelmed girl desperately fighting to stay alive, evolving into a hardened, resilient woman driven by purpose and prepared to hunt him down. Laurie Strode became the definitive final girl, the benchmark against which all others are measured. As one of the most recognizable figures in the entire horror genre, she has earned every bit of her legendary recognition and enduring legacy.
Previously ranked: #1
40-21 | Top 500 Horror Characters
Well, that’s the list. What do you think of the number one overall pick? Is there someone else you think should have been number one?
