Since birth, we’ve been indoctrinated with a love of horror, whether we knew it or not. The first game your mother would play with you involved her hiding behind her hands and then shouting, “Boo!” We would get taught folk tales that involved a witch wanting to eat children or a wolf wearing the skin of an elderly woman. Some of us were warned of the Krampus, who’d kidnap misbehaving little boys and girls. We’d play Bloody Mary and watch old Disney films. You know, the scary ones. It was a lifetime of preparation for horror. Because deep down, we all have an innate desire to be frightened. We crave it and these characters scare us better than any others. Since this list encompasses the entire history of horror, every genre (and subgenre) is represented. Everything from creature features to kinder trauma, action movies to horror comedies are eligible. I combined characters if they worked as a duo or a group and I excluded animals (save for one) unless they were supernaturally possessed or if they had an internal monologue so that we could understand their motivations. I also only included characters from thrillers if they targeted children. This list is a celebration of horror and the icons that help us lose sleep at night.
These are the 500 Greatest Horror Characters of All Time.
125. Gordon Fleming (Peter Mullan) | Session 9 (2001)
Gordon is the owner of an asbestos abatement company who, due to financial difficulties, has take on a job with a deadline of only a week – despite knowing it should take at least three. Did I mention that the job was at the Danvers State Mental Hospital? Session 9 is really the story of a normal man who is losing his grip on his life and his sanity. You come to know and like all the characters, but in particular it’s Gordon where our sympathies lie, even if he did slap his wife after she spilled hot water on him by accident. Watching an average guy disintegrate under the dual pressures of economic reality and the destruction of personal relationships is half the horror of Session 9. That we still identify with him as he does so is most of the rest. Some critics have referred to this movie as “this generation’s The Shining” and while I can certainly understand the comparisons, I disagree. Not because I think Session 9 is inferior but because The Shining doesn’t doesn’t have a single character I’m invested in as much as I am with Gordon. It’s a layered performance that rewards multiple viewings.
—Bob Cram
124. Margaret White (Piper Laurie) | Carrie (1976)
Piper Laurie had three Oscar nominations and almost 120 acting roles and yet, the role she’s most associated with was Margaret White. She was so good in Carrie, it defined her entire career. It must be frustrating for an actor to be known for only one thing but since that thing is as iconic as this is, it’s hard to complain. Margaret is a deeply disturbed woman, consumed by her extreme religious beliefs. She views her daughter as a vessel of sin, blaming Carrie for her own perceived moral failures. Margaret’s behavior is a combination of intense self-righteousness and cruelty, as she attempts to control Carrie through physical abuse and religious indoctrination. Her role in the film serves as a critical emotional and psychological anchor, showcasing the destructive power of fanaticism and repression.
Her relationship with her daughter is a key factor that drives the film’s tragic climax, as Carrie’s telekinetic powers are unleashed in response to both the abuse at home and bullying at school. Laurie’s performance is both terrifying and nuanced, capturing the character’s extreme religious views and insane delusion. She portrays Margaret with a powerful, almost operatic quality, delivering her lines with an eerie calmness or explosive rage. A good amount of King’s creations ended up on the list for a reason, he creates characters as memorable as this.
123. Max Cady (Robert Mitchum / Robert De Niro) | Cape Fear (1962 / 1991)
Mitchum’s Max Cady is the epitome of creepy. He’s a lunatic with a singular obsession: terrorize the family of his former lawyer Sam Bowden by any means necessary. He’ll hunt them down and terrorize them until he’s put down like a rabid dog. The film is quite tame by today’s standards but it was shockingly progressive in its day. Psycho was the only other film that pushed similar envelopes but Norman Bates only wanted to kill “dirty women”, it was explicitly stated that Cady was going to defile the women and then kill them. He was a brute.
De Niro is a horse of a different color. If Mitchum talked the talk, De Niro most certainly walked the walk. He’s a madman that will destroy every one and everything associated with his target of vengeance, including his underage daughter. The scene between De Niro and Lewis (you know the one), is still shocking almost 30 years later.
122. Pale Man (Doug Jones) | Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
The Faun is probably the most important Doug Jones character in Pan’s Labyrinth, but the Pale Man is by far the most disturbing. The heroine, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), is sent into the Pale Man’s lair on a quest to find a dagger, and she’s warned (and sees disturbing paintings) about his predilection for eating little children. Nothing could really prepare her (or us) for the reality, though. Presiding over a sumptuous feast of delicious food, the Pale Man uses the delights to entrap children. Then he rises from his slumber, places his eyballs into his hands, and chases them until they’ve nowhere to run. With pale skin, flesh literally hanging off his bones, and those eyes in his hands, the Pale Man is a true nightmare creature. He’s only on screen for a few, horrifying minutes – but he’s burned indelibly into your brain despite that. A fantastic combination of Guillermo Del Toro’s vision and Doug Jones’ acting.
—Bob Cram
121. T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) | The Terminator (1984)
Cherry-picking the best elements of Yul Brynner’s Gunslinger from Westworld and Michael Myers from Halloween, the Terminator is the ultimate killing machine. He’s an unrelenting, unstoppable robotic assassin driven by one mission: kill Sarah Connor. If there was ever a role an actor was born to play, you’d have a hard time finding a better example than that of Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. Between his perfect physique and his iconic accent, it’s impossible to picture anyone else in the role. In later films, he becomes the ultimate badass but in the first film, he’s a terrifying robotic assassin eliminating everyone in his pursuit of his target. While I love the more action-packed sequel, I wish at least one of them went back to horror. Fun Fact: OJ Simpson lost the role because he was deemed “too nice.”
120. Milton Dammers (Jeffrey Combs) | The Frighteners (1996)
“My body… is a roadmap of pain.” This is my second favorite Jeffrey Combs role (after Herbert West in the Re-Animator films). Milton is just such a freak. An FBI agent who specialized in undercover assignments with cults, Milton is highly strung and emotionally damaged. He’s covered in bizarre tattoos and wounds, probably from Satanic torture during his time undercover. That he’s still somewhat functional, given his obvious mental issues, is a testament to his strong personality. Too bad he’s an asshole.
Convinced that Frank (Michael J. Fox) is the one responsible for a series of cult-like murders, Milton goes so far as to leave him for dead. That’s when he goes fully crazy, revealing the damage he’s had to endure (see that opening quote) again and even believing he has mental powers. Milton is a jerk, and you’re glad to see him get his comeuppance, but damn if he isn’t a blast to watch and he also gets all the best lines. “You’re violating my territorial bubble!”
—Bob Cram
119. Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) | Poltergeist (Franchise)
I feel like Insidious was made simply to show where Carol Anne went to in Poltergeist. James Wan must’ve had images floating around in his head for years after he saw this and needed to visualize them. While his interpretation of the other side isn’t what I picture Carol Anne being stuck in, we both clearly picture that place being a nightmare factory. The fact that this little girl not only survives being in the worst place imaginable but has to also contend with evil entities in two subsequent sequels without ending up in asylum, is a true testament to her unbreakable spirit.
There are at least five slasher films I can think of where the killer’s backstory involves them witnessing their mother having sex with a strange man and that’s enough to send them off the deep end immediately. Carol Anne deals with ghosts and demons almost every day and she ain’t once thought about killing Coach.
As the youngest daughter of the Freeling family, Carol Anne becomes the target of malevolent spirits due to her psychic sensitivity. Her innocent and childlike nature is exploited by the entities, leading to the famous scene where she announces, “They’re here,” as the spirits begin to manifest in the house. Her vulnerability and wide-eyed innocence create a stark contrast to the dark and terrifying events surrounding her. O’Rourke’s portrayal of Carol Anne across the series leaves a lasting impression, her angelic presence symbolizing the innocence that the evil spirits aim to corrupt.
Unfortunately, Heather O’Rourke’s untimely death at the age of 12 adds a tragic layer to her legacy in the franchise. Carol Anne’s character remains iconic in horror cinema, especially in the way the films explore the intersection of childhood innocence and supernatural terror.
118. Carol Ledoux (Catherine Deneuve) | Repulsion (1965)
The human mind is without a doubt, the scariest thing to be locked inside of. There’s no prison on Earth that can hold a candle to what we do to ourselves when we’re all alone with our thoughts. That’s why solitary confinement has been deemed as torturous as regular torture. We can literally drive ourselves insane if we spend too much time deep inside our own mind. And that’s if you’re already sane. Add in any of the literal hundreds of mental disabilities like schizophrenia or extreme paranoia and you have the recipe for instant insanity. You also have the perfect setting for a horror film. You would think we’d have more film’s dealing with the horrors of paranoia but I guess everyone saw Repulsion and collectively realized it was impossible to top. And they’re right.
This is the gold standard when it comes to mental illness portrayed as horror but it’s more than just a slow descent into madness. Carol (Catherine Deneuve) is being tormented by a very specific fear and that’s the fear of sexual assault. As a victim of rape, her worldview has been distorted and shaped around her experience. Every man she encounters could be (and sometimes is) a potential threat and every situation could lead to it happening again. Her emotional and mental scars start to tear open and the festering wound is threatening to consume her whole. This is harrowing piece of cinema not to be missed with an unforgettable performance by Deneuve.
117. Angela (Manuela Velasco) | REC (Franchise)
The genius bit of casting for [REC] is that Manuela Velasco was actually a TV personality in Spain. Not that it has the same effect for me, but it must have added an additional layer of verisimilitude when it was released in Spain. Even without that cultural knowledge, Velasco is very believable in her role and the ‘behind-the-scenes’ sequences – as she and her cameraman look for interesting shots and worry about which side to stand on in interviews – really give the proceedings that frisson of realism you hope for in a found footage film. (That they shot these opening scenes in an actual, working fire station helps as well.)
As the film progresses and things go from bad to worse to zombie apocalypse, Angela sells us on the fear, uncertainty and her dedication to preserving a record of what’s going on. I love Jennifer Carpenter in the US remake, Quarantine, but Manuela Velasco is just as good in the role. I found myself holding my breath whenever she did, hoping whatever we were half-seeing in the night-vision gloom would pass her by.
Subsequent films (Angela appears in [REC] 2 and 4) show Angela progressing from frightened professional to something of a zombie-killing badass. It’s always fun to see this character, so I even liked 4, just because she was in it. Really, though, you can watch the first two films without ever needing to see the others. She’s fantastic in both.
—Bob Cram
116. Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors) | Tourist Trap (1979)
There are few characters that have as much going on as Mr. Slausen and even fewer actors that would embrace each and every single odd eccentricity about said character with as much energy and devotion as Chuck Connors. For any other actor, this would’ve been an easy paycheck gig but Connors jumps into this crazy-ass character with both feet. He has to play a mannequin-obsessed telekinetic tourist trap operator with multiple personalities who also has a penchant for murder and can also magically turn people into mannequins. A power of which is never explained. Nor is the telekinesis.
Hell, he doesn’t even have a backstory. Connors is literally given nothing but crazy to work with but by god does he craft something beautiful with it. He’s so amazingly over the top, he feels like he could be a forgotten member of the Leatherface family but since he’s so goddamn peculiar, you feel like they’d ostracize him because he’s too much for them to take. A group of murderous cannibals couldn’t handle Mr. Slausen. That’s how fucking bizarre he is.
115. Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) | Split (2016)
We’ve named this entry as Kevin Wendell Crumb for simplicity, but this is really multiple roles all wrapped up into one as James McAvoy delivers an Oscar-worthy performance that was sadly overlooked in this horror-thriller from M. Night Shyamalan. Kevin Wendell Crumb is the legal name of the character but is long buried beneath Crumb’s other “alters,” the alternate identities formed by his dissociative identity disorder. One takes the form of an old, strict woman working some kind of religious plan with a kidnapped girl; another the form of a well-adjusted man seeking therapy for his disorder; another a child. McAvoy’s performance makes each of these characters distinct and, given the circumstances, truly chilling and unforgettable.
–Jacob Holmes
114. Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) | Jaws (1975)
Brody is an everyman character, a relatable hero who is not accustomed to confronting the kinds of dangers he faces in this movie. Despite his fear of the ocean, he is determined to protect the town from the deadly shark that terrorizes the beaches. This inner conflict makes his character arc compelling, as he faces his fears to ultimately take down the shark. But his fight with the colossal great white isn’t what makes him a great character, it’s the fight against the money-hungry and uncaring mayor that does. At every turn, he bumps up against a system that values profits over human life. It’s a subtle allegory for how little the people in charge of things care about you.
You’re expendable and only serve one function: to line their pockets with more coins. Brody originally complies and goes along with the lie he’s been forced to tell everyone until a little boy gets eaten. Feeling as though death could’ve been avoided, he sacrifices his job and fights back against corruption by taking matters into his own hands. If the mayor was behind him every step of the way, he’d still be a hero, but that resistance adds another level of complexity to his character.
Scheider’s performance captures Brody’s growing anxiety and resolve, making him a grounded and human protagonist. His famous line, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” has become one of the most iconic in film history, symbolizing the overwhelming threat the shark represents. As a character, Brody stands out for his courage and willingness to step outside his comfort zone, and his role in Jaws is essential to the movie’s tense, suspenseful narrative.
113. King Kong | King Kong (1933)
The first. The greatest. The true King of the Monsters. Created by Merian C. Cooper and Willis O’Brien (and a bunch of other people I’m not gonna list), King Kong was the first giant monster. Oh, sure, there had been some dinosaurs on screen (most of them created by O’Brien), but nothing like Kong. A monster so epic, so fantastic, and so well animated that it became the main character almost by default. Yes, yes, Ann Darrow, Carl Denham, Jack Driscoll… blah, blah, blah. We’re not here to talk about them, and honestly, we’re not watching King Kong for them. We’re watching it for the giant simian, the monster who fell in love and in the end was more human than any of the other characters. Kong launched an entire genre of giant monsters (including my favorite, Godzilla), and is still having his heart broken by tiny women even today. We first saw him in black and white nearly a hundred years ago, though, and it’s still my favorite version of the big ape.
—Bob Cram
112. Angela (Felissa Rose) | Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Tarantino once said that an audience has an invisible umbilical cord connected to the film they are watching and two things can easily sever that cord: being boring or being confusing. Once either one starts to happen, the cord gets thinner and thinner until the viewer is completely disconnected. I agree but I believe there’s two other things that can detach an audience member: having Johnny Depp in the cast or having a shitty fucking twist.
A twist can make or break a film. Some movies like High Tension, The Number 23, Hide and Seek, and Secret Window are defined by having terrible, movie-ruining revelations, but some films have a twist so crazy, so out of left field, that they become classics because of them. Sleepaway Camp would probably be dismissed as just another slasher if it wasn’t for the last five minutes. Those last five minutes completely change the film and easily earn Angela a spot on this list. The character appears in a couple of sequels and while they’re fun, they’re no where near as good as this one.
111. Sang-Hwa (Dong-Seok Ma) | Train to Busan (2016)
Forgive the pun but for the last couple of years or so, the zombie genre has gotten a bit rotten. Over saturation and the lack of any new ideas has made the genre go stale. Long gone are the days of Romero and it feels like a lifetime ago since Snyder and Gunn made them fast. But like a ray of light in the darkest cave, Train to Busan came out and brought new life to a dying genre. It had genuine heart and characters you cared about. You rooted for Seok-Woo to protect his daughter, which in turn made you afraid for her safety. It was a believable relationship but as amazing as the leads were, you only really cared whether Sang-Hwa lived or not. He’s so instantly badass, you kind of stop caring about anything other than him and his journey.
110. Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) | Beetlejuice (1988)
Beetlejuice’s unique blend of humor, chaos, and menace set him apart from traditional horror figures. His wild, eccentric personality—marked by crude humor, unpredictability, and mischievous energy—makes him both entertaining and unsettling. Beetlejuice thrives on breaking rules and creating chaos, which keeps both the characters in the movie and the audience on edge. His grotesque appearance, with disheveled hair, decaying skin, and striped suit, adds to his creepy, yet oddly charismatic, appeal.
Despite being a ghost, Beetlejuice straddles the line between comedy and horror, providing comic relief while also being a sinister force. His morally ambiguous, trickster nature makes him hard to predict, and his manipulative tendencies give him an air of danger. The combination of his dark humor, supernatural abilities, and ability to switch from playful to menacing in an instant creates a multi-dimensional character who embodies both the lighter and darker sides of horror. Forget Batman, this is the role Michael Keaton was born to play.
—Ricky Ratt
109. Alymer (John Zacherle) | Brain Damage (1988)
Voiced by legendary television horror host John Zacherle, Alymer (don’t call him Elmer!) is a centuries old alien parasite who attaches himself to the spinal cord of humans to use as hosts in order to help him procure fresh brains. He does this by injecting his hosts with “brain juice”, an addictive hallucinogenic blue fluid that makes his hosts drug addicted zombies that are willing to do anything for another hit. Including murder.
Unlike Henenlotter’s other puppet monster, Alymer isn’t just some murderous creature who’s only goal is to kill and scare, he actually has a personality. He’s a dick who delights in fucking with his hosts because he knows that he owns their asses. He turns people into desperate, obsessed slaves and when they no longer can provide brains fast enough or if he just gets bored fucking with them, he ditches them to a life of brain juice-less torment. He’s a total asshole and he’s the most enjoyably entertaining thing Henenlotter ever created. And he created a frankenhooker for chrissakes.
108. Juno (Natalie Mendoza) | The Descent (2005)
Playing like a gender-flipped Alien, The Descent trades the terrifying isolation of space for the claustrophobic horrors of underground caves and Xenomorphs for blood thirsty mutants but other than that, the two films are remarkably similar. They both involve groups of characters getting trapped in a remote location, getting hunted by a monster they can’t see. And just like Alien, The Descent eschews the final girl trope by making the lead a bad-ass from the jump. She immediately assesses the situation and comes up with a plan to survive. Which involves killing some fucking mutants. But the twist is that Juno isn’t the lead of The Descent. This film’s Ripley isn’t the lead, she’s actually the villain.
107. Gary Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Steve Hadley (Bradley Whitford) | The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Taking Randy—the fourth-wall-breaking character from Scream—and cranking him all the way up to an 11, The Cabin in the Woods takes the meta approach to cliches and not only points them out as they’re happening but now turns those cliches into an actual job. Randy used them to keep him and everyone around him alive, Sitterson and Hadley use them to placate the old gods. They literally created every bad trope in the book just to entertain some blood-hungry giants. Which incidentally makes every terrible horror film slightly more enjoyable as a result. Because unofficially, they all take place in the same universe.
106. Baby Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) | Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Anyone well versed in the history of old Hollywood knows that few people hated each other more than Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Their animosity towards one another is legendary, so putting them in a movie together, is like putting two feral cats in a small cage and shaking it. The tension between the two of them adds another layer of intensity to their on-screen rivalry. It feels like Davis was really torturing Crawford in every scene because she probably was. Two aging former child stars are stuck living together in a mansion in old Hollywood. The two of them are sisters who hate each other for different reasons.
Blanche (Joan Crawford) is wheelchair-bound and plots to get even with Jane for the car crash that left her crippled years earlier and Jane is a deeply troubled and delusional loon stuck in the past who’s obsessed with fame and wants her sister out of the way so that she can be a star again. Once a famous vaudeville child star, Jane is now living in obscurity, consumed by jealousy of her sister who later became the more successful actress. Despite her aging appearance, she wears heavy makeup, reminiscent of her days as a child star, and clings to her former identity, singing her old song “I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy” in a disturbing, grotesque manner.
This refusal to face reality creates an eerie contrast between her appearance and her delusions. Davis’s performance helped pioneer the “psycho-biddy” subgenre, where aging actresses portrayed disturbed older women. A genre that is still going strong today but has yet to produce a film half as great as this. Because there’s no actresses alive that can hold a candle to Davis. She’s the best that’s ever lived and this might be her crowning achievement.
105. The Predator (Kevin Peter Hall) | Predator (1987)
It speaks volumes of the Predator’s badassitude that it takes 5000 pounds of testosterone and steroid-infused meat to take him down. Originally intended as a vehicle to showcase Jean-Claude Van Damme’s kickboxing abilities, the production quickly realized that that was a terrible idea. Van Damme hated being in the suit and the creatures design at that time was less predator and more mutated bug. After they fired Van Damme for either being too short or being too much of an asshole on set (sources differ), they scrapped all the designs and cut Stan Winston a check for 1.5 million dollars. The end result is the second greatest alien ever made. Every aspect of its design is iconic. From the silver mask, to the tendrils/dreadlocks, expanding mouth, to its bulky ass armband, the predator is a masterclass in special effects and is one of the coolest creatures ever produced.
104. Rhodes (Joe Pilato) | Day of the Dead (1985)
The brilliance of Romero’s Dead series (the first three at least), was that the films were never about the dead. Zombies were always used as a metaphor for something else. Vietnam, racism, consumerism, an unchecked military—each film is a dark satire of the decade in which it was released, with Day of the Dead being the darkest by far. This is the film Romero was through fucking around with allegory. Zombies are no longer used as a metaphor here. This film proposes for the first time, that not much separates the zombies from the humans. And that’s no more evident than with the character of Rhodes. Acting as the commanding officer, Rhodes is a psychotic douchebag of the highest order. He’s such a piece of shit, that he easily earns the distinction of being the most satisfying death in cinematic history.
103. Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) | Scream (Franchise)
Gale Weathers is one of my personal favorites in the Scream franchise because of her strong, ambitious personality and significant character development. In Scream, Gale is introduced as a ruthless, career-driven journalist willing to exploit the horror around her for personal gain, but gradually evolves into a more empathetic and courageous figure. This evolution makes her more complex and relatable, showing her growth as she faces life-threatening situations. Her sharp wit, biting sarcasm, and ability to deliver humor while in the middle of terror add to her appeal, making her stand out from typical horror characters. Gale is also incredibly resourceful, often using her investigative instincts, intelligence, and courage to survive multiple encounters with Ghostface and contribute to solving the mystery. Side note, although she’s great at helping catch the killer, this woman should never give hair advice. Scream 3 anyone??
—Ricky Ratt
102. Ginny Field (Amy Steel) | Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
The only reason Ginny Field isn’t in the top 100, is because she only appeared in one movie. If she had gone up against Jason just one more time, she’d be higher than almost every final girl on the list. Originally, she was supposed to return as the main character of the third movie, with Jason stalking her in a mental asylum similar to how Michael Myers stalked Laurie Strode in the hospital in Halloween II (1981). However, Steel feared being typecast and ultimately turned down the offer of reprising her role. While I’m not the biggest fan of that sequel idea, I do lament the fact that she didn’t come back.
I feel like her intelligence and resourcefulness, along with her natural charm, make her the best one off hero in horror history. She is a child psychology student, which plays a crucial role in her survival. She uses her knowledge to outsmart Jason Voorhees, notably when she dresses up as his mother in the film’s climax. This shows she has both a deep understanding of psychology and the ability to think quickly under pressure. She’s so capable and quick-witted, if she did come back, the subtitle “The Final Chapter” would’ve been true because she would’ve killed Jason permanently.
101. The Shark | Jaws (1975)
I originally wasn’t going to include any animals on the list because that opens up a whole can of worms I didn’t want to deal with. Aliens, monsters and creatures made sense for a list like this because they’re either not from this Earth, created in a lab or or don’t exist in our reality. Basically, they’re not real, so it’s impossible to know their motivations or if they’re just operating on instinct. Intent played a huge factor on what I determined to be eligible and since animals exist and we understand why they act the way they do, I felt like they should be excluded.
Plus, there are also so many memorable animals in cinema, that they could constitute their own separate list. But ultimately I decided to have one animal represent all of them and there’s no animal that has inspired more nightmares than Bruce the shark from Jaws. Cujo is a terrifying presence, Church is creepy as fuck and Hitchcock’s birds are an unreal threat but no one who saw those films walked away with a lifelong fear of St Bernards, grey cats or seagulls. But everyone who saw Jaws thought twice about going into the ocean and some still never have. That’s how effective the shark is in this movie.
150-126 | 100-76
What do you think of the list so far? Which characters do you hope will make the cut?
