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.
275. Lieutenant ‘Lefty’ Enright (Dennis Hopper) | The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
When faced with the decision to do a follow-up on a great horror film, the tendency is to just do something similar because that’s what people fell in love with right? Not if you are Tobe Hooper. The only things recognizable to his follow-up to arguably the greatest horror movie of all time are the names Leatherface and the Sawyers. Oh and the chainsaw. That’s kind of a big one. Hooper changed everything from the original TCM that they don’t even seem like they belong in the same universe. Where the original was so gritty and real, the sequel was campy and more of a horror-comedy. Tobe Hooper considers the first film hilarious and to make sure everyone got the “red comedy” he was going for, he decided to crank everything up to 11 for the sequel. Instead of a realistic crazy hitchhiker, there’s an over-the-top Vietnam vet who uses a coat hanger to scratch the exposed brain plate he got from the war. Instead of a typical final girl, we got a sassy DJ who uses Leatherface’s sexual frustration as a weapon. And to top it off, he introduced a hero even crazier than the Sawyer clan. ‘Lefty’ Enright is a vengeance-obsessed lieutenant who decides to kill Leatherface and everyone associated with him by giving them a taste of their own medicine. Cue the craziest chainsaw fight in history.
—Vincent Kane
274. Ash (Ian Holm) | Alien (1979)
I didn’t see it coming. That twist? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, stop reading now and go watch Alien for crying out loud. It’s amazing. I knew something was off about Ash from the beginning – the other crew members are all in the moment, but he spends a great deal of time just watching, not reacting. Observing. Still, I just assumed he was weird. I had no idea how weird.
Given how dodgy Ash acts – from letting Dallas and Lambert and Kane in, despite quarantine procedures, to hiding research on then alien from Ripley – we know he’s a bad dude early on. Once Dallas is dead and Ripley finds the orders from the company, though? Yeah, that’s when Ash becomes the full on villain of the piece. Ian Holm is fantastic, reserved, pedantic, methodical – even when he’s trying to murder someone with a rolled up porno mag. Even now when I think of him, I think of that smug-ass look on his face as Parker pulls the plug. “You have my sympathies.” Screw you, Ash!
—Bob Cram
273. Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) | The Fog (1980)
Did Adrienne Barbeau start the sexy, sultry DJ thing or was that around before 1980? Stevie Wayne is a radio host who operates from her lighthouse in John Carpenter’s 1980 atmospheric horror film dealing with swashbuckling and grudge-grasping ghosts. She literally and figuratively oversees the entire film. As the story of the plundered ship, The Elizabeth Dane, is pieced together, the mystery of Antonio Bay unravels. Stevie takes charge of her position to warn the bay citizens from the bloodthirsty specters surging from the phantom vessel. Stevie’s sharp eyes and cerebral planning made her The Fog‘s beacon of salvation.
—Vincent Kane
272. Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon Zombie) | House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil’s Rejects (2005), 3 From Hell (2019)
There are deranged killers and then there is Baby Firefly. She likes to entice men with her sex appeal and then rip their hearts out. Literally. The way she plays mind games and taunts her victims is terrifying along with her unhinged laughter. We see Baby go from seemingly evil seductress drawing in victims for her maniacal family to a cold-blooded slasher alongside her brother Otis. Rob Zombie casting his wife in every one of his movies is pretty polarizing but all fans of horror can see how great of a character Baby truly is and that is thanks in most part Sheri Moon’s performance.
In this first installment, Baby is introduced as part of the psychotic Firefly family, who lures unsuspecting victims into their house of horrors. Her high-pitched voice, childlike mannerisms, and twisted sense of humor is oftentimes grating and thankfully it’s toned down in the sequel. In The Devil’s Rejects, the tone shifts from the more surreal horror of the first film to a gritty road thriller. Baby, along with her brother Otis and their father Captain Spaulding, is on the run from law enforcement.
Sheri Moon Zombie’s performance evolves here—Baby becomes more dangerous, shedding some of her playful antics and displaying a deeper sense of menace and cruelty. There’s still that underlying sense of unpredictability, but Baby in this film is more grounded, more focused on survival, and yet, her sadism and desire to inflict pain on others remain central to her character. It’s unfortunate her character regresses in the second sequel, she really turned into a great exploitation character.
—Vincent Kane
271. Sarah (Alexandra Essoe) | Starry Eyes (2014)
This is your typical story of an aspiring actress trying to make it in the big world of Hollywood where she is willing to sell her soul and of course, be taken advantage of by old men all in the quest for fame. Sarah starts off as your generic wanna-be actress working at a dead-end job with no prospects of making it big. That is until she gets the big break she has been looking for but only after she does more auditioning on the casting couch. She does. Willingly. And what comes next is the price of selling your soul Alexandra Essoe does a tremendous job of playing Sarah as a more mature and realistic aspiring starlet but does her best work as Sarah’s behavior becomes erratic and her body begins to deteriorate. We witness her beautiful hair and nails begin to fall out and vomiting of maggots. Sarah is a tragic tale wanting fame no matter the cost but also the system that is willing to take advantage of that desire.
—Vincent Kane
270. Cyrus (Chi McBride) and Stuart (Jim Fyfe) | The Frighteners (1997)
Two of Frank Bannister’s right-hand hench ghosts, Cyrus and Stuart are the closest things Frank has to friends. Trying to help him, even when he takes their afterlife for granted. Stuart is the nerdy former friend, Cyrus the amazingly-afroed former thug. They make a great pair, even when they’re finally getting their tickets punched – for the final time – by the “Reaper.” Along with The Judge (John Astin), they’re some of the most fun characters in a film full of them.
—Bob Cram
269. Willard (Crispin Glover) | Willard (2003)
Cinema needs more weirdos like Crispin Glover. It’s filled with far too many cookie cutter anonymous GQ looking living mannequins. Glover is a singular presence unlike any other and I wish there were more examples of his type of strange. His uniqueness made him a perfect choice for Willard, an outcast who talks to rats. In this underrated remake of the 1971 film of the same name, Glover plays Willard Stiles, a socially awkward and emotionally tormented man who forms an unusual bond with rats after discovering an infestation in his house.
Willard, isolated and dominated by his overbearing mother and tyrannical boss (R. Lee Ermey), channels his frustration into controlling the rats, eventually using them to exact revenge. Always left out of the conversation of the greatest horror remakes of all time, Willard is far superior to the original due mostly to the central performance by Crispin Glover. The cast is great across the board and the pacing and tone are an improvement but the lion’s share of the film’s success is Glover. He brings an eerie intensity and vulnerability to the character, making him both pitiable and unsettling.
268. Gabriel (Annabelle Wallis) | Malignant (2021)
Just the title of this one is a spoiler but screw it. I love Gabriel. The murderous killer mutant from James Wan’s semi-slasher movie, Malignant. We know there’s something off about him from the moment we first see him make his first kill, but nothing can prepare for just HOW WEIRD he actually is. Even now I don’t want to give too much away, because it was just so much fun seeing how Gabrielle is related to the protagonist. And the last third of the film is Gabriel’s show, as the weirdness dial gets turned up to 11. If Malignant had been made in the 1980s instead of 2021 I think we’d be talking about Gabriel as one of the best supernatural slasher villains of all time, and wondering if we were getting a remake/reboot or just the seventh or eighth installment of the Malignant series.
—Bob Cram
267. Barb (Margot Kidder) | Black Christmas (1974)
Margot is best known for her role as Superman’s love interest Lois Lane. However, to horror fans, she will always be the chain smoking, heavy drinking smartass sorority chick from Black Christmas. She isn’t put off by the strange and crude prank phone calls to her sorority house from the killer. Barb didn’t take any jive off no turkeys. She is one of the sorority sisters being stalked by an unknown killer during the holiday season. She’s brash, sarcastic, and unapologetically outspoken, standing out from the other characters due to her dark sense of humor and rebellious personality. Barb stands out as the “wild” sorority sister, whose antics provide both comic relief and a sense of recklessness that contrasts with the more composed Jess (Olivia Hussey). Her bold personality ultimately puts her in the path of danger, as her bravado makes her less cautious than her peers. This recklessness leads to one of the film’s most shocking moments, as Barb becomes one of the killer’s victims in a highly unsettling scene. If this came out in the time of the internet, there would 100% be a #Justice4Barb campaign.
—Vincent Kane
266. Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) | Child’s Play (Franchise)
Andy is a six-year-old boy who unwittingly becomes the target of Chucky (a homicidal doll inhabited by the spirit of serial killer Charles Lee Ray) after receiving the doll as a birthday gift. Chucky would eventually become the star of the franchise but for the first three films, Andy was the central protagonist. He was the literal belle of the ball considering Chucky wanted to get upside him like he’s a creep and she’s a drunk chick at prom. The audience experiences much of the terror through Andy’s eyes, making the story more emotionally engaging. Andy’s bond with his single mother, Karen (Catherine Hicks), and his childlike faith in Chucky as a “good guy” doll contrasts sharply with the malevolent reality, amplifying the horror when Chucky reveals his true nature.
In Child’s Play 2 (1990), Andy’s character matures as he grapples with the trauma from the events of the first film. Now in foster care, Andy is a bit more wary and jaded, though still deeply affected by the horrors of Chucky. His fear that no one believes him about Chucky’s existence adds to the tension. In this sequel, Andy shows more resilience and determination, particularly in the climactic factory showdown, where he finally faces off against Chucky. His return to the franchise in the television show is one of the best decisions they could’ve made. He’s the ultimate adversary against Chucky.
265. The Stuff | The Stuff (1985)
Man, I love Larry Cohen. Who else would make a film about a murderous dessert item? The Stuff is a mysterious substance, found bubbling up out of the ground at a construction site. Somehow this manages to get past market-testing – probably because it tastes great and has zero calories. Unfortunately for those who eat it, the Stuff is a parasitic organism that induces addictive consumption before mutating its host. Then it explodes into a massive, white wave of gooey, creamy, murderous deliciousness. One of the most original monsters of the 1980s, the Stuff doesn’t just overwhelm people like an albino Blob, it also mutates them into being a Stuff delivery system, as when one character opens his mouth wide, wider, widerrr…. It’s odd, it’s hilarious, it’s the Stuff. And I, for one, just can’t get enough.
—Bob Cram
264. Kim Bok-nam (Seo Young-hee) | Bedevilled (2010)
Bok-nam is a desperate woman at the end of her rope. She was left behind as her best friend went off to the city and ignored her letters which were cries for help. She is treated like a slave by her abusive husband and the women of her village. She plans to save her daughter and take her away to the city, but during a struggle with her husband and his goons, her daughter is killed. *Morgan Freeman voice* “It was at this point, they realized, they had royally screwed the pooch.” Bok-nam snapped by going on a murderous rampage with a sickle, cutting down all who had wronged her. Vengeance would be hers and all that made her suffer would pay the ultimate price.
—Vincent Kane
263. Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) | Friday the 13th (1980)
Part of the wave of slasher films created by the massive success that was Halloween, Friday the 13th actually took its inspiration from the Italian slasher A Bay of Blood released eight years previously. I use the word inspiration loosely considering it straight-up lifts some of its best kills but adds a much more streamlined plot. It’s easily as influential as Halloween but the only reason it isn’t more well known is because the plot is convoluted as fuck and Bava didn’t have Tom Savini, a great twist and a cast of characters you actually care about. Alice Hardy may not be anyone’s favorite final girl but she’s definitely good enough to be considered one of the best of the era. By the time the third act comes around, her character is basically just walking into rooms, finding a dead body and running away screaming but when it comes to taking down the big bad, she steps up and delivers one of the best decapitations of all time.
262. Howard (John Goodman) | 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
After waking up in his underground bunker after a car accident, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) quickly realizes her so-called captor actually saved her from a catastrophic event. Or did he? Howard is a survivalist (or a doomsday prepper if you’re being accurate) who insists that he saved her from an apocalyptic event happening above. The other man sharing the bunker backs up his claims by explaining that he wasn’t kidnapped, he begged to be let in. Something happened after her car accident and all signs point to Howard telling the truth but her gut is screaming that something isn’t right.
Throughout the film, it’s unclear whether he’s truly a well-meaning but overbearing protector or a dangerous, delusional man. Goodman’s performance adds layers to the character, making him both sympathetic and terrifying. His calm demeanor often contrasts with sudden bursts of anger, keeping both the characters and the audience on edge. He dominates the tension of the film, especially as his true motives come into question. The confined setting of the bunker and Howard’s intense personality make for a suspenseful psychological thriller. By the end, as the truth about both Howard and the outside world is revealed, the film leaves viewers questioning how much of Howard’s paranoia was justified and how much was driven by a deeply disturbed mind.
261. David Kessler (David Naughton) | An American Werewolf in London (1981)
If you saw this film when it originally came out, you were probably taken a back by the presence by David Naughton. At that time, the only thing people knew him from was his Dr. Pepper commercials and An American Werewolf in London is about as far away from those energetic ads as possible. In the film, he plays David Kessler, a young American traveling through the English countryside with his friend, Jack Goodman. After being attacked by a werewolf, David survives but is cursed to become a werewolf himself. The film follows David’s struggle to come to terms with his transformation and his descent into madness as he grapples with violent, uncontrollable urges. One of the film’s highlights is the iconic transformation scene, which was groundbreaking for its time, utilizing Rick Baker’s Oscar-winning practical effects. Naughton’s portrayal of David balances the horror of the situation with a sense of confusion and vulnerability, which makes him a relatable character, despite the supernatural circumstances. His growing isolation, along with haunting visions of the people he has hurt, gives the film emotional weight, elevating it beyond a typical horror movie.
260. Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) | Insidious (Franchise)
I’ve grown to hate the recent discourse surrounding nepo babies. The Internet is hell-bent on disparaging the children of famous people in the industry despite the fact that the industry was built on nepotism. It’s always been a part of the business and honestly, it’s only an issue if the actor in question is bad. There’s a reason no one ever mentions Lin Shaye when they’re listing all the examples of the trend despite owing her career to her brother who’s a producer, and the reason is that she’s great. She was a bit player in multiple movies and always left an impression regardless of her limited screen time. It wouldn’t be until the Insidious movies that she started becoming the lead.
She took to her new found career resurgence like a duck to water. She was always meant to be in the spotlight, not off to the side, fighting for screen time. As a gifted psychic with the ability to communicate with the dead and navigate the supernatural realm known as “The Further,” Elise plays a central role in battling evil spirits and guiding troubled families through terrifying hauntings. As the series unfolds, she becomes an integral element to the story being the lead of two sequels. Elise is the heart of the Insidious franchise, providing both emotional depth and continuity throughout the series. She represents a departure from the typical horror protagonist, being an older woman who is not just a victim or a target of supernatural forces, but a proactive and courageous warrior against them.
259. Fritz ‘Fiete’ Honka (Jonas Dassler) | The Golden Glove (2019)
Based on the real-life German serial killer of the same name, Fritz “Fiete” Honka is a deeply troubled, alcoholic man who lives a miserable, filthy existence. He frequents a run-down bar called Zum Goldenen Handschuh (The Golden Glove), where he meets and preys on older, vulnerable women. Honka is a grotesque figure, both physically and psychologically, representing the decay and desperation of his environment. He is alienated, grotesque, and trapped in a life of violence and addiction. Through heavy makeup and prosthetics, the young actor becomes almost unrecognizable, physically embodying the real-life killer’s deformed appearance.
Dassler captures Honka’s mannerisms—the twitchy awkwardness, explosive temper, and pitiful desperation that make the character unsettling yet disturbingly human. Honka’s facial disfigurement, the result of a car accident in real life, is an important element in the portrayal. It not only makes him stand out visually but also symbolizes the deeper ugliness within. His hunched posture, shambling movements, and unkempt appearance further add to the grotesque nature of his character. It’s a truly transformative performance that unfortunately flew under the radar and is still waiting to be discovered.
258. Marty (Fran Kranz) | The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Marty, you bastard, you’ve killed us all. You and the Japanese. The obligatory stoner member of the classic horror movie group, Marty is really the one that figures everything out, though – helped along by his secret stash of weed that hasn’t been tampered with. He’s the one that everyone should listen to, especially as things get going (“I’m drawing a line the fucking sand here: do NOT read the latin.”) He’s hilarious, brave, and wiser than anyone that baked should be. And yeah, he ends up causing the apocalypse, almost out of spite. But honestly, can you blame him?
—Bob Cram
257. The Phantom Killer (Bud Davis / Andy Abele) | The Town That Dreaded Sundown (Franchise)
The Town That Dreaded Sundown and its 2014 reboot/sequel are based on the real-life Texarkana Moonlight Murders, a series of unsolved violent attacks and killings that occurred in 1946. The masked figure in both films represents one of the most terrifying true-crime legends in American history. The 1976 film is a semi-documentary-style horror film that closely follows the real-life events of the Texarkana murders.
The Phantom Killer in this version is a chilling, silent figure whose face is never revealed, adding to the tension and fear he creates. He wears a white sack over his head with eyeholes cut out, giving him an appearance reminiscent of other masked slashers who would come later (like Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers). However, his grounded, human nature makes him even more frightening, as his motives are never explained, and he remains an enigma.
The 2014 version serves as both a reboot and a meta-sequel. It presents a fictionalized continuation of the Phantom Killer’s legacy, set in a world where the 1976 movie exists. The new Phantom Killer appears as a copycat, with the murders seemingly starting up again, mirroring the original killings from both the real-life crimes and the events of the first film. The Phantom Killer’s mystery and brutality have made him a precursor to many slasher villains in the horror genre. His real-life inspiration adds an extra layer of terror, reminding audiences that such horror can exist outside of fiction.
256. Angela (Amelia Kinkade) | Night of the Demons (1988)
Angela starts off as a goth girl, quiet and a bit of a social outcast. She’s rebellious and mysterious, which makes her both intriguing and intimidating to her peers. She, along with her friend Suzanne, organizes a Halloween party at Hull House, an abandoned mortuary that has a dark history. Once the party begins, Angela becomes possessed by a demon, turning into a sinister and malevolent creature. This transformation marks a significant shift in her character, from a quiet and aloof goth to a sadistic and evil entity that hunts and torments her friends.
After her possession, Angela embodies the typical traits of a horror movie antagonist. She becomes more commanding, her voice and movements more eerie and predatory. Her makeup and costume also evolve, making her appearance unsettling and otherworldly. In her demonic form, Angela toys with her victims, relishing in their fear and suffering. While the possessed Linnea Quigley has the more iconic scene (she shoves a tube of lipstick into her nipple and it swallows it whole), Angela is nevertheless the face of the franchise and the sole redeeming element in the otherwise dire sequels.
255. Cecilia Kass (Elizabeth Moss) | The Invisible Man (2020)
After the Dark Universe imploded, the decision was made to scale back on any new versions of the story. The first in a proposed line of reimaginings of old Universal monster movies is Leigh Whannell’s take on the Invisible Man. Instead of a story of an invisible lunatic who became dangerously insane due to side effects of the experiment, it’s now dealing with themes of domestic abuse, control, and psychological manipulation. This version of the tale follows Cecilia, a woman trapped in an abusive relationship with her controlling and wealthy boyfriend, Adrian Griffin, a scientist specializing in optics.
The real horror begins when Cecilia learns that Adrian has died by suicide, though she remains convinced that he’s not only alive but has found a way to turn himself invisible to torment her. Moss’s portrayal of Cecilia’s descent into paranoia (or what others believe to be paranoia) is deeply compelling. She embodies the anxiety and fear of a woman gaslit by those around her while trying to convince others—and herself—that her experiences are real. The film cleverly plays on the audience’s doubts about Cecilia’s mental state, even as we pray that she’ll eventually break free from Adrian’s control. She may make some all-time stupid decisions throughout the film, but she’s still, nevertheless, a character you can’t help but root for.
254. Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price) | Witchfinder General (1968)
If all you know of Vincent Price is his scenery-chewing appearances in films like Roger Corman’s Poe cycle, then this performance is going to be a surprise. As played by Price, Hopkins is a pious man, but corrupt and cruel. Though he’s dedicated to his cause he can be bribed – by both money and flesh. The unusually subdued performance has many nuances that you don’t see in many of Price’s performances, allowing room for flashes of compassion and confusion amongst the standard aloofness and cruelty. At first, I felt like his sidekick, Stearne (Robert Russell), was the more evil of the pair, his enthusiasm for his work (as the more ‘hands-on’ of the pair) and coarse nature making him the more obvious. By the time Hopkins reveals his ‘new method’ of putting witches to death (Silent Hill stole this scene wholesale) however, you’ll be howling for his blood just as much as Captain Marshall.
Witchfinder-General (it first saw release in the US under the Poe themed title The Conquerer Worm) is loosely based on a real-life figure from the English Civil War. Mathew Hopkins travelled the eastern counties and with his assistant John Stearne accounted for more than 300 deaths – more than had been hanged for witchcraft than in the previous 100 years (according to Wikipedia). Price brings this historical villain to life in a way that’s unforgettably evil, and it’s one of his best performances.
—Bob Cram
253. The Armitages (Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener, Allison Williams, and Caleb Landry Jones) | Get Out (2017)
Get Out will go down as one of the most impressive debuts in history, not because it changed the cinematic landscape like Citizen Kane or Reservoir Dogs or because it’s technically impressive like The Shawshank Redemption or because it became instantly iconic like This is Spinal Tape but because it came out of fucking nowhere. Before its crazy as hell trailer dropped (that skeleton deer still haunts my dreams), Jordan Peele was best known as one half of the comedy duo Key & Peele, along with fellow comedian Keegan-Michael Key. Together the two worked on projects like Mad TV, Fargo, Keanu and obviously, Key & Peele. Based on those shows and movies, nobody on Earth could’ve predicted that he would become the modern-day Rod Serling but 2017 came around and Peele dropped an atomic bomb of a debut.
A perfect blend of comedy, horror, race issues and satire, Peele threw The Stepford Wives and The Mephisto Waltz into a blender, added a dash of Rosemary’s Baby and Carpenter’s trademark genre subversion, hit frappe and then served with a sledgehammer. Part of its lasting appealing is its subversion of the modern nuclear family. The Armitages disarm you with their friendly personas but they harbor a deep dark secret. A secret so crazy, it completely changes the genre of the film itself. They might be the craziest family since Mother and Father from The People Under The Stairs.
252. Graboids | Tremors (1990)
Nobody was expecting a ’50s-style monster movie in 1990, but we ended up getting one of the best. The graboids themselves are a fantastic piece of classic practical-effect monstery. (Is that a word?) They’re built up from nothing more than lines on a seismic sensor to creepy-looking snake-like things, before we finally get to see them in all their cheesy glory.
The special effects still hold up for me, even though some of them can look a little puppet-like. There’s a solidity to them that CGI can’t always manage, and the designs themselves are unique and gross. I even like the “monster vision” shots of the graboids moving through dirt and rocks. Sequels have expanded on the graboid biology (including giving them flatulence-powered flight), but these initial designs are still my favorites – looking like a cross between a giant grub and some kind of beetle, with those snake-like tongues. (That ass-blaster version of the graboid highlights my problem with most of the sequels – they cross the line from funny to campy.)
—Bob Cram
251. Veronica (Geena Davis) | The Fly (1986)
Since he’s the king of gross-out body horror, the last thing you associate with David Cronenberg is romance but once you look past the insane effects of The Fly, you find one of the best love stories of the genre. You could easily see this story as a metaphor for watching your partner lose themselves to a debilitating disease such as AIDS. A metaphor that only works if you’re invested in the central love story and you’ll be hard-pressed to find two people you’ll instantly care about more than Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum in this film. Davis plays Veronica Quaife, a journalist whose relationship with eccentric scientist Seth Brundle serves as the emotional core of this sci-fi horror classic.
Veronica is not only a love interest but also a character who undergoes a dramatic emotional journey as Brundle’s transformation into a grotesque human-fly hybrid spirals out of control. As important as the effects and Cronenberg’s direction are, I’d argue that her performance is the most essential element of the film’s success. She grounds the film’s grotesque and bizarre elements in real emotional stakes. One of the most memorable and emotional moments in the film is when Veronica must confront the horror of what Brundle has become. Her final interactions with him are heart-wrenching, as Davis conveys the internal struggle between her lingering love for Brundle and the terror of the creature he’s turned into.
300-276 | 250-226
What do you think of the list so far? Which characters do you hope will make the cut?
