Top 10 Killers

The horror genre features a lot of folks with murderous tendencies, though many of these killers are just background noise to the grisly violence or the antics of the heroes. But sometimes they’re the reason for the season. My criteria for this list are pretty fluid and incongruous, but generally I was judging on three Ps: personality, pizzazz, and prolificacy. These fine fucked-up fiends generally have on-screen charisma, a flair for the dramatic, and a solid body of bloodshed. Their aesthetic also plays into things, because every good killer needs a killer good look.

10. Terry Simmons (Blood Rage; 1987)

The more insane half of the insane Simmons twins from Blood Rage is perhaps the most joyful killer in horror. He’s definitely enjoying himself, having a grand time beheading, disemboweling, and dismembering his family and friends during Thanksgiving. There’s a bounce in his step, a song in his heart, and a bloody machete on his shoulder.

9. Harry/Axel Warden (My Bloody Valentine; 1981)

Old Harry Warden is definitely one of the coolest-looking serial killers, but every killer requires a tragic backstory, and he’s got one of the most interesting. And his trauma has made him vicious: the kills in My Bloody Valentine are brutal, gory, and plentiful. The grime of the mine setting enhances the dirtiness of his deeds.

8. The Driller Killer (Slumber Party Massacre II; 1987)

The first sequel to The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), a great but not particularly strange slasher flick, is just completely odd — mostly due to The Driller Killer, a ghostly greaser with a guitar who boogie woogies and breakdances his way through his victim’s nightmares before impaling them with the drill bit at the end of his instrument.

7. Mr. Slausen (Tourist Trap; 1979)

Mr. Slausen, the mannequin-obsessed owner of a roadside tourist trap, is all sorts of cracked in the head. Not only does he make it a personal pleasure to turn his victims into mannequins via an array of mutilation and plaster casting, but he telekinetically controls an army of actual mannequins to torment those who cross him. His predilections, backed by the mournful and deeply unsettling song of his mannequin minions, make him one of the creepiest killers out there.

6. Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise)

While Leatherface is mostly just the blunt instrument used to enforce the whims of the Sawyer family, he’s the most interesting member. Of course, his outfit — generally consisting of disheveled formal wear, a bloody butcher’s apron, and his mask made of human skin — is iconic. But he’s also given some nuance throughout the franchise. He’s brutal and angry, but sometimes compassionate and prone to sentimentality. It’s can be difficult to sympathize with someone with a skin mask, but here we are.

5. Frank Zito (Maniac; 1980)

Speaking of sympathy, actor Joe Spinell brilliantly brings to life Frank Zito. Although he’s a sadistic murderer of women, particularly prostitutes, he’s suffered such trauma at the hands of his mother that you feel almost sad when his tragic end unfurls. He knows only suffering, to endure it and to dispense it. He despises every moment of his existence, a rabid dog begging to be euthanized.

4. Michael Myers (Halloween franchise)

Michael really doesn’t fit any of the criteria set forth at the start of this list. He never talks or even really makes any sound besides quiet grunts here and there, he has no personality or flair in his kills, and he actually doesn’t kill that often. But the look, of course, does a lot of the work, as do his patience and persistence, and Dr. Loomis’ rantings and ravings about Michael’s capacity for absolute evil. He’s a killer that will not stop until one of the two of you are dead.

3. Harry Stadling (Christmas Evil; 1980)

Harry is a reluctant killer. He’s mostly a broken, deeply unhappy man who has lost faith in his life’s one solace: Christmas. He retreats into costume, from where he can dole out his own judgements of good or bad — of course, the “bad” people do inevitably meet the end of a sharp object. But by the end of Christmas Evil, you realize Harry is fully lost to his despondency and never really had a chance. No horror movie better obfuscates the line between antihero and villain.

2. Billy (Black Christmas; 1974)

The utterly creepy lewd caller in Bob Clark’s Black Christmas is barely onscreen and you never see his face or learn who he really is, but none of that matters. All you need to get your skin crawling are some pornographic, misogynistic prank calls and heavy breathing. You never know if he’s got some kind of personal connection to the sorority sisters or he’s randomly targeted them and that’s a huge reason why he’s so unforgettable.

1. Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise)

I said this pretty well elsewhere: There is no more charismatic villain in the genre than Freddy. He started to go overboard with the jokes later on, and has a weird affinity for the term “bitch,” but his readiness with a good morbid pun, creativity, willingness to play with his victims a bit, wicked backstory, and unique aesthetic all commingle to form perhaps the most iconic antagonist in film history. When audiences root for a child killer, you know there’s real pizzazz there.