What would a horror movie be without its villain? I’m sure we can all admit that without a villain, a horror movie would be…well, pretty pointless. Villains are those characters that become an adversary for our main characters (in some cases, they are the main character), those characters that wish to cause some sort of harm. Villains are those characters that you know you shouldn’t be rooting for, but become so iconic that they become some sort of anti-hero, and you can’t help but root for them. What follows is a list of the most memorable villains to ever grace the horror silver screen – knives, chainsaws, machetes and all…

10. Patrick Bateman, American Psycho
It could be that he hacks up Jared Leto with an axe while listening to Huey Lewis and the News’ “Hip to Be Square”. It could be the emotionless expression on his face while having “grown up time” with two women with Phil Collins’ “Sussudio” playing in the background. It could be him almost having a panic attack while in the middle of a business card battle, or it could just be him running around his penthouse nude chasing a prostitute with a chainsaw. Take your pick.

9. John “Jigsaw” Kramer, the Saw series
“I want to play a game.” Those six words have sent chills down spines of his subjects right before they’re forced play his deadly games. The catch is this: their fate is in their own hands. Jigsaw intends for his subjects to learn to appreciate life and not take what they have for granted. In most cases, the victim could have easily survived in spite of the physical pain they would have to face – that is if they choose to inflict such pain to survive. Unfortunately, most do not survive as is the case for many that come his way.

8. “Death”, the Final Destination series
Sure, this could be seen as taking the easy way out, but what other villain can decapitate someone with a flying piece of car debris, crush somebody with a glass window, slice someone in three with a barbed wire fence, slice off the back of someone’s head with an engine’s still spinning fan belt, crush someone’s head with falling weights, or crush somebody with a cherry picker? For that matter, what other villain can cause a plane explosion, a highway pileup, or a rollercoaster derailment? Exactly, that’s what I thought.

7. Leatherface, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series
For anybody who has seen the original (or even the remake), the one scene that lingers the most is Leatherface coming out of the room and brutally bashing the guy’s head with a sledgehammer, pulling him into the room, and slamming the door shut. If that doesn’t do it for you, then Leatherface running down the road with a chainsaw yelling and screaming might do it.

6. Ghostface, the Scream series
The threatening phone calls, the ability to sneak around undetected, the uncanny ability to possess some powerful strength – all are second nature, when you witness the first ten minutes of the first film and witness Drew Barrymore go from calm to a crying and frightened wreck. Never before has a phone been shown to be so powerful. Ghostface, while not an actual person, embodies the killer(s) homicidal tendencies and what a way to have your victim go, staring back at the face of Father Death.

5. Chucky, the Child’s Play series
Come on, it’s Chucky! Who DOESN’T know about Chucky? This foul mouth little plaything sure knows how to make life miserable for those he comes in contact with. Although he seems to prefer using a knife, that hasn’t stopped him from using other means: a voodoo doll, a plastic bag, a dump truck, a jar of nails to the face, and sulfuric acid to name a few. His claim to fame may just be what comes out of his mouth – like a certain knife gloved killer, Chucky isn’t shy about spewing out a one liner or two.

4. Norman Bates, Psycho
The ultimate momma’s boy, I think we all know what his ‘mother’ did to poor Marion Crane in the shower. I think it’s been engrained into our heads. The best is the reveal at the end when Norman comes running into the basement dressed as his mother while her corpse sits in the rocking chair all while Marion’s sister is screaming up a storm, even better is Norman sitting in a cell at the end smiling as his ‘mother’ does a voice over. If you still don’t know about Norman and his mother, go and rent the movie.

3. Michael Myers, the Halloween series
The shape of pure evil – if you were to take the original film, and that have been the end of the Michael Myers saga, that probably would have been good enough. As a standalone film, Halloween introduces the killer named Michael Myers – he who made it unsafe to be a babysitter on Halloween night. Now, I’m not here to criticize the other films in the series, but the idea that there was this shape that was walking around this little suburban neighborhood and stalking babysitters with no reason whatsoever was enough to make your hair stand on end. Even more so that the film ends with him disappearing into the night, there was the idea that this guy was still out there. Imagine a man standing down the street in a jumpsuit wearing a plain white mask branding a butcher knife; now imagine him starting to walk towards you in the dead of night – throw in the heavy breathing, the head tilt and the silence…and again, that plain white mask – you’ve got yourself the original boogeyman.

2. Freddy Krueger, the Nightmare on Elm Street series
Perhaps one of the most instantly recognizable horror villains of the past two decades (minus a certain hockey masked killer); Freddy Krueger’s recognizable ensemble consisting of a fedora, a green and red sweater as well as that infamous glove has made him essentially the poster boy for horror. Perhaps his claim to fame is the little quips he’ll throw in just before he dispatches his victims, chief among them is fan favorite, “Welcome to prime time, b#@%$!” As with any horror movie killer, a primary concern is on the method – well, being the boogeyman of dreams entails Freddy to be quite creative – notable instances include Johnny Depp’s infamous bed devouring, a human marionette, a transformation into a cockroach, and fusion into a motorcycle. Freddy definitely made it scary to sleep in the town of Springwood for countless teens, that’s for sure.

1. Jason Voorhees, the Friday the 13th series
He is often confused with that other white masked mad man (Michael Myers), for whatever reason people seem to think he operates a chainsaw (?), and no matter what he keeps on coming back for more and more bloody mayhem. Jason Voorhees takes top honors, not because I’m being biased (although I am slightly), but because out of all the other horror villains listed (and not listed), Jason Voorhees is the most recognizable and has with him an impressive body count to his name. You just about name it, Jason has probably done away with someone in that method – he’s crushed heads, impaled various, axed, macheted, decapitated, used various instruments such as guitars and poles and even a sleeping bag for bashing purposes, syringes and skewers have been used, he’s drowned someone in a barrel of toxic waste, he has broken backs, snapped necks, sliced, diced and personal favorite: frozen a face in liquid nitrogen and bashed against a counter. As far as horror movie villains go, Jason is by far the go to guy. Everybody and their mother recognizes the hockey mask as being synonymous with Jason Voorhees, and as long as they keep making these films he’ll be right there hacking away at those naughty teens.

So there you have it. Agree? Disagree? Go ahead, feel free to discuss; let us know what your top ten would look like, and make sure to keep your eye out for my next top ten list, coming sooner than you think.