Summary
- Not all horror villains are successful murderers; some like Ghostface from Scream and Annabelle relied on others for their kills.
- Mister Babadook and Lubdan the Leprechaun were terrifying but ultimately terrible at actually killing their intended victims.
- The Beast from Poltergeist failed to capitalize on opportunities to kill, making them more of a menacing presence than an effective killer.
Horror villains have kept audiences on the edge of their seats and fearing for their lives, but some were simply terrible at actually killing their victims. The best horror movies have introduced all kinds of villains to audiences, from the intelligent and sneaky to the brutally violent. These titles became known as the slasher film subgenre, focused explicitly on gruesome deaths, and became a hugely popular subgenre. As unhinged scenes of extreme violence and torture played out on the silver screen, several characters lost their lives at the hands of some of the best horror villains with complicated backstories.
However, not every horror villain was successful in their attempts at killing off those around them. Whether they had one victim or dozens, some villains were simply not cut out to be murderers, but this didn’t stop them. Plenty of villains were inventive with their plots to kill, ranging from being armed with either a simple gun or knife to more drastic violence like setting fires or possessing their victims. Regardless of their weapon of choice, motives, backstory, or who their victims were, multiple evil figures in horror films should have stuck with their day jobs.
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Relevant Movies |
Release Date |
|---|---|
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The Babadook |
2014 |
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Misery |
1990 |
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Relevant Movie Franchises |
Titles |
|---|---|
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Scream |
Scream (1996) Scream 2 (1997) Scream 3 (2000) Scream 4 (2011) Scream (2022) Scream VI (2023) |
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Leprechaun |
Leprechaun (1992) Leprechaun 2 (1994) Leprechaun 3 (1995) Leprechaun 4: In Space (1997) Leprechaun in the Hood (2000) Leprechaun 6: Back 2 tha Hood (2003) Leprechaun: Origins (2014) Leprechaun Returns (2018) |
|
The Babysitter |
The Babysitter (2017) The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020) |
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The Conjuring |
The Conjuring (2013) Annabelle (2014) The Conjuring 2 (2016) Annabelle: Creation (2017) The Nun (2018) Annabelle Comes Home (2019) The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) The Nun II (2023) |
|
Poltergeist |
Poltergeist (1982) Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) Poltergeist III (1988) Poltergeist (2015) |
7 Ghostface
The Scream Film Series
The Scream movies were unique because, with each installment, somebody new took on the identity of Ghostface. In the first Scream film, Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) and Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) were behind the mask. Considering that Ghostface was never the same person in each film, it was surprising that not at least one of them was a capable murderer. Although each Ghostface was successful in murdering multiple people, they all proved that they’d be awful as professional killers. Throughout the franchise, each Ghostface frequently tripped up or was knocked over.
Ghostface was frequently damaged by their victims, too.
Ghostface was frequently damaged by their victims, too. For example, in Scream, Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) walloped Ghostface by yanking open a freezer door on them while running away, which sent them flying to the floor. At one point, she also threw bottles of beer at Ghostface, which made them run at her, flip over, and fall into the garage door. Despite various Ghostfaces successfully killing 45 people, they all proved that their murder process was far from smooth.
6 Annabelle
The Conjuring Film Series
The Conjuring
The Conjuring is a multi-film franchise that started in 2013 with James Wan's The Conjuring. Since then, it has expanded with spinoffs like Annabelle, The Nun, and sequels to the original film. Due to the popularity of the movies, The Conjuring has become one of the most profitable franchises in Warner Bros.' portfolio.
- Created by
- James Wan
- First Film
- The Conjuring
The haunted Annabelle doll was introduced in the 2013 film The Conjuring and later received her own trilogy of films, which started with 2014’s Annabelle. A real-life Annabelle doll inspired the character, although their appearances were very different, and The Conjuring’s production team decided to update her look to make her scarier. Although Annabelle appeared in several movies in The Conjuring Universe, the doll wasn’t truly responsible for many deaths. A majority of the deaths Annabelle caused were off-screen, so it wasn’t exactly clear whether Annabelle should be held accountable or not.
Pretty much all of Annabelle’s killing was done through other people.
As various demons were possessing her, Annabelle couldn’t exactly be blamed. Unlike other doll killers like Chucky from Child’s Play, she never moved, which was one of the things about Anabelle that didn’t make sense. Pretty much all of Annabelle’s killing was done through other people. For example, in Annabelle: Creation, the Higgins’ were killed by their possessed daughter, Janice (Talitha Bateman), and not the doll itself. In fact, the only death in the series that Anabelle was physically present for was Evelyn's (Alfre Woodard), and that was only because the woman killed herself and took the doll with her.