Top 30 Slasher Villains

Summary The most iconic slasher villains in horror movie history have racked up the kills while terrifying audiences, often across entire franchises.

The likes of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger, and Ghostface helped define the slasher subgenre throughout the '80s and '90s.

Meanwhile, characters like M3GAN, The Grabber, Pearl, and Art the Clown are defining the modern era of the slasher movie.

When it comes to slasher villains in horror movies, their history dates back to 1960, although the slasher horror genre didn't exist under that name until the 1970s. The earliest movie that many consider to be the grandfather of slasher movies was the Alfred Hitchcock horror movie Psycho, but it wasn't until the 70s that movies like Black Christmas and Halloween actually created the genre, with the rules and staples that many fans know to this day. From the babysitter killer motif and the murder of young adults in remote locations to the idea of the Final Girl, by the time the 1980s rolled around, slashers were horror's most popular subgenre.

However, slasher movies fell out of favor by the 1990s as more self-referential horror movies came into favor, and while there were still slashers created in that decade, they had to change and grow with the times to fit into the new horror subgenres. Today, there are great slasher movies that exist in various forms, often melding with found footage, self-referential, and even torture porn, allowing the modern-day slasher villains to make a comeback when directors figure out how to revive them in genres that Hollywood prefers to put its money into for modern-day sensibilities.

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30 Mr. Slausen

Tourist Trap

A lesser-known early slasher, Tourist Trap is a weirdly charming, or perhaps just charmingly weird take on the classic setup. Mr. Slausen runs the titular tourist trap that the carefree and soon-to-be-dead young people of the movie stumble into and appears as a kind and folksy presence who only wants to protect the kids from his evil brother. But it turns out that Slausen doesn't have a brother, and he's been toying with his victims the whole time.

Nevertheless, the charm of actor Chuck Connors (Lucas McCain from The Rifleman) shines through, even if his sad backstory is likely all a lie. The movie shares an inspiration with more surreal projects by directors like Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) and Luis Buñuel (Un Chien Andalou). This was also an early attempt at making the slasher villain supernatural, as Mr. Slausen has psychokinetic powers. The movie was a cult favorite but was never big enough for a sequel.

29 Billy

Black Christmas

Billy may be one of the most significant killers in the development of the horror genre. Black Christmas served as a source of inspiration for John Carpenter's Halloween and all that followed it. This was the first slasher movie for many, especially if they don't count Psycho as part of the genre. However, what keeps Billy from matching up with other slasher killers is that he is never really seen in the original movie, adding to the sense of unease. He is mostly just heard through the obscene phone calls he places to the victims.

Whatever Billy's precise hangups are, they seem deeply rooted in misogyny, and what little the audience knows makes him disturbing. The movie's slasher villain is also iconic as he sets the table for the future antagonists who hide in houses, remain unseen, and only come out when it is time to kill a new young victim. Billy was the precursor for Jason, Michael Myers, and many more to come.

28 The Creeper

Jeepers Creepers

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Jeepers Creepers is a slasher movie franchise that had an amazing first movie, but lackluster follow-ups since then. The killer in these movies was simply known as the Creeper, an ancient demonic serial killer that goes on a rampage every 23 years and kills and eats people for 23 days. Unlike many slasher killers, the Creeper also blends in with the monster horror movie subgenre thanks to its appearance and supernatural powers, including flight and superhuman strength. The first two movies take place over 23 days and there were two other sequels.

What keeps the Creeper down is its lack of memorable moments. The movie franchise looked destined for greatness when Victor Salva directed the first movie, but he put the series on hold after the first sequel due to outside reasons, and by the time he returned to it in 2017, most people had forgotten about The Creeper, so whatever magic the monster once had was lost forever.

27 Gabriel

Malignant

Gabriel is one of the newest slasher villains in Hollywood, the killer from Malignant. The movie itself is about a woman named Madison Mitchell who finds herself haunted by nightmares and real-life murders that seem to paint her as the killer without her understanding what is going on. The big twist here is that Gabriel is unlike almost any other slasher killer. He is the parasitic twin of Madison, conjoined at the brain, who was left to die after separating from Madison.

However, he not only survived but was able to get Madison to kill for him, trying to eventually get to their mother as well. This was one of the most creative slasher villains in any horror movie, with the connotations and background trauma that goes along with his creation. There is always a good chance he could return, although it might lack some of the creativity of the first movie since his origin is now known. Even so, with 48 kills in one movie, Gabriel has a high murder count even if Malignant 2 never happens.

26 Maniac Cop, Of Matt Cordell

Maniac Cop

In the original Maniac Cop, Matt Cordell is an NYPD officer who's put in prison, mutilated in an attack by inmates, and then left for dead. So, naturally, he's more than a little vengeful himself, and it's easy to see what his motivation for his rampaging is. However, one of the reasons that Cordell was put in prison in the first place was police brutality, which his behavior as a slasher villain seems to confirm quite emphatically.

He could just take revenge against those who wronged him, but he instead attacks people seemingly at random at times, striking fear into the heart of the city that he swore to protect. There were three movies in the Maniac Cop franchise, but the first movie (with Tom Atkins and Bruce Campbell in lead roles) remains a true cult classic and shows everything that is great about this iconic slasher villain. The rest of the franchise had him as an undead monster, which lessened the effect.

25 The Miner, Or Harry Warden And Axel Palmer

My Bloody Valentine

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From My Bloody Valentine, The Miner doesn’t actually appear as often as most slasher villains do, being the antagonist of only two movies (including the remake), but he makes a grand impression in both films. He’s become popular enough in recent years to join the pantheon of slasher villains along with greats like Michael and Jason. Unfortunately, though, he doesn’t have much personality beyond the effectively simple costume, as his identity is deliberately kept mysterious.

The motivations of the original killer, Harry Warden, and the copycat murderer, Axel Palmer, mostly make them seem spiteful and jealous, yet deadly. The first movie was a mostly lower-budget slasher movie and received an infamous reputation when it needed several cuts to make it to an R-rating during a time of the video nasties era. The remake was a larger budgeted movie with the gimmick of being in 3D, but it also has a better cast, with Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) and Jaime King.

24 Pamela Voorhees

Friday The 13th

One of the all-time great horror movie trivia questions is "Who is the killer in the original Friday the 13th?" This is because many people assume that it's Jason Voorhees but as all big slasher fans know, the killer in the first movie is actually Jason's mother, Pamela. Considering that her motivation is vengeance for the death of her son, who drowned in Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the counselors, she's always been viewed in a slightly more sympathetic light than most slasher villains.

However, the people who she takes her rage out on didn't have anything to do with it, but in her mind, it is all justified after what she lost. The rest of the franchise moved on to her son, Jason Voorhees, who it turned out survived his childhood drowning incident. While he remains the most iconic slasher villain from the franchise, it is easy to remember why the first movie was considered the best in the series, and much of that is thanks to a more human killer in Pamela Voorhees.

3:00 Related Friday The 13th: Every Jason Voorhees Mask, Ranked Jason Voorhees' hockey mask is one of the most iconic visages in all of pop culture. Over the years, he's enjoyed some makeovers and mask upgrades.

23 The Tall Man

Phantasm

The Tall Man is another slasher villain who teeters on the edge of other horror subgenres, especially with his demonic status. He is the main villain in the Phantasm movies and is a very imposing figure. He stands as one of the tallest horror villains in cinema, but he also uses small sentinel spheres that fly through the air and slash at victims with blades.

He is also mostly immortal, a scientist from the Civil War who can travel through time and space with a machine he created, and his travels turned him into an evil entity who traveled to different towns, killing everyone there, so he could turn them into his zombie minions. He appeared in five movies, and while the supernatural elements of his time travel confused the story somewhat in the later movies, the original look at this towering giant slasher killer hunting down children to kill remains one of the most frightening moments of the late 1970s.

22 Victor Crowley

Hatchet

In 2007, Adam Green created his Hatchet slasher horror series. The movie was a throwback to the slashers of the 80s, and Green was able to really play into that by casting Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees) as the slasher villain Victor Crowley, Tony Todd (Candyman) as Reverend Zombie, and Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) as Sampson. Luckily, Green was skilled enough to make the movie worth all these horror icons' time, and it ended up as a cult classic.

Green directed two of the three sequels to Hatchet, with Crowley stalking the swamps of New Orleans, killing anyone who dares enter his domain. What really makes the Hatchet series, and Victor Crowley in particular, so memorable is that Adam Green is a true fan of classic slasher movies, and the respect that he paid not only his killer, but the story and the actors he brought into his world shows through. While the sequels after Green were lackluster, Crowley remains a great slasher villain.

21 Blissfield Butcher

Freaky

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The 2020 slasher movie Freaky was a mishmash of genres. It was a typical slasher movie where the Blissfield Butcher was killing people in a small town. However, the other half is a body-swap movie like the comedy Freaky Friday, but this time with the Blissfield Butcher and a high school girl named Millie switching bodies. It ended up as a lot of fun, with Vince Vaughn playing the serial killer and then playing the confused high school student, while Kathryn Newton was able to switch easily between her high school persona and her mimicking of Vaughn's mannerisms.

Sadly, the Butcher died, so there won't be another Freaky without a different slasher killer. With that said, the idea of the Freaky Friday slant to the slasher movie genre could warrant another look at the story with a different killer. It might be hard to really catch lightning in a bottle twice with Netwon and Vaughn so masterful in their portrayals of the killer, but that isn't to say that it couldn't be done with new actors giving it a try.

20 Angela Baker

Sleepaway Camp

Angela Baker went down in history as one of the most infamous slasher villains in movie history after the first Sleepaway Camp. At first, the 1983 slasher movie seemed like a generic copy of Friday the 13th, with kids at a summer camp killed by a mysterious villain. Throughout most of the movie, Angela looks like one of the hapless victims running for her life. That turned out to be a ruse, as Angela was the slasher killer with the twist that she was born a boy but raised as a girl by parents who wanted a daughter instead of a son.

The movie remains problematic with the transphobic and homophobic implications that surround the final twist. However, Angela is still a beloved slasher icon who appeared in four films in the series and the first movie in the series remains one that slasher movie fans often revisit. While it does border on offense in the same way that looking back on Silence of the Lambs does, it is also more of a campy splatterfest that doesn't take itself seriously enough to deserve that deep of a look.

19 Mick Taylor

Wolf Creek

The 2005 Australian slasher movie Wolf Creek was based on a true story of the murders of backpackers in the 1990s. In this movie, three backpackers in Australia end up captured and then hunted down by the evil Mick Taylor. What makes Mick such an intriguing slasher villain is his nihilistic worldview. As he tells his victims, it is his job to wipe out the weak in society and that is the only reason he has for killing his victims. Unlike other slasher villains in movies who have tormented pasts and kill almost nonchalantly, Mick is sadistic and bloodthirsty and does this almost for sport.

Mick enjoys murdering tourists and feels it is his right since he is the dominant of his species, and he is just wiping out those who don't match up. While this is a rough idea to accept, it makes him such a different slasher villain than others who are killing for much more abstract reasons. Mick Taylor is just a bad person who loves what he does, and that makes him very dangerous. Mick Taylor survived the first movie and returned in a sequel and TV series, and he wins in every version of his story.

18 Frank Zito

Maniac

Maniac is one of the hardest slasher movies to watch for many viewers. This is because the entire movie is shot from the point of view of the slasher killer, Frank Zito. He is only shown on screen when he looks in a mirror (and that is when viewers see he is playing by Elijah Woods). Frank took over his family's mannequin restoration business after his mother died, but he also dealt with trauma from his childhood when his mother, a prostitute, forced him to watch her involved in sexual acts with various men.

By forcing viewers to watch the murders from the slasher's point of view, it creates a disturbing experience that is hard to forget. The movie is actually a remake of a 1980 slasher movie starring Joe Spinell and directed by William Lustig, who went on to produce the remake in 2012. The original was released unrated in 1080, although it was never labeled as a video nasty. It also didn't play out in the first-person POV of the killer, which really made the later version of Zito even more frightening.

17 The Grabber

The Black Phone

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Ethan Hawke was a big part of the recent horror renaissance. He appeared as a victim in one of the scariest horror movies of the century in Sinister and in Black Phone, Hawke took on the role of a slasher villain who kidnaps and kills children. The movie is based on a story by Stephen King's son, Joe Hill, and focuses on a boy who The Grabber abducts who starts to get phone calls from the spirit of a former victim. The former victim then sets out to help the new boy escape the grasp of The Grabber.

While his backstory was never fleshed out, he killed five boys before he grabbed Finney, and between his mask and his personality, he was one of the most memorable modern-day slashers. With Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange) in the director's chair, he was able to really turn Ethan Hawke's Grabber into an iconic and scary villain. That he targets children makes him even scarier and even when the supernatural works against the slasher killer in this movie, it doesn't take away from his status.

16 Leslie Vernon

Behind The Mask

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon was a 2006 horror movie that completely deconstructed the slasher genre as it was set up in two halves. The first half was a mockumentary, with a film crew following slasher killer Leslie Vernon to create a documentary about how a slasher killer operates. Leslie shows them how things in houses always fail when a victim needs them and how a slasher can look like they are walking slowly, but always catch up. Explaining the unexplained makes this movie one of the best slasher movies in the genre.

After this brilliant deconstruction, the movie switches to a regular slasher when Leslie lets the documentary crew know they are his next targets. The fact that it goes from a mockumentary similar to a found footage movie to an actual straight horror movie really shakes up the story and helps it rise to another level. Sadly, Leslie Vernon only appeared in one film, even though he survived in the end — as another homage to old-school slasher movies.

15 Josef

Creep

Filmmaker Mark Duplass played a slasher villain in the 2014 horror movie Creep and its sequel. While a slasher movie, this also doubled as a found footage movie. Director Patrick Brice stars as a videographer who travels to a remote cabin to meet Josef (Duplass), who says he has an inoperable brain tumor and will die before his wife gives birth to their child. He wants a video diary for his child to see. However, it all turned out to be a lie and Josef was a slasher killer with the videographer as his latest victim.

Josef is one of the most eccentric and bizarre slasher killers and his weird rules and fondness for his victims made him a cult figure. Co-produced by Blumhouse and the Duplass Brothers Productions, the first movie was a huge success, debuting at South by Southwest and receiving mostly positive reviews. With a 90% fresh rating, Creep shows that a slasher killer who remains mostly mysterious will always remain more terrifying than one who is always showing his face when he makes his kills.

14 M3GAN

M3GAN

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Following in the footsteps of Chucky, a new killer doll arrived in 2022 with M3GAN. Unlike Chucky, M3GAN is not a possessed doll killing for vengeance. Instead, she is a doll with an advanced AI that was created to help and protect its owner. In this case, the roboticist who helped create her gives her to her niece Cady, whose own parents had died. Cady is alone, and often bullied, and soon M3GAN gains self-awareness and decides she will protect Cady at all costs, even if she has to kill everyone she perceives as a threat.

From her awkward dance inspiring countless TikTok mimickers to her bizarre movements, M3GAN became a new slasher icon, leading to M3GAN 2. The big difference between M3GAN and Chuckie is that the new killer doll is not a demonically possessed being and is instead a robot created to protect its owner, and that makes M3GAN a little more sympathetic and her kills a little more understandable, at least until she starts to grow out of control, and then she is more like HAL from 2001​​​​​​.

13 Kevin Wendell Crumb

Split

M. Night Shyamalan made his triumphant return to box office success with his horror movie Split. The movie starred James McAvoy as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a slasher killer with 23 alters, one of which had supernatural powers. In the movie, he hunted down and kidnapped three girls. However, one of the girls (Anya Taylor-Joy) ended up being more than he could handle and held her own against his murderous rampages. Kevin was one of the most interesting slasher villains, as his alters all had different personalities, some good and some bad.

He also had a second appearance in Glass, where he battled David Dunn from Unbreakable in a fan-favorite crossover. There are some problematic moments concerning Kevin Wendall Crumb when it comes to his dissociative identity disorder portrayal, but James McAvoy went all in on creating so many unique alters that it was one of the most entertaining slasher killers in this subgenre and one that disappointingly won't return after the events of Glass.

Related Every Character M. Night Shyamalan Played In His Own Movies Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has played characters in 11 of his movies, ranging from starring roles to the smallest of cameos.

12 Miss Pearl

X & Pearl

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Miss Pearl was one of the most unexpected slasher villain icons to appear in recent years. Her first appearance came in the Ti West 2022 horror movie X, where she was an elderly woman who began killing young adults who borrowed her guest house to shoot a porn movie. However, her story really began to shine in the prequel Pearl, which came out six months later and showed how Pearl went from a young woman living at home alone while her husband was in the war to a slasher killer.

Played by Mia Goth (who also played the Final Girl Maxine in the first movie in a double role), Pearl became a huge horror favorite after her two appearances. There will be so much more from the genre, even if Pearl's story has ended. Mia Goth will bring back her character of Maxine for MaxXxine as the world of this story continues, and from the look of it, MaxXxine will pick up where Pearl left off, and with Mia Goth playing both characters, it might be fun to see how much of Pearl exists in the new slasher killer.

11 Pinhead, Of The Hell Priest

Hellraiser

Pinhead is one of the lead Cenobites in the Hellraiser franchise; Clive Barker also refers to him as the Priest or the Hell Priest. Unlike many slasher villains, Pinhead (as he’s been nicknamed by crew members and fans alike) is a relatively articulate villain. He explains his motivations and appears to be capable of both great evil and mercy, as he’ll take lives as well as spare them, depending on his own moral code.

However, for all his monologuing, he is also one of a large group of Cenobites and was even gender-swapped in the recent reboot of the franchise to lesser acclaim. What really makes Pinhead stand out is that he is not a slasher killer who sets out to kill innocent people and slaughter them with no recourse. While there was some of that in the later. lesser-quality sequels, the real basis of Pinhead is that he is only there to award pain to those who call on him and ask for it. For Pinhead, there are no innocent victims.