20 horror movies where the villain is easily the best part of the film

Based on Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, Annihilation follows a group of scientists on an expedition to investigate a mysterious and sinister anomaly known as the Shimmer. As they discover, this entity is far more powerful than they imagined, and it has the power to mutate DNA. The results are often horrifying or beautiful, and sometimes both simultaneously. The fact that the Shimmer is so far beyond the pale of the human makes it both terrifying and strangely fascinating.

The Thing remains one of John Carpenter’s most notable films, even though it wasn’t a huge success when it came out. The titular entity is arguably one of the most terrifying beings to have graced horror cinema, in no small part because it can take on the appearance of any living thing it encounters. It’s a creature that is viscerally disturbing in almost every way, and it remains key to the body horror pleasures that the film as a whole repeatedly offers.

Jack Nicholson gives one of his most famous and downright terrifying performances in The Shining, in which he plays struggling writer Jack Torrance. Watching his slow descent into madness is a highlight of the film, and Nicholson gives his all. What makes Jack so compelling, though, is not just the fact that he becomes a murderer but also that there’s something tragic about him. After all, he didn’t ask to be possessed by whatever malevolent presence inhabits the hotel. As is often the case with horror, there’s more than a little tragedy amidst the terror. 

Kevin Smith is one of those filmmakers who is always more than a little tongue-in-cheek, and this is on conspicuous display in Tusk. The film is the perfect blend of horror and comedy, focusing as it does on a man who is kidnapped by a seaman who cuts off his legs, fashions them into tusks, and sews him up in a walrus suit. Michael Parks’ Howard Howe, the sailor in question, is the perfect sort of deranged for a horror comedy, and, beneath the silliness, there’s also something genuinely disturbing about a man who would go to such lengths to expiate his guilt at having killed a walrus.

Jeepers Creepers is notable for having one of the most chilling last scenes of 2000s cinema, and no one who has seen it is likely to forget its terrifying villain. Known simply as the Creeper, it emerges periodically to steal body parts from humans to heal itself. The creature is particularly terrifying because there is almost nothing that can stop it, which ultimately dooms poor Justin Long’s Darry Jenner, one of the actor’s many characters who meet a gruesome fate in a horror movie. 

Final Destination has had a surprisingly lasting impact on popular culture, and the franchise continues to this day. It also features one of the most inexorable villains in horror movie history, as Death itself seeks out the various characters. This unseen entity has a design that nothing can stop, and nothing that the heroes can do will stop it, and that’s precisely what makes Death such a beautiful and devastating villain.

The Wicker Man remains one of the best examples of folk horror. No one who has seen the film is likely to forget the final scenes, in which the policeman is immolated in a giant wicker man by a village hoping to use sacrifice to bring their crops back to fertility. It’s really Christopher Lee, however, who is the most fascinating character, and his Lord Summerisle is equal parts charming and terrifying. While he manages to triumph and sacrifice the policeman Neil Howie, one gets the sense that his own days might be numbered once the sacrifice doesn’t work.

Rosemary’s Baby remains one of the most terrifying of the 1960s, and Mia Farrow gives a career-best performance as the title character. It’s really Ruth Gordon’s Minnie Castevet, however, who steals the show. While at first she appears to be nothing more than a slightly daffy old lady, it soon becomes clear that she’s a ruthless Satanist intent on using Rosemary to give birth to the Antichrist. Gordon knows how to play the part just right, and she’s equal parts amusing and terrifying, which is precisely what makes her such a compelling villain.

Bill Skarsgård digs deep in Nosferatu, giving the viewer a terrifying and cadaverous vision of one of the most infamous vampires to have graced the big screen. Stripped of the romantic trappings that normally accrue around vampires, he’s a monstrous id, desperate to devour the human woman Ellen Hutter. This manifestation of the character is horrible to behold, a cadaverous being of monstrous appetite that devours any human he can, including children. He casts a spell on both the characters and the audience, and therein lies his remarkable power. 

Gary Oldman has repeatedly shown that he is a master of changing his appearance for a role. He takes this to remarkable extremes in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in which he plays none other than the Count himself. There’s something frightening and chilling about Oldman’s ability to be as much of a chameleon as Dracula himself, able to slide easily into whatever form he needs to depending on the moment. Though there have been many Draculas, none have been quite as charismatic and compelling as Oldman’s.

Scream 2 upped the ante from the first film in almost every way, including the appeal of its central antagonist. As it turns out, the mastermind behind the murder spree is none other than Mrs. Loomis, played by the inimitable Laurie Metcalf. Driven to murderous madness by Billy’s death, she’ll stop at nothing until she gets revenge on Sydney herself. It’s one of Metcalf’s finest performances, and so it’s easy to see why Mrs. Loomis remains a standout aspect of both this movie and the franchise as a whole.

Every slasher film needs its villain, and in Scream, that is Billy Loomis and Macher, played by Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard, respectively. While Sidney Prescott might be the franchise’s scream queen, it’s the killers who end up being the most compelling. They’re more than a little deranged, and the fact that they are willing to slaughter so many of their own classmates — people that they knew and grew up with — and that they remain so committed to one another sets them apart from the many slasher villains that the genre has produced over the years.

While Anthony Perkins appeared in many films throughout his career, there’s no question that his most recognizable role is in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. He is at once eerily vulnerable and yet also terrifyingly unhinged, and it’s just this blend of the two halves of his personality that makes him so terrifying and so compelling. Thus, for all that the film is very much about both his victims, particularly Marion Crane, and Marion’s sister, Lila, there’s no doubt that this is Norman Bates’ film. 

Few films have brought together horror and sci-fi quite as effectively as Alien.  No one who has ever seen the monstrous Xenomorph in its various forms is ever likely to forget it. While Sigourney Weaver is certainly a formidable heroine, there’s also no question that it’s the Xenomorph that is the best thing about this movie. It’s a being of monstrous and terrifying appetite, and it continues to haunt the collective imagination, as its presence in the series Alien: Earth amply demonstrates. 

With X and its prequel and sequel, Mia Goth showed herself to be one of the best horror actresses working today. She digs deep in her interpretation of the character of Pearl, who is an ancient crone in X, but is shown to be a desperate aspiring actress in the film that bears her name. There’s something both endearing and terrifying about her interpretation of Pearl. While the films never shy away from the fact that Pearl is a monster, she still manages to be a character whom characters understand and with whom they can even empathize.

Kathy Bates has given many great performances in her legendary career, but she outdoes herself in Misery, in which she portrays Annie Wilkes, an obsessed fan who takes James Caan’s Paul Sheldon, a noted author, captive. It’s one of those performances that, once seen, is never forgotten. There are times in the film when the viewer almost feels as if they are the ones being held captive by this monstrously deranged fan, and that is why she remains the very best thing about the film.

While The Silence of the Lambs  is a cross between horror and thriller, the sequel leans into grotesqueness. Who could forget, for example, the moment when Anthony Hopkins’ notorious serial killer tortures Paul Krendler, who has been tormenting Clarice, by cutting open his head and eating part of his brain? There’s no question, though, that Hannibal is the best thing about the film, even if he is, as always, a terrifying mixture of both hero and villain. One simply can’t look away from him, no matter what he does.

Bill Skarsgård has made quite a name for himself playing unusual and deeply disturbing characters, but he still had some big shoes to fill in taking on the role of Pennywise. Though it might be going too far to say that he is better than Tim Curry, he is just as disturbing as It/Pennywise, the malicious being that terrorizes the town of Derry. He does a remarkably good job turning this being into a truly inhuman entity, and it’s precisely its inhuman nature that makes it the best thing about the film.

Ralph Fiennes always delivers a magnetic performance, and he is at his finest in the black comedy horror film The Menu.  He plays Julian Slowik, a meticulous chef who invites a select group of guests to his island and proceeds to play a very deadly and delicious game with all of them. Though the film features a stacked cast that includes the likes of Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy, it’s really Fiennes who manages to steal the show, and he’s clearly savoring the performance as much as the film’s guests are savoring his cuisine. 

Zach Cregger's horror film Weapons has quickly become one of the biggest hits of the 2025 summer season. It’s easy to see why this would be the case, as it features a truly terrifying villain: the witch, Gladys. At times campy and cartoonish and at others utterly ruthless, she is the epitome of a terrific horror movie villain. She manages to cast a magnetic spell over both characters and audiences alike, and she ends up being far more interesting and mysterious than any of the other characters.