The 20 most terrifying performances in movies

Mia Girl instantly became a horror icon thanks to her performances in Ti West’s X films, in which she plays two different characters, Maxine and Pearl. Her performance as Pearl is particularly chilling, and she perfectly captures the fanaticism of a young woman who believes that fame is her due and will destroy anyone who stands in her way. Making her performance even more chilling is the extent to which Goth brings together the cute and the unhinged, often in the same scene.

Whether she’s in film or television, Rosamund Pike always manages to shine. Even so, she’s especially remarkable and unsettling in Gone Girl, in which she plays Amy Dunne, who frames her husband for her disappearance. This is the performance of a lifetime, and Pike particularly excels at showing just how utterly ruthless Amy is. She has all of the charisma and the deadliness of a true psychopath, and one can almost see the calculating going on behind her eyes as she figures out just how best to gain the revenge for which she yearns. 

In the classic film noir Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson stars as Norma Desmond, a fading movie actress, who, upon meeting struggling writer Joe Gillis, decides that she will make a comeback, with tragic consequences for everyone. Swanson excels at giving the audience a character who is unsettling and fanatical in her belief in her own appeal as an actress, despite all evidence to the contrary. At the same time, there’s something deeply sad and tragic about her, and part of what makes her terrifying is that she holds up such an unflattering mirror to American society and the way that it treats women, particularly stars. 

It’s hard to know where to begin with Faye Dunaway’s performance in Mommie Dearest, in which she plays screen legend Joan Crawford. To describe it as unhinged or camp is to undersell it, and there are numerous times in the film where Dunaway seems to be in a horror movie. There’s no question that it’s a very committed performance, and it yielded some scenes that will forever be burned into the popular consciousness. 

While Mia Farrow may be the main character of Rosemary’s Baby, it’s Ruth Gordon who is the best-remembered part of the film. As Minnie Castevet, she appears to be a slightly dotty older woman, but, as the film reveals, she’s actually part of a group of Satanists who want to impregnate Rosemary with the son of Satan. It’s one of Gordon’s most beloved and recognizable roles, and she frequently lets the viewer see the deranged steel underneath her sweet old lady exterior.  She’s a major reason the film is still seen as one of the best horror films ever made.

Brian Cox brings his Shakespearean talents to bear in X-2: X-Men United, in which he plays the villain William Stryker, who aims to destroy all mutants. What makes Cox’s performance so terrifying is that Stryker emerges as a man who truly believes that he’s doing what’s right for both his son and all of humanity. The best and most terrifying villains are those who are at least understandable when it comes to their motivations, and in this regard, Cox more than delivers.

The late Heath Ledger is remembered for several beloved roles, but it is his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight that cemented his legacy as one of the best actors of his generation. He seems to literally inhabit the dark and disordered psychology of Batman’s inveterate foe, and watching him on-screen is like watching chaos itself brought to terrifying life. There have been many takes on the Joker, but it’s only with Ledger’s performance that the character was finally shown to be the monster that he has always been.

Dame Judi Dench is undoubtedly one of the best living actresses, and she isn’t afraid to take on ugly and vicious characters. In Notes on a Scandal,  she plays Barbara Covett, a spinsterish school teacher who develops an unhealthy obsession with her younger colleague (played by Cate Blanchett). Dench completely immerses herself in the role, giving us a woman who is equal parts tragic and malicious. As terrifying as she is, then, one also can’t help but feel sorry for her.

With Get Out,  Jordan Peele used horror to hold up a mirror to contemporary race relations in the US. The film is filled with many great performances, but that of Bradley Whitford, the patriarch of Dean Armitage, is especially horrifying. This is a white man who masquerades as an ally of African-Americans even while exploiting their bodies for himself and his wealthy white friends. The thing about Whitford’s performance is that it’s almost too believable, and that’s what gives it its extra unsettling bite.

Jordan Peele is one of today’s most talented horror filmmakers, and each of his films manages to be both thought-provoking and frightening. Us is another of his fine films, and it features a particularly unsettling performance from Lupita Nyong’o, who plays two different characters who are mirror images of each other. She’s especially terrifying as the Red, the tethered equivalent to Addy Wilson. Once one looks at her character, it’s impossible to look away, and Nyong’o brings out the surprising complexity of this horror movie villain. 

Malcolm McDowell has played some truly unhinged characters over the years, but arguably his most intense creation is Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange. He is just the right amount of deranged without ever sliding into caricature. As a result, his performance is remarkably unsettling and very much in line with the rest of the dystopia represented in the film. If ever an actor captured the specter of antisocial youth that was so much a part of the 1960s and 1970s, it was Malcolm McDowell.

Javier Bardem has given many great performances over the course of his career, but arguably the very best is in the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men, in which he plays the killer Anton Chigurh. There’s so much that makes this performance so indelible, from the way that Bardem captures the deadness in Chigurh’s eyes to the way that he conveys his propensity for violence. This is the kind of character who seems to have emerged from a nightmare, and once he’s seen he’s never forgotten.

Tilda Swinton strides across the scene in the big-screen adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in which she plays the terrifying figure of the White Witch. With her androgynous beauty and her pale skin, she exudes beauty and menace in equal measure, particularly once she manages to sink her claws into the young boy, Edmund. It’s one of the actress’s best performances, and she gives a convincing and compelling face to evil in a way not always seen in fantasy films. It’s easy to believe she’s a figure that would hold an entire country captive in ice and snow for a century.

Few horror movies have been as influential as Psycho, and Alfred Hitchcock deserves all of the praise he’s received. It’s really Anthony Perkins’ turn as the troubled Norman Bates, however, that elevates the movie to greatness. He’s perfectly cast as the man who murdered his mother and then adopted, at least in part, her identity, and when he gazes at the camera in one of the film’s last scenes, it’s impossible not to feel a shiver of fear at the way his smile captures the camera.

Few actresses were as committed to the craft as Bette Davis, and she wasn’t afraid to appear ugly or unappealing. In Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, for example, she leaned into the grotesque in her portrayal of the title character, a former child star who lives in seclusion with her sister. It’s an undeniably frightening performance, even as Davis also wrings some pathos out of this tragic figure who’s never been able to accept that her days of fame are behind her. Horror, as so often, stems from tragedy.

MGM’s The Wizard of Oz is arguably one of the most beloved movies in the history of Hollywood, and it’s easy to see why. Even now, Margaret Hamilton’s performance as the Wicked Witch of the West is frightening enough to give even adult viewers goosebumps. From the moment that she appears in Munchkinland until the moment that Dorothy melts her with a bucket of water, she’s an indefatigable villain, and Margaret Hamilton really gives her all to the role, making her a truly wicked villain.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang might be a movie made for children, but it has its fair share of unsettling moments. Most of these involve the Child Catcher, played by Robert Helpmann. This deranged character is like a villain out of a fairy tale, with his slightly buggy eyes, prominent nose, and penchant for capturing children. One can well believe that this is the type of person who would kidnap children and carry them away, and he retains his power to unsettle and to terrify.

The Night of the Hunter has the distinction of being Charles Laughton’s only directorial effort. It’s a chilling gothic tale set in West Virginia, and it features Robert Mitchum in one of his most unsettling performances. His character, “Preacher” Harry Powell, is a man so determined to find a supposed fortune that he’s willing to kill a woman and hunt down her children. He’s a sinister force in the film, and he manages to exude a potent sense of menace in every scene in which he appears.

Kathy Bates is at the top of her game in Misery, the acclaimed adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King. She slides perfectly into the role of a deranged fan who will do anything to keep her beloved author, James Caan’s Paul Sheldon, in her clutches. It’s no wonder that she won an Academy Award for her performance, and it helped to establish her as a true force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. As so often in the cinema, it’s the villain who ends up being the most fascinating character. 

There’s something deeply ironic about the fact that Anthony Hopkins is so terrifying in The Silence of the Lambs. After all, he’s the one who helps Clarice Starling track down the serial killer Buffalo Bill. Even so, there’s an intensity to his gaze when he looks at her that is disturbing in the extreme. More than any other actor who has played Lecter — and there have been several — Hopkins continues to terrify because he’s so compelling and charismatic that one can’t help but like him, even if he is a monster.