Tiscali Film - top 10 horror figures

Michael Myers

Sometimes less is more and when it comes to Michael Myers, the total lack of anything resembling humanity makes him all the more terrifying. Skulking through film after film, without a single word uttered, Myers has become the most enigmatic and unstoppable bad guy out there.

---

Freddie Krueger

When you’re confronted by something terrifying, you’re usually able to seek sanctuary by closing your eyes. But back in 1984, the most dangerous place to be was in your mind. A burnt-up child killer brought back to life through nightmares, Freddy Krueger used his grisly glove to tear apart various teens and deliver gleeful one-liners at the same time.

---

Leatherface

Providing a suitably ample reason for people to never leave the city, Leatherface and his inbred hick family perfectly embodied our fear of countryside folk. Terrorising kids in 1974 and 2003, he treated human flesh as if it were that of an animal and sliced and diced his way into our collective memory.

---

Jason Voorhees

Okay so in the original Friday, it was his creepy mum behind the killings but in the many, many sequels and the remake, Jason took centre-stage. A neglected kid who ‘drowned’ at Summer camp, he came back to life with a vengeance (and a hockey mask) to punish fun-loving camp counsellors who were too busy having sex and getting high to notice the increasing body count.

---

Damien

Children are scary. Simple as that. They’re even scarier when they’re related to the devil. Damien, the iconic little adoptee from The Omen, scared his new family to death and set his sights on world domination. All this without being old enough to buy a beer.

---

Candyman

Everyone loves sweets. Well except those with Type 1 diabetes perhaps. But in the surprisingly not-at-all-sweet 1992 shocker Candyman, the titular character used his hand-hook to inflict pain on those brave (or stupid) enough to say his name 5 times in a mirror. Oh and he tended to do this while covered in bees.

---

Hannibal Lector

Sometimes, there’s nothing scarier than intelligence. Especially when couples with a cannibalistic appetite for human flesh. Supposedly just limiting himself to rude folk, Hannibal Lector still proved himself a consistently menacing presence to any of us with meat to spare. As polite as he’d be, it would still sting.

---

Chucky

Most kids are generally scared that when they turn their backs, their toys come alive. Not in a fun Toy Story kinda way but in a ‘what if I fall asleep and wake up to my teddy holding a kitchen knife’ sort of thing. Chucky, the ginger-haired blood with a thirst for blood, caused many a nightmare when he went on a rampage in the many Child’s Play movies. Don’t turn your back kids. Ever.

Norman Bates

Despite looking as if he would ‘never hurt a fly’, Norman Bates was in fact capable of a whole lot more. Dressing up as his dead mother and flipping between two personalities, he managed to make millions scared to take a shower. Worth noting, he’s been around longer than anyone else on the list.

Jigsaw

Constricting a grand scheme of violence that would put the rest of this list to shame, Jigsaw’s motives are simple. Some people spend their lives wasting opportunities and he needs to make them appreciate things a bit more. Even if it involves blood. A lot of blood.  Extra points for creating the black wig/pig’s head disguise – arguably one of the most terrifying horror outfits ever.

Advertisement starts

---

---

Advertisement ends