The Six Most Sinister Female Slasher Villains

When people think of slasher movie killers, they usually imagine hulking, unstoppable monsters like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. Most films have male antagonists, but there are a significant number with female slasher villains.

Decades ago, this was a great way to add to a film’s shock value because it subverted the audience’s expectations. Several vintage ’80s slashers featured female killers, including the original Friday the 13th, Night School, Edge of the Axe, and Happy Birthday to Me.

The concept of portraying women and girls as crazy barbaric murderers has long since stopped being a novelty (hence the popularity of shows like Yellowjackets). In spite of this, female slashers remains a relative anomaly compared to their male counterparts.

The recurring characteristic of these women is their insidious ability to seem harmless and unthreatening. Some of them also use sex appeal to disarm their unsuspecting victims. Here are the six most sinister female slasher villains, with a memorable quote from each lady.

Careful for spoilers if you haven’t seen the movies below.

6. Lori Spengler/The Babyface Killer (Happy Death Day)

“Tree, is this a joke? You think I would actually try to poison you with a freaking cupcake?”

Lori Spengler (Ruby Modine) is a sorority girl and the roommate of Happy Death Day‘s antihero protagonist, Tree Gelbman. Lori seems like a sweet, good-natured friend. In reality, she is mentally unstable and vindictive. Lori is infatuated with a handsome college professor and resents Tree for sleeping with him.

In response to her roommate’s antics, Lori takes on the identity of the Babyface Killer, a masked maniac who repeatedly kills Tree. Tree is trapped in a bizarre time loop (similar to Bill Murray’s character in the movie Groundhog Day) in which she is forced to play a deadly game of cat and mouse with Lori ad infinitum.

5. Jill Roberts (Scream 4)

“I don’t need friends. I need fans. You had your 15 minutes. Now I want mine!”

After three films of Sydney Prescott in the lead role, Scream 4 seemed to be setting up Jill (Emma Roberts) as the franchise’s young new protagonist. Instead, in one of the series’ better twists, she was revealed to be the film’s main villain.

Related: The Scream Movies Ranked

Jill is a bloodthirsty fame-seeking psychopath. She attempts to kill the survivors of the original Scream trilogy, including her cousin Sydney. Jill wants Sydney’s notoriety and conspires with her friend Charlie to orchestrate a series of copycat killings.

4. Pearl (X and Pearl)

“No, I’m a star! Please, I’m a star!”

It’s easy to underestimate Pearl (Mia Goth), and that’s what makes her so dangerous. Pearl seems naive and dimwitted. Behind her innocent veneer lies a violent sociopath with a hair-trigger temper.

After her dreams of becoming a famous dancer go up in smoke, Pearl brutally dispatches anyone that she feels has wronged her. Pearl was first depicted as an elderly lady in the film X, set in 1979, and then as a young woman in the prequel Pearl, set in 1917.

The young Pearl uses her beauty to manipulate people, while the elderly Pearl pretends to be senile in order to trick her victims into dropping their guard.

Mia Goth is set to return in a third X installment, Maxxxine, in July 2024.

3. May Canady (May)

“If you can’t find a friend, make one.”

May (Angela Bettis) is an eccentric veterinary assistant. Her bizarre behavior makes it difficult for her to form relationships with others. Since childhood, her main companion has been a creepy doll that she keeps inside a glass case. May is desperate for someone to love her.

May has spent most of her life languishing in social isolation. However, despite her awkwardness, May is surprisingly skilled at manipulation. She is capable of seducing both men and women.

Using her knowledge of surgical procedures, May murders her enemies and uses their dismembered body parts to create a new person, ala Frankenstein’s monster. Her creation becomes the best friend that she always wanted.

2. Angela Baker (Sleepaway Camp)

“Meet me at the waterfront after the social.”

If you thought Jason Voorhees’s passion for punishing naughty campers was unparalleled, think again! In the original Sleepaway Camp, Angela Baker (Felissa Rose) is a shy 13 year old who is spending the summer with her cousin Ricky at Camp Arawak.

Angela is traumatized by the gruesome death of her brother and father in a boating accident several years earlier. She barely speaks and is bullied by the other girls at the camp. Angela’s enemies mysteriously disappear one by one. Surely this quiet, innocent girl couldn’t be harming anyone, right? It must be Ricky who is responsible!

In the film’s infamous shock ending, Angela is revealed to be a boy (or a trans person in today’s terms). Her motive for the killings is based on her profound fear of anyone discovering her true gender identity. Angela is one of the most unique and controversial slasher villains.

Angela was played by Pamela Springsteen in two sequels: Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland. Both films dispensed with the creepy tone of the original in favor of cartoonish hijinks and hilariously cheap gore effects.

1. Pamela Voorhees (Friday the 13th)

“The camp counselors weren’t paying any attention! They were making love while that young boy drowned!”

Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) is a grieving middle-aged mother who used to work as a cook at Camp Crystal Lake. Pamela is completely devoted to her six year old son, Jason, a mentally disturbed misfit who is bullied by the other kids. Her life changes forever when Jason tragically drowns in the lake.

After her son’s death, Pamela loses all semblance of sanity. She devotes her life to destroying Camp Crystal Lake and anyone associated with it. In the original Friday the 13th, a crazed Pamela dispatches a group of camp counselors before being beheaded by the final survivor, a teen girl named Alice.

Unbeknownst to Pamela, Jason somehow survived his drowning and has been living as a hermit in the woods. After witnessing his mother’s decapitation, the now-grown Jason decides to pick up where she left off, setting the stage for one of the longest-running series in horror movie history.

A young Pamela will appear in the upcoming Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake.