The Top Ten Most Underrated Villains in Horror History
Horror is rife with seemingly endless franchises. Countless villains have been featured in genre movies over the years. Unfortunately, some of the best antagonists have never received the attention that they deserve.
This is usually because their movies are overshadowed by similar films that were more popular. For example, everybody knows Jason from Friday the 13th, but how many have heard of Cropsy from The Burning?
This motley rogue gallery is consistently overlooked compared to their more famous counterparts. Let’s shed a light on them. Here are the top ten most underrated villains in horror movie history.
10. Cropsy (The Burning)
Cropsy was once a mild-mannered summer camp janitor. Sadly, some dumb kids decided to play a joke on him. The prank went horribly awry, leaving Cropsy hideously burned and disfigured.
Years later, the enraged custodian grabs a pair of shears and heads back to the camp for revenge against the people who ruined his life (and against campers in general, apparently).
The Burning is easily one of the most brutal ’80s slashers. It features several young actors who later earned fame, including Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter. A sequel was never made because the film was overshadowed by the similar Friday the 13th movies. Cropsy never appeared again.
9. Lola Stone (The Loved Ones)
Lola, portrayed by Robin McLeavy in a gleefully demented performance, is a deeply disturbed Australian teenager. With the assistance of her looney dad, Lola kidnaps a guy who rejected her prom invitation and subjects him to a night of terror.
It turns out that Lola has previously kidnapped and tortured numerous other guys. Her favorite weapon is an electric drill, which she uses to lobotomize her victims. The Loved Ones is interesting because of the gender role reversal. There are plenty of horror movies about women being stalked by men, but not many about girls stalking guys.
Sadly, it’s unlikely that Lola will be seen again. This quirky little movie doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting a follow-up.
Stream The Loved Ones on Fandango At Home
8. Billy (Black Christmas)
Billy is the villain of Black Christmas, one of the first American slasher movies. He is a giggling maniac who incessantly makes creepy calls to the girls at a sorority house over Christmas break.
Unbeknownst to the sorority sisters, Billy is hiding inside their attic. When the twisted fiend decides to come downstairs, the real terror begins. Billy eventually encounters a formidable foe in Jess (Olivia Hussey), a feisty raven-haired coed who appears in my underrated final girls article.
Billy’s full name and motive are never revealed. He is one of the most mysterious slasher villains. More information about him is revealed in the 2006 remake, but the less said about that movie the better.
Black Christmas came out four years before the original Halloween, but it failed to make an impact at the time. American audiences weren’t quite ready to embrace slashers yet.
Stream Black Christmas on Peacock
7. The Man (Hush)
The enigmatic villain in Hush has no known identity or motivation. He is a crossbow-wielding baddie who enjoys toying with his targets. The Man targets Maddie (Kate Siegel), a deaf novelist who lives alone.
He believes incorrectly that she will be an easy victim. Maddie is a fighter who never lets her disability stop her from achieving her goals, whether that’s being a successful writer or winning a cat-and-mouse battle with a psycho. Like Jess from Black Christmas, Maddie is a criminally underrated final girl.
Hush earned major critical acclaim for its strong protagonist and memorable villain. It was successfully commercially as well. No follow-ups have been made, which is fine, because the movies works as a self-contained story. It’s tough for a villain to gain fame when he’s only been in one movie, though.
6. Harry Warden (My Bloody Valentine)
Harry Warden is a pickaxe-wielding lunatic in mining gear who terrorizes a small blue collar town. Many years ago, Harry and several other miners were trapped underground after a tragic accident. Harry was the only survivor.
After being rescued, he embarked on a deadly rampage against the people who caused the accident. Harry, and copycat killers who assume his identity, are the villains of My Bloody Valentine and My Bloody Valentine 3-D.
Despite having one of the coolest outfits of any slasher villain, Harry has only appeared in a couple of movies. You’d think a killer that looks this badass would have been featured more often. But the Bloody Valentine movies have struggled to distinguish themselves from the vast sea of similar slasher movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th.
Hopefully Harry will get another chance someday. Valentine’s Day isn’t the same without him.
Stream My Bloody Valentine 3-D on Google Play
5. John Ryder (The Hitcher)
The next spot goes to John Ryder, a sadistic Texas hitchhiker who gets picked up by an unlucky young couple in The Hitcher and its remake. Like many of the villains on this list, Ryder’s backstory is shrouded in mystery.
Ryder is a cold-blooded psychopath who is totally devoid of remorse or mercy. He is unpredictable and incredibly dangerous. Ryder is more realistic than most horror villains. He’s someone that you might plausibly encounter on a dark road deep in the heart of Texas.
Both versions of The Hitcher had lukewarm performances at the box office. Without a successful franchise to support him, Ryder toils in relative obscurity.
4. Angela (Night of the Demons)
Angela Franklin, the main antagonist from the Night of the Demons series, is an eccentric goth teen who is obsessed with the occult. In the original movie, Angela invites her classmates to a Halloween party at Hull House, an old mansion that used to be a morgue.
The intoxicated partygoers conduct a séance and accidentally unleash the demons who are possessing the house. Angela becomes possessed and gains numerous supernatural powers, including teleportation, superhuman strength, and the ability to move objects with her mind.
Angela’s wicked sense of humor adds plenty of entertainment value to the series. Night of the Demons was popular enough to get two sequels and a remake, but Angela is still relatively unknown. One problem with this villainess is that she’s pretty much stuck in Hull House and the immediate surrounding area. This limits storylines for potential sequels.
Stream Night of the Demons on Amazon Prime
3. Leslie Vernon (Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon)
Leslie Vernon is the antagonist of Behind the Mask, a satire about a documentary crew who films the exploits of an aspiring slasher villain. Leslie yearns to be like his famous idols: Jason, Michael, and Freddy. He hopes to be the next big horror star.
Leslie is obsessed with finding his perfect nemesis. He knows that every slasher villain needs a final girl as their rival. Will he be able to find her before it’s too late?
Despite being clever, funny, and critically acclaimed, this esoteric slasher satire only had a limited theatrical release. No sequel ever materialized, dooming Leslie to a fate as an obscure genre footnote.
Stream Beyond the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon on Apple TV
2. Sam (Trick ‘r Treat)
Sam has been covered on other articles in this site, so he’ll get a brief summary here. He’s a diminutive demon who wears a burlap sack over his head. He appears in each story of the anthology film Trick ‘r Treat. Sam punishes anyone who disrespects Halloween traditions. His favorite weapon is a razor-sharp jack-o-lantern lollipop.
Trick ‘r Treat is an offbeat flick that must have been challenging to market. It was overlooked when it was released in ’07, but it has since built a substantial cult following. Still, Sam isn’t nearly as famous as other tiny terrors like Chucky.
Stream Trick ‘r Treat on Youtube
1. The Tall Man (Phantasm)
The #1 spot on our underrated villains list goes to The Tall Man. He is the main villain of Phantasm, a bizarre franchise that is as entertaining as it is incomprehensible. The Tall Man is an otherworldly supernatural undertaker portrayed by Angus Scrimm. He has appeared in five movies, most recently Phantasm: Ravager.
Scrimm plays the maniacal mortician with relish. He spits out lines like “You think when you die you go to heaven? You come to us!” and “You played a good game, boy, but the game is over. Now, you die!”
The Tall Man enjoys staring at people while raising one eyebrow. He uses flying bladed spheres to attack his enemies. He also crushes the corpses at his funeral home and then reanimates them, transforming the bodies into dwarf zombies who do his bidding. Did I mention this was a strange series?
Sadly, The Tall Man is often forgotten when great villains are discussed. The series is far too weird to attract casual mainstream horror audiences. Scrimm’s death in 2016 leaves the future of the character in doubt. Hopefully The Tall Man will return someday.
You Can’t keep a good villain down
That concludes our look at the top ten most underrated horror villains. Which one is your favorite?
