The Scariest Horror Movie Villains of The 21st Century
A story is only as good as its villain, and the 21st century is chock full of them. Climate change. Economic downturns. Ethically dubious AI. There’s no shortage of real-life horrors crawling out of the 24-hour news cycle. And because art imitates life, the anxieties of the modern era have given rise to some of the freakiest bad guys in cinema history. Subterranean terrors, UFO nightmares, and a certain dancing clown elevated to the Internet Meme Hall of Fame—cover your ears and shut your eyes, these are the scariest horror movie villains of the 21st century.
The Entity – It Follows
Directed by David Robert Mitchell, It Follows is the story of a college girl named Jay who is relentlessly pursued by a shapeshifting spirit-stalker transmitted through sex. Called “The Entity” or “It That Follows,” this paranormal pursuer tirelessly dogs its victims at a snail’s pace. Invulnerable and indefatigable, this creeper will only stop its pursuit when a victim passes on the curse to someone else through sexual contact. After all, sexual contact is the modus operandi it uses to murder its victims, brutalizing them while taking the form of a trusted friend, lover, or, in the worst case, parent. Don’t let The Entity’s deadpan facade fool you; it delights in the slow torture of its victims, whittling away their sanity before grinding them down into a pulp.
Laura – Bring Her Back
Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou, Bring Her Back is a grief horror story about how bereavement can bring out a person’s inner demons. In this case, that person is Laura, the mother of a 12-year-old girl who drowned in her family pool. After ordering some cursed snuff films off the dark web, Laura discovers a ritual that can install her dead daughter’s soul in a new body: a recently orphaned girl she found through the foster care system. To separate her new foster daughter from her protective step-brother, Laura gaslights the girl into believing that her brother is a violent and psychotic abuser. Her unwholesome tactics are myriad: plying the pair with liquor, rifling through their belongings, and physically abusing them in their sleep. If that wasn’t bad enough, she also kidnapped another child to use as the host of the resurrection demon Tari. Laura and Tari will have a lot to talk about in Hell, since that’s where she’s headed by film’s end.
Pennywise The Dancing Clown – It
While Pennywise has been a horror icon since the release of Stephen King’s It in 1986, Andy Muschietti’s film adaptation of the novel has re-catapulted the dancing clown into the modern-day spotlight. In a career-best performance by Bill Skarsgård, Pennywise became the dead-eyed, silly-voiced, children’s blood-soaked stuff of 21st-century nightmares. The creepiest part about It? It’s killer clown appearance isn’t even its final form. Pennywise is a cosmic horror masquerading as a circus performer, an eldritch mass of energy called “The Deadlights” that can rob one of their sanity at a glance. It changes based on the worst fears of its victims, because its true shape is too brain-breakingly terrible to comprehend—Cthulhu could never.
Jean Jacket – Nope
You thought Pennywise was the only cosmic horror on this list? Think again! Like It, Jordan Peele’s Nope stars a creature that feeds upon human fears—or rather, human fears were shaped by its very existence! Dubbed “Jean Jacket” by protagonist OJ Haywood in honor of his temperamental childhood horse, this disk-shaped cryptid is responsible for “UFO sightings” throughout the American Southwest. But the conspiracy theorists were wrong, flying saucers aren’t piloted by aliens, flying saucers are aliens. Inspired by the angelic horrors of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Jean Jacket is an awe-inspiring source of cosmic dread. An airborne carnivore that camouflages itself inside clouds? I’d rather fight great white sharks with wings.
Adrian Griffin – The Invisible Man
Directed by Leigh Whannell, The Invisible Man is a retelling of H.G. Well’s 1897 novel through a feminist lens. After escaping her abusive optics engineer boyfriend, Cecilia Kass is relieved to hear that the mad scientist Adrian Griffin committed suicide—until an unseen presence makes her question if he’s really gone. Stalked by a man in full optical camouflage, Cecilia is tormented by an abuser that everyone else believes is dead, leading her to question her reality. Adrian Griffin is the ultimate gaslighter, a man who slowly erodes his victims’ sanity with cold, intellectual precision. He is the intersection of hi-tech and low ethics, one of the most dangerous combinations of the modern era. In a world where technology makes women and femmes increasingly vulnerable to surveillance and violence, The Invisible Man is chillingly relevant.
Creep – Josef
Directed by Patrick Brice, Creep is one of the best found-footage films of the 21st century—due in no small part to its deceptively terrifying antagonist. Hired to film the reclusive Josef, videographer Aaron Franklin schleps out to his employer’s remote cabin home. Josef tells Aaron that he is dying from a brain tumor and wants to make a video diary for his yet-to-be-born son. It’s sweet in theory, but as Josef’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, things take a turn for the sour. Once Josef puts on a wolf mask and takes on an animalistic alternate personality named “Peachfuzz,” it’s all over. Our first impression of this antagonist is that he’s an eccentric but well-meaning father struggling with grief, but Creep teaches that looks can be very, very deceiving. The scariest horror villains of all are the ones that you don’t see coming. Though, to be fair, Aaron really should have made his exit once the wolf mask went on.
Kayako Saeki – Ju-On: The Grudge
With his theatrical debut, Ju-On: The Grudge, Takashi Shimizu created one of the most iconic horror villains to ever haunt the screen. Murdered by her husband, Kayako Saeki returns as an onryō—a vengeful spirit from Japanese legend. Unlike many horror movie ghosts, there’s no ritual to escape this phantasm. Once Kayako’s spirit clings to a person, it’s over. You’re done. Anyone who steps foot into the Saeki house is haunted by the ghost of Kayako and her murdered son. No matter how far they run, Kayako will find and destroy them. The scariest part about these spirits? They break all the rules. They pop out of the walls, piles of garbage, they’ll even appear under blankets—the covers are supposed to be a safe place from monsters! Kayako has so little respect for convention that she even refuses to leave a body! Her victims all disappear without a trace—or become vengeful spirits themselves.
The Alien Doppelgänger- Annihilation
While the mutant bear nearly stole the show, the most terrifying antagonist of Alex Garland’s Annihilation is the alien anomaly responsible for that ursine monstrosity. After crossing the border of The Shimmer, scientist Lena comes face-to-face with its cosmically horrible heart. The Shimmer isn’t an unthinking pollutant—some sort of extraterrestrial oil spill—it’s an intelligent being with an agenda of its own. What that agenda is, Lena doesn’t want to stick around and find out. Cornered by a humanoid embodiment of The Shimmer, Lena struggles to escape a being that can perfectly copy her movements. Given enough time, The Shimmer seems perfectly capable of copying her face as well. A walking tour of the Uncanny Valley, Annihilation is a movie monster masterclass.
The Crawlers – The Descent
The crawlers of Neil Marshall’s The Descent aren’t particularly complicated—no heady “elevated horror” metaphors here—they’re just nasty, slippery little guys. That’s what makes them so compelling. Trapped in a cave full of these critters, a six-woman team of splunkers is forced to fight their way back up to the surface—at least, that’s the hope. While these creepy crawlies have evolved to hunt by sound, their greatest advantage is sheer numbers. The Appalachian Mountains are lousy with these things. The only thing worse than their carnivorous tastes is their eating habits. They discard what’s left of their meals in massive pools of blood and body parts—no manners whatsoever. If you’re gonna devour my flesh, at least be polite about it.
The Cult of Paimon – Hereditary
The secret antagonists of Ari Aster’s Hereditary, the worshippers of Paimon have orchestrated suffering across generations. After the tragic death of their daughter, the Graham family is torn apart by grief and resentment. These bitter feelings are exacerbated by a clandestine group of demon-worshippers that dog them at every turn. While Hereditary is downright horrifying from the get-go, it gets scarier with every re-watch. These dark acolytes only make themselves known at the end of the film, but they’ve been hiding in plain sight the entire time. The attendees of Ellen Graham’s funeral? Cult. That weird lady yelling at Peter Graham while he’s eating lunch? Cult. Those shadowy shapes in the corners of the Graham family’s house? Cult. Cult. Cult. But the creepiest aspect of Paimon’s coven is that it doubles as a demonic nudist colony. I get that these guys are trying to summon a demon, but would it kill them to put some clothes on?
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