List of horror film killers

This is a list of horror film killers. This list should be as inclusive and concise in its entries as possible, though this does not mean that this is intended to be a comprehensive guide to every horror film antagonist. Those included should be at least somewhat notable, either due to iconic recognition of the character himself, or the popularity of the film that the character represents.

Michael Myers

Michael Myers is the antagonist of the Halloween film series. His face concealed by a white-painted William Shatner mask, Michael possesses vaguely supernatural superhuman strength, allowing him to sustain injuries that would normally leave him dead. His weapon of choice is a kitchen knife.

Michael's backstory first began on Halloween night in 1963, when a six-year-old Michael stabbed and killed his teenage sister Judith at their home in Haddonfield, Illinois. He was sent to a sanitarium for treatment, but escaped years later and returned to Haddonfield to seek revenge on his family. His goal is to kill his sister Laurie Strode, and consistently is thought to be dead, but to have actually survived and to come after her again.

Michael always is either trying to kill someone related to him or living in his old house. He will kill anyone who gets in the way but one of those 2 choices are always his main victims throughout the "Halloween" franchise.

Jason Voorhees

Jason Voorhees, of the classic series of slasher films Friday the 13th, is a silent killer who haunts the grounds of Camp Crystal Lake. Having drowned in the lake of camp as a child, Jason's mother took it upon herself to [...] camp counselors who attempted to re-open the summer camp.

Due to the success of the first installment in the series, several more were produced, retconning Jason's death and bringing him back as a killer who haunts the camp and kills those who approach it. He often kills teenagers having [...] or doing drugs with a machete and frequently wears a mask, which is often removed near the end of the film to show a grotesquely deformed face.

After being dragged into Hell, Jason faced off with Freddy Kruger, the villain of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, in the movie Freddy vs. Jason. The result of the confrontation was ambiguous, as Jason cut off Freddy's head, but the head winked at the audience in the end. The events of Jason X jumped directly into the future, where Jason was cryogenically frozen in a spaceship for experimentation, but escaped and continued his [...] spree in space.

Chucky

In the Child's Play movies, Charles Lee Ray ("Chucky") began as a famous serial killer who, after being shot by pursuing police, used a voodoo ritual to transfer his soul into that of a doll. A homeless peddler found the doll and sold it to Karen Barclay, who couldn't afford to buy it in stores for her six-year-old son. Bringing Andy into his confidence, Chucky began murdering those responsible for his capture at the hands of the police. When the officer who gunned him down shot the doll, causing it to bleed, Chucky learned that his doll body was slowly conforming to his human spirit, and that his soul would soon be trapped in the doll unless he transferred it to the body of Andy, the first person he revealed himself to.

The remainder of Child's Play, and the next two sequels, followed Chucky attempting to find Andy and take over his body, murdering several adults in his way until the end, where he is slowly injured and dismembered until a final blow kills him. The sequel often opens with the company that manufactures the dolls putting Chucky back together in an attempt to discredit bad publicity, reviving Chucky.

The final two sequels in the series, Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky, have crossed genres to form a hybrid of horror fiction and comedy, giving Chucky a bride doll, Tiffany, and child, Glen.

Freddy Krueger

Freddy Krueger is the main antagonist of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. He has an unusual method of [...] his victims; he enters their dreams and murders them there. Whatever happens to the person while they sleep happens to their physical body.

Freddy faced off with Jason Voorhees, the villain of the Friday the 13thseries, in the movieFreddy vs. Jason''. The result of the confrontation was ambiguous, as Jason did cut off Freddy's head, but the head winked at the audience in the end.

Jigsaw

John Kramer, often called the Jigsaw Killer, is the main character of the Saw series of movies. He is notable in that he does not kill his victims directly, nor does he want them to die (though he did nonfatally slash Detective Tapp's throat to escape capture). John kidnaps people that he sees as being unappreciative of their life and places them in deadly traps, which often require the victim to undergo extreme self-mutilation or psychological torture in order to escape. Most of the time, John's victims fail to pass their test, instead opting for death.

John's backstory began when a [...] addict named Cecil rammed a door into the belly of his pregnant wife Jill, [...] her unborn child, and fled the scene. John was overwhelmed with depression and split up with Jill. He found himself locked in an uninteresting rut of a life that he was too complacent to give up with and continued living like this for years, until he developed an inoperable frontal lobe tumor and was given only a short while to live. After surviving a [...] attempt, John became "reborn", deciding to spend the rest of his existence teaching others to appreciate life.

John was killed in Saw III when Jeff Reinhart cut his throat open, inadvertently [...] his wife in the process. However, during his autopsy in Saw IV, an audiocassette was found in his stomach, which stated that he had prearranged several more "games" and that his work will continue.

Amanda Young

Amanda Young, the first person to survive Jigsaw's traps, went on to become his apprentice in Saw III, though she built inescapable traps that do not offer the victims a chance to escape, convinced that it was impossible for people to change. She was killed in Saw III when Jeff Reinhart shot her in the neck.

Forensic Hoffman

Forensic Hoffman became Jigsaw's second apprentice during the events of Saw III and Saw IV, which took place concurrently. He has not designed any traps as of yet, but has overseen a few. The tape found in John's stomach in Saw IV tells Hoffman that, although he has been chosen to carry on John's work, he should not expect to go untested himself.

Yet to be Mentioned

• Kayako Saeki - The Grudge
• Samara - The Ring
• Leatherface and the Sawyer/Hewitt family - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• Leprechaun - Leprechaun
• Norman Bates - Psycho
• Hannibal Lecter- Manhunter/Red Dragon/Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal/Hannibal Rising
• Count Dracula - Dracula
• Count Orlock - Nosferatu
• Death - Final Destination
• Ghostface - Scream
• Henry Lee Lucas - Henry: Portrait of serial killer
• Carrie White - Carrie
• The Lost boys - The Lost Boys
• Dog - The Thing
• Jack and David- An American Werewolf in London
• Damien Thorn - The Omen
• Pazuzu - The Exorcist
• Reverend Henry Kane - Poltergeist
• Xenomorphs - Alien
• Hannibal Lecter - The Silence of the Lambs
• Pinhead - Hellraiser
• Mr.Norquist- I Know Who Killed Me
• Victor Crowley- Hatchet
• The Creeper- Jeepers Creepers