Successful slashers like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Chucky, Freddy Krueger, and more have defined the horror genre and have terrified audiences for decades. Recently, audiences have felt that the horror genre has only gotten bigger and better. New and unique films like Longlegs and NOPE are now following in those monumental footsteps.
So what horror movie killers are terrifying audiences the best today? Within the last decade, there have been countless villains to choose from, and even more with incredible movies to back. From violent slashers to iconic monsters, modern horror is offering up some of the scariest bogeymen to date.
10 The Grabber Haunts the Streets of Denver in The Black Phone
Scott Derrickson, the director of hits like Urban Legends: Final Cut, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and even Doctor Strange for Marvel, creates a grim story akin to real-life tragedies in The Black Phone. Children in northern Denver start to go missing at the hands of the horrifying Grabber, a deranged psychopath who feels like a perfect fit for the 70s era when serial killers first became popularized. The character, played by Ethan Hawke — a longtime collaborator with Derrickson on horror movies like Sinister and Sinister 2 — brings a genuinely frightening performance. Hawke, seemingly destined to play a horror villain, shows audiences how terrifying he can be as the Grabber.
Hawke expertly uses the masks to his advantage, adding layers to an already powerful performance and making the Grabber an instant fan favorite.
A significant part of the Grabber’s lore is his iconic masks, including his replaceable mouthpieces. Created by horror legends Tom Savini and Jason Baker, these masks, along with the work of Derrickson and the art team, bring the Grabber’s look to life. Hawke expertly uses the masks to his advantage, adding layers to an already powerful performance and making the Grabber an instant fan favorite. With The Black Phone 2 set to release on June 27, 2025, and Hawke returning to the role, audiences will be terrified once again.
9 Mia Goth Goes Killer in X, Pearl, & MaXXXine
Releasing two films in the same franchise in the same year is virtually impossible, let alone created by almost the same crew and director. However, Ti West and Mia Goth managed to pull off this task. X and Pearl were both released in 2022, directed by Ti West, with Mia Goth starring in both films, playing different characters. In X, she portrays an adult film star and also a creepy old woman, Pearl, who lives on the farm where the film takes place. Pearl, the main character of her origin story Pearl, may not seem like the most frightening face, but Goth’s performance is worthy of an Academy Award.
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Rotten Tomatoes Scores for Each Film in the X Trilogy |
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X (2022) |
Pearl (2022) |
MaXXXine (2024) |
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94% |
93% |
73% |
While in production for X, West and Goth were also starting work on A24’s first sequel, Pearl. X feels similar to legendary horror films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, while Pearl is reminiscent of a demented version of The Wizard of Oz. In both films, Mia Goth expertly leads as both protagonist and antagonist. The scary nature she brings feels a lot more personal as the audience follows her character and understands where Pearl comes from. It’s almost a reverse approach to how horror movies create memorable villains, because with Pearl, she becomes iconic from her very first scene. This, of course, was followed by MaXXXine to round out the trilogy.
8 The Silent and Haunting Killer-Virus From It Follows
The Entity, or It, is the slow and methodical horrifying villain of It Follows. Oftentimes, horror movies are able to adapt every day topics that people struggle with as a fictional horrifying scenario that is a perfect metaphor. In this film, David Robert Mitchell and company set out to create an unfortunately real, scary perspective on the stigmas and consequences of hookup culture at the time, including stalkers, STDs, and pregnancy. Maika Monroe, the actor playing the main character, is constantly being chased throughout the film. But only at a slow, eerie walking pace. This Entity can take any shape, and wear any familiar face.
The brilliance of It Follows lies in its subversion of traditional horror conventions. Rather than relying on sudden jump scares or relentless chases, the film introduces a villain that takes its time and is inescapable. The Entity, though not overtly terrifying in its speed, becomes all the more horrifying through its persistence, embodying a creeping dread that mirrors anxieties surrounding intimacy, trust, and personal responsibility. Its ability to take any form adds an extra layer of paranoia, as even trusted or familiar faces can be dangerous. This approach allows the film to explore deeper themes of fear and societal pressure in a symbolic yet haunting way.
7 Jean Jacket From NOPE Is a Literal Man-Eating UFO
NOPE is Jordan Peele’s third groundbreaking horror movie, blending elements from the best parts of Jaws and alien movies. The film’s heroes and siblings, played by Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya, begin to believe that their Hollywood horse ranch is being haunted by an extraterrestrial force. As the film unravels, the pair and friends come across what they believe to be a UFO. Nicknamed Jean Jacket after a former horse of theirs, the characters and the film explore the morality of working with wild and untamed animals for entertainment. It’s a groundbreaking idea by Peele to make Jean Jacket the UFO antagonist of the film as well as the terrifying alien itself.
Two iconic scenes in the second half of the film have been horrifying audiences since its release: one where Jean Jacket consumes an entire audience of tourists in one of the most terrifying scenes in all of horror media, and another where Jean Jacket regurgitates a blood storm over the siblings’ home. The imagery and setting create a tense atmosphere of fear. The intentional design of Jean Jacket to resemble a large eye spying on the characters is brilliant. The way the creature moves between mountains and clouds is eerily quiet, while its anatomy is both intricate and beautiful. NOPE became the movie of the summer in 2022 thanks to Peele’s expert direction and the crew’s amazing work, leaving audiences haunted by the possibility of something like Jean Jacket lurking among the stars.
6 The Babadook Isn’t the Real Monster in The Babadook
In The Babadook, the titular entity serves as a powerful, horrifying, realistic metaphor for grief and the human struggle to cope with loss. Amelia, the protagonist, is haunted by this relentless, terrifying figure, which represents the grief she has buried since the death of her husband. The Babadook’s presence is a reminder that grief doesn’t simply vanish — it lingers, evolves, and, in some ways, becomes something the characters learn to coexist with. While the Babadook never disappears, it transforms into a part of Amelia’s life that she must eventually confront, tethering her to her past and humanity.
In
The Babadook
, each person’s grief is deeply personal, which is why only Amelia can see and experience this creature.
What makes the Babadook particularly chilling is how this grief manifests in physical form, yet remains invisible to others. Their appearance is reminiscent of the most famous missing performance of another Lon Chaney monster character in the horror film London by Midnight. In The Babadook, each person’s grief is deeply personal, which is why only Amelia can see and experience this creature. She locks it away, not ready to face the pain, but ultimately releases it on her own terms, gaining control over it. Despite the metaphorical weight, the film suggests that the Babadook is also a real entity in the story’s world, as indicated by the director, blending psychological horror with supernatural terror to deliver a unique exploration of trauma.
5 The Witches From Hereditary Create a Darker Story
Hereditary is a 2018 horror film created by expert director and storyteller Ari Aster. The unsettling and eerie nature of the film sets the story and the audience on the right path to be terrified. Underrated and impactful performances from the whole cast, namely Toni Collette, add a sense of realism to this horrific tale of a family plagued by impossible-to-escape grief as they’re preyed on by supernatural forces. These supernatural forces, of course, were created by this ominous and almost unseen coven of satanic witches.
The witches/devil worshipers are behind every little terrifying moment in this film. Joan is someone Toni Collette’s character relates to and can feel safe with. In a movie where every scene has another nightmare scenario, the audience also feels safe with Joan. As the story becomes clearer, it’s revealed that Joan is taking advantage of this family’s grief, and bringing forth a demon into this world. Joan and the witches don’t necessarily look scary, but the atmosphere and energy they bring to this film make this psychological horror film one that fans have remembered since it was released in 2018.
4 The Mother Isn’t the Only Villain in Barbarian
As written by Zach Cregger, the idea behind Barbarian was to shock audiences with every new turn in the story. The main character, Tess, is constantly put in scary scenarios, from small, paranoid moments in a home that’s not hers to escaping the dark catacombs downstairs from a horrible monster known as the Mother. The Mother is a horrific human-like monster created and bred by a particularly monstrous character. Even though the Mother is the main monster of this brutal film, other characters in this story are just as, if not more evil than the film’s main antagonist.
Horror allows for real-world topics to be explored from a fictional, entertainment perspective for exploration and conversation. Barbarian fans feel that the messaging in the movie isn’t as subtle as others, but just as powerful. Halfway through the film, Justin Long appears as someone outside his usual repertoire of likable and endearing characters, instead playing an abusive Hollywood big shot. His misogyny pairs with a lot of this film’s central arguments in a broad range of characters played by Bill Skarsgård and Richard Brake. The Mother is the culmination of the film’s messaging along with the dangerous and horrific realities of today, presented in a format that’s all too entertaining to look away from.
3 The Tethered Clones in Us Slash Their Way Into the World
Jordan Peele already established himself as an iconic horror film director with his debut feature Get Out in 2017. He’s since followed that with two more instant classics, one of which is mentioned above as NOPE. In 2019’s Us, Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke are parents to two children who venture to a cabin in the woods. Everything goes awry when what seems to be red jumpsuit-wearing clones of themselves called the Tethered, and everyone else in town, appear to wreak havoc. As they are clones, many actors play double duty, namely Lupita Nyong’o as Red. She puts on a masterful performance, needing to portray the horrors of a human monster from the underground as well as a mother fighting for her own life and her family.
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Rotten Tomatoes Scores for Jordan Peele’s Horror Films |
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Get Out (2017) |
Us (2019) |
NOPE (2023) |
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98% |
93% |
83% |
The grim and haunting sci-fi horror story aids in the eerie nature of these tethered beings, especially Red. Beyond the surface-level horror of Us, Peele expertly weaves in deeper societal commentary, exploring themes of identity, class, and privilege. The Tethered represent the literal underclass, forced to live in the shadows while their above-ground counterparts lead normal lives. This duality reflects the inequalities that exist in society, with the Tethered fighting to reclaim the lives they believe they deserve. Peele uses the horror genre as a lens through which he critiques these imbalances, blending entertainment with thought-provoking social commentary.
2 Pennywise Established Horror’s Newest Slasher Icon In It
Tim Curry established the idea of clowns as a terrifying kind of horror all the way back in the 1990s as Pennywise the Clown in the It miniseries. The vibrant, humorously dark performance was hard to beat, but in 2017’s reboot of Stephen King’s most famous work, Bill Skarsgård managed to create his own kind of monster out of the old. Pennywise is a dancing clown, spider, nightmare-alien monstrosity that has seared his presence in the minds of all horror fans. Everything from his voice to his human-like appearance was intriguing to audiences. The film has everything needed for a spooky-good time, including a haunted house, bloody imagery, a great story, and Skarsgård putting on his most famous performance yet.
The character and the story continue in the sequel from 2019, It: Chapter Two. While the second chapter wasn’t as critically praised as its first entry, Pennywise is still able to terrify audiences to the very end. Because of the success of these films, Pennywise has established himself as a brand-new staple for the Halloween season, perfectly paired with Tim Curry’s rendition. The character will also return in an HBO prequel series entitled It: Welcome to Derry, starring a returning Bill Skarsgård.
1 Nic Cage Elevates the Horror Genre as Longlegs in Longlegs
In 2024, director Osgood Perkins, son of the famous horror icon Anthony Perkins, created one of the most horrifying films of the last 10 years. Longlegs is a cross between Silence of the Lambs and Seven, with hints of religious and exorcism horror sprinkled throughout. Maika Monroe stars as the detective solving the clues of the enigmatic, satanic, and possibly supernatural Longlegs, played by the great Nicolas Cage. Cage has proven to audiences that he is among the best of the best in the industry, and he gets to stretch his long legs in this horrific feature playing the titular character.
Cage revels in the unhinged and violent tendencies of the character, startling audiences in every scene he’s in.
Longlegs is largely hidden throughout the film, only making skewed appearances in the first half, and then gloriously showcasing his expert costuming, makeup, and performance in the second half. Cage revels in the unhinged and violent tendencies of the character, startling audiences in every scene he’s in. There’s not one shot in this movie where Longlegs doesn’t unsettle audiences with his appearance or spirit. He’s surrounded by a rich and dark history of kidnapping, mind control, devil worship, and more. Audiences took an instant liking to this unique take on a crime-horror film, especially the central antagonist. From the very first scene, Longlegs is an instantly memorable horror flick that will define the genre, and also forever haunt fans’ nightmares.