What a freaking tough question. First you have to look at the genre as a whole then the sub-genres. IT'S CRAZY.

Today it's Pinhead from the Hellraiser series. I'm feeling particularly deviant and destructive today, and since it's good friday and all. I'm going for a little devil loving.

Oh Christie we have such sights to show you!

Jesus Wept...

Maybe I should throw Uncle Frank in there as a hindsight.

Carrie White from "Carrie".

A champion for anyone who was picked on in high school, she's a symbol of the downtrodden...small, skinny and unfashionable. You name it and she's dealt with it. And now, after suffering the ultimate indignity, she's getting revenge on everyone who ever crossed her.

Oh, and just when you think it's over, she comes back to haunt you.

The ending of the movie never fails to creep me out.

Hmm, so it seems DRKellogg is more a fan of the tragic villain. I wonder if you can really consider Carrie a villain at all. Yeah she ended up killing a lot of people, but ultimately the movie portrays her as a victim. Her mother on the other hand, now there's a villain -- proof positive on the dangers of religious fanaticism.

Ok, ok...maybe she's not a traditional villain, but she decimates the high school! Even the bit players get wasted! She could have left poor Sue alone, since Sue wasn't even at the prom, but no.

As more proof of her intentions, a few months after this movie was released, Sissy Spacek was the host on Saturday Night Live. At the end of her monologue, she revealed a different ending for the movie. I wish I could find a transcript, because it is so great, but she says something like, "At school on Monday, most of the other kids aren't around, so I have no choice but to vote myself Homecoming Queen." Then she rips off her outer garments and has a drum majorette outfit on underneath. She produces a baton and begins twirling it while marching onstage.

Her powers may have been "accidental", but she definitely knew what she was doing and that makes her a villain in my book.

I think the best Stephen King villain is Annie Wilkes from Misery. Definitely Kathy Bates' best role. I've seen the movie probably a dozen times, and I still get squirmy during the "hobbling" scene. Man oh man, what a psycho.

I haven't liked Kathy Bates in too much else. I love that she is sooooo clueless and stupid. James Caan has that incredulous look on his face throughout the movie and she just doesn't get it.

Kathy Bates is a great villian in Misery that is for sure!

You know come to think of it, aren't a lot of our horror villians really tragic to begin with?

Norman Bates oppresive mother, Pinhead selling his soul unbeknownst to him, Leatherface being taunted. Really the only villians that weren't created by society are Freddy Krueger who was a monster before the monster and perhaps Patrick Bateman, who while fueled by 80's excess was really a monster before then. And how far do we go to blame our society for creating these monsters? Even the zombie films blame the government, Dracula blamed the loss of his love, the Wolfman was tragic even Frankenstein's monster was tragic. Is that why we identify with the villian in some cases, because not unlike ourselves, these bad guys too have lives that went out of control?

I wonder...

Patrick Bateman was a total and complete product of society! The whole notion of American Psycho is what the desire to "fit in" does to the psyche!

But point taken -- yes, many villains are the result of a taunted, haunted, teased, etc. individual snapping and going off. But I guess my point with Carrie was that she never really had much time to grow as a character for us. We don't know whether she would have continued on killing people had she lived, or whether that was a momentary lapse.

I know what you're going to say--the hand that comes out of the grave! She's back with a vengeance! I don't know about that--the scene always seemed to me like a cheap scare to tack onto the end, and not much consideration was given to what it actually meant. Granted, I haven't read the book, but as far as I'm concerned she could have grabbed his wrist because she wanted to give him a kiss.

I'm not saying Carrie wasn't a villain -- we know all too well the result of students taking out bullying aggression on their classmates, and there is no way to condone or forgive it. But do we equate her with a Pinhead or a Leatherface? That's a bit of a stretch for me.

Pamela Voorhees, hands down. The woman has talent & knows how to raise a kid.

Ooh good call. We too often forget that the first Friday the 13th wasn't really about Jason at all.

Would you believe Mrs. Voorhees was my second choice after Carrie?

Does no one want to give a shoutout to Hannibal Lecter?

I think I was one of the few people who actually enjoyed the Hannibal sequel (not Brett Ratner's abyssmal Red Dragon remake). I thought the scene where Ray Liotta eats his own brain was downright hilarious!

Carrie was fantastic too. She really knows how to get a prom into full swing.

Just rewatched Interview with the Vampire. I suppose Lestat could be considered a villain, though he's so imminently likable. Perhaps that's what makes villains great...

It was tough for me to see Lestat as the villian, especially since I had read the other books and Lestat becomes more the protagonist than antagonist in the rest of the vampire chronicles. But yes, perhaps that is what makes a great villian, likability.

Hard to narrow it down with so many great ones to be mentioned. I will say Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger as my first choice, but then you have, Vincent Price, Peter Lorri, Bella Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr, Boris Karloff and the list goes on. Its those of the past that has paved the way for those of the present and future.

I must admit I had to do some research to try and rattle my memories here. I wanted to recall some villain who hasn't been mentioned yet, and perhaps one that has been buried under the rubble of Jason's and Freddy's.

How about The Tall Man from the "Phantasm" films?

When I stumbled upon his character, I was thinking...ah...definitely a creepy dude and one that perhaps was buried under the likes of Jason and Freddy.

And now I have a User pic...might as well be a cool one :)

I admit I've never seen the Phantasm films, starfury (welcome to the boards, by the way!). He kinda looks like Javier Bardem's character from No Country after like 40 years, ha!

What did you guys think of the vampires in 30 Days of Night? I thought they were really cool and creepy, until they started talking. Something about making them more than just devouring beasts lost their scary factor for me.

You can never take away Karloff & Lagosi. They will always be king. They were able to scare with their looks and the way they used their voices. WITH NO SPECIAL EFFECTS, other than a little make-up.
You have to include Lon Chaney Sr. & Jr. with these two!

Yeah its is tough to pick just one villain. I would have to say the Universal monsters and the giant Japanese and American monsters starting with Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Wolf Man, and the Mummy. And my favorite giant monster well everyone knows Godzilla , King Kong (which is American),Ebira (aka Sea monster),Mecha Godzilla, Mothra and the rest of the monsters on Monsters Island; also the giant 50's rated B movie monsters. Now the for the slasher films I would start with Micheal Myers, Jason and Freddy. I didn't like Chucky or The Scream movies I thought they were just too corny for my taste. And I never seen Hellraiser so I can't comment on it. So thats about it.I might missed a couple of monster movies but these are my top picks.

Dave the Samurai: It sounds like you have a real love for the monster movies. I'm curious, did you see Cloverfield? What did you think? Did JJ Abrams successfully reinvent the genre, was it just an okay monster movie, or did it flop for you?

No I haven't seen it yet unfortunately but it is on my list most seen mosnster movies . But I loved the trailers for it.

Well, you have a mission: go see it and come back and tell us what you think! Personally, I liked it a lot. But I know others on the forum disagree:

http://blogs.amctv.com/monsterfest/talk/2008/01/last-chance-to.php

Have to agree with some here that the classic horror have the deepest impressions on me personally. Growing up watching Chaney, Lagossi, and Vincent Price who could send shivers down your back with just dialog.
We depend way too much on special effects, and on the almost rare occasion where an actor or actress goes beyond depending the effects to carry the story, suddenly it's an 'incredible movie'.

Just my two cents. BTW what about the puppets from puppetmaster?

Ooh, yeah the puppets are creepy. Along the same vein, sort of, I would nominated It. I've always hated clowns, and I think It's why.

What about Michael Myers?!?!?!? Freddy always scared me as a kid the most but I have to say Michael is definitely my favorite. Patrick Bateman is also another good one. Jason is classic. Lestat is another good one. Leatherface is also a classic. I remember when I was a kid, the werewolves from The Howling scared the crap out of me!!!

Oh and I forgot, the girl from The Ring still scares the shit out of me. There's something about little girls in horror movies that I hate!

You know who's my most dreaded monster and I told you about it in another blog is Jaws. Because of the more realistic horror of it all. The rows of razor sharp teeth shredding through anything and anyone,left over body parts sinking to the bottom of the black deep. Getting victims out of no where.The infamous fin and the blood in the water just puts chills down your spine. And that song don't help either makes you feel doomed. And because of the of my phobia for some many years of sharks because of the Jaws ride in Universal Studios when I was a kid. Plus the fact that I used to live close to Stinson Beach in California where Great white sharks have attacked. Thats a true horror villain !

Too true, Dave. I know many people who are still tepid about going in the water thanks to that beast. Did you see Open Water? I was one of the few people who was really creeped out by that movie. Especially the scene at night during the storm. Eesh.

You know matter of fact a couple I in Australia about a week ago were lost at sea. In the Great Barrier Reef notorious for shark attacks they survived there 2 days at sea. But they got lucky the sharks passed them up. They said the night storm was just like the one Open Water. The funny thing was they watched the movie before. After watching that movie I would never go scuba diving in the open ocean.Especially in Australia where the wildlife there is a horror story in its self.

Hannable Lector. He's creepy, smart and deadly.

Does anyone prefer Brian Cox's Hannibal in Manhunter? I feel like he doesn't get enough recognition, simply because Anthony Hopkins' is so great.

Hannibal Lector hands down.He ate someone's fuckin' liver!!That's hardcore.

I have to say that Hannibal Lector is the most outstanding villian. He is very believable and he does devour people in a very realistic way. Much more believable than Freddy, Jason, Michael Meyers, vampires and zombies. Of course saying that I will probably be attacked by a horde of vampire zombies with machatteies, knife gloves, and butcher knives.

For me, it's gotta be the monster in Salem's Lot. No question.

My first choice is Freddy Krueger(Robert England)Nightmare on Elm Street, 2nd Choice Jerry Dandridge(Chris Sarandon) Fright Night, Third Choice Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) Carrie, Fourth Choice Norman Bates( Anthony Perkins) Psycho
and lastly the Great Vicent Price for all his movies.