There’s nothing that can beat a good horror performance. Usually, the attention and praise go to victims who overcome the threat of monsters and gather the necessary empathy to make viewers cheer for them. However, a good villain can have a performer solid enough to win over the hearts of audiences.
In the case of the following performances, they stand out because they added an element of authenticity and sheer terror, regardless of how horror is seen in today’s industry. The term is controversial, but they elevated the movies by personifying pure evil in films that were already scary. These are the ten perfect villain performances in modern horror.
- Longlegs - Longlegs (2024)
- Abigail - Abigail (2024)
- Rose - Get Out (2017)
- The Grabber - The Black Phone (2022)
- Rose the Hat - Doctor Sleep (2019)
- Ellie - Evil Dead Rise (2023)
- Red - Us (2019)
- Kevin Wendell Crumb (and Others) - Split (2016)
- Pearl - Pearl (2022)
- Chef Julian Slowik - The Menu (2022)
Longlegs was extremely disappointing for me. The trailers invoking “Silence of the Lambs” was an insult. I went in expecting Lambs and instead recieved a supernatural story. I think my expectations would’ve been more tempered had the trailer not brought up Lambs.