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)
Conversely, I was unmoved by Smile, thought Midsommar was fine but was just redoing the Wicker Man and I hate Mother. Meanwhile, I was unnerved by Longlegs which is not something that happens often these days, although it was less about Cage (who doesn’t have much screentime) and more about how it was directed. He does deserve to be on the list for the film, but not quite so high and M3gan should definitely be in the mix. I’d also throw in Dan Stevens’ character from Cuckoo.