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)
I can only assume the writer either has very different taste in horror from me/us, or we’ve been (not so) cunningly been sucked into engagement bait. Include the movie on a list of modern horror? Sure. I had some issues with it, but whatever. Longlegs himself, though? Oof.