Horror franchises become famous for their deadly villains, who slash, slash and stab each other throughout the films, leaving a trail of carnage in their wake. Often, each subsequent installment gets a bigger death toll, turning slasher killers into ghostly legends who have gone down in horror history as some of the deadliest characters Hollywood has ever seen.
But which villain had the most kills? This top 5 list is actually filled with some surprises, and a few fan favorites are unfortunately not included. There are several reasons for this: in franchises like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Leatherface isn’t the only one who kills; and in series like Saw and Screamwe see different killers over the course of the franchise, meaning that no single villain racks up a huge kill count.
With those caveats in mind, here are the top 5 slasher villains with the most kills during their infamous cinematic careers. And with new movies potentially on the horizon, those numbers could continue to grow.
5. Freddy Krueger (63 murders)
New Line Cinema
Freddy Krueger, abuser and killer of children from Nightmare on Elm Street, managed to rack up over 60 kills during his nearly 40 years on screen. Luckily for Freddy, he’s already dead, so there’s really nothing stopping him from continuing the massacre.
Some of Freddy’s most iconic moments include the infamous TV murder Nightmare in Ulica briestova 3, where Freddy becomes part of a television set, grabs Jennifer Caulfield (an aspiring actress) and says, “Welcome to primetime, bitch,” as he shoves her head into the screen, electrocuting her to death. And who can forget Johnny Depp’s famous scene from the original film where he is dragged into his bed, followed by a noisy fountain of blood shooting up to the ceiling?
Freddy’s lowest kill count has arrived Freddy vs. Jason, because Jason killed all the kids before Freddy could get to them. Throughout the entire film, Freddy is only killed once (plus one more seen in a flashback). However, hopefully fans will get to see more of Freddy with a potential reboot on the way and a fan-made indie film, Dylan’s new nightmaresupposedly in post-production.
4. Victor Crowley (64 kills)
AireScope Images
Unless you’re a horror fan, you might be scratching your head at the name Victor Crowley. He is a killer in hatchet series, an indie franchise created as a throwback to classic slasher films. The first film premiered in 2006 and was praised by the horror community for staying true to the slasher genre while also having a bit of Scream-esque meta-self-awareness. The film series tells the story of Victor Crowley, a deformed boy who is killed in a swamp in Louisiana after bullying gone wrong. Now, Crowley roams the swamp, seeking revenge on anyone he encounters.
The film eventually spawned three sequels (all of which were absolute gorefests, giving Crowley 64 kills), and the franchise is packed with horror legends like Tony Todd, Robert Englund, and Danielle Harris. Some of the more gruesome kills in the series include Crowley crushing someone’s face in a boat engine and smashing a guy’s head in with a defibrillator. For slasher fans, this is a great series to check out if you’re looking for something new.
3. Jason Voorhees (163 murders)
Paramount Pictures
Until the last few years, Jason held the #2 spot, but thanks to constant legal battles between numerous parties, Friday 13 the movie hasn’t been released since 2009, which is why Jason lost his killer position. But during Jason’s heyday, he was mindlessly ripping off limbs and crushing heads, and the Friday movies were known for having the highest kill count of any major slasher franchise.
Some of Jason’s craziest kills include drowning someone in a garbage can full of sludge, the famous head-smashing scene in Part III where the guy’s eyeball pops out (which was even wilder thanks to the movie being shown in 3D), and that absolutely hilarious killer sleeping bag Jason X.
In September 2022, New Line posted a (now deleted) image on Instagram showing an iPhone with an incoming message from Jason Voorhees. Fans went wild, hoping that after more than a decade, a new Jason movie might finally be in the works. But unfortunately, it turned out to be a publicity stunt and, due to the ongoing lawsuit, no new film is being worked on. However, over the course of his career Jason managed to rack up a still impressive 163 kills.
2. Michael Myers (at least 165 murders)
Blumhouse
Historically speaking, Michael Myers was not known for an insanely high number of murders. Many murder scenes, like Lynda’s death in the original and the hot tub murder Halloween II, were built around uncertainty, not the accumulation of large numbers of bodies. These weren’t quick deaths just to add to Michael’s kill count. They made the audience wait, knowing something bad was going to happen. They created tension and a level of horror that few other slasher films could reproduce.
That was the status quo for Halloween until Rob Zombie came along with his 2007 reboot and 2009 sequel. Suddenly, a franchise with 10 or 12 kills per movie turned into one with 20 to 25 kills per movie, with Michael making his way into almost every scene. The 2018 trilogy did the same, especially with Halloween kills, which gave Michael his highest kill count ever as he slaughtered the entire crowd, earning a dozen kills (or more) in just one minute of screen time.
Without the new trilogy, Michael Myers would have been no. 3 on this list, but with the new movies giving Michael a ton of extra kills, he’s overtaken Jason, though he’s still quite a ways away from being the #1 horror villain of all time.
1. Pinhead (at least 200 kills, maybe a lot more)
Fifth Avenue Entertainment
Considering that Pinhead only killed two people in the first film and was barely in the sequel, it’s hard to imagine him being the most prolific killer in slasher history. But it’s important to remember that after the first two films, Pinhead really becomes the star of the show, racking up a much higher kill count in later films.
But it really is Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth this gives Pinhead the vast majority of his kills. In fact, some fans state that Pinhead’s kill count in that film exceeded 350 people. In one scene, Pinhead appears in the New York nightclub The Boiler Room. Using chains and spikes, he locks everyone inside and kills them one by one. Considering that packed nightclubs can hold several hundred people, it’s really up to the viewer to decide what the exact number of people killed in that scene alone is, but it’s certainly over 150 in very at least.
Fans of the franchise were divided in 2022 when Hulu premiered a Hellraiser reboot with actress Jamie Clayton as the new Pinhead. Some felt that the film was boring and did not stay true to the queer and erotic undertones of the original Hellraiser. But still, it gave us more of the brutal body horror that the franchise is known for, like when we get a look inside the victim’s throat as a large rusty needle pierces it.
MovieWeb puts Pinhead at 246 kills, doc We’ve got that covered assigns him a whopping 321. Regardless of the exact number of people in that club in Hellraiser IIIPinhead still leads as the deadliest villain in horror history.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn