Image Credit: CW- (Child's Play) Everett Collection; Richard Foreman; Everett CollectionAhh October, the month of mayhem, horror, and gore. In case you haven’t heard, here at EW, we’re celebrating with our Scariest Big-Screen Psycho Killer single-elimination tournament. Throughout the month of Shocktober (that’s right, we said it…), your votes will help us crown the movie murderer most likely to cause soiled undergarments in a dark-alley encounter. Today, we have the second part of our first round of showdowns, which will see Chucky from Child’s Play take a stab at Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘s Leatherface; Vic “Mr. Blonde” Vega (Reservoir Dogs) stuck in the middle with Javier Bardem’s coldblooded Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men); Carrie White (Carrie) painting the town pig-blood red with Prom Night maniac Alex Hammond; and Christoph Waltz’s Col. Hans Landa (Inglourious Basterds) getting all Third Reich on The Night of the Hunter‘s Harry Powell. Every few nights between now and the Friday before Halloween, you’ll be able to vote in our polls to help narrow down the field of 32, split into “HorrorVerse” and “DramaVerse” categories. Check out our full list of 32 raging psychopaths at the end of this post, then vote in our second set of face-offs below. Polls will be open for 60 hours only, so do your part now to save your favorites from a brutal first-round butchering!
[ALSO: You have until noon today (Friday) before we close the polls on the first four face-offs, between Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street) and Pinhead from Hellraiser; Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs) and Patrick Bateman (American Psycho); Ghostface (Scream) and Ben Willis (I Know What You Did Last Summer); and Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb (The Silence of the Lambs) and John Doe (Se7en).]
Image Credit: CW- Everett Collection (2); Francois Duhamel
HORRORVERSE DIVISION
1. Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
2. Michael Myers (Halloween)
3. Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th Part II)
4. Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
5. Carrie White (Carrie)
6. Samara (The Ring)
7. Jigsaw-Amanda (Saw)
8. Ghostface (Scream)
9. Benjamin Willis (I Know What You Did Last Summer)
10. Dr. Heiter (The Human Centipede)
11. Damien Thorn (The Omen)
12. Alex Hammond (Prom Night)
13. Chucky (Child’s Play)
14. Norman Bates (Psycho)
15. Billy Chapman (Silent Night, Deadly Night)
16. Pinhead (Hellraiser)
DRAMAVERSE DIVISION
1. Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs)
2. Jack Torrance (The Shining)
3. Annie Wilkes (Misery)
4. Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)
5. Col. Hans Landa (Inglourious Basterds)
6. Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction)
7. The Joker (The Dark Knight)
8. Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb (The Silence of the Lambs)
9. John Doe (Se7en)
10. Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)
11. Peyton Flanders/Mrs. Mott (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle)
12. Harry Powell (The Night of the Hunter)
13. Vic “Mr. Blonde” Vega (Reservoir Dogs)
14. Beverly Sutphin (Serial Mom)
15. Tommy DeVito (Goodfellas)
16. Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)
You put Leatherface up against a doll? Especially after The Seed of Chucky that’s going to be the easiest win yet!
Leatherface’s first appearance in a doorway in the origina Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most genuinely horrific moments in movie history, and that film still one of the scariest. Leatherface FTW
THIS.
BONUS TRIVIA:
Did you know that 3 of the top psycho killers (Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill) are all inspired by the SAME real person? ED GEIN
‘Tis true.
I wonder what it says about me that I have seen, (and mostly loved) every one of these movies…
Whatever it says, it can be said about me because I’m right there with you.
Come on Chucky? You have got to be kidding me! Watching his little legs scurry around or ride a tricycle while holding a knife was pure comedy.
It’s comedic when I see it now, but at the age of 6, it was downright terrifying! Still, I voted for Leatherface.
Chucky was always more mean than scary. But Jennifer Tilly’s voice in Bride of Chucky? THAT was scary.
I dunno–demonic dolls scare the bejeezies out of me. Especially porcelain dolls and baby dolls. The creepy little dolly enforcer in Toy Story 3 was the most frightening thing in the movie.
Oh Orville, you have to rent the “TRILOGY OF TERROR” — Karen Black as the lead in 3 different short stories by Richard Matheson (I Am Legend). The last, “Prey”, has her terrorized by a Zuni devil-doll! Scared the living s**t out of me as a kid.
Your friend ’til the end.
C’mon, where is Spike the Gremlin? Or just the Gremlins as a whole? I’m more scared of several of them than I am of most on here.
Samara FTW!!!!
yep.
Scariest Republican?
Rush Limbaugh vs. Sarah Palin?
A little confused about the ranking for Heath Ledger’s Joker on this list:
He was in the top 5 of Entertainment Weekly recent 100 Greatest Characters of the past 20 years…but he’s only a 7th seed for this tourney? (Huh?!)
He was more entertaining then he was scary.
I’d actually say the same about Landa, but I get your point.
Max Cady was scary, no matter who played him.
it wont let me vote
. Finally EW has a poll worth voting on and it wont let me.
Hmmmmm…voting is not working for me either. EW – fix please!
Same here
Come on, Robert Mitchum in “Night of the Hunter” is one scary mother F’er. He should be winning.
Agree. I thought Waltz was brilliant and deserved his Oscar. But I didn’t think he was scarier than Mitchum.
Really not fair to put Harry Powell from ‘The Night of the Hunter’ against a more modern opponent. Powell is probably not as recognized by younger viewers, yet he is arguably the scariest psycho ever. Incredible movie, anyone who is not familiar with it should watch it.
The things Id let Christoph Waltz do to me sodamn fine!