Image Credit: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Myers, Chapman, DeVito, Torrance) Everett Collection (4)Oh, you better watch out/ You better not cry/ ‘Cause a crazy slasher might be in a closet nearby/ Psycho killer’s coming to towwwwnnn!
Yes indeedy horror buffs, here at EW, we’re celebrating the month of October with our Scariest Big-Screen Psycho Killer single-elimination tournament. From now through Halloweeen, your votes will help us crown the movie murderer most likely to send you into the emotional fetal position, crying for your mommy to come and check your closets and perform an under-the-bed roll call. Today, we have the third part of our first round of showdowns, which will see Michael Myers from Halloween take a stab at Silent Night, Deadly Night‘s Billy Chapman; Jack Torrance (The Shining) battle Tommy DeVito (Goodfellas); Jigsaw-Amanda (Saw) try to out-evil The Human Centipede‘s Dr. Heiter; and The Dark Knight’s terrifying The Joker plot against A Clockwork Orange‘s Alex DeLarge. 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 making the ultimate first-round exit!
Image Credit: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Amanda, Heiter, DeLarge, Joker) Everett Collection (2) (Saw and A Clockwork Orange)
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)
Hannibal Lecter is a scaremonger…
the joker ain’t scarey..psycho,yes…but not even remotely scarey…
I’d be scared sh*tless the Joker would do his disappearing pencil trick.
totally!!! he’s just a bit coocoo in the head
wolverbunny,
Why don’t you take a look at this compliment? >>> (Jon
Mon 10/11/10 6:57 AM).
It’s really the best ever.
not fair pitting the Joker against Alex Delarge! I wanna vote for both of them
I really don’t think it was fair to compare Alex to the Joker too! I want to vote for both of them because they both are AWESOME characters in their own right! :-O
Seriously! This early match up was more ill disappointing than the one that put Patrick Bateman up against Lecter right off the bat.
Boooo EW! Don’t you know you’re supposed to set it up so the coolest psycho killers battle it out in later rounds?
The Joker really isnt scary. But he will win this whole thing just on the popularity of the role. Now Nicholson as Torrance. That is scary.
Agreed. Nicholson epitomized scary psycho-killers. He was the best. But just because The Joker is a fun costume for Halloween, he’ll win.
If Torrence beat Joker, that’d be ironic, since Nicholson’s Joker is better than Ledger’s.
Nicholson’s Joker is SO NOT better than Ledger’s! What planet are you from???
Of course Jack Nicholson’s was better! No contest!
i agree. ledgers joker was boring and obvious. nickolson was awesome!
Oh come on. The joker blew up a hospital for kicks and giggles. He drove Harvey mad when he forced him to listen to his fiance blow up and then melted away half of his face. He talked a guy into sewing a cellphone detonator into his abdomen and then blew up a police station. And he took on a whole room of mob bosses with a PENCIL. Jack Torrance chased a woman around with an axe.
Look at it this way, would you rather be locked in a room with Torrance or the Joker. I sure wouldnt be picking Torrance
Nicholson’s Joker did a lot of the same type of things as Ledger’s, only with the excuse of “art” instead of “chaos”–look at how he exposes people’s basest instincts by luring them out with money to kill them (wouldn’t work if people weren’t greedy), or how he also killed a mob boss in front of other bosses (without the aid of a grenade suit), only he doesn’t have to explain his theories about people every 5 minutes like Ledger did. Jack’s Joker also believed his own hype, while Ledger’s clearly didn’t–that’s why he had to bring a backup explosive to the boat bombing, and that’s key to the Joker’s personality, as is a sense of maniacal humor, which Jack had in spades, but Ledger only had in flashes.
Minus Batman killing people, Burton’s movies are a lot closer to the iconic Batman than Nolan’s are, and Jack’s Joker is far better than Ledger’s. Ledger’s wasn’t terrible or anything…Jack was just much better (and Hamill’s Joker was even better than Jack’s).
Now, see, I think Ledger’s Joker took the character a step further than Jack’s Joker. With Jack’s Joker, you got the backstory, you know how his face got disfigured and that’s why he went mad. You know he was part of organized crime beforehand. He blames his boss, he blames Batman. He’s more egocentric in his insanity. Ledger’s Joker seems to materialize out of thin air and is much more of a boogeyman type. No fingerprints, no past, the story surrounding his scars changes every time he tells someone new. Honestly I’m not so sure that he didn’t put them there for kicks and giggles. The fact that he doesn’t seem to have any deep seated motivation beyond entertaining himself, really, for all of the sick things he does, makes him way more menacing and unpredictable.
While the mystery aspect of Joker’s lack of origin is a plus for Ledger, I’m more interested in what Joker does and how he acts than where he came from, so I prefer Jack’s. He’s still unpredictable, we just know a little more about Jack’s Joker. Also, though Joker killing Bruce’s parents seems unnecessary at first, I do like the parallel it sets up: Batman was born out of chaos (by Joker) to bring order, while Joker was born out of order (by Batman) to bring chaos.
And Ledger’s Joker does have a specific goal/motivation: make Batman break his goal and show everyone that “civilized people will eat each other” given enough stress (even though he’s not really convinced of that). He announces it every time he gets the chance.
*break his goal of not killing anyone.
There are some truly impressive performances – and actors – in the dramaverse division. Horrorverse, not so much.
I don’t know, personally Samara from the Ring scared the crap out of me. There really is something creepy about little dead sopping wet children! Also you got Norman Bates, Carrie White and the all time king of Halloween, Mike Myers!
Nicholson truly freaked me out in The Shining. Amazing performance!
I believe if there exists any justice in the world, Jack Torrance(The Shining) should win this poll hands down. He is just pure scary one-man show. No beats him.
Annie Wilkes could give him a run for his money. The ankles/hammer thing still chills me
I am inclined to agree…he just knocks it out of the park in The Shining, and it’s so great how effing scared his wife is of him!
where is Dexter?
“Who is the scariest BIG-SCREEN Psycho Killer?” Dexter is on the small-screen.
How can you include Jigsaw-Amanda but not Jigsaw himself?
The Joker is about as scary as he could be in a PG-13 film, and that’s a compliment.
PS: for some reason the article has mistakenly called him ‘Alex DeLong’?
You know what’s missing from this poll? The classic monsters. Why are mobsters, a nazi, and the Joker here rather than Dracula, the Wolfman, etc?
Because they were included in the Sexy Beast competition. They aren’t really psycho killers b/c they are crazy but killers b/c of who they are.
Alex DeLarge, people. Alex DeLarge. Heath was captivating as the Joker, but scary, no.
He was scary! But Alex was exactly like him, that’s why it’s not fair to vote between those two!
The Joker vs. Alex in the first round?
Dr. Heiter is way scarier than Amanda. Unfortunately, no one has seen the movie. lol.
I HAD to see the movie after I saw Daniel Tosh spoil it on Tosh.0. But you are right Rukia, Dr. Heiter is scary than Amanda.
I’m gonna keep saying it cause Michael Myers is hands down the scariest killer from movies EVER. I went back and watched the original Halloween last year and it still has the power to scare the crap out of me. I will say that Jack Nicholson was great as Jack Torrance but Michael Myers is still my number one.
Absolute total agreement. Saw Halloween when I was 9 and have never recovered. If I accidentally hear the music from the movie I have to cover my ears and hum.
I third this! Michael Myers scares the be-jeesus outta me!! I can’t watch Halloween movies because they seriously give me nightmares.