With Dead By Daylight giving horror fans some extreme nostalgia feels by letting them play - or try to outrun - some of the most iconic killers of horror fiction, it’s no longer surprising if a good Dead By Daylight match inspires a player to watch a horror movie or two. After all, some killers in the game come from franchises with both stellar and rather unremarkable movies attached to them.
However, it’s much more interesting identifying iconic horror villains that don’t seem to belong in the movies that they’re in, be it through out of touch writing or just plain bad storytelling in general. Over the years, there have been plenty of fantastic horror villains who were held back somewhat by the underwhelming movies in which they featured.
8 Xenomorph (Alien Vs. Predator)
When people hear the term "science fiction," the idea of giant conglomerates sending soldiers and ships into space to explore the galaxy’s frontiers can give an idea of prestige and honor. Not in Alien, however, especially with seemingly unstoppable horrors like the Xenomorph. This is what made the first slate of Alien movies so terrifying, especially when the Xenomorph quickly proves that advanced weapons are useless when up against their advanced physiologies.
As such, it’s quite a relief to see that the extraterrestrial Predators are more than capable of handling them with their own advanced weaponry and hunting philosophies. This transforms Alien Vs. Predator into a science-fiction action movie, and one that dulls the horrific nature of the Xenomorph. While entertaining in itself, the idea of bladed weapons and specialized missiles harming a Xenomorph makes facing them more a matter of “how big is the boom?” compared to a fight for survival, something that hurts their reputation as scary villains.
7 Samara Morgan (Rings)
In the original Ring franchise, Sadako Yamamura is a vengeful spirit as well as a nensha user, capable of psychically affecting photographs and other art media. It’s what made the notion of her death tape so alluring to horror fans, and what made her American iteration Samara Morgan quite a hit. Unfortunately, despite the separate mythology and depth of Samara’s separation from Sadako, 2017's Rings fails to elevate the franchise’s rich mythos.
While the movie does offer a fresh retelling of Samara’s story, there’s not a lot of new things introduced in Rings. Fans of horror who haven’t seen The Ring can definitely find solace in the similarity of Rings from the original movie - but with that in mind, there’s no reason why fans should skip the original that started the craze in the first place.
6 Pinhead (Hellraiser: Revelations)
Horror savant Clive Barker is best known for the creation of the Hellraiser franchise, with concepts based on his “Hellbound Heart” novella. In it, and in the first Hellraiser movie, extradimensional Cenobites led by Pinhead are summoned through a puzzle box called the Lament Configuration and end up converting humans into their religion that involves transforming pain into pleasure.
While the franchise would change from body horror to psychological horror, it's difficult to find a worse movie in the franchise - or possibly, of all time - than Hellraiser: Revelations. There may not even be a need to say its premise here, as many critics consider Revelations a mockery of the franchise. In fact, some believe that it's so bad that it elevates its predecessors by comparison.
5 Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare On Elm Street)
It’s one thing to be able to travel to someone’s dreams and interact with them there, but another entirely for an evil soul to cherish the idea of killing people in their nightmares. This added to the allure of Freddy Krueger, the seemingly-undefeatable villain in A Nightmare On Elm Street, who remained the sole villain in its 2010 remake.
Unlike the Freddy Krueger that’s become known for his comical quips while killing others though, the 2010 remake tried its best to tone down Kruger’s personality and transform him into a nightmare-traveling killer. Unfortunately, these changes did nothing but hurt the potential of the movie, with its writing and storytelling lacking the necessary depth. While it remains faithful to the original movie, the remake failed to uplift the spirit of the original and bring out something new.
4 Michael Myers (Halloween: Resurrection)
When Michael Myers seemingly kills his Halloween archnemesis and proverbial “final girl” Laurie Strode by throwing her off the roof of a psychiatric facility at the start of Halloween: Resurrection, no one seems to be left to stop whatever he’s planning on doing next. This proved dangerous, especially when the 2002 movie had a group of youngsters participate in a reality show where they had to stay in the abandoned Myers home to figure out what caused Michael’s sprees.
While Michael will live to fight another day after his supposed defeat, the entire movie ended up being the black sheep of the franchise. Aside from Michael having to fight the character Freddie - played by rapper Busta Rhymes - the events of the movie were ignored entirely in the sequels.
3 Jason Voorhees (Jason X)
It’s thanks to Jason Voorhees that students have reasons to be scared to stay in camping zones, and Jason’s terrorizing of Camp Crystal Lake reaches the final frontier - space, and the literal future. In Jason X, scientists have begun looking into Jason’s vast regenerative abilities as something that can be replicated, prompting them to not just turn him into a cyborg but also cryogenically freeze him. Much to the horror of students aboard the ship Grendel, it seems a 455-year freezing isn’t enough to contain Jason, who begins a new onslaught.
While fans take delight in this form of Jason and call him “Uber Jason,” the futuristic setting of the movie fails to make Jason X any more than a typical slasher. This was quite the opposite of other movies which, despite their campiness, at least tried to add some depth to Jason’s character.
2 Killjoy (Killjoy Goes To Hell)
It’s one thing to have a killer clown plague the streets, but another to have it stuck in a story that doesn’t help bring to life its true potential. Such was the case with Killjoy, the eponymous killer clown of the Killjoy series, where he’s summoned to exact vengeance, with his summoners having no idea of the lengths this demonic clown is willing to go to in order to wreak havoc in the world of the living.
While the series is already infamous for its dark humor and bad production, Killjoy Goes To Hell plummets to all new lows. Plagued with the lack of budget and a story that doesn’t seem to try all that hard, Goes To Hell has Killjoy literally go to hell for a trial. Becoming a slasher with a courtroom drama on the side, Killjoy and his demonic streak need the right room for his menace.
1 Smiley (Smiley)
When Creepypasta was all the rage, some filmmakers tried capitalizing on the niche concept. One such example was Smiley, which talks about the eponymous Smiley arriving and killing one’s partner in a video chat website if they type a certain phrase. In the movie, Smiley is a murderer who stitched their own eyes and carved their mouth into a smile, hence earning the name. Protagonist Ashley tries the Smiley rumor in a video chat, only to see a stranger actually being horrifically murdered. Seeing her friends being killed by Smiley one by one, Ashley tries to challenge it to a one-on-one showdown… only to die.
At the end of the movie, Smiley is revealed to be Ashley’s friends, who, as part of a fringe Anonymous group, had perpetuated the Smiley myth. Smiley as an urban legend that can be copied has the potential to become quite a horrific villain, but the dull nature of the storytelling and the unnecessary twist at the end certainly hurt Smiley’s status as a compelling villain.