Capcom's flagship zombie franchise has always proven it has more to offer than hoards of flesh-eating undead with the menagerie of horrifying creatures players will also have the misfortune of encountering. Thanks to the viruses and parasites morally corrupt scientists engineer, the world of Resident Evil is rife with creatures that will shock horrify and disgust.
With bosses that reach terrifying heights, mob enemies that look like skinned and distorted animals, and stalkers with intimidating statures, players are barely given any reprieve from the gory assault on their eyes. But not all are made equal, as some of Capcom's twisted creations stands out among the rest.
10 Hunters
One of Umbrella's many horrifying creations, the Hunters are a bioweapon engineered to hunt down uninfected survivors of their misdeeds. They have been employed in multiple games throughout the franchise, and are equally horrifying in each.
Created by grafting amphibian DNA to a fertilized human embryo and then infecting the result with the dreaded T-Virus, the hunters are relentless creatures with incredible strength, deadly claws and the ability to leap great distances similar to real-life amphibians such as frogs. There is another variant known as Hunter Gamma, in which instead of using amphibian DNA and a human embryo, they use an amphibian embryo and human DNA, which results in stronger, more resilient creatures.
9 Lickers
Their blindness doesn't make this enemy less threatening or weaker. These fearsome creatures that look like a skinned canine-adjacent being stalked the halls in Resident Evil 2 their appearance only made freakier in the graphic fidelity of the remake. Lickers are said to be a more evolved version of the shuffling zombie creatures rife in the series, made by zombies consuming a massive amount of biomass, or humans infected with a particular, unnamed variant of the T-Virus, despite nearly all of their human features stripped away, leaving the quadrupedal monster in its place.
With heightened senses of scent and hearing, lickers can descend on the unwary who don't take the time to stealth around them. Those who take less precautions will find it impossible to outrun their inhuman speed, and difficult to gun them down thanks to their hardy constitution. This only serves to amplify the intimidating nature of these foes, making them one if the freakiest in the entire franchise.
8 Lisa Trevor
Introduced in the remake of the original Resident Evil, Lisa is undoubtedly a grotesque creature, but her story is one shrouded in tragedy. Once a little girl, Lisa was abducted by Umbrella and experimented on until she became the twisted, hulking monster plays know her as. The Progenitor virus she as subjected to endowed her with supernatural strength, but her intelligence and sanity eroded to near nothingness.
Though Lisa regains some of her mind in her adult years, it did not make her any kinder to the staff assigned with her charge, often tearing off the faces of women scientists, which became on obsessive need to her following the demise of her mother. It is said that the face she wears is not her own, but the one torn from a woman masquerading as her mother. Ultimately, her demise comes at her own hands as she jumps into a chasm after retrieving the corpse of her beloved mother.
7 The Baby
Though only a hallucination thanks to the hallucinatory properties of the plants surrounding Beneviento's estate, this does not help ease the fears players feel when encountering this malformed, demented creature.
This false creature still seems to pose a very real threat, as if the baby catches up to Ethan and consumes him, its game over. But with its freakish appearance as a deformed fetus, players will hightail it away whenever they see it crawl towards them crying through a mouth large enough to swallow them whole. Whether this was a metaphor for Ethan's fears of failing his infant daughter Rosemary, or just an idea for Capcom to effectively terrify all of its players, the Baby is a well-thought-out enemy that will truly unnerve even the most courageous gamers.
6 Mr X
One of Capcom's most effective stalk-type enemy, Mr X is a freaky juggernaut of unstoppable strength and a dogged determination to eliminate Claire and Leon. He roams the halls of the Raccoon City Police Department, always nearby to the player, the earth-shattering sounds of his footsteps never too far away.
Near undefeatable, players must learn to navigate around Mr X or risk becoming another one of his victims, as in the police department he is unkillable. Players can only slow him down by burning through precious ammo, but he won't stay down long. Playing a constant game of cat and mouse while navigating around the other dangers present makes him a force to be reckoned with, and one of the freakiest enemies players will encounter.
5 Nemesis
Jill Valentine's arch-Nemesis, Nemesis is one of Capcom's most infamous creatures, and another stalk-enemy. Similar to how Mr X stalks the halls of RPD on the tails of Claire and Leon, Nemesis is hell-bent on ending Jill.
Engineered as a 'cleaner' for Umbrella, he is dedicated to ending the members of STARS to keep their indiscretions quiet. He was made by infecting a tyrant with another viral strain, further deforming him into an unstoppable killing machine. Unlike Mr X, Nemesis is not completely silent, uttering the word 'STARS' in his guttural voice as he comes face to face with Jill, and makes use of weapons to further bolster his killing efficiency. And with three total forms he can assume, Nemesis is undoubtedly one of the freakiest designs Capcom has created.
4 Regenerators
Perhaps one of the most infamous Resident Evil creatures of all time, the Regenerators are terrifying tall-humanoid infected that, as their name suggests, can regenerate portions of the body that are destroyed through massacre amounts of damage. As such, these are one of the hardier enemies Leon dispatches of in his campaign through Resident Evil 4, and one of the freakiest.
The Regenerators are part of Los Iluminados' parasitic research, and were created by infecting a human host with several parasites, creating the mindless and resilient monsters. Given their infamy, and their terrifying unique design, the Regenerators are a must-have for the Resident Evil 4 Remake.
3 Marguerite Baker
Resident Evil 7 was Capcom's hailed returned to the hallowed halls of horror, bringing back a suffocating atmosphere, gut-wrenching moments of horror, and some truly freakish entries into their bestiary of monsters. The matriarch of the Baker family, Marguerite, is one such creature.
Though once a loving mother with a kind heart she, like the rest of the Baker family, paid for their altruism after taking in young Eveline. Soon, the family find themselves infected with the mold the young child possessed, transforming them all into a family of murdered. Marguerite's transformation is by far the most grotesque, as she grows to have a great affinity with insects, her body becoming a hive to all sorts of gross bugs, and grows spider-like elongated limbs she can use to crawl along floors, walls and ceilings.
2 The Verdugos
The Verdugos, or Executioners as their Spanish names translate to, serve as the robed bodyguards and right-hand men to Roman Salazar, the diminutive lord of the Castle. These freaky creatures are the result of combining human DNA, insect DNA, and then infecting the mutated host body with the Plaga parasite.
Standing at over 8-foot tall and possessing the abilities to cloak itself and resistance to bullet damage, the Verdugo serve as a terrifying and tense boss fight where players must kite it around the various rooms of the sewer to use their environment to eventually whittle it down to the point of death.
1 Drain Deimos
The drain deimos are the culprit behind what might be the most disgusting scene in any Resident Evil game. These insect-like creatures from the third game grab Jill, and then infect her body with their spawn through her mouth. The scene is sickening, and sets the precedent for just how freakish the drain deimos are. The only way Jill can purge herself of the maggots is to consume a green herb, which will cause her to vomit them out.
With their parasitic nature, and gross insect-like appearance, the drain deimos are an enemy few fans enjoy encountering, but fortunately it only takes a few bullets to fell these freaky beasts.
Resident Evil 4 Remake is set to release on March 24, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.