# Which slasher movie villain would you rank as 4th best?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 18, 2018, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152 "2018-10-18T16:47:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/21 "2018-10-18T22:06:49Z")
Would Hannibal Lector count? He scared the hell out of me.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/22 "2018-10-18T22:22:32Z")
Is “[It](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Follows)”\* a slasher?
\*not [that](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(novel)) “It”.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/23 "2018-10-18T22:47:25Z")
Leatherface probably.
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/24 "2018-10-18T23:33:39Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#):
>
> After all, Freddy, Jason and Chucky are the only slashers to have _Ready Player One_ cameos.
The ‘Michael Myers’ scene in _Baby Driver_ was hysterical.
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### Author:  [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/25 "2018-10-19T01:37:04Z")
Ghostface was my first thought.
Then Leatherface really made a strong case.
Then I started thinking about Jessica Biel in the remake of TCM and got super distracted.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/26 "2018-10-19T11:00:07Z")
I’m not a fan of horror movies, but it seems to me that you’ve all missed the big daddy: Jaws, the Great White shark.
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/27 "2018-10-19T12:48:51Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#):
>
> Is “[It](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Follows)”\* a slasher?
> \*not [that](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(novel)) “It”.
I don’t think ‘it’ is a slasher; I think he um, shctupps one to death. He’s a real fucker.
IT, as in [Pennywise](https://www.google.com/search?q=pennywise&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiekYbrxJLeAhVOqlkKHRIVCbcQ_AUIDigB&biw=1434&bih=731#imgrc=zr6oMoBFTyOo6M:) is an excellent example, however.
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### Author:  [@DerNils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerNils)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/28 "2018-10-19T12:54:26Z")
I think Ghostface, just based on me being a 80s/90’s kid and that was the Big Slasher Revival at the time. I do admit that the General populace would have trouble recognizing Michael Myers as one of the iconic slashers - his look is not nearly as often copied as Chucky or Ghostface. But the Music will bring chills to every living Person.
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### Author:  [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/29 "2018-10-19T13:01:03Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#):
>
> Candy Man.
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Candyman.
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Ha! Jinx!
Such a missed opportunity.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/30 "2018-10-19T13:55:11Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#):
>
> If I felt like being really very bold, I might even argue that Chucky replaces Michael Myers in the top three in terms of pop culture notoriety today. I definitely think he’s as recognizable, if not more so. After all, Freddy, Jason and Chucky are the only slashers to have _Ready Player One_ cameos.
As somebody who only has a passing familiarity with slasher flicks (I think I may have seen Ft13th I & II), that does work for my situation. I mean, I know _of_ the Halloween movies, but I had to look up who Michael Myers was, because all I think is SNL when I hear that name (though, yes, that Myers goes by “Mike” there.) Chucky, Freddy, and Jason are all immediately recognizable to me.
But the OP is about “best” not necessarily “most well-known.”
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/31 "2018-10-19T14:28:34Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#):
>
> 1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the longer series - fewer than Halloween or Friday the 13th, but even with Nightmare on Elm Street, and barely edging out Child’s Play - no other series even comes close to those 5.
It has more movies than Child’s Play, but are all the movies direct sequels like Child’s Play?
I thought Leatherface went through reboots.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/32 "2018-10-19T14:49:16Z")
Leatherface, for all of the reasons mentioned upthread, plus he predates the other three by at least 4 years.
.
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/33 "2018-10-19T15:31:51Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#):
>
> Such a missed opportunity.
😛 I wish I’d thought of that!
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### Author:  [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/34 "2018-10-19T15:35:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> As somebody who only has a passing familiarity with slasher flicks (I think I may have seen Ft13th I & II), that does work for my situation. I mean, I know _of_ the Halloween movies, but I had to look up who Michael Myers was, because all I think is SNL when I hear that name (though, yes, that Myers goes by “Mike” there.) Chucky, Freddy, and Jason are all immediately recognizable to me.
>
> But the OP is about “best” not necessarily “most well-known.”
OP allows us to set our own criteria to define “best” and notoriety seems as good as any. But using other criteria, it could go either way.
Total kills: Myers has the edge.
Ability to be resurrected: Tie, Myers and Chucky have both been “killed” many times.
Comedic kill skills: Chucky all the way.
In any case, if we make a Mt. Rushmore of movie slashers, both are on it with Freddy and Jason.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/35 "2018-10-19T15:57:28Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#):
>
> OP allows us to set our own criteria to define “best” and notoriety seems as good as any. But using other criteria, it could go either way.
> **Total kills: Myers has the edge.**
> Ability to be resurrected: Tie, Myers and Chucky have both been “killed” many times.
> Comedic kill skills: Chucky all the way.
[bolding mine]
According to [this site](https://horrorenthusiast.com/index.php/bloody-tabloid/a-scrap-of-flesh-general-horror/34-which-horror-movie-killer-has-the-most-kills-2018), Jason has the body count crown, by a lot. I suspect they’re counting all of the movies, reboots included, but even so, interesting numbers. And they _do_ properly attribute all of the murders in the first _Friday the 13th_ to his mother and not him.
Somewhat surprising the Freddy has relatively so few, but his game isn’t so much straight-up murder as it is to terrorize, **then** kill.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/36 "2018-10-19T16:21:16Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> It has more movies than Child’s Play, but are all the movies direct sequels like Child’s Play?
Child’s Play is the only significant slasher franchise not to get a remake, yet, but one is in the works, apparently.
But I wouldn’t consider whether a given movie is a reboot or a straight sequel in this - just whether it used the same villain.
Which leaves the rankings as I stated before, for sheer numbers, though consistency-wise, Jason and Michael fall behind the other 3, since both franchises had movies with other villains (the evil costume company/witches’ coven from Halloween 3, and Jason’s mom from Ft13th, and the copycat from Ft13th 5).
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### Author:  [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/37 "2018-10-19T18:00:32Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Leatherface, for all of the reasons mentioned upthread, plus he predates the other three by at least 4 years.
Leatherface was also (lightly) based on a real person, while the others are flights of fancy.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/38 "2018-10-19T18:31:39Z")
> [@EllisDee](#):
>
> Leatherface was also (lightly) based on a real person, while the others are flights of fancy.
The same real person who also inspired Norman Bates, as well as Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs - Ed Gein. (Though Gein was nothing like a slasher, or even properly a serial killer - he only killed two people. He was mostly a grave-robber. But the details were certainly something out of a horror movie - he’d used the skins of his victims and the women he’d exhumed to make leather, some used for clothing (thus Leatherface), including components of a ‘woman suit’ (thus Buffalo Bill). All because of his obsession with his mother (thus Bates).)
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/39 "2018-10-19T18:43:12Z")
> [@PapSett](#):
>
> Would Hannibal Lector count? He scared the hell out of me.
he was voted best movie villain ever in a 2003 poll , above Norman Bates and Darth Vader . (villain poll is at bottom of the link)
[AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Heroes_%26_Villains)
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-slasher-movie-villain-would-you-rank-as-4th-best/823152/40 "2018-10-26T23:04:06Z")
In 1988, people magazine did a photoshoot of the 4 slasher icons.
Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers and…leatherface.
> **[The 1988 People Magazine Photo Shoot That United All the Slasher Icons](https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3428413/1988-people-magazine-photo-shoot-united-slasher-icons/)**
>
> You want a shared slashers universe? This was as close as we may ever get. The year was 1988, and all of your favorite horror icons were dominating the box office. Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Leatherface were all at the peak of...
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