Top 5 Bad Girls of Horror
The female horror villain is a rare and memorable counterpart to the classic conventions of the sexy victim and the final girl. These chilling chicks are some of the most memorable villainesses to haunt horror fans’ dreams.
Share your own favorites in the comments section below!
5. The Bride in Bride of Frankenstein, 1935
The hissing and spitting mate of the titular monster doesn’t need an introduction to both horror and non-horror fans alike. Only appearing onscreen for a total of five minutes, The Bride, played by Elsa Lanchester, is one of the most iconic and recognizable horror characters despite her lack of screen time and the fact this character was only used in one film. The Bride is the only Universal Monster to have never killed anyone on screen… even so, dames can be deadly.
4. Ginger in Ginger Snaps, 2000
This cult werewolf classic is one of the most well known female-driven horror flicks. Starring Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle as death-obsessed, Goth outcasts sisters, Ginger Snaps could have been chock-full of tired silver bullet and full moon cliches. Instead, the film cleverly uses werewolf transformation as a metaphor for female sexual awakening. Isabelle’s performance of the infected Ginger is one of horror’s finest.
3. Baby Firefly in House of 1000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil’s Rejects (2005)
These often criticized Rob Zombie features chronicling the murderous Firefly clan wouldn’t be complete without the psychotic little sister, Baby, portrayed by Sheri Moon Zombie. Before Zombie taunted us with the Halloween franchise remakes, he was making his real-life wife a sexy, onscreen murderer. With that grating laugh, campy one-liners, and a friendly exterior, Baby Firefly is sure to go down in horror history as one of the most frightening villainesses.
2. Pauline in Excision, 2012
Excision is one of those films that stays with you long after you watch it and could easily be in the Top 10 of any “Most Disturbing Films” list. Filled with gory and haunting dream-like images full of medical experiments gone awry, Excision will be sure to satisfy gorehounds. AnnaLynne McCord’s portrayal of the unstable Pauline proves McCord has some serious horror acting chops. This film plays on the controlling mother prototype and mixes it with a sociopathic teen suffering from delusions of grandeur for a delightfully disturbing cocktail with a twist ending as sour as a lemon.
1. Sadie in The Last House on the Left, 1972
Most modern horror fans will remember the 2009 remake of The Last House on the Left; yet, it seems that few have ventured into the gritty original. Wes Craven’s grindhouse feature is unarguably one of the most disturbing and realistic films ever put to celluloid. At the heart of this fright flick is the character Sadie, portrayed by Jeramie Rain, who was known for her roles in several similar exploitation films (her last acting credit was in 1973). Based on her performance as the deranged Sadie, Rain could’ve had a lucrative career as a villainess. This film’s infamous disembowelment and rape scene would not have been as disturbing without a female participant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdQGRHxhuXA
