Horror movies are iconic for their murderous killers. From Art the Clown in the Terrifier franchise, Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, to the classic Michael Myers, these killers have garnered the love and fear of mass audiences. Nevertheless, horror movies are an excellent device to look into all faces of evil, not just those that involve first-hand murder. Many horror movies include characters that don’t have to take a single life to produce chills into audiences. These characters lie, commit countless indecent acts, and perform every imaginable form of assault excluding murder. Many of these characters are the root for a horror movie’s titular killer becoming… a killer. Here are nine secondary horror villains that are as deadly as the villain.

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9 John Milton - Scream 3 (2000)

     Dimension Films

John Milton isn’t one of the Ghostface killers in Scream 3, but he is nevertheless as villainous as Roman Bridger. When Gale and Jennifer confront him about his relation to Rina Reynolds (Maureen Prescott’s stage name), he admits that Rina was an aspiring actress that ends up being assaulted by several producers during a Hollywood party, himself included. Remorseless and cynical, Milton has no qualms about normalizing the sexual assault as part of Hollywood’s culture. Milton condoning Rina’s assault leads her to give her son, Roman, up for the adoption, and indirectly, Milton’s acts create a domino effect that ends with Roman orchestrating the Ghostface killing sprees in Scream and Scream 3. Morally reprehensible, John Milton is one of the horror genre’s deadliest villains without lifting a finger to kill someone.

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8 Henry Bowers - It: Parts 1 and 2 (2017 & 2019)

     Warner Bros. Pictures

Henry Bowers doesn’t kill any of the Losers, but he certainly tries to and torments them psychologically throughout an entire summer. As a child, Bowers shows early signs of psychopathy, and he relishes in flaunting his pocket knife to scare any kid in his school that crosses him. As an adult, his psychopathy comes full circle with Pennywise’s influence leading Bowers to try and kill Mike Hanlon and Eddie Kaspbrak. To see a villain develop from child to adult is disturbing, even if they’re not successful in actually killing their intended prey.

7 Delbert Grady - The Shining (1980)

     Warner Bros.

The ghost responsible for pushing Jack Torrance to the brink of insanity, the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel has a haunting history. Delbert Grady never kills someone during his screen time, but Danny’s apparitions of the slaughtered twins are clear implications that they’re Delbert’s deceased daughters, killed by him and haunting the Overlook much like their father. From all The Shining’s heavy themes, filicide is its darkest.

6 Crispin - You’re Next (2011)

It’s one thing to be a murderer, but to plan the entire massacre of your own family is an inconceivable level of degeneracy. Crispin is the least likely suspect when the killings in You’re Next start unfolding; a loving boyfriend, intellectual, and visibly distraught by his family being killed before his eyes; he is seemingly unlikely to orchestrate a bloody agenda all to inherit his family’s fortune. Most disheartening is Erin blindly trusting Crispin until the film’s last-minute plot-twist.

5 Chris Hargensen - Carrie (1976)

     United Artists

While Carrie is the anti-hero killer in her film, Chris drives Carrie to her breaking point. From bullying her in the film’s disturbing opening scene, to plotting the prom prank that offsets Carrie’s rage, to lastly, attempting to kill Carrie herself by urging her boyfriend to run her over, Chris was a psychopath who was only a step from becoming a murderer herself.

4 Warren Kincaid - Bride of Chucky (1998)

     Universal Pictures

Jade’s overbearing and corrupt uncle is just as despicable as Chucky and Tiffany, if not more. While Chucky and Tiffany murder to fulfill their murderous urges, Warren’s crimes are fueled by his own prejudices against Jade’s lower-class boyfriend, Jesse. From planting incriminating substances in Jesse’s vehicle to having him arrested, Warren does everything in his power to keep Jade and Jesse apart, in turn disregarding Jade’s right to her personal choices. Ultimately, Kincaid represents the ugliest side of law enforcement.

3 Frank - Barbarian (2022)

     20th Century Studios

Frank isn’t the titular killer in Barbarian, but he certainly molded The Mother into one. Frank starts his villainous journey by abducting woman after woman in the collapsing Brightmoor. With residents leaving the community, Frank is given free-reign to commit his atrocities underground, sexually assaulting these women, keeping them in captivity, watching them die, and them repeating the process for decades with their offspring. Frank is arguably one of the most disturbing, and downright evil characters created for the horror genre in recent years.

2 Sheriff Hoyt - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

     New Line Cinema

Winston Hoyt becomes sheriff by usurping the identity of the sheriff he killed before taking over the small Texas community his family lives in. From that point forward, Hoyt enacts terror upon any unsuspecting youths driving through Texas, hoping to satisfy his darkest desires. From psychological torture, verbal abuse, to overall dehumanizing his victims, Sheriff Hoyt is as much a villain as Leatherface, if not more sadistic.

1 Dr. Sartain - Halloween (2018)

Dr. Ranbair Sartain is a mixture of Dr. Wynn from Halloween: Curse of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis from the original Halloween. Driven by his desire to learn what drives Michael Myers to kill, along with wanting to see another climatic encounter between Michael and Laurie, Sartain goes to great lengths to ensure both these events happen. From causing the transport bus Michael is riding on to crash, attacking Deputy Hawkins to hold Michael and Allyson captive, to finally driving Michael towards Laurie’s home, Sartain is relentless and notably, unhinged. He is a thoroughly nuanced psychopath, and equally menacing as Michael Myers in his machinations.