Female horror villains are unfortunately not as common as their male counterparts. That doesn’t mean that they can’t pack a punch in the horror side of things. Female villains can just be as ferocious, terrifying and bloodthirsty as the rest of them. So in an effort to highlight how dastardly female villains can be, and to also maybe one day can the horror franchise female villain we have all dreamed about – read on for 5 more of the most devilish female villains in horror.
The Best Female Horror Villains [part 1] here
Be warned this list will contain spoilers for all the horror films listed.
Mrs Carmody – The Mist (2007)
“There’s no defence against the will of God. There’s no court of appeals in hell. The end times have come; not in flames, but in mist…” – Mrs Carmody
Mrs Carmody is perhaps the most evil on this list in my opinion. Using religion and God as a way to punish people and gain power for herself, she is humanity turned evil. This is what makes Mrs Carmody more terrifying than the rest, as we have all come across the religious fanatic, so it seems more likely than any of the other protagonists.
Mrs Carmody believes that the creatures in the mist are a punishment from God and when an insect does not kill her, she uses this to show her growing following that she is protected from God. Using this fear of death against everyone, she wields it like a sledgehammer, condemning those who oppose her or those she hates without impunity to gruesome and horrific deaths.
Esther – Orphan (2009)
“If I find out you’re lying, I’ll cut your hairless little prick off before you even know what it’s for. Do you understand?” – Esther
Now children are pretty creepy and terrifying in horror movies, even the good ones ok! But talk about taking it to the next level with Orphan. Esther turns out to not be a child at all but an Estonian woman who suffers from hypopituitary disorder making her smaller than she should be.
She is a 33-year-old woman, who has a lust for violence, death and destruction and will use all her manipulative tactics to twist people to her way. She tries to seduce her adoptive father in this, twists the knife in her adoptive mother’s mind constantly and threatens to kill the other children if they reveal her secret.
And if that does not work, a quick bludgeoning does the trick. You have to be pretty evil to bludgeon to death a nun!
Xenomorph Queen – Aliens (1986)
“We’d better get back, ’cause it’ll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night… mostly.” – Newt
Being the only completely alien to feature on this villain list, it could only be the mother of all monsters, the Xenomorph Queen. Being of considerably larger size than the xenomorphs we are accustomed to, the queen is a ferocious beast that is almost terrifying to witness. She is so gigantic, that when pursuing Ripley in the movie, she has to use an exosuit cargo loader to even have a chance of survival. Even with her size, she can quietly slip onto their aircraft through the dropship’s landing gear, waiting for her moment to strike and attack the crew of Sulaco.
With no motive, other than to protect her hive, she can be an almost indestructible force, stopping at nothing to avenge her offspring.
Julia Cotton – Hellraiser (1987)
“No Tears, Please. It’s A Waste Of Good Suffering.” – Pinhead
Another evil stepmother on the list with Julia Cotton. Julia does not start off great with her cheating on her husband, Larry, with his brother Frank. Always feeling regretful about having married Larry, she longs for Frank. Her wish comes true soon after they move into Frank’s old home. Larry, having cut himself, provides the blood nourishment to resurrect Frank in a skinless form. This is where Julia’s real villainy begins.
Being seduced by Frank even in his revolting skinless form, he asks of her for sacrifices so that he may regain himself by feeding on human blood. Julia is more than happy to do this for Frank, having a toxic love for him. She lures unsuspecting men with the offer of sex, back to her home and then leaves them trapped in the room with Frank to consume them all. It is only justice then that the man who she committed the horrific crimes for, turns out to betray her.
Dr Persephone Trinh – Slasher: Flesh and Blood (2021)
“Spencer wanted a predator on the island, to test you all. Weed out the weak. That predator was me.” – Dr Persephone Trinh
Trinh starts off as someone who is there to help sort out the estate and inheritance of Spencer Galloway, as well as his assisted suicide. Trinh seems to be an unfortunate bystander to the bloodlust and greed of his remaining family. Becoming the source of a lot of hate from the Galloways, she is tasked with fulfilling Spencer’s wishes through a series of lethal games to determine who is going to inherit his fortune.
But it turns out that Dr Trinh is the Gentleman that is killing everyone during these games.
Dr Trinh is quite simple, not being guided by lust, greed or any other of the deadly sins that would push people to kill. She is not motivated by twisted morals, financial gain or revenge, she just revels in the bloodshed and violence she bestows upon the Galloway family.
It is almost hard to hate her, as even though the deaths are quite gruesome and gory, the Galloway family personifies all those deadly sins, especially greed, envy and lust. But her sadistic enjoyment of killing is what makes her a true horror villain. She just lives for the brutality of killing people no matter who they are!
That wraps up the best 10 female horror villains! What are your favourite female horror villains?
