10; Ghostface 

Even though Ghostface is one of the most iconic antagonists, it's no surprise that they’re lowest on the list. Effectively all the ghostfaces have been defeated and often killed by their victims; and compared to the others on this list, they’re just human – underwhelming.

9; Jigsaw 

Once again, (mostly) human. He was undoubtedly a psychotic and complex character, but he was defeated pretty easily once they finally got him. I can appreciate how he does it so that people will appreciate their lives and all of that, but he’s definitely going the wrong way with it. I’d say that the whole franchise is more psychological than horror at the end of the day.  

8; Chucky 

No shade to chucky, but he’s a literal doll. He was always a comedic character to me, but I think he would be realistically very easy to beat; still, the supernatural element puts him above Ghostface and Jigsaw. He did have quite a few victims, but ultimately, I wouldn't say that he struck fear into most of our hearts.  

7; Pennywise 

As a diehard IT fan, I unfortunately must acquiesce that Pennywise isn’t in the top 5; he was a great villain and absolutely horrifying, but when you really think about it, all you have to do is NOT be scared of him, and that makes him a lot less scary. He was, also, defeated, which means he can't have been THAT good of a villain, no matter how good the movies are.  

6; Michael Myers 

I absolutely love the Halloween movies, but he unfortunately falls just short of the top 5. Theres 13 Halloween films, including the remakes; if that doesn't tell you how timeless the story is, I don't know what will. This comes down to the fact that he was eventually defeated; even though it took them a while to get there.  

5; Annabelle 

This might just be personal preference, but I love dolls. The movie I found a little underwhelming if I'm being honest – sure, the conjuring films and all of its bits were good, but they weren't GREAT. The fact that it's a true story got it some brownie points, and how she can't be destroyed, only contained, shows just how powerful she is.  

4; The Babadook 

I love the whole underlying message in the Babadook about grief and how it can affect you, but I was actually terrified while watching, so I only appreciated this in retrospect. I can also appreciate the fact that they couldn't overcome him but instead had to learn to live with him.  

3; Freddie Krueger 

He was so hard to kill mostly because of how he appeared in dreams, but the whole concept is so interesting, and he is absolutely horrifying. One of the pioneers in supernatural horror with one of the highest kill counts to match it. The only reason he’s third is because of his defeat to the person in second place.  

2; Jason Voorhees 

Despite the ‘ambiguous’ ending to the Jason VS Freddy movie, he was the clear winner. Literally notoriously hard to kill – I think ranking the best villain ultimately comes down to how easy it was to take them down and how many people they took down with them; he has one of the highest kill counts, and the end of his life has yet to be seen.  

1; Valak 

A demon nun would OBVIOUSLY top the list; he was technically defeated, but I think all the murdering and torture make up for that. Even though I think that the actual movie could have been better, the plotline was enough to distract from that. In my own opinion, it's hard enough to beat a demon, never mind a nun.