Horror Movie Villains That Are Actually Gorgeous In Real Life

Even if you're not a fan of the horror genre, chances are you've heard of Freddy Krueger, but would you recognize actor Robert Englund if you passed him in the street? Englund played the iconic villain for the first time in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street and went on to reprise the role a whopping seven times, making his final bow as the scarred serial killer in 2003's Freddy vs. Jason. Englund might be a legend in horror circles, but he isn't anywhere near as famous as the Krueger character. It's a problem that the actors behind many horror movie villains have to live with — you give your all to a role, and yet nobody ever sees your face.

The hallmark of a good monster movie is, of course, a great monster, as proven by the likes of The Blob, The Thing, and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. The same goes for horror TV shows. And while the world of modern movie and TV monsters is crowded with CGI and digital animation, there are still some actors who take on the task of making the most grotesque and complicated creatures come to life. Would The Fly have been as emotionally poignant without Jeff Goldblum's grueling transformation? Would The Birds have been terrifying without the, well, birds?

The creepy thriller It has already managed to scare millions of moviegoers in a very short amount of time, due in great part to its portrayal of the murderous and nightmarish clown, Pennywise. But, this being Hollywood, the actor behind all that scary clown makeup is actually really gorgeous and far more famous than you might have originally thought.

Even before she really did anything, you could tell the nun was bad news. Played by actress Bonnie Aarons, the demonic entity from The Conjuring film universe made its first appearance in 2016's The Conjuring 2, and the villain proved so effective that it received its own spin-off movie, The Nun, in 2018.

There's been a fair few good looking bad guys in Hollywood over the years, but traditionally, the antagonist is ugly as sin. It's been that way since the silent film era when the rat-like Nosferatu (the father of all movie vampires since) stalked the halls of his castle. "He has a bald head, pointy ears, elongated hands with clawlike nails and two conspicuous fangs where his front teeth should be," The New York Times said of F. W. Murnau's classic monster. "This guy is no cutie face." Of course, you expect some creepy characters when you watch a horror movie, but the ugly villain trope actually exists across every genre.