10 Creepiest Killers From John Carpenter Films

Long considered one of the true masters of Horror, John Carpenter directed many genre classics. Since his 1978 breakthrough classic, Halloween, Carpenter seemed to always have his finger on the pulse of what scares audiences.

In Carpenter’s films, the terror comes from a variety of sources. Be it alien life-forms, violent street gangs, unstoppable monsters, or the hands of the boogeyman, John Carpenter knows what scares us. Here are the 10 creepiest killers from his films.

10 Michael Myers — Halloween

In the annals of Slasher Cinema, Michael Myers stands tall. For Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween, the first in a continuing series, Myers was created as pure and unstoppable evil.

Wearing a pale white mask, Myers’ moves are precise, using the shadows to stalk his victims and creeping slowly behind them until he has his prey. The true Boogeyman, Michael Myers has remained a symbol of absolute fear.

9 Blake And His Ghost Crew — The Fog

Many ghosts have been committed to film but none as creepy as John Carpenter’s ghosts from his 1980 hit, The Fog. The filmmaker gave audiences terror in the form of a vengeance-seeking crew of dead pirates.

Ghost pirate Blake and his spirit crew descend upon a bay-side town seeking revenge for their death 100 years ago. Cloaked in a glowing fog bank, they move through the town emerging only to claim their victims. With glowing red eyes and a silhouetted presence, Carpenter’s ghosts can reach out and touch you, making them all the more frightening.

8 The Devil’s Minions — Prince Of Darkness

John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness has grown into a horror cult classic. Audiences were initially put off by the plot about finding The Devil’s essence in a glass container resting in the basement of an old church. Carpenter’s film is now considered one of his most frightening.

The creepiest aspect of this film is how The Devil uses his powers to possess members of a small group of graduate students and the homeless community. Once possessed, the victims deface their skin and come for the others with demented fury. As the homeless surround the church and the students try to survive, Carpenter doesn’t allow the terror to let up.

7 The Thing — The Thing

Evil from outer space — the great unknown terror. John Carpenter’s remake of Howard Hawks’ 1951 original was closer in tone to the John W. Campbell Jr. story from 1938 on which both films are based.

In The Thing, a group of researchers in Antarctica discover an alien life-form that takes over humans by getting inside their bloodstream. Isolated from civilization, the crew can’t know who is human or who is “The Thing”, which creates a palpable tension. The realization that any character could be the alien and no one can be trusted hampers their survival until it is too late, making this the creepiest of terrors.

6 White Warlord — Assault On Precinct 13

John Carpenter had a cult hit in 1976 with this tense tale of a group of militant street gangs who band together and attack the few inhabitants of a closing police precinct on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Critics praised Assault on Precinct 13’s tension and aura of terror. 

The most frightening killer in the film is “White Warlord”. He is introduced driving around with three other gang members, dressed in black, brandishing a rifle, and on the hunt for victims. “White Warlord” sits in the back and looks through his rifle’s scope, seeking the perfect kill. His moment comes when he walks up to an ice cream truck and shoots the driver. A little girl comes up to the truck to complain about her flavor and “White Warlord” slowly turns to her with his deadly look and shoots her. The scene is widely considered to be one of the most chilling moments in genre films.

5 Valek — Vampires

1998’s Vampires gives us James Woods leading a group of vampire hunters who run afoul of an ancient evil in the form of a bloodsucker named Valek.

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Valek brings the frights, crawling out of the dirt and flying through the darkness. When Valek attacks, he tears off heads, body parts, and hearts. With yellow eyes and blood-stained fangs, Valek embodies the film’s pure horror.

4 Sutter Cane — In The Mouth Of Madness

This film is widely considered to be one of Carpenter’s great works. In the Mouth of Madness follows a book publisher as he seeks out a reclusive writer of horror novels who turns out to be evil.

Sutter Cane’s terror lies is his ability to manipulate reality. Cane’s world is full of demons and madness that he unleashes on humanity for his amusement.

3 The Alien Children — Village Of The Damned

A remake of  the 1960 classic, Carpenter’s film wasn’t a big success but was praised for the creepiness of the alien-spawned children who take over their small town.

With white hair and all resembling one another, the children were created by an alien race to control humans. Their monotone voices and wax-like faces cause the adults to go uniformly mad.

2 Romero — Escape From New York

Named after his fellow director and friend, George A. Romero, Carpenters creepy creation was one of the highlights of his 1981 classic Escape From New York.

Sporting spiked, hair and razor-sharp teeth, “Romero” is the vicious henchman to the “Duke of New York”. Romero carries the severed finger of the kidnapped president like a trophy and hisses at his victims while wearing a deadly blade.

1 The Ghost — The Ward

A group of young women isolated in an asylum are terrorized by an unseen entity in Carpenter’s 2010 horror film.

The Ward was a critical hit and fans liked the film’s style. The ghost is unseen yet we feel its effect, as it becomes the darkness and madness that overtakes the film’s characters.