Nurses are supposed to be kind, caring, and always ready to support their patients. They aren't supposed to be cruel, unkind, and intolerant of the people they look after. And yet, when it comes to the nurses we have seen on screen over the years, not all of them have been on the side of good.
TV shows and classic horror films have featured some of the most terrifying nurses imaginable. Doing more than simply changing a bedpan or bandaging a wound, these evil do-badders have caused chaos on the screen in some of the worst ways imaginable.
Mildred Ratched - Ratched/One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The new Netflix show, Ratched, charts the early years of the nurse made famous in the classic 1975 movie, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Here, we are introduced to a woman who clearly doesn't have the best interests of her patients at heart. Cold, icy, and ready to lobotomize a patient for her own personal needs, we quickly learn how evil she is in the prequel series.
She was bad enough in the film, of course, as she didn't think twice about sedating her patients when running her ward like a police state. She even encouraged one of her poor patients to kill himself! She was a nurse you wouldn't mess with, and thanks to the performances of Louise Fletcher in the film and Sarah Paulson in the show, this is one nurse that is utterly unforgettable.
Abby Russell - Nurse 3D
On the surface, Abby Russell should be every patients' wet dream. With looks that could kill, this is one nurse that would be welcomed in any gentleman's ward. Unfortunately, it's not only her looks that kill, as she has murder running through her veins.
Nurse by day and femme fatale by night, Nurses Russell lures men to their death to punish them for their wrongdoings. By the end of this twisted film, not even the doctors are safe from the medical instruments that this calculating nurse uses on her mission of revenge.
The Corpse Nurses - Silent Hill
Standing as one of the best video game adaptations to date, Silent Hill is a creepy little film that should please horror fans everywhere. It features many of the monsters from the game, and these include the undead nurses that scour the decaying hospital in the town of Silent Hill.
With twisted features and blood-splattered faces, these are the nurses of a thousand worst nightmares. In the games, they were borne of the memories of one characters' fear of hospitals, but in the film, they are simply there to add to the feelings of dread experienced by Radha Mitchell's Rose.
Nurse Diesel - High Anxiety
High Anxiety is one of the best comedies from the 70s, a Hitchcock spoof that still tickles the funny bone to this day. However, don't expect Nurse Diesel to play kindly with your funny bone. This gravel-voiced maniac has an unhealthy interest in witchcraft, and she is behind many of the murders that take place at the psychiatric ward where she works.
While the film is played for laughs, the character of Nurse Diesel is still more than a little unnerving. As is often the case, it just goes to show that the people who are running the asylum are more insane than the patients!
Laura Harriman - The Nurse
Laura Harriman isn't as well-known as some of the other nurses on this list, as the 1997 film in which she features is rarely mentioned today. However, the movie is well worth catching, if only to see more wrongdoers get their comeuppance from a less-than-friendly member of the nursing profession.
When poor Nurse Harriman's father dies, she becomes mentally unstable and seeks revenge on the man who caused his death. After he becomes catatonic after a stroke, she ingratiates herself into his family as a carer and kills his entire family in front of his eyes. The film is no classic, but actress Lisa Zane makes a memorable impression as the crazed Nurse Harriman.
The Krueger Nurse - Nightmare On Elm Street 4
No guessing who's wearing this nurse's costume! While not a registered member of the nursing profession - we're not sure which hospital would ever take him on - he still dons a nurse costume in one of the more frightening scenes in the fourth entry of the franchise.
After knocking herself out, teenager Kristen is offered comfort by the kindly school nurse. "Feeling better now?" the nurse asks the traumatized Kristen, before transforming into the Freddy Krueger we all know and love! "I want to draw some blood" snarls Krueger to the terrified girl's horror, but thankfully she wakes up before her fatal injection!
Edith Mortley - Death Nurse
With a title like Death Nurse, there's no guessing which side of the coin Nurse Edith falls on! Working at Shady Palms Clinic with her Doctor-husband Gordon, her patient care is of the very worst kind. She and her husband are really con artists, and they euthanize their patients while still raking in money from the State for their care.
The movie and its sequel are strictly at B-movie level, but they are fun to watch for those who favor gore over narrative quality. Still, the films will make movie fans think twice before accepting hospital food, as not only does Nurse Edith feed her patients to the rats, but she also feeds rats to the patients.
Ellie Driver - Kill Bill: Volume 1
Daryl Hannah is best known for her mermaid role in Splash, one of the best Tom Hanks movies of the 80s. So, it was a surprise to see her turn up in the Kill Bill films, as Ellie Driver, one of the ruthless members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Clearly not cut out to be a nurse, she still donned the costume in chilling form when on a mission from Bill to kill Uma Thurman's Beatrix.
In one famous scene in the first Kill Bill movie, the eye-patched Ellie is sent to kill Beatrix while she lies comatose in hospital. Before injecting poison into the life support system, however, Bill changes his mind, much to Ellie's cold-hearted annoyance. Still, if the movie teaches us one thing, it's this: Never trust a one-eyed nurse as she is probably a deadly assassin!
Nurse Bridget And Nurse Miranda - AHS: Roanoke
American Horry Story is one of the greatest horror TV shows ever made. The sixth season focusses on a North California farmhouse which was once home to two nurses, Bridget and Miranda. They used the farmhouse to carry out a series of murders, the horrifying events of which play out years later when the new owners discover the truth about their haunted home.
While much of AHS is fiction, the story of the two nurses was inspired by a sinister true crime story. During the 1980s, Catherine Wood and Gwendolyn Graham, carried out similar murders to those in the series, smothering those patients whose first letters spelled out the word MURDER. Knowing this fact makes this entry in AHS all the more terrifying, and is enough to make anybody change their first name before entering hospital.
Annie Wilkes - Misery
Misery is one of the greatest adaptations of Stephen King's works, and is still one of the best horror movies ever made. It tells the story of novelist Paul Sheldon who, after becoming involved in a car accident, is found by former nurse Annie Wilkes and is cared for at her home. She turns out to be his 'number one fan,' but its when she reads his latest manuscript that things go wrong for Paul.
On learning that he is about to kill off her favorite character, Misery Chastain, Annie turns on him. First, she burns his new manuscript in front of him, and then she hobbles his foot with a sledgehammer. "You're just another lyin' old dirty birdie' screams Annie as she descends on the poor author, and thanks to the brilliance of Kathy Bates' performance, chills are sent down the spine.