The quality of a horror film is not solely derived from the scary-looking appearance of their staple villain. However, a frightening, nightmare-worthy appearance can only enhance the strange but thrilling interaction between a horror fan and his/her films.
One could argue that old horror films have a slight advantage in terms of scary-looking horror villains due to the glittered up CGI used in modern horror flicks, which can somewhat take 'the punch' out of bizarre visuals because of clear animation. The 60s and 70s film-quality of horror classics make for murkier, shadowy visuals, and the absence of CGI enhances the authentic scares of a film. Nevertheless, there are horror villains, both old and new, whose faces and appearance are utterly haunting.
Pinhead
The pins sticking out of his face, his ominous, grey complexion, and Edward Scissorhands-esque attire combine into a frightful image. There are currently 10 Hellraiser films in the British horror franchise, stretching from 1987–2018. Doug Bradley played the Hell Priest in the first film, and the actor held the role until 2005.
The lengthy run is admirable, but it didn't come without a lessening in quality. Nevertheless, the newest Hellraiser: Judgement warranted a decent 50% from Rotten Tomatoes.
Mama
Also known as Edith Brennan, Mama is the villain in the hit 2013 horror flick of the same name. She returns from beyond the grave when a young couple adopts her children. Her spirit is erratic, and the sequences of her causing havoc are spellbinding, in part because the heavy-use of CGI isn't glaringly artificial.
Mama may have had to spend extra money in order to use the animation tools available to their fullest, refraining from killing the illusion of the film with cartoonish visuals. Mama's slinking movements and mangled figure are quite disturbing.
The Thing
In both the original and reboot/prequel, the unnamed parasitic creature makes for jaw-dropping visuals of defacement and bodily disfigurement. The metamorphic extraterrestrial organism remains unnamed besides being referred to as "the Thing."
The 2011 prequel wasn't able to impact audiences as much as the 1982 film, and Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. hasn't directed another film of that magnitude since. Still, the Thing remains as one of the scariest looking creatures to ever be in a horror film.
Lily
After a night of drinking on the town, two guys bring home some ladies... and one of them is the succubus, Lily. Although she may not appear all that terrifying in the image above—besides those wide eyes—her face eventually splits in half and wings grow from her back as she eats the filming protagonist's friend.
Lily is the villain in one of the several shorts in the 2012 horror V/H/S. The American-Candian anthology film was an underground success and warranted the release of a sequel in the next year. Lily remains the scariest out of them, and the up-close-and-personal manner in which you see her transformation from woman to demon will rattle a viewer more than most mainstream options could.
Michael Myers
Myers' appearance reflects how 'less is more' because he doesn't have the added features of morphed body parts, scars, or burns. Instead, his blank white mask, supported by his muscular, overpowering physique, is terrifying in its simplicity.
The masked villain's dormant nature also adds to the horrific appeal of his look, with brutish movements and spastic flashes of brutality. The Michael Myers is an iconic and disturbing visual no matter how old it gets.
The Pale Man
Mexican filmmaker's Gullimero del Toro's 2006 fantasy/horror/war story is a fairly unforgettable film with its array of colorful, unearthly visuals. The director's unique style hasn't translated into another film as memorable as Pan's Labyrinth.
The Pale Man is the secondary antagonist in the film. He has eyeballs in his palms, eats children, has the mouth of an aquatic species, and nostrils like bullet holes. His sagging convalescent body is also another fearsome quality of his appearance.
Pazuzu
The 1973 horror-classic The Exorcist is as disturbing as it was boundary spanning. Never before had audiences been so unsettled yet entangled at the same time. The film was written by William Peter Blatty, author of the book released in 1971—how rare is it that the author writes the screenplay of their adaptation?
The Exorcist was directed by William Friedkin, who was able to bring Pauzu to life in his host Regan as well as outside of her near the end. The film is still tough to watch to this day because it's so gruelingly scary and disturbing.
Kayako Saeki
Before The Grudge hit American theatres in 2004, Kayako Saeki first appeared in the Japanese film Katasumi and 4444444444. Then, the Ju-On franchise consisted of four films before the American film series began.
Seeing the white-skinned ghost girl who eats evil spirits makes one's skin crawl. She is known as an Onryo in Japenese mythology and folklore, a vengeful spirit that causes harm to the living. Kayako Saeki was played by Takako Fuji until The Grudge 3.
Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger is the dream-trespassing spirit of a serial killer birthed in A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. The iconic villain's knuckle-splitting razors and seared face are freaky beyond belief.
Wes Carven's slasher series went on for a decade, accounting for seven movies with various writers and directors. Craven returned to write and direct Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Then, Krueger was rebooted in Freddy vs. Jason in 2003 and A Nightmare on Elm Street in 2010, which many fans wish was better. Robert Englund portrayed the villain in every film except for the newest remake.
Leatherface
Leatherface certainly deserves the top spot in most-scary looking, with his mask made of human remains, his silence, similar to Myers, and his feverishly wild aggression. The roar of his chainsaw is a chief part of the terror, and not many other horror villains have a similarly menacing noise that resonates so deeply.
Not to mention, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre villain is the first masked horror icon of his kind; the film's 1974 release stretches farther back than Myers, Krueger, Jason, and so on. The misconstrued and mentally disturbed Leatherface has appeared in eight films in close to 50 years. Gunnar Hansen was the first to portray the icon.