Leslie Vernon

(Behind the Mask)

The world Leslie Vernon exists in is a world of magic and a world where the best slashers of all time are just average men. Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees were just illusionists and Vernon is an aspiring fan boy who has done his research. Pretending to be a boy who was once scorned by high schoolers he not only takes a documentary crew in to his confidence to chronicle his rise to fame, but he also manages to suck them in to his sick twisted game. In spite of being just an aspiring slasher, Vernon has done his homework and he is no one to be reckoned with when the chips are down. Vernon is a snake, and someone who has every reason to become the next icon with a humility that makes him all the more lethal when crossed.

Michael Myers

(Halloween)

Myers is evil incarnate, a product of repressed anxiety and desire in a world where smiles and Rockwellian suburbia is the norm. Out of this privileged lifestyle emerged a monster and his name was Michael Myers. Born out of the seeds of middle class, Myers is a blank emotionless remorseless demon, one who hides behind a shapeless mask intent on making everyone suffer. Happening across Laurie Strode in Haddonfield, he makes it his mission to bring down everyone she loves and soon must find it in himself to destroy every being in his bloodline to end the cursed Myers legacy. Armed with a butcher knife, Myers is a force of nature not even his only friend Loomis can fix. By the time he's disappeared in the finale of "Halloween," Loomis knows that he's gone beyond the point of no return and his descent of evil has been complete.

Jason Voorhees

(Friday the 13th)

The storyline behind Jason Voorhees is utterly disjointed, but the origin behind him stands as one of the most unique of them all. A disfigured and disabled boy, Jason drowned in Camp Crystal Lake thanks to irresponsible camp counselors in the throws of love making. Years later his mother returns to the camp to avenge his death. Years later to the day, Jason returns to avenge his mother. While many decry that Jason is just a knock off of Michael Myers, there's no denying that he's become even more iconic. A mere glimpse at his hockey mask and he's easily identifiable and has become the most referenced character in pop culture. From his fear of the water, his stiff stalking mannerisms, and his predatory instincts, Jason is the ultimate slasher in horror.

Norman Bates

(The Psycho Series)

Much like the other psychos of his ilk, by the time we've met Norman he's at the point of no return. Inspired by Ed Geins, Norman is a victim of his love for his mother, a man who has undoubtedly been torn to shreds by her manipulation and possessiveness yet can't quite find it in his heart to abandon her. I don't think it's a spoiler to explain that even after her flesh has rotted away she's taken such a hold on him that he manages to evoke her whenever he experiences feelings of lust or love for another woman. As a man he's lonely and isolated, and when invoking the persona of his mother, he is a victim of her persona and takes it on as a way of dealing with his sexual frustration and repression. His mother hasn't taken hold of him, he's just accepted her psychological grip and it's manifested in ways no one can ever truly explain.

Billy

(Black Christmas)

We never did actually learn the origin of Billy, did we? Heck, we didn't even come to know if his name was actually Billy. All we knew is that one Christmas night, a lone lunatic we never see or hear crept in to a dorm housing a group of unlucky young women and he makes it his mission to inflict sheer utter pain on them for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Horror always works best when there's little explanation for the actions of our villains, and Billy is the prime example of that concept. What we're led to believe through most of the film is that Billy is perhaps someone the girls in the sorority know, but by the final minutes it's clear that he's not actually anyone we would know who'd have a logical motive for murder, he's likely just a madman incapable of being caught. And for that he's one of the most horrifying villains in slasher history.

Ghost Face

(Scream)

The whole gimmick behind the Ghost Face is not the mask and the costume itself but who or whom could be behind the mask. With a pale face and gaping black mouth, this is merely a guise for the actual psycho behind the mask whose own personal gain and motives are carried out by this guise as a means of giving their victim one last scream in the face of a knife being rammed in to their bodies. From insane movie geeks, vengeful boyfriends, right down to insane half brothers, the Ghost Face has become a tool used to carry out a demented goal and continues to be an icon of the slasher sub-genre revival of the late nineties. Like it or not.

Freddy Krueger

(A Nightmare on Elm Street)

Freddy is the original monster, the one and only dream demon whose domain is our sub-conscious and psyche. This man has it pegged. In his former life he was a child murdering psychopath burned to death by angry parents. After swearing vengeance he found his home in the minds of the unsuspecting youth. Setting his feet down he managed to inflict brutal violence on them in their sleep bending their minds, stalking them where they're most incapable of fighting back, and using their own fantasies and fears against them to make their deaths as twisted as possible. With a clawed hand and mangled face, Freddy is not an individual you'd want to confront in your nightmares.

The Creeper

(Jeepers Creepers)

In spite of being an obvious symbol for the creator's personal life, the Creeper is a rather disturbing beast with an enigmatic origin that has yet to be explained by the franchise he stars in. Maybe he's a monster from hell. Maybe he's a killer turned monster thanks to a deal with satan like Krueger. Or maybe he's a machination of another force who went wildly out of control. Nevertheless this demon stalks his prey with an anxious hunger that grants him leverage over anyone by using his array of weapons, mind games, speed, and brute force. With the ability to engulf anyone's body parts to re-use for his gain, the Creeper is a force to be reckoned with and has potential to become even bigger with more back story in its conception.

Emmet

(All the Boys Love Mandy Lane)

What guides Emmet is his delusion that he's doing it all for Mandy Lane. Knocking off his friends one by one, he appears years after killing an admirer of his friend Mandy Lane and proceeds to wreak pure bloody havoc on anyone and everyone unfortunate enough to cross paths with him. Chronicling his kills in a diary as a tribute to Mandy, the girl of his dreams, he brutally destroys hapless victims in his path and takes pure joy out of it all the way. What he never realizes is that all along he's as much a victim as everyone else is and he's simply just another doomed male suffering from his infatuation with the girl of his dreams. He's merely a instrument in Mandy Lane's game, but a deadly one at that.

Leatherface

(The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

A victim of his own existence, Leatherface is a maniac whose own rage and confusion warrants him a valid threat. Among a brood of psychos and lunatics, he is a man who is the least threatening and this makes him even more dangerous because he's a foot soldier whose impulse is to do what he's told and his reaction in the face of newcomers is to mangle and butcher and hang them on hooks doing the bidding of his family. With his long chainsaw his sexual confusion and lack of identity makes him a force of pure chaos who does not stop until he's relinquished any and all disturbances in front of him. Once he gets his prey in to his meat locker, he makes them suffer for as long as possible, and steals their identity coming inches away from re-claiming his own persona unaware that it is far out of his grasp. Leatherface is madness incarnate.