A horror story relies heavily on the dark forces that influence the conflict within the work; a successful villain is an enduring an eternally frightening or disturbing character.

Who or what is your favorite horror villain, and why (feel free to address your favorite movie horror villains as well!)? And don't forget to check out the first installment of our Horror Villain Series exculsively at bellaOnline.com!

Happy Haunting, my little fiends!

Alright...

One of my favorite villains in horror literature has to be Randall Flagg from King's "The Stand." He has such a chilling coolness to him as the Walking Dude, and the reader is kept guessing throughout the novel (and indeed, through a large part of King's works) about his true nature and intentions. Charm, meet sinister.

Freddy Krueger from the original "Nightmare" absolutely appalled...and fascinated...me as a child. The child killer who haunts people in their dreams after his own death provided me with a few sleepless nights, I can say.

How about you?

Randall Flagg is awesome - and I love how Stephen King uses the initials R.F. for the big bad guy through lots of his works.

But the one that creeped me out the most was the little boy, Gage, in "Pet Sematary". I know technically it wasn't the little boy that was evil, it was whatever came back in his body, but still the overall effect of evil & innocence, and the father having to choose to destroy it was chilling.

And even though the movie wasn't nearly as good as the book, that little boy's voice gave me goosebumps! He was so cute, it made it worse...

Hi! I'm Chel!
My favorite villian is a thing, it's the furnace in "The Shining". Remember?

Hey! Let's talk about "The Stand" for a minute. I love it, written and moving picture, however, there is an error in music in the movie. Do you know what it is? Molly Ringwold pulls out a record to play, however, no such record was ever made in 45 format. What was the song and the group?

Hi Chel!

Yes, the FURNACE! The strange heart of the Overlook, and the demon that Jack confronts at the end. Beautiful!

Thanks for stopping by! Off the top of my head for your "Stand" question, was it Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over?"

Best!

You got it! That drives me crazy because I was a DJ during that time!

The furnace keeps me up sometimes when I think about it. That was an incredible transfer of emotion to an object!

Chel

Bella,

Yes, beloved little Gage is truly terrifying; a character who stands out in the minds of readers (and audiences for fans of the film) everywhere. This leads to another great question...

What makes Gage so horrifying?

I'm sure you have your own answers; to me, I think it's the blatant corruption of innocence. Such a cute little child, capable of so much evil...

Like my son!

To me, it's a whole slew of things. The obvious one is the evil lurking behind innocence (just like Damien in "The Omen").

But then there is also the seeming "miracle" of the father getting his child back - which would seem like a wonderful thing to any parent. Losing a child has to be the worst nightmare a parent can imagine, so the inverse of that would be getting them back would be the best. But then the miracle turns into a nightmare itself ("The Monkey's Paw" anyone?)

Then to top it all off, the father has to face off against his own child - and lose him again.

I find that the secondary characters are often as "villainous" as the protagonists. Take Carrie's mother. She is oppressive, intolerant, abusive, and detached from society. Without her, Carrie's telepathic powers might have gone in another direction completely. The catalyst for evil is usually more evil.

Danielle,

Thanks for stopping by! Yes, I totally agree. I never really, to be honest, felt that Carrie was ever a "villain." As you suggest, her depraved fanatical mother is much more dangerous and helps to contribute to the ticking time bomb that becomes Carrie's powers...not to mention the social cruelty of the kids at her school.

Best Horror Villian... I dunno, but something about Christine the car always scared me. That book is excellent! I wouldn't mind having a car that loved me that much (provided that it didn't possess me and all that jazz.)

"The Mist" by Stephen King is a great one for villians. The mist is more of a thing but it contains all the little beasties. Plus, Ms. Camody was a creepy old brood.

Christine! Good choice, Kitty.

Are you excited about the the theatrical release of "The Mist" this November?

And, I'm stepping out of the box, briefly, and stepping into the "Dork Side." Fred Kreuger is, hands-down, one of my favorite movie villains of ALL TIME. Oh, and Frank Langella as Skeletor in the otherwise horrendous "Masters of the Universe" film in the 80s.