The horror genre has seen many iconic slasher villains, all of them with high kill counts to their names, but there’s one who has outdone all of them – and here’s who he is. The horror genre has been home to some of the most popular and profitable sagas, of which many have evolved into franchises as they have branched out to other media, such as comic books and video games. Most of the genre’s most iconic slasher villains saw their beginnings in the 1980s, and many of them continue to kill in remakes and reboots.
Although horror movies from the 1960s are considered the earliest influences of the slasher genre, the Golden Age of slasher movies happened from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. This period saw the arrival of movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and with them the introduction of villains who have now become part of pop culture, as are Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger. All of them have their own methods and reasons to target and hunt their victims, and though all of them have a big number of kills to their names, only one stands as the one who has killed the most over the years.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface is responsible for 31 deaths across all movies in the franchise, while Freddy Krueger’s kill count seems to be between 42 and 48. Jumping to the 1990s, another famous slasher, Scream's different Ghostface killers, have a total of 39 kills, a number that will grow with the arrival of the fifth movie in 2022. Then there’s Jason Voorhees, whose real killing sprees began in Friday the 13th Part 2, as his mother, Pamela Voorhees, was the real villain in the first movie. Jason Voorhees' total kill count, then, is 157, and it’s mostly because he has more movies than other slasher villains with a total of 12, including the crossover with Freddy Krueger in Freddy vs. Jason, and he has killed people at Camp Crystal Lake, New York City, and even in space thanks to Jason X – however, the spot of the slasher villain with the highest kill count now belongs to Michael Myers, thanks to Halloween Kills.
Michael Myers has Halloween massacres on lock
Whether it’s with knives, fluorescent light bulbs, or his bare hands, Michael Myers doesn’t stop until he finishes the job. He may be a monster of few words, but his slow yet menacing walk, mask, and bloody rampages are legendary. Throughout 10 movies — we’re excluding Halloween 3 because he wasn’t in it — he’s taken the lives of more than 100 people.
According to Halloween Fandom, Michael’s killed 130 kids and adults on film using various gruesome methods. When Halloween Kills drops on Oct. 15, that number will grow. Those poor firefighters. And poor Laurie Strode.
Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger
Perhaps the funniest of the slasher bunch, Freddy Krueger is known for tossing out puns before, during, and after his kills. He’s delighted and terrified fans since 1984 in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies with his slick one-liners and psychological scares.
But his targets? His signature hat and glove have been haunting their dreams and occasionally, their waking lives for decades. A master at shapeshifting, torture, and supernatural murders, Freddy’s racked up roughly 42 victims, total, per the A Nightmare on Elm Street Fandom site. And not even The Final Nightmare could keep him down.
Interestingly, when he and Jason faced off in Freddy vs. Jason, he only killed one person, and Jason blew through about 20 innocents. Don’t expect Freddy’s count to increase, as Robert Englund decided to hang up his glove for good.
Jason Voorhees of ‘Friday the 13th’
How many times have you driven past a sign for Crystal Lake somewhere and wondered if it’s where Jason lived? That’s his effect on public consciousness. Between the iconic hockey mask, campsite panic, and trademark breathy sound effect, Jason is one of the most intimidating on-screen baddies out there.
Looking back at his stable of films, he didn’t kill anyone until the second Friday the 13th movie, and 1985’s A New Beginning left him out of the murder fray. But by 1993, Jason continued his streak and killed over 100 people.
However, his last film happened in 2009, and he’s surpassed Michael Myers’ body count with close to 200 victims. Because Jason Takes Manhattan involved him sinking an unknown amount of folks on a ship, the exact number is unclear.
Ok. Let's hear it. Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees?
Freddy was the stand-up comedian. He always had a great line before he would do somebody or after he would do somebody.
The thing that made Jason scary was that there was zero emotion. He was just a killing machine. pic.twitter.com/Wi72AdFLIz
— Alice Cooper (@alicecooper) October 31, 2020
Stay tuned for more Michael Myers madness
Halloween Kills arrives in October 2021 with more gore in Haddonfield, but the story won’t end there. Between the new film and 2022’s Halloween Ends, Michael Myers may beat Jason Voorhees when it comes to these savage statistics. The only thing that may change that is if Friday the 13th is resurrected with fresh blood.
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