10 Most Terrifying Women In Horror Movies

Yes, here's that promised second movie from director Lucky McKee - and it's also the first, but not last entry based on the work of horror author Jack Ketchum. Pollyanna McIntosh had previously portrayed the nameless, feral Woman in an earlier Ketchum adaptation, Offspring; but it was in this standalone sequel that she really brought the character to full, horrific life.

Of course, The Woman of the title is not the true villain of the piece: that dubious honour goes to Sean Bridgers as Chris Cleek, a seemingly ordinary, all-American swell guy, whose outward charm just barely masks his deep-set misogyny and obsessive, violent need for control.

While out hunting, Cleek finds the Woman in the wild, captures her, and brings her home, telling the family they're going to make her civilised - but of course, he's hardly qualified to do that, and the Woman's presence only serves to draw out the underlying animal nature of the whole Cleek family.

The Woman proved controversial following its first festival screenings in 2011, but one thing that few would argue is the primal ferocity of McIntosh's performance. She has since done similarly scary work on TV's Hap and Leonard.