10 Most Twisted Characters In Modern Horror Movies

The most chilling characters to have stalked the silver screen since 2010.

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Gravitas Ventures

Due its very nature, the horror genre is one so often overflowing with some seriously messed up sorts.

When looking at your favourite horror pictures, there's a strong likelihood that the main villain of the piece is a truly sinister presence who takes great pleasure in doing heinous things. It's part and parcel in this particularly murky corner of cinema, and certain characters are so demented and disgusting that they remain with you way, way after their respective movies have finished.

This time out, it's all about looking at the more unhinged and outright evil figures to have reared their heads in modern-day horror.

By modern horror, here we're examining those disturbed characters who have been active from 2010 onwards. That gives 11 years of scares to play with, although obviously rules out a whole slew of the usual horror faces. But hey, it's always good to remove (most of) the big-name chess pieces from the board if it allows for other names to shine.

With that in mind, then, here are ten of the most twisted figures to have stalked the silver screen in relatively recent times.

10. Chris Cleek - The Woman

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Salient Media

From Lucky McKee, The Woman is a tough, tough watch at times, and that is all largely down to Chris Cleek and his sinister ways.

Having spotted a feral woman (Pollyanna McIntosh) while he was out hunting, Sean Bridgers' Chris returns the following day to knock out and capture his latest prey. Tying the titular woman up in his family's cellar, the Cleek patriarch intends to civilise his captive by using some truly chilling measures.

To run through Chris' many misdemeanours, he gets things off to a grim start by scrubbing her down with boiling hot water, then pressure-washing her clean. That's merely the troubling tip of the iceberg, as The Woman shows the head of the Cleek family raping and beating his hostage, verbally and physically abusing his wife and daughters, possibly raping and impregnating his eldest daughter, and his grim habits all influence his son to very much follow in his dad's footsteps.

Even more eww-inducing, it's eventually revealed how Chris Cleek has an eyeless third daughter, Socket, who has been raised like a literal dog.

Thankfully, Chris gets his comeuppance by having his heart ripped out and eaten during The Woman's final act.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.