10 Ridiculous Horror Movie Villains That Shouldn’t Have Worked… But Did

Though not the first villain to go down the evil twin route, with Basket Case’s Balliol being another worthy contender for this list, Malignant’s Gabriel took its premise to a whole other level of ridiculousness in the best conceivable way.

Heavily inspired by early 2000s B-movies, James Wan’s film kicks off with a blood-soaked prologue that introduces us to main antagonist Gabriel, an unseen child who possesses supernatural powers and a savage talent for killing.

Fast-forward 27 years later and we meet Madison (Annabelle Wallis), who becomes targeted by a shadowy figure. As the investigation into who this violent stalker is deepens, we come to learn more about Madison's past. Specifically, that Gabriel was her evil conjoined twin who was surgically removed when she was a child, with him quite literally being pushed to the back of her mind.

Now a monstrous face on the back of her head who’s capable of taking over her body, Gabriel is the quintessential outlandish horror villain. But with Wan’s loving embrace of the pulpy aesthetics coupled with some bone-crunching body horror, and Gabriel becomes a much more effective villain than you’d expect.