10 Smartest Horror Movie Villains

2. Hannibal Lecter - The Silence Of The Lambs

Like Pinhead and Dracula, Hannibal Lecter's genius as a horror movie character is linked to both his intelligence and the quiet demeanour he constructs as a front. He's another of those villains who has probably pain-stakingly considered the morality of his actions but hasn't just rejected it, seemingly revels in the perversion of it.

In traditional terms, Lecter is a brilliant, astute man - an academic with unrivalled insight into the human condition and psychology - but for the same reason he's a near unprecedented threat to those who come into his trap. He's a lion intimately aware of what it takes to be a wilderbeast. A slasher movie killer who has watched every one of the movies. He's an inside man.

Lecter's cold, unfaltering exterior is an extension of his intellect - he's so brilliant he's almost sociopathic in how he comes across; removed, cold, detached, but again, it's a construct to hide the animal inside. And were he not quite so driven by passion in the moment, he would top this list without question.

So who could possibly outshine him?