20 Most Badass Female Horror Characters Ever

It’s sometimes hard to imagine that Regan from The Exorcist was even played by a real person. The character is just such an insane force of evil and Linda Blair so slips into the role that you really forget you’re even watching a human at all.

In one of the most famously scary movies ever made, an innocent young girl becomes possessed by a demon, and a bunch of priests come in to try to save her. Regan’s possessed face is one of the most iconic horror images of all time, especially effective because the audience has seen plenty of her looking like a normal girl in the beginning of the movie. Her appearance grows more and more terrifying as the film progresses, and that dark voice coming out of this innocent looking girl is just such a scary disconnect. 

Linda Blair delivers one of the great horror performances, making a movie where a girl lies in a bed into a cultural phenomenon. The fact that a 12 year old girl is able to outshine Max von Sydow as the star of the show is a stunning achievement.