3. Tony Todd
With his booming voice and towering stature, Todd stands tall as one of horror's most consistent and compelling character actors. Starting out in
Platoon, he took top billing in Tom Savini's 1990 remake of
The Night of the Living Dead before spending a good chunk of the decade with a hook for a hand as his famous incarnation, the titular killer of the
Candyman trilogy. Thereafter, the offers flew in thick and fast- with the majority making up in humour what they lacked in originality (how else to explain the likes of
Beastmaster III:The Eye of Braxus or
iMurders?) and Todd quickly established himself as dependable, deadpan...and the man you prayed didn't sneak into your dreams. But it was a knowing cameo as the gleefully morbid (and just a little unorthodox) undertaker William Bludworth in
FinalDestination that brought Todd to the forefront of slasher teen-terror. Yes, less than a year after his alleged disappearance, the Candyman was back - and with him that voice, that smile and, good Lord, those eyes. Here's a man who, with a long, lugubrious sigh or even a slight turn of the head, can give even Freddy Krueger nightmares. Speaking of which...