10 Most Vile Villains From Recent Horror Movies

During the press tour of Robert Eggers' remake of the 1922 horror classic, Bill Skarsgård revealed to Empire that, "I never want to play something this evil again." Although seeing him play a relatively good guy in 2022's Barbarian was somewhat equally unnerving.   

Truer words have never been spoken by the avant-master of the macabre. Skarsgård's portrayal of Count Drac - sorry, Orlok - is astoundingly terrifying. We are completely enveloped with a feeling of crushing dread and despair right from the start when Ellen Hutter (a mesmerising Lily-Rose Depp) makes that fateful connection to Orlok.

For Orlok's physical appearance, it was a wise decision by Eggers to move as far away from Max Schreck's iconic look from the original Nosferatu. Here, Orlok is in dire need of an oxygen cylinder and a much-needed manicure. He truly is an abhorrent sight to behold, with a scabby, unsurprisingly pale body, spindly fingers with long, sharp nails, and a pair of devilishly devouring eyes. Orlok possesses a guttural-sounding voice and an animalistic snarl, along with a sickening slurping sound when sucking blood from his poor victims. But, boy, does he give Tom Selleck a run for his money with a magnificent moustache.

Even when offscreen, Orlok permeates every scene with his foreboding omnipresence, representing both ethereal delirium - when Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult), silhouetted by pale moonlight in a deathly dense forest, is transported to Castle Orlok by a spectral carriage to the sound of baying wolves and eerie wailing - and egregious delirium when Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) brutally bites the head off a pigeon. 

Honestly, My Lord, all that for a drop of blood.