Sinister 2 is nearly upon us, and with it returns Bughuul, a most haunting and nightmarish apparition. To celebrate the upcoming August 21st release of Sinister 2, we’ve gone back and compiled a list of the Top 11 Most Memorable Specters in Horror.
Of course, no top list would be complete without a hearty side dish of honorable mentions so, as always, we’ll start there. James Wan is single-handedly responsible for two honorable mentions, Annabelle Higgins and Bathsheba Sherman, the malevolent spirits from Annabelle and The Conjuring, respectively. Jennet Humfrye from The Woman in Black earns a spot here, as does Madison Elizabeth Frank from What Lies Beneath. Maybe it’s not the most revered horror film, but something about What Lies Beneath was downright chilling. And speaking of chilled, the ghostly crew of the Elizabeth Dane in John Carpenter’s The Fog are also in line for honorable mentions.
Some friendly ghosts that stand out are, of course, Casper the Friendly Ghost and the maudlin Nearly Headless Nick who haunts Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter series… as well as Jack Skellington’s beloved dog, Zero.
And finally, these two characters may not necessarily be specters in the truest sense of the word, but they are certainly malevolent spiritual baddies back from the dead: Freddy Krueger and Daniel Robitaille, aka Candyman…Candyman…Candyman.
And now, on to the Top 11 Most Memorable Specters in Horror.
Mary Shaw – Dead Silence (2007)
Dead Silence may not have been as lucrative a project for James Wan as his other films in the honorable mentions section, but it indeed had his scariest ghost. Mary Shaw was an incredibly freaky character that terrorized Ryan Kwanten and Donnie Wahlberg in Dead Silence. And, as you can see by the video clip below, Mary Shaw was freaky enough when she was alive and a performing ventriloquism (actually, ventriloquists as a whole make us a little uneasy with their unusual talent for talking without lips moving and bringing life to inanimate objects) so you could imagine what a terror she was as a ghost. Dead Silence was the first non-Saw film Wan created, and Mary Shaw was the first spirit he unleashed. She was followed by more lucrative monsters, like Annabelle, but never creepier ones!
Marisol Chavez – Oculus (2013)
Although she doesn’t have the personality of Mary Shaw, Marisol Chavez is just as upsetting. You get a few quick glimpses of her in the Oculus trailer below, but that might be enough to get your skin crawling. Associated with the Lasser Glass, a malevolent mirror, Marisol is just one of the nightmares that are hidden within Oculus, but she is indeed the scariest. With mirrored eyes highlighting a fantastically creepy appearance, Marisol was the most memorable and thrilling part of Oculus and one character that stuck with us long after the movie ended.
Slimer – Ghostbusters (1984)
Now on to the horror/comedy part of our Top Specters list… When you ask the average person to name a famous movie ghost, he or she will undoubtedly recall the name “Slimer” at some point (or at least “that green thing from Ghostbusters” if they can’t come up with his actual name). Slimer was the face of a franchise. Although not named in the movie, Slimer grabbed his moniker and skyrocketed to even more fame with the release of “The Real Ghostbusters” cartoon program. He was voiced by Ivan Reitman in the two Ghostbusters movies, and the cartoon version was voiced by Frank Welker and Billy West (formerly of The Howard Stern Show). Slimer became so popular that the cartoon was retooled to give the ectoplasm-oozing apparition more screen time and renamed “Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters.” The show was a huge success, spawning all kinds of merchandise… hell, what kid from that time didn’t love a big glass of Hi-C Ecto-cooler with Slimer on the bottle. And he was responsible for the most famous quote from the legendary film…“He slimed me.” See below.
Beetlejuice – Beetlejuice (1988)
One more ghostly entry from the realm of horror-flavored comedy, Beetlejuice indeed deserves a place on this list. He summed it up best when he described himself as “The ghost with the most,” and he might have been right about that. No apparition on this list, or any other, had the personality that Beetlejuice had. Michael Keaton played him with an insane, over-the-top flair that not only made him successful in his time but solidified the movie as an all-time favorite. Like Slimer, Beetlejuice would also be reborn in cartoon form. The show, which followed the adventures of Beetlejuice and Lydia, would run for three seasons, produce nearly 100 episodes, and go on to win a Daytime Emmy Award. But it was the crass and crude Keaton that had audiences originally falling in love with the uncouth entity. As ghosts go, Beetlejuice is indeed a hall of famer.
Mrs. Massey – The Shining (1980)
Mrs. Massey… oh, Mrs. Massey, how you scared the shit out of us… and still do, actually. It may be the Grady Sisters that are the poster ghosts for The Shining, but for downright scares Mrs. Massey has it all over the like-dressed siblings. Whether she’s residing in Room 217 (novel version) or 237 (Kubrick’s film version), for our money Mrs. Massey is easily the scariest part of The Shining. The hangy skin, the drippy hair, the arms reaching out to get Jack and, by extension, us, the audience. Mrs. Massey is indeed the thing nightmares are made of, and throughout his long and storied career, Stephen King may never have created something with her sheer scariness. It’s no secret that King despises Kubrick’s version of his story, but there is no denying that it’s damn scary, and Mrs. Massey is a big reason for that! (Ugh, I’m so creeped out already I hardly want to grab the clip! I’ll tough it out for you, Dreadies!)
Bughuul – Sinister (2012)
Yes, this list is in honor of the upcoming release of Sinister 2, but the original Sinister film does also find a place here. The evil specter Bughuul, who haunts the first film, does return for the second, but let’s just take a minute to remember his opening salvo. In the clip below we don’t necessarily get a good look at Bughuul, but we certainly get a dandy peek at some of his handiwork in the infamous Sinister lawnmower scene, certainly one of the more extreme ones from 2012. Bughuul kills entire families and eats children’s souls. What a jerk. Who knows what kind of terrors lie in store in Sinister 2, but if they’re anything like what we saw in the first film, it’ll be a horrific good time in the theater.
The Bride in Black – Insidious 2 (2013)
Like Sinister, the Insidious series is brought to us by Blumhouse Productions, who’ve been bringing a lot of the most successful wide release horror to theaters in recent years. Insidious 2 picked up where its predecessor left off, and it had some big shoes to fill. Audiences were scared silly by the red-faced demon that terrorized the Lambert Family in the first film, but Insidious 2 turned up the heat in a big way with the Bride in Black (aka Parker Crane). And for those who don’t know exactly what the story of Crane is and how he’s the Bride in Black, we’ll let you track down Insidious 2 and find out for yourselves. For those of us who know the secret, all we can say is… Yikes!
Ghost in the Closet – The Sixth Sense (1999)
Proving the fact that sound is just as important as imagery in making something frightening in a horror movie (if not more important), we present the ghost in the closet in The Sixth Sense. Sure, Bruce Willis is the main apparition (it’s been almost 20 years; we think it’s okay to let that little secret out of the bag), but it was the other ghosts that provided the real thrills in The Sixth Sense before the final reveal. And the ghost in the closet is, without a doubt, the most frightening part of the movie and probably the most frightening thing M. Night Shyamalan has ever had a hand in. And you don’t even see the damn thing. It’s the power of sound. The Exorcist wouldn’t have been nearly a scary without that horrible demonic voice and The Sixth Sense is another example of how terrifying the right audio can be.
The Headless Horseman – Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Christopher Walken has had some memorable roles in his legendary acting career. In Tim Burton’s second film to make this list, Walken played the iconic Headless Horseman. Culled from the pages of literature and emanating from the spiritually active Upstate New York area, the Headless Horseman is as well known a character as one can find. Although we don’t see Walken as the actual Horseman until the end of the film (and why would we, he’s headless after all), when he finally arrives to exact his true revenge, it’s a classic moment. Here we have a look at Walken as the Hessian Horseman and how he became headless.
Tomas – The Orphanage (2007)
As far as creepy little shits go, Tomas is among the littlest and the creepiest. An entity much like “Tony,” Danny Torrance’s “imaginary” friend from The Shining, Tomas was the sack-headed friend of young Simon, the unfortunate young boy in The Orphanage. The fact that Tomas showed up randomly wearing his signature sack on his head throughout the film was off-putting enough, but when we got a look underneath it, we saw even more of the horrors of the character. Tomas brought an incredible element to this film of struggle and loss. A tragic character for a tragic film.
Samara Morgan – The Ring (2006)
The Ring was a monster at the box office in 2006, earning nearly a quarter of a billion dollars and becoming one of the highest grossing horror films ever… and the main reason was Samara Morgan and her emergence from a television at the end of the film. Based on the Japanese film of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the book by Kôji Suzuki (Suzuki helped co-write both film versions), The Ring became an instant classic. Samara Morgan was, of course, inspired by the Japanese character Sadako Yamamura, with an appearance and motions very much like the original ghost. The final scene of The Ring went down as one of the most memorable horror moments of the 2000’s. Take a look below, and remember Samara.
That’s it for today… oh wait, how about one more for the road. Be sure and tell ’em Large Marge sent ya!
Sinister 2 Synopsis:
In the aftermath of the shocking events in Sinister, a protective mother (Shannyn Sossamon of “Wayward Pines”) and her nine-year-old twin sons (real-life twins Robert and Dartanian Sloan) find themselves in a rural house marked for death as the evil spirit of Buhguul continues to spread with frightening intensity. James Ransone co-stars.