Top 11 Most Memorable Specters in Horror

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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.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRDJN23YZmw]

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!)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ6hgh8kd0A]

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.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEVef9o-LeI]

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!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGjKfn6wlqw]


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