Prepare to be haunted by the most spine-chilling villains who never actually appear on screen. From supernatural entities to unseen forces of terror, these antagonists prove that what you can't see is often the most frightening.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the scariest movie antagonists
00:11who never appear on screen.
00:24Number 10.
00:25The Creatures, Bird Box.
00:35This viral horror film is set during and after an apocalyptic event.
00:40All around the world, many people become incredibly violent and try to end their lives and the
00:45lives of others.
00:47They're driven to commit these acts by merely looking at certain creatures.
00:56This drives the heroine Mallory and her companions to make a perilous journey while blindfolded.
01:02Although a potential design for the creatures was created, it was ultimately scrapped as
01:07the unknowable entities driving everyone to madness proved far scarier.
01:12And maybe the filmmakers were trying to prevent the madness from spreading.
01:24Number 9.
01:25The Cube's Creators, Cube.
01:34A group of strangers wakes up in a massive, interconnected series of rooms that form a
01:39giant cube.
01:41Some of the rooms are filled with deadly traps, and the layout continually shifts.
01:46Paranoia and desperation set in as the group becomes desperate to escape.
01:51Although one of them, Worth, worked on the outer shell that surrounds the cube, even
01:56he doesn't know who built it or why.
01:59We're not sure which is more frightening, the cube's creators building it for a sadistic
02:10purpose or if, as Worth theorizes, its purpose has been long forgotten and it's maintained
02:16by Kafkaesque government routine.
02:24Number 8.
02:25Rebecca de Winter, Rebecca.
02:34The titular character of this Alfred Hitchcock classic may be dead before the film begins,
02:40but Rebecca still looms over the entirety of this movie.
02:42A spiteful woman in a sham marriage with a wealthy Maxim, Rebecca was terminally ill.
02:48Rather than live her last days to the fullest, Rebecca basically goaded Maxim into killing
02:53her by mistake.
02:54She also instructed her housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, to terrorize her husband and new
03:00unnamed bride after she's gone.
03:15While Danvers may do most of the villainous acts, it's Rebecca pulling her strings from
03:20beyond the grave.
03:30Number 7.
03:31He Who Walks Behind the Rows, Children of the Corn.
03:42Stephen King villains are always scary, whether you see them or not.
03:46In this novel adaptation, a couple are terrorized by a cult composed of children.
03:51The kids have killed all the adults in their town as part of a ritual sacrifice to He Who
03:57Walks Behind the Rows.
04:03The unseen dark god promises a successful corn harvest in exchange for blood.
04:08While the malevolent being never quite appears, he does take action.
04:12When his primary follower, Isaac, is sacrificed, a strange light consumes the boy.
04:17He Who Walks Behind the Rows even seemingly possesses Isaac's body after he's dead.
04:22He's really got his ducks, or kids, in a row this guy.
04:37Number 6.
04:38Cameron's Dad, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
04:49The best friend of the titular character, Cameron Frye gets pushed by Ferris into taking
04:54his father's 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider.
04:58The threat of Mr. Frye's wrath hangs over Cameron the entire movie.
05:03The discovery that some garage attendants have taken the car for a joyride sends Cameron
05:08into a near catatonic state.
05:19While little about Mr. Frye himself is explored, it's clear that he's a wealthy and overbearing
05:25man.
05:26Cameron accidentally wrecking the car finally pushes him to decide to stand up to his dad.
05:31Their confrontation doesn't appear on screen.
05:34We're sure that it'll be a terrifying ordeal for Cameron to overcome though.
05:38Hopefully he's a better man for it.
05:52Number 5.
05:54Batman, Bambi.
06:00Creatures of the forest in this Disney classic fear one foe above all others, man.
06:06The human species is represented here by faceless hunters.
06:10They pursue Bambi and his fellow animals relentlessly.
06:14Their dogs hound them through the woods.
06:16Their guns shoot and terrify them.
06:18Their careless actions even start an uncontrollable forest fire.
06:22And we will never get over one of them killing Bambi's mom.
06:25Generations of kids traumatized.
06:35The worst part is that man could be any of us.
06:38Realizing that was a real, are we the baddies moment.
06:49Number 4.
06:50The Germans, Dunkirk.
06:59During the battle of France in World War II, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers were
07:04stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk.
07:06This film follows several of them as they try to survive long enough to be rescued.
07:10Although the German forces make their presence known through fighter planes and other attacks
07:15from a distance, they never appear in person.
07:25Instead, much like the soldiers, we're left with an overwhelming sense of dread and fear
07:34that the Third Reich's forces instill from a distance.
07:37Their absence in Dunkirk leads to a constant, intangible tension that few other war films
07:42can match.
07:55Number 3.
07:56Blair Witch, The Blair Witch Project.
08:05While she does appear in a few blink-and-you'll-miss-them shots, for the most part, the eponymous Blair
08:10Witch is absent from this found-footage horror movie.
08:14Instead, the fake documentary creates its scares through its build-up and atmosphere.
08:19The film students, it follows, interview locals on the mythical witch, creating the mystique
08:23around her.
08:24Meanwhile, the group's harrowing journey through the woods ratchets up anxiety with
08:28unexplained happenings, disappearances, and off-screen deaths.
08:41By the time the witch pursues them through an abandoned house to their dark ending, we're
08:45as scared as Heather is during her famous apology scene.
08:57Number 2.
08:58Death, The Final Destination Franchise.
09:11Most slasher movies feature a creepy villain killing off teenagers.
09:15The Final Destination films feature the most terrifying enemy of all, death itself.
09:21After several groups of teens manage to cheat certain death, the unseen specter of death
09:26seems intent on killing the ones that got away.
09:35Each seems to die in violent and often improbable ways.
09:39Although some of the deaths can be downright Rube Goldberg-esque, the inexorable inevitability
09:44of fate remains a frightening antagonist for these films.
09:48Tony Dodd's incredibly creepy explanations of death wanting its due certainly don't
10:06get
10:29guilty of a little road rage.
10:32But this unseen villain takes it to an extreme level.
10:35David Mann is on a long-distance trip when he encounters a truck driver who refuses to
10:40let an automotive slight go.
10:42David is terrorized by the truck driver for hours.
10:45The driver remains in his truck and hounds David wherever he goes, attempting murder
10:51several times.
11:02Whoever's behind the wheel of this terrifying vehicle doesn't care who gets caught in
11:07the middle of their vehicular duel, whether it's a school bus full of kids or an odd
11:12couple.
11:13This truck driver is a mundane sort of antagonist you might meet on the highway, taken to its
11:18most malicious, unknowable extreme.
11:34Is there a hidden antagonist we failed to see?
11:37Scare us with your picks in the comments.