The slasher film is a very important part of the horror genre. Many of these films rack up impressive body counts when it comes to killing their victims. But others struggle a lot along the way. Sometimes, even the characters that rack up a lot of kills end up having to fight through way too many obstacles of their own making before fulfilling their vicious goals.
While Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees have all appeared in several films across a series because of how good they are at killing, others killers have lengthy series despite their inefficiency at their goals. These slasher film villains seem scary, but they're not very good at what they do.
10 Grant Grant — Slither
Grant Grant, played by Michael Rooker, is one of the weirder villains in a slasher film. Grant begins Slither as a disrespectful and neglectful husband who is only respected because he comes from money. But everything changes when he is possessed by an alien parasite.
While the alien parasite transforms Grant into a deformed individual who can be unstoppable, Grant's lack of intelligence remains his own undoing. The parasite uses Grant to rack up an impressive body count, but Grant himself isn't even a slasher until the parasite takes over.
9 Ghostface — Scream
Despite changing the horror genre by making fun of the tropes that had littered previous films, Scream features one of the more incompetent villains. The reason Ghostface tends to be incompetent is that it's never the same killer twice. Since there's a different person underneath the mask in each film, this leads to major problems even with a high body count.
No matter who the killer is, Ghostface struggles in every chase scene. Far more victims in Scream than any other slasher film tend to be successful at damaging Ghostface. He's got a lot of kills, but very few good kills.
8 Leprechaun
Leprechaun is as much of a comedy series as it is a horror series, which makes its main killer completely incompetent. The series follows the same format that traditional slasher series do, but features an actual leprechaun whose quest for stolen gold has turned him into a serial killer.
The maniacal Leprechaun, played by Warwick Davis, fails at every turn. He never kills his primary targets. He never recovers the stolen gold. The Leprechaun may be the least successful slasher ever.
7 Annabelle — The Conjuring
While slasher films have turned to the evil possessed doll numerous times, from Child's Play to M3gan, Annabelle is one of the weaker ones from a serial killer point of view. Two of the best films she appears in, The Conjuring and Annabelle Comes Home, don't even feature a single death.
\While many fans view The Conjuring and Annabelle series as some of the more entertaining horror films of the 2000s, it's hard to make a possessed doll into an effective killer. There's a reason Chucky is the only successful serial killer regardless of the quality of the horror franchises.
6 Steve Hadley and Gary Sitterson — The Cabin in the Woods
Steve and Gary are an unusual inclusion, because they appear to be very effective killers at the beginning of The Cabin in the Woods. The pair is great at targeting, manipulating and facilitating the deaths of their victims. The problem is that they have been so good for so long that they have become arrogant.
That arrogance leads to carelessness. The victims of the titular cabin in the woods end up in the lab where Steve and Gary are controlling everything, leading to the pair being killed by their intended victims and the monsters they are using for their killings.
5 Jack Torrance — The Shining
Despite being one of the most iconic villains in horror and slasher films, Jack Torrance in The Shining isn't really the most effective killer. Played by Jack Nicholson, Jack is trying to fight off the demonic possession from the Overlook Hotel. The hotel is trying to convince Jack to kill his family.
Jack only ends up killing Dick Halloran throughout the film. Plus, Jack isn't a true villain because of the possession. The film is iconic, but Jack is very ineffective as a slasher.
4 Col. Richard Strickland — The Shape of Water
Col. Richard Strickland, played by Michael Shannon, is definitely villainous but isn't a very effective killer. He is abusive and power-hungry. He inflicts pain and is incredibly cruel throughout The Shape Of Water. But he lacks intelligence at the worst times.
Strickland may have been able to capture the amphibious man and torture him, but he is unable to finish the job. His lack of intelligence is eventually his undoing.
3 The Babadook
It's another case of possession, as this time the Babadook has possessed a mother whose son is terrified of the monster. While possessed by the Babadook, Amelia kills the family dog, Bugsy, but that's it. Amelia is able to resist before killing her son, Sam, and she expels the Babadook.
The Babadook ends up living in a basement and not a single person is killed by the entity. Luckily for the film's main characters, it's easily one of the least effective killers in horror films.
2 Henry Bowers — It
Henry Bowers is an angry and terrifying teenager who likes to bully the Losers Club. In It and its sequel Pennywise manipulates the violent and cruel teen to commit a series of murders. But Henry fails to finish his mission.
Henry is strong enough to be an effective torturer of the Losers Club. But he isn't smart enough to kill them, and that is why he fails.
1 Annie Wilkes — Misery
Misery is one of the best horror films of all time, despite having a villain who is unwilling to kill. Annie Wilkes is clearly suffering from mental illness. That leads her to trap her favorite writer in her house. She tortures him but doesn't kill him.
Annie's villainy is more psychological rather than that of a serial killer. Other than her twisted psyche, she is ordinary, and is not very strong or skilled. Annie is mostly considered a great villain due to the performance of Kathy Bates, rather than her own villainy.