Aside from haunting music, spooky environments, and an eerie plot, a perfect horror show, film, or video game needs a terrifying villain that serves as the face of the franchise. A bloodthirsty monster or demonic ghost are both considered a genuine threat based on one simple thing: their ability to annihilate any victims that stand in their way.
However, some of these horror villains are rather clumsy and can't seem to get a hang of the whole killing gig; stumbling over themselves or letting their prey slip right through their fingers. In the end, no matter how beloved or iconic some of these horror villains are, they do lose a bit of their fear factor due to how easily their murder sprees can be stopped. Here are some of the most notable horror video game villains that suck at killing.
Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead!
8 Jason Voorhees (Friday The 13th The Game)
While the level of Jason's abilities can be debatable as his capabilities are completely up to the player and their skill, Jason in the hands of a less experienced player can look like a bit of a fool, to say the least. It can be easy to get caught up in the idea of playing a horror game and finally taking the role of the hunter and not the prey, but it's important to remember that the Crystal Lake camp counselors stand a good chance of pulling off a win as well.
Jason can be easily stopped by various everyday items such as firecrackers that apparently leave him stunned dead in his tracks. In the end, Jason may be powerful, but with a newbie behind the wheel, he can be left on the field, swinging and missing every target as camp counselors taunt him along the way.
7 The Psycho/Josh Washington (Until Dawn)
In the big twist near the end of Until Dawn, Josh is revealed to be The Psycho, the mysterious masked lunatic that had been tormenting the group as well as being responsible for his very own (now obviously faked) death. However, in a second twist, it seems as if Josh isn't the only threat the group had to worry about while up in the mountains.
The Psycho may be the villain the group first unveils, but an infestation of evil creatures/spirits from First Nations folklore later ends up being the true threat the group must survive before their rescue at dawn.
Josh as The Psycho sucks at killing, simply because although he is a villain in the game, he never intended for any of his friends to get killed in the first place. It's clear that Josh was hellbent on traumatizing his friends in the name of revenge for his sisters, but Josh as a killer is all bark and no bite.
6 Karl Heisenberg (Resident Evil 8)
Heisenberg may be powerful and scary, but he definitely is the type to lazily send his minions in his stead. While the first of the Four Lords Ethan must face off against in Resident Evil 8 is Lady Dimitrescu, many players may forget that Mother Miranda initially handed Ethan over to Heisenberg first.
In order to size Ethan up, Heisenberg sent Ethan through an elaborate maze full of bloodthirsty Lycans, dangerous traps, and deadly machinery. However, Ethan ended up surviving all of Heisenberg's tricks and ended up meeting the man face to face. Even during his boss battle where Heisenberg was no longer holding back or relying on his minions to get the job done, Heisenberg, now standing hundreds of feet tall, fully mutated into a powerful cybernetic monster within a metal apparatus, still managed to be felled by one very determined Ethan Winters.
5 SCP-173 (SCP Containment Breach)
While there are a handful of different SCP creatures featured in SCP Containment Breach, SCP-173 is the poster boy(or creature?) of the entire game. The beginning of the game even begins with SCP-173's introduction as the very first creature the player encounters.
Although 173 does a good job of asserting its dominance within minutes of the game by getting a few good kills right from the intro, it doesn't really take much to stop 173 in its tracks. SCP-173 is extremely hostile but can be easily stopped by maintaining direct eye contact; only after the line of sight is broken, then 173 is free to move. It may be spooky at the beginning but once the player gets the hang of the game and its blinking mechanics, 173 begins to fade into the background, being easily dealt with, revealing that the other unknown SCP creatures as the true threat.
4 Nemesis (Resident Evil 3)
Nemesis stands a whopping 7'3" and possesses both superhuman levels of strength and powerful firearms that are so large that only he can handle them; so why is former S.T.A.R.S member, Jill Valentine, such a difficult target for him to capture and destroy?
It's true that Resident Evil 3's Nemesis is a powerful Tyrant, a mutated supersoldier/bio-organic weapon that can easily kill any target he so wishes, but it seems as if little Jill Valentine is too much for the monster to handle. Jill Valentine is of course a very capable special operations agent but at the end of the day, she's still just a human being up against a massive mutated Tyrant. Considering how many times Nemesis comes face to face with Jill, it seems to be playing with his prey as Jill manages to escape safely each and every time.
3 Foxy (Five Nights At Freddy's)
No one is truly certain of what happens in Five Nights At Freddy's once the screen cuts out after one of the animatronics enters the security office. Of course, it's safe to assume that the player dies the moment the screen cuts to black, but it seems the key to survival is much more simple than one could ever imagine.
Apparently, all it takes to stop Foxy is a simple closed door. While in many horror games or films, a door is a small hindrance to most villains as they usually find a way to tear through it in a matter of seconds, Foxy seems absolutely dumbfounded by the situation completely. Sure, Foxy can be a deadly threat in the right circumstances but as long as there's a bit of electricity left to keep the door closed, the player can put their legs up and relax in their cozy, barricaded security office.
2 Pyramid Head (Silent Hill 2)
One would think that the most iconic Silent Hill villain of all time would be one of the deadliest killers out there. While Pyramid Head is incredibly famous and makes many cameo appearances, in truth, he has no business existing anywhere outside of Silent Hill 2 as he is merely the manifestation of James Sunderland's guilt and torment and his desire to be punished for his sins. Pyramid Head is James' very own monster that hunts him closely and intimately. In reality, Pyramid Head only had a single (real) victim he was meant to pursue and didn't even end up killing him; nor did he even fight him.
After James' long journey through Silent Hill and the Otherworld, constantly evading and being tormented by the menacing Pyramid Head, the game concludes with Pyramid Head simply offing himself; knowing that he had fulfilled his purpose.
1 Mr. X (Resident Evil 2)
Mr. X may be a powerful Tyrant and is definitely scary at first but after the first few hours, he is reduced to a mere nuisance rather than a proper threat. Resident Evil 2's Mr. X has one mission, and it is to eliminate Leon and Claire (as well as any other living witnesses in Raccoon City) and it goes to say that he wasn't very successful. After running into the dapper Tyrant once, the player then realizes that he's not as dangerous as he first seems. He doesn't one-hit-kill the player, nor is he very fast, so the player can easily take a few good punches before going down; and if anything, he's fairly easy to evade entirely.
In the end, Mr. X may seem intimidating but Leon and Claire can easily run circles around the Tyrant before he even gets the chance to take out his target.