39 movie characters that gave us nightmares

Advance at your peril

A truly scary character can elevate almost any film.

These characters aren’t even exclusive to the horror genre – over the decades, there have been numerous terrifying roles in films aimed at younger audiences. In fact, some of the most nightmare-inducing creations have popped up where you least expect them, from Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang right through to Toy Story 3.

One film in which you do expect to come across such a character, though, is It, the sequel of which has just been released in cinemas. Pennywise is one of the most spine-tingling characters author Stephen King has ever created and, after being immortalised on the small screen in 1990, is now enjoying success in the hands of Bill Skarsgård.

Below, we’ve compiled a list of the 39 movie characters that plagued us with nightmares.

Click through the gallery to see who made the list – and be warned… some of them might bring back some bad memories.

It: Chapter Two is in cinemas now.