The Top 10 Scariest Movie Ghosts

If You’re Not Afraid of Evil Spirits, This List of Movie Ghosts Might Change Your Mind.

Updated: October 2020

I don’t think movie ghosts get enough credit. Sure most haunted house movies feature an invisible entity scaring the daylight out of unsuspecting souls. Every once in a while, those nasty spirits manifest into a physical form and that’s where this list comes in. I’ve gathered together the 10 scariest movie ghosts of all time. These apparitions are truly the stuff of nightmares as they stop at nothing to terrorize anyone unfortunate enough to cross their paths. The only rule is that they have to take a visible form in order to qualify this list. Be warned none of the entries on here are “friendly ghosts.” In fact, all of them will do their best to scare the piss out of you and some will even take it a step further with deadly consequences. It took a lot of research to pull this together, but I’m confident that all the movie ghosts are not only memorable but will haunt your dreams long after the credits roll. This is one top 10 list you might want to read with the lights on because it’s quite frightful.  

10. Rev. Henry Kane- The Poltergeist Franchise

While we didn’t get a chance to catch his name in the first Poltergeist film, we come to find out the man behind that horrifying haunting is none other than the good reverend Henry Kane (Julian Beck). Sure, he seems like a harmless old man at first, but the longer you look at him the creepier he gets. The clencher is when he reveals a smile that’s about three sizes too big for his face. Turns out there’s a reason why you get a bad feeling from the Rev. When he was alive way back in the day, he had more of a cult than a congregation. He convinced them all the the end was nigh and that they all needed to high tail it into the desert to hide out in a cave. After sealing the cave, the day of his prediction came and went without incident. Being an old white guy, he couldn’t stand the idea of being wrong, so he just kept his followers trapped to die with him in there. Since then, he’s been using his followers to torment poor little Carrol Anne and her family.

9. Eleanor Twitty AKA The Gray Lady- Ghostbusters

When I was a kid one of the movie ghosts that scared the crap out of me consistently was Eleanor Twitty (she still creeps me out to this day). You might remember her as the first ghost that Venkman, Stanz, and Spengler encountered in the New York City Public Library. She might just look like a prudish old woman, but when you commit the cardinal sin of talking in her library she transforms into a terrifying creature ready to rain hell down upon you in the form of books (Hardcover, of course). Fully transformed she proves to be the scariest sight to ever emerge from Jim Henson’s workshop. With ghosts like her haunting libraries, it’s no wonder that no one’s reading books anymore. While she might not be the deadliest ghost on this list, she’s probably the most nightmarish.   

8. The Grady Twins- The Shining

Turns out a few of the entries on my list of the creepiest children from movies are eligible for this list of movie ghosts as well. The Graddy twins were the daughters of the previous caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, Charles Grady. The isolation drove him insane and he took an ax to his family, killing them all. While Charles Grady also haunts the Overlook Hotel, his daughters are far more disturbing as the keep asking young Danny Torrence to “come play with them.” They don’t outright hurt Danny, but I’m sure they helped contribute to the need for a lot of therapy down the line. Twins are already kind of creepy and the fact that the Gradys also happen to be dead twins makes them exponentially creepier. 

7. The Babadook- The Babadook

Mean old Mister Babadook is a malevolent spirit that comes with his very own instruction manual in the form of an overpriced red book (which is actually really cool). He specifically targets children coming to take them away in the middle of the night with his terrifying call of “Ba-Ba-Ba Dook Dook Dook” (which might not be the worst thing in the world…). While he might look dapper with his top hat, coat, and freakishly long manicured nails, he could really stand a splash of color, especially considering he’s a gay icon. As scary as he is though, his one weakness seems to be pissed off Australian moms. The only reason the Babadook isn’t higher on this list of movie ghosts is that when you get a good look at him it kinda looks like he’s wearing reverse blackface.  

6. Daniel Robitaille AKA Candyman- The Candyman Films

We’re at the point in this list of movie ghosts where the body count starts to rise significantly. If you stop and think about it, one of the scariest supernatural killers in movie history also happens to be a ghost. Daniel Robitaille was murdered by a group of racists for having the audacity to love a white woman. He’s treated to an incredibly elaborate and confusing death that leaves his spirit unable to rest. Tormented, he takes his anger out on those dumb enough to look in a mirror and say his name 5 times in the dark. That’s just his day job though. In actuality, he’s still got a thing for white chicks and keeps trying to find the perfect one to become his soul mate. While I might not be a ladies man, I think he could do with a better approach than murdering everyone around them until they agree to “join” him.