20 Scariest Female Horror Villains

Samara Morgan (Image via DreamWorks Pictures)

4. Samara Morgan (The Ring)

Some villains, evil as they are, evoke empathy from viewers. Yes, they do terrible things, but sometimes that is a result of equally awful circumstances thrust upon them.

I’m focusing on the western version of the Ring villain, Samara Morgan, for a couple of different reasons. One, you’re likely a little more familiar with the 2002 remake, The Ring, rather than the 1998 original, Ringu. That said, if you haven’t seen the original film, you really should seek it out.

Second, the original version of Samara – named Sadako in the film and the novels that preceded it – is heinously complicated. Not only is there a creepy, abused little girl at the center of it all, but there’s also curses, genetic abnormalities, rebirth, assault, and a story that changes between the books and the films. So, far sanity and brevity’s sake, we’re going to stick to the Samara Morgan version today.

Samara is a creepy girl who possesses the power to burn images onto surfaces (like videotape) and implant images into people’s’ minds. She’s adopted by a couple who owns a horse ranch on an island, which sounds practically idyllic for a young girl. However, her adoptive parents are soon driven mad by Samara’s powers. Anna, her adopted mother, throws Samara into a well before throwing herself off a nearby cliff.

Somehow, someone decides to build a series of rental cabins around the well where Samara died. In fact, one is directly on top of it. Samara’s malevolent spirit has stuck around and decides to create a curse via videotape. You all know the drill, right? You watch the tape and you get seven days to live, unless you copy said tape and show it to someone else.

It’s a truly scary concept, this idea of a curse spreading like a virus. You kind of wonder what’s going to happen if and when everyone worldwide sees the tape, but I guess Samara will figure that out once it happens. Until then, she’s going to scare the living daylights out of everyone by emerging from the TV screen to murder you.