20 Scariest Female Horror Villains

Clare Higgins as Julia Cotton (Image via New World Pictures)

6. Julia Cotton (Hellraiser)

While some villains elicit a weird pang of sympathy and sadness from viewers, others are just straight up evil. Julia Cotton, the selfish, largely amoral villain at the center of the first Hellraiser movie, is one such baddie.

Julia Cotton is the stepmother of Hellraiser protagonist Kristy Cotton, though you’d be forgiven if you thought that Julia herself was the film’s lead. She’s married to Kristy’s father, Larry, though she had an affair with her brother-in-law, Frank. Larry’s all right, but Frank is a self-centered creep who has a magnetic, if creepy, connection with Julia.

This is all bad enough for a family drama, but things get really strange when Frank seemingly disappears. In reality, he’s solved a mysterious puzzle box that lands him in a tortuous hell with the demonic Cenobites. While moving into Frank’s deserted home, Larry injures himself and bleeds all over the spot where Frank “died”. This somehow allows a skinless Frank to come back from the dead and start terrorizing everyone all over again.

Now, most people would see their gory, half-formed lover scuttling out of the attic shadows and run screaming from the house. Julia nearly does so, but she somehow pulls it together and starts procuring victims for Frank. He needs their blood to fully rebuild his body. Julia freaks out, but that apparently isn’t enough to keep her from adding “serial killer” to her resume.

Eventually, she meets her end when Kristy calls back the Cenobites and lets them take Frank back to hell. Julia gets stabbed, dies, and is therefore doomed to return in the sequel.