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Does anyone else remember that badass Jason Voorhees design from Wildstorm’s 2007 comic-book sequel Freddy vs. Jason vs Ash? After getting a chainsaw to the face, Jason loses the lower third of his iconic hockey mask and ends up looking like a gnarly parody of the grim reaper throughout the remainder of the story. Not only is this an undeniably cool look for the character, but I also think that it’s an honest depiction of what Jason (and many other horror antagonists) really represent: corpse-like emissaries of Death itself.
And with Final Destination Bloodlines revisiting the idea of death as both a scheming entity and a mere fact of life (not to mention Oz Perkins’ The Monkey dealing with many of the same ideas), we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six of the scariest depictions of death in horror films. After all, artists have been fascinated with death since time immemorial, so it stands to reason that there are also plenty of movies featuring creepy Grim Reapers!
For the purposes of this list, we’ll only be considering literal manifestations of death, so no abstract entities like what we see in the aforementioned Final Destination series. There also won’t be any mentions of The Ghost of Christmas Future here, as that’s technically a different character serving a similar role. And while we won’t be including them on the list, I’d also like to give a shout-out to the skeletal beings from Bloody-Disgusting’s very own Southbound!
As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite Grim Reapers if you think we missed a particularly spooky one.
With that out of the way, onto the list…
6. Bartlett’s Disguise – The Frighteners (1996)
Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners is one of the most underrated horror comedies of the ’90s. While the movie wasn’t exactly a box office success, it was ambitious enough to land Jackson in the director’s chair of the then-upcoming The Lord of the Rings adaptation. This was largely due to the film’s extensive use of visual effects through Weta Digital, with one of its most memorable instances of movie magic being the CGI used to bring the movie’s Reaper antagonist to life.
Ironically, the dated textures and animations actually help to make this villainous imposter look even more uncanny than what was initially planned, with his flowing robes and odd movement feeling appropriately ethereal. And while the character was ultimately just a vengeful spirit in disguise, he still harvests souls and scares the hell out of mortals just like the figure that inspired him, which is why Bartlett’s grim alter ego still makes it onto the list.
5. The Reeker – Reeker (2005)
The 2000s were an interesting time for Slashers. While most studios were preoccupied with glossy big-budget remakes of the classics of yesteryear, indie filmmakers were competing to see who could come up with that generation’s equivalent to Jason, Michael or Freddy. Many of these films ended up being forgettable knockoffs, but every once in a while, we saw a special little movie like Dave Payne’s schlocky yet entertaining Reeker.
Following a group of strangers who find themselves mysteriously trapped at a roadside motel, Reeker stands out because of its Twilight-Zone-inspired twist and its titular villain – an amorphous figure that smells of rot and systematically hunts down his prey. Of course, it doesn’t take long to realize that this peculiar slasher is meant to be a desert-dwelling Grim Reaper collecting souls in remarkably brutal fashion.
And while I also enjoy the film’s 2008 prequel, I would have preferred it if No Man’s Land hadn’t tried to give this preternatural villain a human backstory.
4. The Wolf – Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
From Regular Show to The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (as well as Norm Macdonald’s iconic guest appearances on Family Guy), Death shows up more frequently in animation than he does in live action. However, I think it’s fair to say that the most intimidating animated reaper has to be the Wolf from 2022’s unexpectedly thrilling Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
Played by Brazilian national treasure Wagner Moura, this ghostly white predator is initially introduced as a sickle-wielding bounty hunter, with Puss later discovering that he’s actually Death incarnate out to personally collect a soul that has illuded him for far too long.
Those of you who haven’t seen The Last Wish may be wondering why a character from a kid’s film made it onto the list, but I’d recommend that you watch the film for yourself and try not to shudder whenever you hear the eerie whistling that signals the Wolf’s arrival.
3. The Angel of Death – Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2004)
Regardless of how faithful they are to their source material, Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy movies are some of the most creative comic-book adaptations out there. In fact, the sequel’s dark re-imagining of fairytale creatures remains one of the most fascinating depictions of urban fantasy in film, which is why I don’t think anyone will be surprised to see The Golden Army’s depiction of Death on this list. After all, this sinister reaper manages to stand out even in a film that’s already chock-full of memorable monsters.
Brought to life by genre veteran Doug Jones (who also appears in the movie as the fan-favorite Abe Sapien), this incarnation of The Angel of Death is special in that he’s Hellboy’s own personal reaper and has watched over the BPRD agent throughout the entirety of his long life. Of course, it’s the Angel’s striking design that earns him a spot here, with his many-eyed wings and indifferent nature making him one hell of a menacing figure even though he’s not exactly a villain.
2. Death – Cemetery Man (1994)
By far my favorite film on this list, Michael Soavi’s Cemetery Man (originally titled Dellamorte Dellamore) is also undoubtedly the strangest. A multinational co-production adapting a novel by Dylan Dog creator Tiziano Sclavi, this surreal horror comedy follows the troubled caretaker of an Italian cemetery as he goes about burying the dead and then shooting them once they inevitably come back to life.
And how does Death factor into all of this? Well, there’s a brief scene during the second act where the Grim Reaper himself appears before our main character and tells him to start shooting the living instead. Like many of the film’s disturbing elements, this moment is initially played for laughs, but it also signals a dark shift in tone for the story, with the looming presence of Death being felt throughout the rest of the experience as this surprisingly poignant zombie flick spirals into homicidal madness.
1. The Red Death – The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
The penultimate entry in Roger Corman’s infamous series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, 1964’s The Masque of the Red Death is noteworthy for being a somewhat faithful retelling of three gothic horror yarns at the same time – with one of them not even having been written by Poe! And yet, the film’s final act still features the same visceral terror that made its titular inspiration such a classic in the first place.
Of course, it’s the casting of Vincent Price that makes this such a spooky watch, with the master of horror playing both the decadent Prince Prospero (here portrayed as a Satanist) and the Red Death itself when it finally unmasks in order to punish the prince’s hubris.
It just goes to show that you don’t need fancy special effects to scare audiences when you’ve got Vincent Price on the call sheet!
