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12 Rock Stars As Horror Villains

12 rock stars as horror villains, costumed and masked for your entertainment, just in time for Halloween. But how did we do it? Say hello to Craiyon. From the website:…

Eddie Vedder as Freddy Krueger

12 rock stars as horror villains, costumed and masked for your entertainment, just in time for Halloween. But how did we do it?

Say hello to Craiyon. From the website: "Craiyon, formerly DALL·E mini, is an AI model that can draw images from any text prompt!" You might remember earlier in 2022 when the site was making the rounds on social media in its DALL·E mini form. The best AI mashups came from users taking a famous person and putting them into an unlikely scenario. Here, I'll throw together a quick one by way of example: Tom Brady kissing cereal. Crazy, right? Tom Brady would NEVER kiss cereal! He'd never put cereal anywhere near his mouth!

I've been trying for months to find an angle to use this wonderful website for dubious purposes on ROCK 92.9. I toyed around with having different front men and women leading different bands, or having ROCK artists collaborate with artists from the pop or country world. But none of the images I was able to generate were worth sharing. Then October rolled around. Spooky season was upon me, and I was in the spirit. I put together this 12-Inch Poll about the greatest horror movie villains, and that's when inspiration struck.

12 Rock Stars As Horror Villains

Why not use Craiyon to turn some of our favorite rockers into some of the scariest villains to ever hit the screen? So I got to work, and here we are. Iconic front men and women in AI costume, parading around as iconic characters from horror films. As you'll see, some came out hilariously perfect, while others missed the mark. But that's AI for you. Still, even the not-so-good ones are still pretty good. I think I cast Joan Jett pretty well as the Hell Priest. Take a look for yourself.

The Greatest Horror Movie Villains: Choose Your Killer

The greatest horror movie villains are creeping around this week's 12-Inch Poll. Try not to get too scared, OK?

I've been a horror fan for as long as I remember. I blame the Creature Double Feature on WLVI-TV 56. Every Saturday afternoon when I was a kid, my mom would bring me and my brother to my Nana Jean's house to visit. Of course, the "visit" was mainly my mom and her mom catching up in the kitchen while I was catching what was on TV. And thanks to my Uncle Michael, what was on TV was the Creature Double Feature: back-to-back horror movies on Channel 56.

Back in those days, the horror movies they'd broadcast usually fell into two camps. There were the black-and-white classics like Dracula, The Wolf Man, Them!, and the like. Then there were sci-fi flavored flicks like Phase IV, The War of the Gargantuas, and Squirm. The sci-fi ones were hit-or-miss. The classics were what I loved the most. So much so, that I'd spend hours pouring through the stacks at the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library in my hometown of Wakefield reading all I could read about vampires and monsters--both real-life and on the screen.

I still love those classics, but I'm leaving them on the shelf for this week's Poll.

The Greatest Horror Movie Villains: Choose Your Killer

Usually, I'd give you a list of 12 (because I'm Adam 12), but this week it's a list of 13 for the Poll. And these unlucky 13 are widely regarded as the scariest horror movie villains in all of cinema. They slice, they dice, they torture, they terrify. But you only get to choose one as the greatest. So take a look at the list, cast your vote, and sleep with the light on tonight.

Oh, and to clarify: you're voting for the villain, not the film. I just pulled a movie poster for each one to jog your memory. And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that Jason isn't the one doing the killing in the original Friday the 13th. Please do not focus on this. Just choose your villain and vote. Thank you.

Candyman - Candyman (1992)

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Candyman has a uniquely rich history and backstory, which makes him a compelling villain.


Chucky - Child's Play (1988)

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The sheer ridiculousness of the murder doll has entertained horror fans for generations now.


Freddy Kreuger - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

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Arguably the best one-liners of any horror villain ever. And anyone who gives him a run for his money is just ripping him off anyway.


Ghostface - Scream (1996)

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Can we say Ghostface is the defining Millennial horror icon? Sure, 'Scream' debuted in the '90s. But this was a lot of Gen Y kids first brush with horror.


Hannibal Lecter - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

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There's just something more terrifying about a horror villain who is real-life and not supernatural.


Jason Voorhees - Friday the 13th (1980)

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Again, mom gets the credit for the kills in the first film. But it's her son that carries the torch and, in doing so, redefines slasher films.


Jigsaw - Saw (2004)

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Like Lecter, John Kramer is a real-life terror. Which makes him all the more terrifying.


Leatherface - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

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It's a family affair, to be sure. But Leatherface is the one with the chainsaw.


Michael Myers - Halloween (1978)

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A real boy? A supernatural form referred to as 'The Shape?' Either way, Myers is horror incarnate.


Norman Bates - Psycho (1960)

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There's something to be said about unpredictability in horror. Not knowing when to be scared or in what way you'll be scared is, in a way, scarier.


Pennywise - It (2017)

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If you're a Constant Reader, you know "It" can take any form. So, whatever scares you the most. That counts for something.


Pinhead - Hellraiser (1987)

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Shout-outs to all the Cenobites, but Pinhead is the ringleader so they get the marquee.


Samara - The Ring (2002)

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Poor Samara caught a bad one. And because of that, we're all scared to death.

Eddie Vedder as Freddy Krueger

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Joan Jett as Pinhead

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Steven Tyler as Ghostface

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Layne Staley as Jason Voorhees

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Vince Neil as Chucky

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Robert Plant as Leatherface

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Chris Cornell as Michael Myers

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Ozzy Osbourne as Pennywise

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Phil Lynott as Candyman

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Kurt Cobain as Norman Bates

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Ronnie James Dio as Hannibal Lecter

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Ann Wilson as Samara from The Ring

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adam12Writer
Adam 12 is the Program Director of Boston's ROCK 92.9, heard weekdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. He's been flexing his encyclopedic rock knowledge in New England for over 2 decades, both on-air and online, at WBCN, WFNX, Boston.com, and indie617. At ROCK 92.9, he keeps you in the know on the big stories from the Boston music scene and writes about great places to eat, drink (beer), and to spend time outdoors in and around Boston.