Michael Myers (Halloween)
Michael Myers is the central antagonist of the Halloween franchise. At six years old he was admitted into a psychiatric hospital because he murdered his sister, Judith Myers. After 15 years of being held he broke out from his psychiatric prison and hunted down the rest of his family in order to kill them. He fits into the category of the "masked killer" as he is seen wearing a mask that is meant to be the face of Captain Kirk from the Star Trek franchise. Physically he is a massive specimen of a man. He seems to posses superhuman strength, given that he is able to survive injuries that would otherwise result in death; such as being shot, stabbed, electrocuted and burned. He is never depicted as speaking through the films(at least in the original films), although this is intentional. He is notable for being the killer in what is seen as the first true slasher film, thus making him, effectively, the first slasher killer.
Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm street)
Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is the main antagonist for the Nightmare on Elm street franchise. When alive he was known as the "Springwood slasher', he was eventually hunted down and killed by parents of the children of Springwood( his victims), after he was released from police custody due to a technicality. They chased him to a shack where he once worked and burned him alive, responsible for his burnt appearance. Rather than dying he was offered to become a Dream Demon, where he gained the ability to enter his victims dreams and kill them. The victims would be killed in the "Dream world" but the effects of their death would be visible to those in the real world. Fredy's signature weapon is a glove with knives for fingers, which he is seen many times killing with. However he doesn't use the glove exclusively, being in the Dream world he is able to use creative methods to murder his victims.
Jason Vorhees(Friday the 13th)
Jason Vorhees is the main antagonist of the Friday the 13th franchise. As a child Jason was bullied as a child for being physically deformed and eventually drowned in Crystal lake whilst trying to escape the other children. This abides by the convention of a tragic backstory for the villain. Jason isn't actually the killer in the first Friday the 13th film, that position is held by his mother Pamela Vorhees, who is set on killing the councillors of camp Crystal lake for letting Jason drown. However it turns out that Jason didn't drown and now he haunts camp Crystal lake killing the campers to avenge his mother, after she was killed by Alice in the first film. Jason is an unstoppable killing machine, surviving many things that should have killed him. Things such as, bullets, impalement, limbs being cut off, being frozen and electrocuted. He even manages to take down Freddy Krueger in the crossover film, Freddy vs Jason. His signature weapon is the machete, however if he doesn't have it, he'll always find a way of disposing of his victims. Another iconic part of his character is his iconic hockey mask, placing him in the category of the masked killer.
Ghostface (Scream)
Ghostface is a fictional persona adopted by several killers in the scream franchise. In the first him Ghostface is two actually two people (a twist in the usual formula for a slasher film), they are Billy Loomis and Stu Macher. Billy was the mastermind behind the Woodsburrow murders whereas Stu was the more physical of the two, not to say Billy didn't kill as well. The plotted to kill Sydney Prescott because her mother(who they also killed) had an affair with Billy's mother which resulted in the divorce of Billy's parents. Inspired by horror films, these two were clearly crazy. They were eventually killed when Sydney pushed a tv on Stu's face- electrocuting him and Gale Weathers shoots Billy, only to come back for one final scare, resulting in Sydney putting a bullet in his forehead.
In the second film, the persona is adopted by Billy's mother and Mickey. The third film see's Sydney's half brother Roman become the masked killer. Scream 4 features Sydney's cousin Jill and her friend Charlie. All of whom perish by the end of their respective films, which usually isn't the case for a slasher film. The name "Ghostface" was coined by the fact that his costume does indeed have a ghosts face, other than the iconic mask the killer also dons a large balck cloak.
Leatherface (Texas chainsaw massacre)
Leatherface is the main antagonist of the Texas chainsaw massacre. This handicapped/disturbed killer wears a mask made out of human skin, hence his name. The character is loosely based off of real life American serial killer Ed Gein who also skinned his victims and made their skin into clothes. The weapon most associated with is his iron chainsaw, but is also sometimes seen with a sledgehammer. The films do not portray him as ,necessarily evil but more simple and not out to kill out of viciousness. He just does what his family tells him to do. Some even believe he kills out of fear and is only scared of all of the new people who enter his house. The victims of leather face are barbecued and processed into chili which his father sells at the local gas station. Leatherface never speaks but makes grunt noises, making him different to several other slasher killes like Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees.
Chucky(Child's play)
Chucky is a killer doll that is the main antagonist in the Child's play franchise. Despite being only a small doll Chucky has the strength of a full grown man. Criminal Charles Lee Ray was pursued into a toy store and using his voodoo amulet he is able to transfer his soul into a good guy doll. The idea of a doll in a horror film isn't exactly the most unique thing, however Chucky is different as he is a more physical killer compared to the supernatural dolls, such as Annabelle, who are more supernatural. The only way to kill Chucky is to shoot him through the heart, showing he can be killed.
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