Freddy Krueger

Robert Englund turned Wes Craven's burned dream stalker into horror's first true rock star. Freddy doesn't just kill teenagers — he roasts them with one-liners while doing it. The fedora, the striped sweater, the glove with razor fingers — every element is instantly recognizable to people who've never seen a single Nightmare on Elm Street film. He hosted TV shows, appeared in music videos, and had his own 1-900 number. No horror villain has ever been simultaneously this funny and this terrifying.