The first horror movies were based on mythology and folklore - cautionary tales designed to mold young minds into making wise choices. If they didn’t, they were sure to encounter a gruesome creature that would make them wish they’d learned the fable’s lesson. Over the decades since these stories have been interpreted with a visual medium, horror films have evolved, inventing their own mythology with creatures like Freddy Krueger and Pinhead.
While visual effects have only gotten better at making myths into reality, ancient fears still turn out to be the best sources directors and writers can turn to when they want to keep audiences up all night. Beginning in the ’20s and ’30s with Nosferatu and Frankenstein’s Monster, the manner of storytelling may change, but the nature of the evil does not, ensuring that folklore and myth will always provide a bounty of scares. Here are the 10 best horror movie monsters based on real mythology.
DULLAHAN (THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN)
While Washington Irving’s short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow may have made the Headless Horseman a frightening monster for Americans, the legend actually comes from the Emerald Isle. Tim Burton used the Headless Horseman as the main villain for his gothic horror film Sleepy Hollow, as a black clad rider on a black horse,who comes from the depths of Hell under the command of whomever has taken his head.
When the Dullahan goes out to ride, it’s to claim the soul of some poor victim, and when he stops riding and calls out their name, legend has it they drop dead where they are. He’s said to have skin like moldy cheese, stink like rotting corpses, and use a spinal cord as a whip, a detail we’re surprised Burton didn’t include.
HOMUNCULI (TOOTH FAIRIES)
The homunculi may not be very big, but they’re fast, and there’s a lot more of them than there are of you. They’re the main villains in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, which focuses on a curious little girl named Sally who resents the fact that her mother shipped her off to live with her father and his new girlfriend in a huge stuffy house.
While exploring the 19th century manor, Sally accidentally stumbles across a hidden basement, where the evil little creatures lie in wait. They lure Sally to her doom with promises of being friends, when in reality, they want to rip her apart. They’re ancient demons that initially fed on children’s teeth, until they wanted something more substantial. They are “tooth fairies” you hope you never see.
THE PALE MAN (CYCLOPS)
Guillermo Del Toro is not only one of the most innovative directors of his generation, he also possesses one of the most imaginative minds for creature creation. Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the most fantastical examples of his mind put to work, with the Pale Man being one of his most iconic monsters.
The Pale Man takes inspiration from stigmata, Goya paintings, and Cyclops. Cyclops were terrifying creatures in Greek mythology, sometimes depicted as men or giants, but always having one large eye in the middle of their forehead. They often appear in a Greek myth when the hero (or in Pan’s Labyrinth, the heroine) must pass an important test.
LEPRECHAUN (DEMON/FAIRY OFFSPRING)
According to Irish mythology, leprechauns are the offspring of demons and fairies. They’re mischievous creatures that horde gold, and love to play practical jokes on unwitting humans who search for their treasure troves. They can occasionally be friendly and grant humans wishes, but often times humans’ own greed proves their undoing when they ask for too much.
Warwick Davis starred in the entire Leprechaun film series until it was rebooted in 2014, about a particularly evil leprechaun that didn’t just play pranks on people - he murdered them. His portrayal was equal parts terrifying and hilarious.
MODER (SLEIPNIR)
When four friends go on a hike in the Scandinavian wilderness to honor their dead friend, their spiritual journey takes a dark turn. The forest is governed by an ancient entity, worshiped by a local cult, who expects obedience or death. The Creature is known as Moder, one of the Jötunn (Norse gods), and is said to be the “bastard offspring of Loki”.
In the film, Moder grants its worshipers long lives, free of pain and pestilence. It requires ritual sacrifices to be appeased. The friends don’t heed The Creature’s wishes and try to leave the forest of their own volition, and that’s when they learn to not piss off mythological beings. The Creature is partially base don Sleipnir, the equine creature ridden by Odin.
DAGON (DOGON)
When a young man goes vacationing with his wife and friends, trouble off the coast of Spain forces the group to seek refuge in the small fishing village of Imboca. He becomes plagued by a series of dreams involving a beautiful mermaid, and soon after fantasy and reality merge into a horrifying existence involving half human, half fish people.
An old drunkard explains to the man that when the town fell on hard times, they cast aside their faith and praised Dogon, an ancient Mesopotamian fertility god who brought them wealth and abundance. Dagon follows the attempts of the group to flee the town before the sinister deity and his followers can make them their blood sacrifice.
FRANKENSTEIN (THE GOLEM)
There have been many different cinematic incarnations of Frankenstein’s Monster, the behemoth cobbled together from different corpses by Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The earliest starring Boris Karloff from 1931 remains to this day one of the most chilling.
The entity of the monster has shown up in ancient Hebraic mythology, where it is known as The Golem. It’s created from inanimate matter then brought to life by its creator, usually for a vengeful purpose involving terrorizing those that would oppose them in some way.
SLUAGH (FAERIES)
When a family moves to a remote house at the edge of a wood, their idyllic life is shattered by the supernatural guests that inhabit their surroundings. Faeries lurk in the wood, and not the cute pixies and garden sprites that you’re hoping for - the true, foul creatures that abduct children.
The faeries won’t disappear just because you don’t believe in them, and they most accurately resemble the sluagh, ghastly immortal creatures that reside in the realm between the dead and the living. The family must consult The Book of Invasions, a real Irish tome that codifies all manner of mythical creatures and how to exorcise them.
LA LLORONA (THE WEEPING WOMAN)
The character of “the weeping woman” can be found in many mythologies, taken from depictions of Medusa to The Woman In Black. She represents a female figure consumed by grief and rage, often responsible for the death of her children and rejection from the afterlife.
In The Curse of La Llorona, a mother discovers her husband is cheating on her, and in a blind rage she murders her children. Unable to live with what she’s done, she commits suicide, but is denied entry into the afterlife. She’s cursed to roam the Earth a vengeful spirit, taking out her rage and sorrow on other mothers and their offspring.
COUNT ORLOK (COUNT DRACULA/VAMPYR)
Though there have been over 200 different cinematic depictions of Count Dracula, Count Orlok in Nosferatu remains one of the most chilling and effective. The silent film, released in 1929 features Max Schreck as the famous Count, whose vampiric appearance has much more in common with the blood-sucking creatures of European legend than the charming aristocrat of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Stoker is credited with “writing” the screenplay for the film, as the story so closely follows the events of his novel. Count Orlok contracts the services of Thomas Hutter (a character similar to Jonathan Harker) to help him by a house, all the while planning to seduce Hutter’s wife Ellen and drink her blood.
