Content Warning: This article contains a discussion of sensitive themes and controversial imagery.
Currently in its tenth season, American Horror Story has been haunting viewers with a wide variety of villains since it first debuted for just about a decade. These antagonists aren't just scary for their physical appearances, but also the twisted emotions they express. From killer clowns to demons and witches, these villainous characters are drawn from real-life cases, myths, and folklore.
The horror genre is oversaturated with formulaic beasts and killers, but American Horror Story's villains offer some fresher scares. However, it is the combination of both real and imagined fears that these characters embody that would ultimately determine who is the scariest.
Murder House: Tate Langdon/Rubber Man
Tate Langdon was introduced in the first season as a tormented teenager who perpetrated a mass shooting in his school. After being shot down by a SWAT team, Langdon became a Murder House ghost in the afterlife
As it is, regular American Horror Story cast member Evan Peters' steely gaze can be unsettling for viewers. Traumatized by his homicidal mother and mentally unstable siblings, Tate represses his emotions and lets them come out in acts of rage. Even scarier than his human persona is, of course, his presence as the Rubber Man, a figure dressed in black latex who dehumanizes his victims in unsettling ways. The gruesome murder of Vivian Harmon at his hands is one such disturbing scene.
Asylum: Dr. Oliver Thredson/Bloody Face
Dr. Oliver Thredson appears as a kind and courteous gentleman who happens to be hiding some hideous secrets. The audience's suspicions come true when they find out that Thredson is indeed the killer known as Bloody Face.
Bloody Face gets this notorious sobriquet because of his habit of skinning people and wearing their faces as masks. As if that weren't enough, he can also turn their skin into furniture items, as is evident from a 'skull cup' and a 'skin lamp.' Zachary Quinto's calm composure brings an eerie chillness to a character who doesn't just instantly kill his victims, instead torturing them with a slow death. His intentions can be creepy in unexpected ways, such as the time he decided to hold Lana hostage and breastfeed from her.
Coven: Delphine LaLaurie
Based on a real-life socialite, Delphine LaLauri enslaves and tortures civilians in the 19th century for her own vile motives. She not only experiments on them, but she also dissects their bodies to use their organs for beauty products.
A veteran of many Misery. In this third season, she yet again brings a murderous attitude disguised by warm smiles. The very fact that the character of Delphine is based on an actual person makes her story all the more terrifying.
Freak Show: Twisty The Clown
Killers with a generic clown mask are already bound to scare many viewers. Imagine a clown wearing a prosthetic mask to hide a jaw that he shot off, and things become all the more terrifying.
His mask and crimes aside, the backstory of this scary killer clown is equally disturbing. After being falsely accused of molesting children, Twisty left his circus and attempted to shoot himself after his mother's death. Despite disfiguring his jaw, he kept on living as a serial killer. He goes on abducting children, feeling that they will be safer with him than their parents. His delusional personality and hideous mask easily make him one of the scariest killer clowns in pop culture.
Hotel: The Addiction Demon
The so-called 'Addiction Demon' shows up randomly in the titular Hotel of the fifth season. The parasitic creature was brought into existence by the many drug addicts of Hotel Cortez. Sporting a veiny, pale appearance, he goes about preying on various guests of the hotel in order to survive.
The random and unclear nature behind the Demon's creation is what makes this villain really ominous. One of the most physically and mentally disgusting characters of the show, one can't even see its eyes and mouth, which are covered with a greasy layer of a wax-like substance.
Roanoke: The Butcher
American Horror Story Roanoke's primary female antagonist is known as The Butcher. Living up to her name, she wields a butcher knife and massacres anyone and everyone that comes in her way.
From her wide-toothed grin to her diseased flesh, The Butcher is disgustingly evil and shows no remorse in her acts of brutality. She is a unique ghost in the sense that she's the first one to display full-fledged supernatural powers. Using pyrokinesis, transmutation, and invisibility, The Butcher can contribute to many a jump scare in this season. The nature of her murders is also equally spine-chilling, as she's shown to roast a man alive and crush a girl's skull.
Cult: Kai Anderson
Once an internet troll, the blue-haired Kai Anderson becomes a cult leader ordering a bunch of clown mask-wearing killers to wreak havoc.
Evan Peters adds flamboyant energy to Kai, turning him into an unpredictable sociopath. But, what's scary is the believable nature of his actions; as the season is set in the context of the American presidential elections, Kai makes use of the social tensions around them and plays around people's anger. The result is his self-styled regime of racism, violence, and absolute mayhem. The possibility of an actual Internet influencer causing such large-scale trouble is concerning, to say the least.
Apocalypse: Michael Langdon
Michael Langdon might be one of the most evil characters on American Horror Story debuting in the first season. Still, it is in Apocalypse when it is revealed that Langdon is indeed the son of The Devil himself.
Born out of Rubber Man and Vivien Harmon's disturbing relationship, Langdon looks harmless with his handsome face and long, wavy hair. But, his sheer powers and ambitions to end the world are what make him scary. Unlike other villains on this list, Langdon isn't scary at first sight. His skills to deceive people add to the danger he poses, as nobody would even suspect him to be the Antichrist.
1984: Margaret Booth
A seemingly harmless-looking woman, Margaret Booth turns out to be the main villain of the ninth season. Pretending to be the survivor of a camp massacre, Booth proves to be a psychological killer who doesn't really have much of an intention behind the violence that she unleashes on innocent campers.
Her unexpected train of thought and energetic nature makes her more intimidating and keeps viewers at the edge of their seat. The shock that comes with her reveals as the killer contributes to her chilling presence. She also ardently worships Satan, and her extreme religious fanaticism might explain the bloody massacre that she orchestrates.