When one is ideating horror-related topics for Pride Month, it shouldn’t take too long for the phrase “demon twink” to pop into one’s head. Naturally, it took me three years to come up with this idea. I never said I was a genius. But once it got into my head, I couldn’t get it out. Twinks don’t have a reputation for being imposing or menacing. They’re usually young, slim, etc., and as such can be quickly written off.

But horror villainy is an equal opportunity business, and there are plenty of demon twinks to be had, if you know where to look. Twunks need not apply. So I took the time to do some exhaustive research and break down some of the deadliest skinny boys in the business (ranked by deadliness, of course – their body type is part of the foundation of this discussion but not attached to any sort of value judgment).

Warning: Some of these movies are whodunits, so there will be spoilers.

Top 10 Demon Twinks in Horror

#10 Orphan: First Kill (2022) – Gunnar Albright

Demon twink number 10 is low on the list because he doesn’t actually kill anybody during the events of Orphan: First Kill, but (VERY SPOILER ALERT) the fact that, prior to said events, he murdered his own kid sister and conspired with his mother to cover it up very much earns him a place on this list. That’s demonic as hell.

#9 He Lives by Night (夜驚魂) (1982) – The Stocking Killer

This Hong Kong movie is probably the least well-known of the titles on this list, but it shouldn’t be. Well, it is a touch transphobic, as are so many early post-Psycho slashers, so be warned. But the killer – whose mind snapped because of his cheating wife, leading him to murder women by strangling them with stockings – pulls off a heap of brutal, protracted, often beautiful murders, including one that I would accuse of ripping off Tenebrae if it hadn’t actually come out before the Argento classic.

#8 Terror Train (1980) – Kenny Hampson

Kenny racks up a pretty solid body count for an early 1980s slasher villain, helping 10 people shuffle off this mortal coil. However, the flair that he has for changing costumes is not reflected in the kills, which can be a little samey, landing him a little lower on the list than he maybe should be.

#7 Scream VI (2023) – Ethan Landry

Like all Scream movies, the exact body count that each Ghostface is responsible for in Scream VI is a little unclear. However, given where he is at certain times in the movie, he could have perpetrated at least five of the New York City slayings, which is more than his dad (three, tops) or his sister (who maxes out at four). He’s also pretty clearly the Ghostface behind the notorious ladder scene, which results in one of the most gruesome deaths in the movie. Poor Anika. We hardly knew ye.

#6 Cutting Class (1989) – Brian Woods

See, this demon twink 1980s slasher killer has a more compact body count of 6, but he knows how to have fun with it. He’s out here baking people into kilns and inspiring Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving with a deliciously preposterous trampoline murder.

#5 Angst (1983) – K

K may not have a lot of meat on his bones, but what he does have to offer is an uncontrollable urge to torture and murder people. This bleak, shocking motion picture has a relatively low body count, because it primarily follows him tormenting one isolated family. However, the sheer intensity of what we do see cannot be denied, as is the intensity of the way K does everything in his life, including eating a sausage in what might actually be the most disgusting scene in the movie.

#4 Fade to Black (1980) – Eric Binford

When it comes to a small body count with flair, look no further than Eric Binford, who stages five spectacular murders inspired by classic films, namely Kiss of Death, Dracula, Hopalong Cassidy, The Mummy, and White Heat, all while trying to get with a Marilyn Monroe lookalike. Commitment to a theme will get you far in Pride Month, and we must all pay respect.

#3 Bones and All (2022) – Lee

Lee’s onscreen kill count isn’t especially high, but he gets extra points for style (Slitting a dude’s throat in the middle of a hookup? This demon twink brings the drama) and for canonical cannibal murders that have taken place before the events of the story, including those of his father and babysitter. Plus, Timothée Chalamet is the ur twink of our day, and that is what pushes him so far toward the top of the list.

#2 Children of the Corn (1984) – Malachai

Although he does not figure very much in the opening scenes of the movie when the town’s children turn on the adults, Isaac’s second-in-command makes up for lost time once the main thrust of the story kicks in. In fact, he’s really the only person who commits proper, non-supernatural murders from that point on, and he takes to his job with terrifying gusto.

#1 Halloween Ends (2022) – Corey Cunningham

I know, I know. He’s not technically Michael Myers, and we’re all mad about that. This is something I’ve written extensively about for Horror Press in the past. But he is the primary killer in this movie, like it or not. He’d already get points for the accidental but spectacular murder of that beyond irritating kid he’s babysitting in the opening sequence (which I’ve also written about previously), but he later adds nine bodies to that count, as well as a homoerotic assist for a Michael Myers slaying. And some of those kills are pretty damn gruesome! This is a deadly, demon twink if there ever was one.

Runners-Up: Jesse Walsh from A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Alex from My Soul to Take, Charlie Walker from Scream 4, Arne Johnson from The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and Norman Bates from Psycho IV: The Beginning