Stephen King has many novels, novellas, and short stories in his vault, from deeply vivid and memorable epics to narratives that inspired Academy Award-winning movies. One of the hallmarks of his writing is his ability to create truly memorable villains, whether they’re human or creatures from another world.

King makes great villains because he makes most of them sympathetic, no matter how vile their motives or their actions. “Even bad guys (most of them anyway) see themselves as good — they are the heroes of their own lives. Giving them a fair chance as characters can create some interesting shades of gray — and shades of gray are also a part of life,” he told Writer’s Digest in 2009.

Halloween is almost here. And Amazon’s Carrie adaptation just got renewed for season 2. So to celebrate, here’s our official ranking of Stephen King's 10 best villains of all time.

In Salem’s Lot, King got to work with one of the oldest conventions in horror: the vampire. Still, despite the framing, the novel feels like King through and through, following novelist Ben Mears as he returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine, to write about the Marsten House, a haunted place that’s the source of one of his great childhood fears. He discovers that a strange man named Kurt Barlow has moved into the place. Barlow is a vampire posing as an antique buyer, who’s been slowly and steadily preying on the town’s residents and converting them. King modeled Barlow after traditional vampire figures like Dracula, making him distant and chilling, with a dispassionate approach to killing.

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