This is a topic that is so profound, so timely, I felt I had to chime in. Lauren’s list is great, impressive. She’s recognized some horror headgear I wouldn’t have thought of. But there’s more. Let’s not forget…
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- Ardeth Bey/Imhotep from The Mummy
- Doctor Wilfred Glendon from Werewolf of London
- Mr. Hyde from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- Mr. Dark from Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Count Dracula from Dracula
- Count Dracula from House of Dracula
- Count Orlok from Nosferatu
- Torgo from Manos: The Hands of Fate
- Alex Marsh from Hand of Death
- Prof. Henry Jarrod from House of Wax
- Ranger Asmodeus from Equinox
- The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera
- Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Murder Legendre from White Zombie
- Nightmare Werewolf from American Werewolf in London
- Dr. Fu Manchu in the Fu Manchu Franchise
- Sheriff Gus Gilbert from Pet Sematary II
- Zé do Caixão AKA Coffin Joe from Jose Mojica Marins’ Films
- Vote for Your Favorite Horror Hat
- Missing Someone…?
Ardeth Bey/Imhotep from The Mummy
Boris Karloff in the original The Mummy. Boris was the resurrected mummy, wearing a frightening fez.
Doctor Wilfred Glendon from Werewolf of London
Henry Hull as the Werewolf of London, prowling the back alleys in a pulled down cap.
Mr. Hyde from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Doctor Jekyll’s alter ego, Mister Hyde, in most film versions is rocking the black top hat. Pictured: the 1931 Mr. Hyde portrayed by Fredric March.
Mr. Dark from Something Wicked This Way Comes
In Something Wicked This Way Comes, demonic circus owner Mister Dark wears a black top hat, and wears it well.
Count Dracula from Dracula
Bela Lugosi walking the streets of London in the original Dracula, wearing yet another top hat.
Count Dracula from House of Dracula
John Carradine also wore one when he played Dracula.
Count Orlok from Nosferatu
In the real original movie Dracula — the German silent Nosferatu — the Count wore a hat called a doppi. A silly sounding name for such an awesome hat.
(Editor’s Note: “doppi” is pronounced like “dopey” in English according to Google Translate. -Lauren)
Torgo from Manos: The Hands of Fate
Manos: The Hands of Fate is a Mystery Science Theater 3000 favorite, and has “the Master’s” servant Torgo sporting goat legs (or big knees) and a large sombrero-looking hat. Perfect for his character.
Alex Marsh from Hand of Death
John Agar as Alex Marsh in Hand of Death resembles the Thing from Fantastic Four comic books, and wears a fedora hat with his trench coat.
Prof. Henry Jarrod from House of Wax
Vincent Price in House of Wax looks like Freddy Kruger’s brother and wears a jumbo version of a similar style hat.
Ranger Asmodeus from Equinox
In the movie Equinox, the main man demon is disguised as a park ranger, and wears the standard ranger hat.
The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera
In the silent version of Phantom of the Opera, Lon Chaney wears a Red Death costume with a skull mask and an enormous fancy hat.
Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo gets some royal headgear when he’s crowned “King of Fools” by the party people.
Murder Legendre from White Zombie
Bela Lugosi (again) has a wide brimmed scary hat in the movie White Zombie.
Nightmare Werewolf from American Werewolf in London
American Werewolf in London has a nightmare pack of Nazi werewolves, and one has a WW2 German helmet. (I think helmets are a type of hat. Am I right or wrong?)
Dr. Fu Manchu in the Fu Manchu Franchise
Christopher Lee, in five Fu Manchu movies wore what looks like a Chinese pillbox hat. Not exactly monster movies, but hey, it’s Christopher Lee!
Sheriff Gus Gilbert from Pet Sematary II
Clancy Brown as Sheriff Gus Gilbert in Pet Sematary II wore the lawman’s style hat and made it scary.
Zé do Caixão AKA Coffin Joe from Jose Mojica Marins’ Films
Lastly, Brazilian filmmaker Jose Mojica Marins, plays Coffin Joe in some truly weird movies and always wears an evil top hat.
I want to thank Lauren Spear for giving me and the rest of us a chance to weigh in on this important subject.
Vote for Your Favorite Horror Hat
THIS POLL HAS ENDED!
We’ve tallied the votes!
The winner is… Freddy Krueger!!
Second place was a tie between Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and The Phantom. Third place was a tie between Rose the Hat and Leprechaun. Fourth place as a tie between the Wicked Witch of the West and Art the Clown (which I thought was funny because their hats are polar opposites! Tall & pointy vs. tiny & rounded).
Fifth place was, appropriately, a five-way tie between Mr. Hyde, Mr. Dark, The Creeper, The Invisible Man, and Dracula (Gary Oldman). And sixth place was a tie between Ardeth Bay/Imhotep, Mr. Krabs/Sheriff Gus Gilbert, Prof. Henry Jarrod, Bubba Ho-Tep, and Puppet Blade. All the other candidates got zero votes.
Thank you to everyone who voted from September 2023 – September 2024! Happy Fall Hat Month and CONGRATULATIONS to Freddy Krueger for winning BEST HORROR VILLAIN HAT!!
Did you enjoy this? Should we run another poll in the future? Let us know!
Missing Someone…?
There were 20 more hat-wearing horror villains featured in Part One of this series! To vote for characters like Freddy Kreuger, Rose the Hat, Art the Clown, the Invisible Man, or 16 other awesome choices check out Part One!
We’re keeping the polls open until September 2024/Fall Hat Month 2024 and then we’ll collect the votes from both polls to determine which hat-wearing horror favorite truly has the BEST hat!!
Images were purchased via MovieStillsCB and CineMaterial.
This post was updated on September 2, 2024 to close the polls and show the final results.
