Great link! I don't have time to watch all of those, but, wow, some classic, in every sense of the word, TV there, megaloo.

Pretty much everybody I've ever discussed Buffy with (and their name is legion) finds the Gentlemen the scariest Buffyverse bads, big or otherwise, ever.

Chris inVirginia | October 25, 03:06 CET

I'd put them at #2 on my list. The Weeping Angels take first.

kishi | October 25, 04:33 CET

I might put the family from "Home" ahead of the Gentlemen. They scared the crap out of me when I saw that episode. The Weeping Angels are definitely #1 though.

Lady Brick | October 25, 07:14 CET

What creeped me out most in the whole series was the reveal of Prof. Walsh watching Riley and Buffy in his room. *shudder* After that it was those cone-headed, dead-white demons with the remora-mouthes that only appeared for a few seconds in the finale of season five, but stayed afterwards in the credits along with The Gentlemen because they were so scary.

dreamlogic | October 25, 07:47 CET

Weeping Angels?

deird | October 25, 09:06 CET

deird, the Weeping Angels were monsters from this most recent season of Doctor Who. They were number 3 on the list and if you want to read more, there's a link at the bottom of The Gentlemen's entry.

I'm not surprised to see Eugene Tooms on that list. Tooms creeped the snot out of me as a kid. Gyaah. The cocoon.

janeway216 | October 25, 09:21 CET

And like the Gentlemen, the Weeping Angels are coming out as action figures.

Mwahahahahaaaa...

Craig Oxbrow | October 25, 09:25 CET

I've always thought Der Kindestod was the creepiest Buffy character. There's something about a child killing demon which is deeply disturbing.

Simon | October 25, 10:14 CET

Simon, that's the only fictional character I can ever remember having actual nightmares about, thanks to that Buffy episode. I've never rewatched it - it creeped me the fuck out.

gossi | October 25, 11:45 CET

I agree, I was terrified when I saw Der Kindestod for the very first time. He still gives me the creeps.

Ameer | October 25, 11:59 CET

Der Kindestod is definitely extremely disturbing, but The Gentlemen are the creepiest for me because of the context of HUSH--their movements and the music and the fact that no one could scream.

MySerenity | October 25, 18:12 CET

The Peacock Family -- so that's what they are called. I saw that X-Files episode when it first aired and haven't seen it since, yet I remember still how shocking it was. So shocking that I knew a list of Top 10 Scary TV Characters had to include it. As repellent as those murderous, inbred brothers were, I can recall applauding the audacity of the creative team who were clearly having some fun pushing the envelope. What stands out for me, apart from the reveal of the obscene Venus-Di-Milo Mom kept on a creeper under the bed, is the scene in which the brothers drive up to the home of the policeman and his wife. Inappropriately jaunty (yet perfect) Fifties music plays on the soundtrack as the brothers enter the home and make their way to the bedroom. The terrorized wife manages to hide under the bed as the brothers attack her husband. There's a tense moment of silence after the husband dies. Will they find her? Many a conventional show would have played it safe at this point, but not the X-Files. The bed flies up, the woman screams, the brothers fall upon her -- cut to commercial break.

All of this was pre-Joss, yet it prefigured Joss's own boldness in subverting expectations.

1starbuckstown | October 25, 18:13 CET

No for me the creepiest was the skin-eating demon. At least with the Gentlemen, it was over fairly quickly.

barboo | October 25, 21:32 CET

Fact: The only time I remember being terrified by a tv show was during an episode Mr. Rogers.

I must have been scared by other shows--I'm easily scared, and I watched a fair amount of X-Files and such. And yeah, the Gentlemen are plenty creepy. And that kid with the gas mask from first new season Dr. Who--I haven't seen BLINK yet, so I'll stick with that as my creepiest Dr. Who character--But...

But the only thing that stayed with me the way some of those writers describe is a scene in an episode of Mr. Rogers, set in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. They had this coin that, when flipped, turned into a little acrobat doing flips in the air, and then turned back into a coin before landing in the person's hand.

Horrifying, no?

goodwithmath | October 26, 03:41 CET

People, have you forgotten when Joyce was promoting the "Moo" movement? Now, that was terrifying.

Madhatter | October 26, 04:33 CET

All the talk of Der Kindestod reminds me that I've never actually made it through "Killed By Death" in one sitting. Hmph.

The Dark Shape | October 26, 04:43 CET

I liked the list. Glad to see Tooms and the Peacocks there.
From Buffy, besides the Gentlemen, like everyone else,I immediately thought of Der Kindestod, but also of Gnarl from season 7.
But how does a list like this not have Victoria from "Dark Shadows"(author too young?), or Pennywise the dancing clown? Tim Curry as Penywise ("It" part 1, anyway) would be my #1 choice.

Anna von Ovonov | October 26, 05:37 CET

Good gravy, I'd forgotten about Tim Curry as Pennywise. >>>Shudder<<< He had that nightmare-inducing smile that grew into that horrible gaping maw ... to this day I cannot watch Tim Curry in anything.

LaFeeVerte | October 26, 07:13 CET

I had a similar X-files experience to the author - except that I happened to be alone in an airport hotel due to an overbooked flight, and with not a whole lot to do and nowhere to go I figured I'd watch a little television. And I'd heard so much good stuff about X-files and it happened to be on that night. Omigod. It was the episode about an Indian mystic who burrows into people. Beginning with a traveler alone in an airport hotel room. (Did I mention I was alone at the time?) About a quarter of an hour into it I realized that this was NOT a good idea but I was so terrified that I was afraid to stop watching, thinking if I didn't know how it ended I'd be worse off.

I actually slept that night with the lights on, something I don't think I've ever done as an adult otherwise.

barboo | October 26, 18:32 CET