It’s spooky season and we’re getting excited for Halloween by rewatching some of our favourite scary movies! And for every frightening film and iconic monster, there’s a brilliant tattoo made to match.

We’ve brought together some of the best horror movie-inspired tattoos from our talented sponsored artists spanning 100 years of horror excellence, from 1922’s Nosferatu to 2022’s Hellraiser remake.

Dimitris Panagopoulos & David Giersch - Love & Death

The Creature is one of literature’s oldest and best known monsters, created first by Mary Shelley and reimagined by James Whale in 1931 as the iconic green-skinned, bolt-necked version. Dimitris Panagopoulos inked his own Frankenstein’s Monster with this black and grey realism piece that’s barely the size of a hand, while David Giersch takes on the monster’s unwitting Bride, immortalised by Elsa Lanchester.

Hugo Feist & Adrian Hidalgo – Home Is Where the Horror Is

Movie monsters vary drastically from the innocent victims of circumstance - like poor Regan here, rendered in full colour realism by Hugo Feist - to evil people that become even more evil after death - much like Freddy Krueger, who smirks out from this super realistic colour tattoo by Adrian Hidalgo.

Inal Bersekov & Void Vitriol - Incorporating Script

For some horror films, it’s the horrifying quotes that we just can’t forget. Inal Bersekov combines the image of Patrick Batemen’s blood-splattered face in black and grey with brilliantly incorporated text from one of Bateman’s many emotional breakdowns. French artist Void Vitriol created this Donnie Darko piece which brings together Frank’s bunny mask, splatters of blood and the haunting phrase, “Have you ever seen a portal?”

Kevin McNamara & Egon Weissberger - Not Quite Horror

Dublin Ink’s Kevin McNamara applied his stencil-stye blackwork skills to Thomas Wake from The Lighthouse in a way that manages to capture the eerie lighting of the film itself playing with the strangeness of Willem Dafoe’s facial features. Egon Weissberger takes on this ugly mother- I mean, Jungle Hunter Predator, which might technically be an action movie but still scares the hell out of plenty!

Mihails Neverovs & Yaiza Rubio - Shut Up, Dummy

Step into the valley of the dolls for these incredible tattoos of horror movie puppets. Mihails Neverovs perfectly captures the inhuman horror of Saw's Billy the Puppet in full colour realism with glinting eyes, while Yaiza Rubio goes for the slightly less well-known Billy the ventriloquist’s doll from Dead Silence.

Amy Edwards & David Corden - Scene Studies

Sometimes the setting of a film is just as important as the monsters themselves. Amy Edwards’ side thigh composition of American Werewolf in London combines the iconic Westminster bridge between two stages of David’s transformation into a werewolf. David Corden uses elements from The Shining in this lower leg tattoo, with a large realistic Jack Torrance framed by Danny on his tricycle and the unsettling lipstick-drawn “REDRUM”.

Alex Wright & Anrijs Straume - Unusual Perspectives

Most of the time when clients ask for a horror movie tattoo, they want something directly taken from the film or poster. Not so in these cases - Alex Wright based this piece on a fan art poster by Jason Edmiston which shows Leatherface reflected in a tearful eye. Anrijs Straume used his dark trash realism style to make an unholy abomination of The Thing’s MacReady with the terrifying Head Spider that crawled off the body of poor deceased Vance Norris – an idea of what might have been.

Chris Ormond & Mirel – Knock on Wood

Chris Ormond’s full chest piece of the horrifying Annabelle extends onto the arms; a black and grey realism piece with red etched-looking text and the ominous rocking chair, taken from a poster for Annabelle Comes Home. Mirel incorporated this realistic Chucky doll into an existing horror leg sleeve, with the little mite peeking creepily out.

Joanne Baker & Matt Daniels - Cartoonified

By turning a serial killer into a cartoon, you make them 27% less scary - it’s just a fact. Joanne Baker managed to make this blood-splattered portrait of Jason Voorhees look almost cute, using watercolour techniques for a totally different purpose. Matt Daniels does a similar effect on this Ghostface tattoo which is clean and cartoonified, with a great blood splatter texture over it.

Joshua Beatson & Paul Vander-Johnson - Horrible Women

Joshua Beatson is no amateur at tattooing Xenomorphs, but in this incredible black and grey full back piece he depicts the horrifying alien in its Chestburster, Facehugger and fully grown forms, faced by Ripley in her space suit. Paul Vander-Johnson took the image of the female-presenting Pinhead from the 2022 Hellraiser movie and created this vibrant and psychedelic leg tattoo incorporating the chains, puzzle box and runes from the movies’ lore.

Kyle Williams & Brad Wallis - Cute but Evil

Gremlins was many of our first introductions to horror with the child-friendly mogwai and our hero, Gizmo! Kyle “Egg” Williams inked this black and grey Gizmo on his client’s shoulder, looking lovingly up at them! Brad Wallis took on the image of muddy, bedraggled Church after his resurrection from the Pet Sematary in the 2019 remake of the iconic 1989 film.

Adem Senturk & Yarson - Classic Horror

Jumping back in time now, with arguably the oldest horror movie monster of all time and certainly the oldest on this list - it’s Nosferatu! Adem Senturk artfully captured this knock-off Dracula with rat-like front teeth, who clearly came before we all decided that vampires are attractive, in dark realism. Yarson took on one of the oldest horror thrillers, 1960’s Psycho, combining the iconic torn text with a horrified Janet Leigh and the dripping shadow of Norman Bates!

Michael Taguet & Ralf Nonnweiler - Blood Lovers

Some men just hunger for blood, and perhaps none is better known than the OG vampire himself, Count Dracula. Michael Taguet immortalised this eerie scene from the 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula, where the shrivelled Gary Oldman Dracula licks Harker’s blood from his razorblade, in full colour realism. Ralf Nonnweiler took this noble portrait of Hannibal Lecter from his prequel appearance in Red Dragon, with a deadly switchblade marked on his face.

Anthony Lennox & Shooby - Clown Paint

Finally, is there anything scarier than a clown? Anthony Lennox created this super vibrant mash-up of IT and Rick and Morty, with Rick as the horrifying Pennywise and a terrified Morty as Georgie with his paper boat. Shooby took on the crass clown from House of 1000 Corpses with this black and grey portrait of Captain Spaulding – living proof you should never trust a clown.

We’ve reached the end of our horror movie tattoo retrospective, and hope you’ve enjoyed the ride through a century of epic horror movies transformed into tattoos!

Share your own horror movie tattoos with us by tagging Killer Ink on Facebook and Instagram, using the hashtags #killerinktattoo and #killerink.

Keep it creepy, and whatever you do, DON’T look under your bed.