Bill Skarsgård has seemingly invested himself in a specific character trend in recent years, by playing the notorious Pennywise in the It movies, as well as Count Orlok in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu. However, out of the two characters, we wonder which Skarsgård villain is actually scarier? Originally starring in various Swedish projects throughout the 2000s, Skarsgård landed a breakout movie in 2017 as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in Andy Muschiett’s It reboot. It launched the actor into international fame, furthering Skarsgård’s fame from 2013’s Hemlock Grove, and since then, Bill Skarsgård has become known for his horror movie roles.

Bill Skarsgård flourished in his role as Pennywise, with the reboot earning $704 million at the box office worldwide, leading to a reprisal in the 2019 sequel. Following It, Bill Skarsgård also played other horror characters in movies like Nosferatu – another box office success, earning $181 million. As a result, the actor has earned himself a reputation for playing strange and inhuman villains that have left an impression on horror audiences. However, with such successful and iconic horror characters like Pennywise and Count Orlock, it does bring to question which of the two Skarsgård villains is the scariest overall.

Pennywise Is Better At Psychological Torture

Count Orlok’s Mind Games Don’t Compare

Pennywise and Count Orlok differ in many ways due to the format of their respective movies. While Orlok thrives on the gothic tones offered in Nosferatu, Pennywise is definitely better at using disturbing moments to deliver horror in It. As a result, Pennywise is much better at psychological torture. Orlok’s mental bond with Ellen is very much at the forefront of Nosferatu, but it’s not really used as a torture method directly, although Ellen and others do fall victim to Orlok’s mind games. On the other hand, Pennywise goes out of his way to specifically disturb his chosen victims.

From using a severed child’s arm to wave at someone, to rescuing a guy from drowning just to eat his heart, Pennywise is brutal. However, the main source of horror in It comes from its real-life story inspirations. Playing on the “uncanny valley” effect, classic childhood fears, “stranger danger,” and even true crime incidents (such as John Wayne Gacy), Pennywise embodies real fears inside the audience, despite its unrealistic events. Furthermore, his ability to morph and cause hallucinations allows for a range of psychological attacks that are often unpredictable. As a result, It masters psychological horror through Skarsgård’s Pennywise.

Count Orlok Is More Vicious

Pennywise Takes His Time To Play With His Food

On the other hand, Bill Skarsgård is definitely more vicious as Count Orlok than as Pennywise. While Pennywise has a flair for the dramatics and uses psychological horror to torture his victims, Orlok simply goes for the kill. In the It movies, there are times that Pennywise could have easily taken out his chosen victims, but instead he takes his time to scare them first. This is because Pennywise thrives on fear. As a vampire, Orlok doesn’t need to terrify anyone to get what he wants – although Bill Skarsgård’s appearance in Nosferatu is certainly scary – he only needs to feed.

Robert Eggers wanted to make vampires scary again in Nosferatu, wanting to undo the impact of Twilight’s sparkling variations, and this was done in the movie by making Orlok into a “scary, smelly corpse,” but also through the vampire’s actions. As an unᴅᴇᴀᴅ and old vampire, Orlok wastes no time in attacking whoever he wants in Nosferatu, brutally biting and killing them. Orlok’s quiet demeanor makes his unprecedented strength absolutely terrifying, and when he is gripped by bloodlust, Skarsgård does a brilliant job at portraying something that is violent and not-quite-human. Compared to Pennywise, Skarsgård’s Orlok is definitely more vicious.

Orlok Has The Higher Kill Count

The Plague Victims Trump Pennywise’s Direct Kills

Out of Bill Skarsgård’s villains, Pennywise and Orlok stand out due to their penchant for murder. In terms of direct kills, It’s Pennywise has a kill count of around 35, which includes the 26 floating bodies in the sewer. While this number is decidedly higher when you add on indirect kills (it’s debatable whether Henry’s killings count), previous versions of Pennywise, and how many unseen victims during the clown’s lifetime, Skarsgård’s only has 35 direct kills. However, while this number is quite high for a small town, Nosferatu may have beaten this horror movie villain’s body count with Orlok’s plague.

In Nosferatu, despite Count Orlok’s demanding presence, he actually has a lower number of direct kills than Pennywise. There are 6 confirmed kills in the 2024 movie, as we see Orlok directly attacking people, like the coffin opener on the ship, and Anna Harding. In comparison, there are 35 confirmed kills by Pennywise, making the clown surprisingly more ᴅᴇᴀᴅly than this unᴅᴇᴀᴅ vampire. However, Orlok also has an unknown number of indirect kills when he purposely brings diseased rats in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu remake via his ship, and the subsequent plague ends up killing many people in the town.

The plague deaths are somewhat debatable, as it can be questioned whether the rats killed them or Orlok himself. However, Orlok’s actions seem to indicate that he used the plague as biological warfare, and so, just like any other weapon, it has to be counted in the kill count. Only a few of the plague victims are seen on-screen – some being tossed overboard on the ship, some in the morgue, and some on the street – yet given the scope of previous plagues, it is fair to say that Orlok accumulated an unknowable total kill count, possibly in the thousands.

Pennywise Is The Better Villain

Orlok Was Great, But Skarsgård’s Pennywise Made A Franchise

With both Nosferatu and It being box office successes, Bill Skarsgård has developed a reputation for playing some of the best horror movie villains of the past decade. Skarsgård’s Pennywise mastered the use of psychological torture on his victims in the It movies, with the remakes offering better visuals due to CGI, and his charming character has strangely become a favorite for horror audiences. On the other hand, contrasting with previous variants like Edward Cullen, Skarsgård’s Orlok brought about a much more grounded vampire revival, delivering horror audiences with an inhuman character that has a scarily high kill streak.

However, although both Orlok and Pennywise offered brilliant performances by Bill Skarsgård, equally earning the actor considerable fame, unfortunately, there can only be one winner. As a result, we believe Pennywise is the better villain overall, as the terrifying clown plays into the psychological horror aspects of real-life childhoods, using charm and unpredictability to kill his victims, and Skarsgård’s unforgettable performance has even created a franchise. Furthermore, Pennywise is considerably harder to kill than Count Orlok, as he is sustained by fear, which is ever present in our lives. Nevertheless, Bill Skarsgård’s portrayal of Orlok in Nosferatu is still good.