Best Skeletons In Movies

Key Takeaways

• Famous skeletons in movies have been captivating audiences for decades, from the stop-motion skeleton army in Jason and the Argonauts to the cursed skeleton crew in Pirates of the Caribbean.
• Skeleton characters often steal the show with their memorable presence, whether they are protagonists or villains.
• Skeletons in movies come in various forms, from animated characters like Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas to terrifying sci-fi robots like the T-800 in the Terminator franchise.

Skeletons appear in all kinds of movies, from stop-motion beginnings in classics like Jason and the Argonauts to bad-to-the-bone villains such as in action-adventure or superhero genres. However, skeletons aren’t always morally bad, with some characters following the path to redemption as heroes or those intending to do good deeds in a misguided way. Either way, they are often just plain cool with a fantastic and memorable on-screen presence.

Skeletons are often movie protagonists or in primary casting roles, with many creative and sometimes even futuristic depictions of the typical human skeleton form. However, some movie skeletons are undeniably more memorable and iconic than others.

Updated October 25, 2024 by Gemma Johnson: Famous skeletons in movies have grabbed audiences’ attention for decades, from the days of early cinema and stop-motion animation to modern CGI technology today. Many of the most famous skeletons on-screen also appear across various facets of the morality spectrum, from funny skeletons to evil villains and everything in between. Some of the most memorable movies with skeletons also include those from other areas of pop culture, like video games, as well as characters that play supporting roles as well as protagonists.

Skeletons in movies also don’t have to be spooky or scary and can provide audiences with memorable moments for many reasons. Whether it’s a laugh-out-loud moment or pulling on an audience’s heartstrings, skeletons on-screen have made their presence known throughout history. In no particular order, this list updates the existing entries and adds two new entries.

1 Dry Bones

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Movie Appearances:

• The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Dry Bones is an iconic supporting character from Nintendo’s Super Mario franchise and is a skeletal variant from Bowser’s Koopa Troopas. Already iconic in video games, Dry Bones appeared in 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where Luigi is chased by a swarm of Dry Bones enemies in the Dark Lands. The movie makes its Dry Bones antagonists super creepy, appearing as skeletons with yellow eyes that switch to bright red in a second, bust out of the ground, and relentlessly chase a terrified Luigi.

The movie’s stunning visuals bring these famous skeletons to life brilliantly in a humorous scene that also has some fun nods to the way players defeat them in classic Super Mario video games. For instance, Luigi accidentally shatters one to pieces when bumping into a tree, only for it to resurrect moments later. Dry Bones also appeared in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon and the Super Mario World TV series.

2 Skeleton Characters In Corpse Bride

Corpse Bride

Movie Appearances:

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride follows protagonist Victor Van Dort, who must choose between two brides, one of the living and another of the dead. It features numerous skeleton characters, including Victor’s deceased dog named Scraps, the singing Bonejangles, and Grandfather Everglot, to name a few examples. Like The Nightmare Before Christmas, 2005’s Corpse Bride contains perhaps some of the most famous skeletons on screen in Burton’s renowned stop-animation and musical style, as well as a host of vocal talents like Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, and more.

One stand-out moment is Bonejangles’ ‘Remains of the Day’ song in the Land of the Dead, which tells corpse bride Emily’s tragic tale. This jazzy musical scene showcases many skeletons alongside the widely beloved reanimated corpse of Emily herself.

3 Skeleton Army

Jason And The Argonauts

Movie Appearances:

• Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

One of the most iconic and famous skeletons in movies that may come to mind for many audiences is the skeleton army in Don Chaffey’s 1963 movie Jason and the Argonauts. In the movie, King Aeëtes summons a group of skeleton warriors to fight Jason and his companions. The skeletons are cleverly brought to life on screen using stop-motion animation.

The pre-battle tension builds as seven skeletons individually burst from the ground in battle-ready form with swords and shields, moving with genuinely creepy impact for their time, building up to a terrifying scream before an iconic and entertaining fight scene.

4 Horned King

Disney’s The Black Cauldron

Movie Appearances:

• The Black Cauldron (1985)
• Once Upon A Halloween (2005)

The Horned King is the primary antagonist of the 1985 animated movie The Black Cauldron, which tells the story of a young man named Taran tasked with protecting a magical pig from the evil Horned King, who seeks the location of the Black Cauldron to summon an army of immortals.

Although The Black Cauldron is one of Disney’s less popular and perhaps less widely known movies, the famous skeleton character of the Horned King is perhaps more known as one of Disney’s most ruthless and evil animated villains and altogether, gruesome-looking characters, stopping at nothing to get the Cauldron by any means necessary.

5 Walter Donovan

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

Movie appearances:

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Played by actor Julian Glover, Walter Donovan is the main villain in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as a character who seeks the Holy Grail, one of the most powerful Indiana Jones artifacts. Towards the end of the movie in the Grail temple, Donovan famously drinks from the wrong cup, causing him to temporarily turn into a skeleton as the mysterious cup ages him into a fast and early death, with his bones soon shattering to dust.

As one of the most iconic movie franchises of all time, many fans will also recall a similar transformation with Nazi baddie Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark, as an honorable mention, whose face gruesomely melts before he explodes. Both scenes are memorable presentations of skeletal-like transformations on screen.

6 Skeleton Characters In Coco

Disney’s Coco

Movie appearances:

Disney’s Coco introduced viewers to many endearing and often funny animated skeleton characters with heartwarming moments, as protagonist Miguel seeks to become a musician against his family’s wishes. Set in the festive holiday of Día de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), Coco‘s skeletons bridge the gap between life and death as the characters recall and reflect on their previous lives in the Land of the Living.

While there are too many skeleton characters in the movie to list, some stand-out characters include the charismatic Hector, Mama Coco, and Ernesto de la Cruz, to name a few.

7 Deadites

Army Of Darkness

Movie appearances:

• Evil Dead (1981)
• Evil Dead II (1987)
• Army of Darkness (1992)
• Evil Dead (2013)

Some of the funniest famous skeletons in movies have to include the Deadites in the 1992 horror comedy movieArmy of Darkness which stars Bruce Campbell as the infamous Ash Williams. Deadites are considered demonic spirits that can reanimate the dead or even possess the living, with the movie full of reanimated corpses and skeletons.

While viewers encounter Deadites across the franchise, some stand-out moments in Army of Darkness include the March of the Dead fight scene, including the slapstick horror comedy the movies are known for.

8 Jack Skellington

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Movie appearances:

• The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
• Various cameos appearances

One of the most iconic and widely recognized characters that many viewers think of when it comes to on-screen skeletons has to be Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas, one of the most celebrated and best Tim Burton characters. Jack sings many well-loved songs in this widely adored stop-motion animation movie, from “What’s this?” as he discovers the delights of Christmas Town or the moonlit “Jack’s Lament.”

The Nightmare Before Christmas is enjoyed by many throughout Halloween, Thanksgiving, or the Christmas Holidays. Although Jack the Pumpkin King makes some mistakes, he realizes the error of his ways and becomes thankful for all he has and is, showing that he’s also a skeleton with meat on his bones with a moral message about gratitude.

9 T-800

The Terminator Movies

Movie appearances:

• The Terminator (1984)
• Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
• Terminator Salvation (2009)
• Terminator Genisys (2015)
• Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

While there have been various Terminator models over the years, the original T-800 is the terrifying sci-fi robot from the classic 1984 movie The Terminator, a metal skeleton underneath material designed to replicate living human tissue. The T-800, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton. Its mission is to terminate Sarah before she can give birth to John Connor, the future leader of the resistance against the Skynet machines.

The T-800 is the ultimate, iconic, and relentless killing machine with an incredible on-screen presence as the cybernetic organism, in both endoskeleton and “human” form when played by Schwarzenegger.

10 Baron Samedi

Live And Let Die

Geoffrey Holder plays perhaps one of the most widely known portrayals of the iconic witch doctor Baron Samedi in the 1973 James Bond movie Live and Let Die, starring Sir Roger Moore as Bond. In Live and Let Die, Baron Samedi is a villainous character who wears the widely recognized skeleton face paint and a top hat and has mystical powers.

The character of Baron Samedi has Haitian-Vodou origins and appears in many different movies, TV series, and video games. Baron Samedi even appears as a playable character in Smite and as a playable multiplayer character in Goldeneye 007, such as with its Egyptian level.

11 Red Skull

Captain America: The First Avenger

Movie appearances:

• Captain America: The First Avenger (2001)
• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
• Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Don’t be fooled by the jolly shade of Christmas red, Red Skull is still a formidable baddie if not the strongest Marvel villain. In Captain America: The First Avenger, Johann Schmidt, who later becomes the Red Skull after injecting the super-solider serum, gets hold of the tesseract and plans to use its power to shape the future as a Nazi agent and a leader of HYDRA. He wears a mask to cover his red, skeletal face but later reveals his true face in the movie.

A hooded Red Skull figure also appears in Avengers: Infinity War when Thanos obtains the soul stone.

12 Skeleton Pirates

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Movies appearances:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

The Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise features many skeleton characters as well as other types of variants of the undead. However, probably the most memorable and iconic skeletons in the franchise are the cursed skeleton crew of The Black Pearl in arguably the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Audiences first see the gruesome, skeletal CGI curse when a couple of cursed pirates stumble across the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow in jail, when one suddenly grabs his throat and the curse is revealed by moonlight. Jack even briefly becomes cursed himself and many are big fans of Barbossa’s skeleton monkey.

13 Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider Movies

Movie appearances:

• Ghost Rider (2007)
• Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)

The motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze, a.k.a Ghost Rider, is played by Nicholas Cage in the 2007 movie Ghost Rider and the 2011 sequel. In the Marvel movie adaptation, Blaze sells his soul to the devil to save his father’s life and transforms into the cursed, burning skull-headed bounty hunter known as the Ghost Rider, complete with a flaming motorcycle and chain whip.

Although the Cage movies had a mixed reception, a cult following grew, and there are some stand-out scenes, such as when Blaze transforms into the Rider for the first time. The portrayal of the comic book character was received better in the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., with many calling for his own series. Fans of Marvel’s Midnight Suns can even unlock Ghost Rider as a playable character.

14 Scorpion

Mortal Kombat Movies

Movie appearances:

• Mortal Kombat (1995)
• Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins (1995)
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)
• Mortal Kombat: Rebirth (2010)
• Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge (2020)
• Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)
• Mortal Kombat (2021)

Many fans of the iconic fighter Scorpion are likely to know him from the Mortal Kombat video games more than the largely underwhelming movies, except 2021’s Mortal Kombat reboot, which, although not perfect, portrayed the franchise more successfully.

In 2021’s Mortal Kombat, viewers see Scorpion as the memorable masked, black and yellow-garbed ninja fighting his arch-enemy Sub Zero. He also uses his iconic kunai spear weapon and one-line fighting goad, “Get over here!”. Although the character Kano stole much of the show, the portrayal of Scorpion was mainly faithful to the franchise, although viewers only got a hint of his flamed skull appearance with mostly fiery breath on show.

15 Skeletor

Masters of the Universe Franchise

Movie appearances:

• Masters of the Universe (1987)

The 1987 Masters of the Universe movie, which later established a cult following, was based on the popular He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series. It features the skeleton sorcerer Skeletor as the villain and arch-nemesis to the hero He-Man. In the live-action movie, Skeletor is a hooded, cloaked skeletal character carrying a ram-skull-shaped magical staff and manages to obtain the golden-hued powers of Grayskull.

In the animated series, Skeletor has had some different designs but is typically portrayed as a muscular character with a skull head, wearing a purple robe. He-Man celebrated its 40th Anniversary in October 2022, and Netflix has an animated series called Masters of the Universe: Revelations.

16 The Skeleton Dance

Silly Symphony Animated Disney Short

Movie appearances:

Perhaps one of the most widely recognized and iconic portrayals of skeletons on screen is the four dancing skeletons seen in The Skeleton Dance, an animated short film by Walt Disney as part of the 1929 Silly Symphony series. The iconic dance scene takes place in a graveyard and also features two black cats fighting, who are spooked by one of the skeletons, and later, a skeleton even uses a cat’s tail as a violin string.

The Skeleton Dance is a Disney classic that is widely celebrated, with many humorous and iconic moments. It is equally iconic not just for its skeletons but also as one of the most famous dance scenes on screen.