TV’s top 10 scariest characters

7. The monkey in Chris Griffin's closet, ‘Family Guy’

Children often spend sleepless nights staring at the abyss that is their darkened closet. What lurks behind that menacing closed door? For 13-year-old Chris Griffin, it's an evil monkey.

Behind his closet door, an actual monkey lives and repeatedly threatens to hurt Chris. Chris is "Family Guy"'s biggest moron, quite an accomplishment considering that his father, Peter, seems to have intelligence and common sense that's inversely proportionate to his mammoth size. Thus, when Chris tells his family, "There's an evil monkey in my closet!", no one believes him.

But the monkey is there. With a menacing glare and his mouth clenched to reveal sharp, pointed teeth, the monkey viciously points at Chris. It's perhaps the most threatening gesture in all of televised animation.

"Family Guy" has given us the monkey's backstory: He came home one day, excited about a promotion at work, only to find his wife in bed with another monkey, and at that moment, he became evil. But even our empathy can't dampen the horror that is just waiting to be unleashed.    —A.D.

8. Silvio Dante, ‘The Sopranos’

HBO Don't make Silvio angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

The cliché would be to name Tony Soprano as the scariest character on the HBO series that bears his name, but let’s be honest — it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see danger ahead when you cross the guy who heads one of New Jersey’s leading fictional mob families. Tony's definitely a hands-on boss, so much so that anyone having something to hide would probably avoid getting into a car with him.

But Silvio? The guy from the Bada Bing who usually serves as the calming force to Tony and Christofuh’s anger-management issues? The guy played by Springsteen’s running mate in the E-Street Band?

Silvio is as dangerous as they come, because when his anger flames, it is swift, unexpected and terrible. Even when a potential victim wises up enough to be wary, Silvio steps forward and gets it done. Just ask Adriana, Christopher’s fiancé who tattled to the FBI. Who did the Sopranos turn to in order to take her on that long, lonely one-way car ride? Good ol’ Silvio. And rest assured, anyone who saw the “Long-Term Parking” episode won’t ever view him as the calm guy from the Bada Bing again.    —C.B.

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