After attending a screening of Jennifer’s Body, the soon-to-be-released Megan Fox vehicle written by Juno’s Diablo Cody, I got thinking about evil women. The film follows the eponymous Jennifer (Fox), who becomes possessed by a demon after a ritual sacrifice goes awry, and proceeds to sustain her health by feasting on her male peers. It’s initially worth mentioning that the film warrants a look, introducing a comedic element to the horror genre and displaying Cody’s familiar witty dialogue (although, it must be noted, it’s not as clever as it thinks it is.) Beyond the script, though, and as the marketing campaign has indicated, this is basically the Megan Fox show, a practical homage to the raven-haired siren that some men would probably permit to feast upon them if it involved pre-dinner foreplay. Her look may be a little tacky for some tastes, but there’s no denying that Fox has never looked so good before she played a murderous succubus.

But of course, Fox is only the most recent in a long line of girls in film who enjoy a little killing spree every now and again. Whether for revenge, self-defence, or just because they feel like it, actresses are often at their most iconic when at their most vicious. So in honour of Jennifer’s Body’s UK release on November 6th, here’s my top 5 of film’s best murderesses.

5. Angelina Jolie in, well, everything – In Wanted, Mr and Mrs Smith, Alexander, Girl Interrupted, Beowulf and Original Sin (am I missing any?) the world’s most beautiful woman will kill anyone who gets in her way. Brad better watch out.

4. Monster’s Aileen Wuornos – Charlize Theron had the makeunder of a lifetime to play this real-life murderer, America’s most infamous female serial killer. Bringing vulnerability and pathos to the role, Theron received a well-deserved Oscar for the role.

3. Teeth’s Dawn O’Keefe – The most effective advert for teen chastity since, well, ever, this 2007 black-comedy revealed the horror of the vagina dentate and the power it supplied to an exploited virgin. Not a date movie.

2. Basic Instinct’s Catherine Tramell – Sure, we may never even see Sharon Stone actually murder anyone, but the ice-pick under the bed reveals her true colours and her alluringly casual approach to homicide.

1. Kill Bill’s The Bride – Tarantino’s muse Uma Thurman slipped into the world’s ugliest tracksuit to avenge her fiancée and child in the most exhilarating barrage of murders of the decade.