4 Horror Movie Characters Who Wore Contact Lenses

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For horror enthusiasts, jump scares may sometimes take away from the movie experience since they feel intrusive and repetitive. However, when jump scares are done well and can’t be spotted from a mile away, they can be heart-stoppingly and hair-raisingly terrifying. A previous post lists the best jump scare moments in horror movie history, from the tongue clucking in the A24 cult classic Hereditary (2018) to the noteworthy appearance of the nun Valak in The Conjuring 2 (2016).

Beyond relying on jump scares, horror filmmakers can also invest in costume design to frighten viewers and make the characters’ appearances all the more memorable. On top of makeup and prosthetics, colored contact lenses are a crucial element of costume design, as they enable actors to instantly transform into otherworldly or supernatural characters through non-natural eye colors like white and red.

What’s more, colored contact lenses from brands like Air Optix not only come with optical correction but are also lightweight and breathable. Such features help actors — and even fans planning to imitate them for Halloween and cosplay events — stay comfortable while in costume.

Besides colored contact lenses, actors may also wear scleral contact lenses that not only change the color of the iris but instead fit over the rest of the white of the eyes. Although they can correct refractive errors like myopia or astigmatism, they are also utilized in horror movie sets for a modified aesthetic appearance.

Below are some iconic movie characters who wore contact lenses for a next-level horror experience.

Demons from The Evil Dead (1981)

Released in 1981 as an independent horror film, The Evil Dead featured a group of college students vacationing in a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly play an audio tape that releases supernatural demons and spirits. In addition to its stop-motion effects, the film’s prosthetic makeup was widely praised, with the demons wearing contact lenses that overlaid their natural iris color with vivid red and yellow.

Pennywise from It (2017)

Adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name, It follows the story of seven young outcasts who come together to battle Pennywise, a murderous clown who emerges from the sewers to abduct and kill children. In the movie, Pennywise’s actor, Bill Skarsgård, has to wear opaque contact lenses with a yellow-orange ring to replicate the clown’s bloodthirst nature despite his seemingly loud and jovial facade.

Valak from The Nun (2018)

A spinoff of the blockbuster The Conjuring series, The Nun is centered on the story of the titular demon nun Valak, who travels with a priest to Romania to uncover a cloistered abbey’s unholy secret. In this gothic supernatural horror film, Bonnie Aarons, who played Valak, wore white contact lenses with a yellow-green ring to signify her demonic possession. In an interview with the director Corin Hardy, it was revealed that Aarons had to wear contact lenses underwater in multiple takes to accurately portray the character without having to use special effects.

Mia from Talk to Me (2022)

Talk to Me, a 2022 Australian horror film from American distributor A24, is about a group of teenagers who stumble through an embalmed hand that enables them to conjure and talk to spirits. However, things go south when the central character, Mia, is possessed by a spirit and starts experiencing terrifying encounters with the dead. Instead of solely relying on special effects, the crew asked characters to wear scleral lenses that covered their eyeballs to portray the eerie demonic possession.