Halloween Festival Of Lists: October 5: FIVE Bang-Up Bartenders In Horror

 As the hard-ass barkeep at the infamous Titty Twister, Danny Trejo slings shots with a snarl and a growl.
His From Dusk to Dawn character Razor Charlie denies admittance to the Gecko brothers (Clooney and Tarantino) until Jacob (Harvey Keitel) uses a little psychology on him.  Razor also has the distinct honor of announcing the stage performance of Satánico Pandemónium (Salma Hayek).  And then he turns into a vampire. Wow. Busy night.

 Serving up Dark & Stormies at the hotel bar in a Bahamas resort can't be all that bad, right?  The lovely Nancy (Jennifer Esposito) does a fine job of pouring libations with a hefty dose of sarcasm.  However, this does not guarantee survival when you are playing second fiddle to Jennifer Love Hewitt in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Tough break.

 I've sang the praises of Sam Merlotte before, right here on this blog as a matter of fact. 
  Sam Trammell stars as the plaid-clad, sexy shape-shifting bartender on True Blood.  He's constantly having some kind of trouble find him, but still finds time to have steamy relationships with the hottest women on the show.
Sam has a dark side as well, evident from various violent flashbacks on the show, breaking pool cues in half to use as make-shift stakes for the vampire population, kicking his trailer trash brother to the curb, killing maenads and irreverent girlfriends who try to murder him, as well as this season's thrashing of more than a few belligerent bar patrons and random werewolves. (Those pesky dogs!).

In the gory yet comedic Feast, Clu Gulager helps out his son (director John Gulager) by playing a gun-toting bartender ready to take on whatever piece of bad luck might come walking through the door of his beer garden. 

Clu is no stranger to horror, having had a starring role in Dan O'Bannon's cult favorite, The Return of the Living Dead.  But here as simply "Bartender", he is part of an ensemble cast that are basically just trying to survive a night in a bar with horrific monsters trying to gain entry at all costs in order to eat them. Yup.

Perhaps everyone's favorite bartender in film history (am I right or what?), Lloyd of Overlook Hotel fame is "the best goddamn bartender from Timbuktu to Portland, Maine. Or Portland, Oregon for that matter."
Joe Turkel's subdued performance in The Shining as the ghostly drink lord doesn't take up much screen time but certainly packs a creepy punch.
When he pours up another Jack Daniels for the wildly disturbed caretaker of the haunted hotel, telling Jack his money's no good, his calm demeanor is nearly as frightening as his bourbon-swilling patron.