Robin PottratzThe 10 Most Terrifying Movie Villains of all time
October 27th 2008 21:41
Since we are only a few days from Halloween, I feel that it would be appropriate to look back at film's long history of villainy. The criteria for this list is different then those of the past. I am not looking at just how terrifying a villain can be...I am also looking for whether a villain can pierce the brain...and perhaps the heart. If a villain can create sympathy or mental stimulation along with terror...then they qualify for this list. With that said, lets get down to the list:
Honorable Mentions for those who fell just short:
Jigsaw (Saw Films) - a cancer victim who's rage upon an ungrateful world manifests itself in the form of bloody game in which the prize is life. The films have gotten pretty unbelievable...especially since Jigsaw died in the 3rd film...but his backstory, and some subtle acting by Tobin Bell make this villain worthy of mention on my list.
Candyman (Candyman Films) - This villain may have the most interesting backstory. A slave who was brutally murdered after falling in love with the daughter of his white owner and then comes back to earth to take his revenge on humanity. Every film was competently done and the gravel voiced Tony Todd brought nuance to the role of Candyman. The film's artistic horror impact is significant...but it is just not that scary of a film...but Candyman is a villain of note.
Dracula - Count Dracula is a villain that has lasted for centuries, however as horror has evolved...the terror factor of Dracula has significantly diminished (see "Dracula 2000"). However it would be wrong to not mention one of the forefathers of horror on this list.
On to the list:
10. Carrie White (Carrie, 1976) Sissy Spacek was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Carrie White, a social outcast from an overly religious mother who discovers an ability to move objects with her mind. She is finally pushed to the edge when her classmate tormentors drop a bucket of pigs blood on her as she is being crowned the prom queen. In response, she uses her telekinetic powers to kill every student at the prom in a brutal yet brilliant sequence. What makes Carrie White so significant of a villain is that she is not an evil girl. When she returns from her humiliating prom, there is a scene where she is naked in a bathtub trying to wash off the blood that is still on her body. It is a haunting scene of vulnerability that reminds us that despite the terrible acts of violence that she just committed...she is really little more than an insecure high school victim of bullying that was just pushed to the point where she violently breaks out of her shell. Spacek nails every nuance of the role and makes Carrie both terrifying and heartbreaking. It is at the same time a darkly imaginative yet all too real depiction of a high school outcast and their perverse fantasies of revenge.
9. Michael Myers (Halloween, 1978) What Makes Michael Myers so terrifying is that he was a character that was seemingly evil from birth. When he murdered his sister at age 6, he was locked away in a mental hospital where his psychologist was desperately trying to help him. The description of the relationship between Myers and Dr. Loomis chills the bones and sparks up the brain:
"I spent 7 years trying to reach him and then another 8 trying to keep him locked up because I knew that was behind those eyes was purely and simply evil."
Over the course of the films, Michael Myers makes it his mission to kill his entire family. What is terrifying about that fact is that his family has done nothing to warrent that punishment. Myers is just an evil man who's bloodlust will never be satisfied. Rob Zombie's depiction of Myers as a 7ft beast added a whole new level of terror to the character...but it is his driven urge to kill, coupled with a few brief glimpses of humanity that makes Myers a villain to remember.
8. Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men, 2007) Javier Bardem won an Academy Award for his performance as a mexican hitman on the trail of a man who stole $2 million dollars in drug money. What makes Chigurh scary is his complete abscence of any trace of humanity. He looks at every person that he comes into contact with as if they were a space alien and kills without reason of conscience. The only glimpse of thought comes in the form of a coin toss. Chigurh occasionally filps a coin to determine whether a victim lives or dies which is as chilling of an act that has ever been recorded on screen. Chigurh's cold demeanor can only be matched by the bizarre way that he is able to generate laughs throughout his interactions. On one occasion, he engages in a borderline hilarious conversation with a man who runs a gas station. The scene builds to the gas station employee having to call either heads or tails to save his own life. After he chooses correctly, Chigurh warmly congratulates him and the scene ends. Chigurh's brief glimpses of humor allows for his other brutal actions to resonate that much more. It is for these reasons that Chigurh belongs in the lexicon of great film villains.
7. Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction, 1987) What makes Alex Forrest so scary is the thought that deep down she just wants to be loved like anyone else. She just goes to terrifying means to try and convince a married man (Michael Douglas) whom she has had a fling with that they should be together. She cuts her own wrists, kidnaps the mans daughter, boils the daughter's rabbit, and fakes a pregnancy. It all builds to a terrifying climax, where Alex attacks the man's wife (Anne Archer) and forces him to drown her in a bathtub. Adding to that is that Glenn Close keeps such a calm demeanor while she is committing these acts. Close was nominated for an Oscar for her performance and was simply robbed. Not only is she terrifying when flying into jealous and hysterical rages, but quietly chilling and likable when she has her fling with Douglas and when she spends the day with the kidnapped daughter. She also is commanding, not needy, when she wants to continue the relationship with her unrequited love in the married man. Close's memorable creation serves as a constant reminder to every young married man...keep it in your pants because you might run into an Alex Forest.
6. Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984) Freddy Krueger is terrifying because of the fact that the real man and the monster that is created are equally disturbing. The man Freddy Krueger was a pedophillic janitor who was responsible for the disappearance and murders of several children before a group of angry parents burned him alive. Robert Englund has just the right level of creepiness to add to the roll and he lets it rip when Freddy becomes a nightmare warrior. This is what makes Freddy really scary, the fact that he can enter the dreams of his teenage victims and kill them while they are doing the supposedly safe act of sleeping. There is no where to hide from Freddy, because once you go to sleep he is everywhere. That is the secret of why Freddy is so scary, he will get you when you are supposed to be at your most safe and secure. Freddy has become more fun and more imaginative as the series has continued and also, he has the best one-liners and horror villain. As straight horror films go, there is no villain that is simply as out there as Freddy Krueger
5. Frank Booth (Blue Velvet, 1986) Frank Booth is a victim of unrequited love in David Lynch's finest film. He is capable of doing anything...and usually does. Dennis Hopper plays Booth, a psychopathic, oxygen huffing murderer who kidnaps the son and kills the husband of the woman he loves (Isabella Rossellini). What he doesn't count on is the intervention of a young man with dark desires of his own (Kyle Maclachlan). Over the course of the film, Frank Booth viciously assaults the woman and simulates rape on her, cries when she is singing "Blue Velvet" at a road house, viciously punches the young man, and is entranced by Roy Orbison's "In Dreams." It is one of the most erratic villians in film history, going from heartbroken admirer to drug addled, violent psychopath. He eventually meets his demise at the end of the film, but not before creating one of the most entrancing, terrifying, and controversial villains in one of the most entrancing, terrifying, and controversial films in history.
4. Henry (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, 1986) I will be impressed by anyone who has ever actually seen this film. This is one of the most terrifying films I have ever seen. It also features the most terrifying villain I have ever seen committed to film. Michael Rooker's Henry is a mysterious man who kills any stranger who comes in his crosshairs. We don't actually see half of the murders that he committs...we just see the aftermath and hear the act being committed. Henry is also a charming man, sweet talking a waitress and fostering a relationship with the sister (Tracy Arnold) of his former prison buddy Otis (Tom Towles). Henry keeps his murderous ways a secret until Otis finds out and joins him in his ventures. One particularly terrifying scene is when Henry and Otis invade a couple's home and film themselves brutally torturing and murdering a man, his wife, and his son who makes the mistake of coming home. Henry also keeps a strict code, he won't let Otis rape the dead woman and he stops Otis from sexually assaulting his sister. The film eventually reaches a violent climax in which Henry kills Otis and eventually kills the sister who he has developed an attatchment to. We are left with the knowledge that Henry is still out in the world, still mercilessly killing innocent people. It is a chilling film and Michael Rooker's riveting, emotionless Henry is a film villain that will haunt your dreams for days after you watch it.
3. Norman Bates (Psycho, 1960) Anthony Perkins' demented mama's boy Norman Bates is the ultimate in subtle villainy. What makes Bates so terrifying is that he appears so normal on the outside. He is clean cut, friendly, and attractive. He is however warped by his relationship with his "mother" and the intrusion of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) reveals how mentally unbalanced of a man lies behind the normal facade that Perkins depicts. The film builds to a terrifying climax and a haunting final scene, where it is revealed that Bates actually killed his mother and is assuming her identity. The reason that Bates is so high on this list is that he set the benchmark for complete sociopathic villainy. Without a highly articulate, attractive, intelligent yet psychotic villain to haunt the nightmares of the general public and filmmakers from that point on, horror would not be where it is today and that is what really makes Norman Bates such a terrifying villain. He was the ultimate film case that proved that looks can be disturbingly decieving.
2. Alex de Large (A Clockwork Orange, 1971) Stanley Kubrick's surreal trip through the mind of an ultraviolent youth in a futuristic London. Malcolm McDowell's Alex is basically Norman Bates with the volume turned way up. Along with his droogs, he tears through London engaging in one disturbingly violent episode after another. We are introduced to Alex in a milkbar where he just blankly, yet sinisterly stares into the camera and introduces himself and his droogs. We then see him brutally assault a homeless man, beat up a rival gang, and then in an infamous scene, brutally rape a woman in front of her husband all while joyfully singing the title song of Gene Kelly's "Singing in the Rain." After his acts of violence he returns to his home and orgazmically listens to Ludwig Van Beethoven. What makes Alex so scary in these scenes is the fact that he willingly chooses to commit these acts. He comes from a good home, from good parents...and as depicted in a scene later in the film, he is able to pick up two women in a record store and has vigorous consensual sex with them. Alex willlingly decided to rape a woman, he decided to beat up a homeless man...just because he could. He lacks empathy and is a complete depiction of what happens when a empathy has no place inside the mind of a human being. It is for those reasons that Alex de Large is a truly bone chillng, and mentally facinating villain who is rightly enshrined in the film villain hall of fame.
1 Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of The Lambs, 1991) Hannibal Lecter encompasses all of the criteria that makes a great villain on this list. He is bone chilling with his straight forward, and borderline insulting delivery. He is mentally stimulating when he probes Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) about her life and dreams. He is also sympathetic when it appears to do something kind for Clarice Starling...out of a strange infatuation he has for her. The combonation of all of these creates something truly terrifying. He wants to help Starling, but he wants to play with her mentally for his own amusement. His syntax is mentally engaging, but he is also capable of talking with lehman's terms. He is alternately calm and articulate, such as his conversations with Starling, and then terribly brutal when he bites the nose off of a security guard and wears his face in an escape attempt. Lecter passes every villain test with flying colors...he is terrifying, smart, and sympathetic, which is hard to accomplish in a horror film. So I do declare...Hannibal Lecter is the GREATEST VILLAIN EVER
Honorable Mentions for those who fell just short:
Jigsaw (Saw Films) - a cancer victim who's rage upon an ungrateful world manifests itself in the form of bloody game in which the prize is life. The films have gotten pretty unbelievable...especially since Jigsaw died in the 3rd film...but his backstory, and some subtle acting by Tobin Bell make this villain worthy of mention on my list.
Candyman (Candyman Films) - This villain may have the most interesting backstory. A slave who was brutally murdered after falling in love with the daughter of his white owner and then comes back to earth to take his revenge on humanity. Every film was competently done and the gravel voiced Tony Todd brought nuance to the role of Candyman. The film's artistic horror impact is significant...but it is just not that scary of a film...but Candyman is a villain of note.
Dracula - Count Dracula is a villain that has lasted for centuries, however as horror has evolved...the terror factor of Dracula has significantly diminished (see "Dracula 2000"). However it would be wrong to not mention one of the forefathers of horror on this list.
On to the list:
10. Carrie White (Carrie, 1976) Sissy Spacek was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Carrie White, a social outcast from an overly religious mother who discovers an ability to move objects with her mind. She is finally pushed to the edge when her classmate tormentors drop a bucket of pigs blood on her as she is being crowned the prom queen. In response, she uses her telekinetic powers to kill every student at the prom in a brutal yet brilliant sequence. What makes Carrie White so significant of a villain is that she is not an evil girl. When she returns from her humiliating prom, there is a scene where she is naked in a bathtub trying to wash off the blood that is still on her body. It is a haunting scene of vulnerability that reminds us that despite the terrible acts of violence that she just committed...she is really little more than an insecure high school victim of bullying that was just pushed to the point where she violently breaks out of her shell. Spacek nails every nuance of the role and makes Carrie both terrifying and heartbreaking. It is at the same time a darkly imaginative yet all too real depiction of a high school outcast and their perverse fantasies of revenge.
9. Michael Myers (Halloween, 1978) What Makes Michael Myers so terrifying is that he was a character that was seemingly evil from birth. When he murdered his sister at age 6, he was locked away in a mental hospital where his psychologist was desperately trying to help him. The description of the relationship between Myers and Dr. Loomis chills the bones and sparks up the brain:
"I spent 7 years trying to reach him and then another 8 trying to keep him locked up because I knew that was behind those eyes was purely and simply evil."
Over the course of the films, Michael Myers makes it his mission to kill his entire family. What is terrifying about that fact is that his family has done nothing to warrent that punishment. Myers is just an evil man who's bloodlust will never be satisfied. Rob Zombie's depiction of Myers as a 7ft beast added a whole new level of terror to the character...but it is his driven urge to kill, coupled with a few brief glimpses of humanity that makes Myers a villain to remember.
8. Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men, 2007) Javier Bardem won an Academy Award for his performance as a mexican hitman on the trail of a man who stole $2 million dollars in drug money. What makes Chigurh scary is his complete abscence of any trace of humanity. He looks at every person that he comes into contact with as if they were a space alien and kills without reason of conscience. The only glimpse of thought comes in the form of a coin toss. Chigurh occasionally filps a coin to determine whether a victim lives or dies which is as chilling of an act that has ever been recorded on screen. Chigurh's cold demeanor can only be matched by the bizarre way that he is able to generate laughs throughout his interactions. On one occasion, he engages in a borderline hilarious conversation with a man who runs a gas station. The scene builds to the gas station employee having to call either heads or tails to save his own life. After he chooses correctly, Chigurh warmly congratulates him and the scene ends. Chigurh's brief glimpses of humor allows for his other brutal actions to resonate that much more. It is for these reasons that Chigurh belongs in the lexicon of great film villains.
7. Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction, 1987) What makes Alex Forrest so scary is the thought that deep down she just wants to be loved like anyone else. She just goes to terrifying means to try and convince a married man (Michael Douglas) whom she has had a fling with that they should be together. She cuts her own wrists, kidnaps the mans daughter, boils the daughter's rabbit, and fakes a pregnancy. It all builds to a terrifying climax, where Alex attacks the man's wife (Anne Archer) and forces him to drown her in a bathtub. Adding to that is that Glenn Close keeps such a calm demeanor while she is committing these acts. Close was nominated for an Oscar for her performance and was simply robbed. Not only is she terrifying when flying into jealous and hysterical rages, but quietly chilling and likable when she has her fling with Douglas and when she spends the day with the kidnapped daughter. She also is commanding, not needy, when she wants to continue the relationship with her unrequited love in the married man. Close's memorable creation serves as a constant reminder to every young married man...keep it in your pants because you might run into an Alex Forest.
6. Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984) Freddy Krueger is terrifying because of the fact that the real man and the monster that is created are equally disturbing. The man Freddy Krueger was a pedophillic janitor who was responsible for the disappearance and murders of several children before a group of angry parents burned him alive. Robert Englund has just the right level of creepiness to add to the roll and he lets it rip when Freddy becomes a nightmare warrior. This is what makes Freddy really scary, the fact that he can enter the dreams of his teenage victims and kill them while they are doing the supposedly safe act of sleeping. There is no where to hide from Freddy, because once you go to sleep he is everywhere. That is the secret of why Freddy is so scary, he will get you when you are supposed to be at your most safe and secure. Freddy has become more fun and more imaginative as the series has continued and also, he has the best one-liners and horror villain. As straight horror films go, there is no villain that is simply as out there as Freddy Krueger
5. Frank Booth (Blue Velvet, 1986) Frank Booth is a victim of unrequited love in David Lynch's finest film. He is capable of doing anything...and usually does. Dennis Hopper plays Booth, a psychopathic, oxygen huffing murderer who kidnaps the son and kills the husband of the woman he loves (Isabella Rossellini). What he doesn't count on is the intervention of a young man with dark desires of his own (Kyle Maclachlan). Over the course of the film, Frank Booth viciously assaults the woman and simulates rape on her, cries when she is singing "Blue Velvet" at a road house, viciously punches the young man, and is entranced by Roy Orbison's "In Dreams." It is one of the most erratic villians in film history, going from heartbroken admirer to drug addled, violent psychopath. He eventually meets his demise at the end of the film, but not before creating one of the most entrancing, terrifying, and controversial villains in one of the most entrancing, terrifying, and controversial films in history.
4. Henry (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, 1986) I will be impressed by anyone who has ever actually seen this film. This is one of the most terrifying films I have ever seen. It also features the most terrifying villain I have ever seen committed to film. Michael Rooker's Henry is a mysterious man who kills any stranger who comes in his crosshairs. We don't actually see half of the murders that he committs...we just see the aftermath and hear the act being committed. Henry is also a charming man, sweet talking a waitress and fostering a relationship with the sister (Tracy Arnold) of his former prison buddy Otis (Tom Towles). Henry keeps his murderous ways a secret until Otis finds out and joins him in his ventures. One particularly terrifying scene is when Henry and Otis invade a couple's home and film themselves brutally torturing and murdering a man, his wife, and his son who makes the mistake of coming home. Henry also keeps a strict code, he won't let Otis rape the dead woman and he stops Otis from sexually assaulting his sister. The film eventually reaches a violent climax in which Henry kills Otis and eventually kills the sister who he has developed an attatchment to. We are left with the knowledge that Henry is still out in the world, still mercilessly killing innocent people. It is a chilling film and Michael Rooker's riveting, emotionless Henry is a film villain that will haunt your dreams for days after you watch it.
3. Norman Bates (Psycho, 1960) Anthony Perkins' demented mama's boy Norman Bates is the ultimate in subtle villainy. What makes Bates so terrifying is that he appears so normal on the outside. He is clean cut, friendly, and attractive. He is however warped by his relationship with his "mother" and the intrusion of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) reveals how mentally unbalanced of a man lies behind the normal facade that Perkins depicts. The film builds to a terrifying climax and a haunting final scene, where it is revealed that Bates actually killed his mother and is assuming her identity. The reason that Bates is so high on this list is that he set the benchmark for complete sociopathic villainy. Without a highly articulate, attractive, intelligent yet psychotic villain to haunt the nightmares of the general public and filmmakers from that point on, horror would not be where it is today and that is what really makes Norman Bates such a terrifying villain. He was the ultimate film case that proved that looks can be disturbingly decieving.
2. Alex de Large (A Clockwork Orange, 1971) Stanley Kubrick's surreal trip through the mind of an ultraviolent youth in a futuristic London. Malcolm McDowell's Alex is basically Norman Bates with the volume turned way up. Along with his droogs, he tears through London engaging in one disturbingly violent episode after another. We are introduced to Alex in a milkbar where he just blankly, yet sinisterly stares into the camera and introduces himself and his droogs. We then see him brutally assault a homeless man, beat up a rival gang, and then in an infamous scene, brutally rape a woman in front of her husband all while joyfully singing the title song of Gene Kelly's "Singing in the Rain." After his acts of violence he returns to his home and orgazmically listens to Ludwig Van Beethoven. What makes Alex so scary in these scenes is the fact that he willingly chooses to commit these acts. He comes from a good home, from good parents...and as depicted in a scene later in the film, he is able to pick up two women in a record store and has vigorous consensual sex with them. Alex willlingly decided to rape a woman, he decided to beat up a homeless man...just because he could. He lacks empathy and is a complete depiction of what happens when a empathy has no place inside the mind of a human being. It is for those reasons that Alex de Large is a truly bone chillng, and mentally facinating villain who is rightly enshrined in the film villain hall of fame.
1 Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of The Lambs, 1991) Hannibal Lecter encompasses all of the criteria that makes a great villain on this list. He is bone chilling with his straight forward, and borderline insulting delivery. He is mentally stimulating when he probes Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) about her life and dreams. He is also sympathetic when it appears to do something kind for Clarice Starling...out of a strange infatuation he has for her. The combonation of all of these creates something truly terrifying. He wants to help Starling, but he wants to play with her mentally for his own amusement. His syntax is mentally engaging, but he is also capable of talking with lehman's terms. He is alternately calm and articulate, such as his conversations with Starling, and then terribly brutal when he bites the nose off of a security guard and wears his face in an escape attempt. Lecter passes every villain test with flying colors...he is terrifying, smart, and sympathetic, which is hard to accomplish in a horror film. So I do declare...Hannibal Lecter is the GREATEST VILLAIN EVER
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Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
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Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by Stephen King Reader
I would add to this list the Joker (The Dark Knight), Pennywise the Dancing Clown (IT), and finally, the decendants of the spiders of Arachnephobia.
Comment by Anonymous