Top 5 Greatest Villains

[StarOpal]

I'd like to add (which I can do since someone already said The Hitcher!) The Grand High Witch from The Witches. I'm still afraid of Angelica Houston. Just mean, in a cold way, and that transformation is just really gross and scary when your six. And turning kids into mice is just wrong!

Oogieboogie, Amon Goeth? *shivers* I've only seen Schindler's List once, almost... ten years ago. I still have a problem with Ralph Fiennes.

(It's not that I have a problem separating actors from roles, it's just really strong associations. In a way it's a compliment to their ability to bring life to a character)

[Al]

Ooh, can I pick 'Man' from Bambi, like AFI did?

Assuming no, and trying to stay away from stuff already mentioned, I'll go with:

Noah Cross from Chinatown, which I just watched again recently. Grand larceny, rape, murder, incest- he's a twisted, remorseless sonuvagun made all the worse *SPOILER* because he gets away with it.

Henry Fonda in Once Upon A Time in the West. I know Lee Van Cleef in GBU has become the iconic western bad guy, but Henry's got that ten-mile stare that creeps me out every time, and he shoots a kid in his first five minutes onscreen.

Auric Goldfinger from Goldfinger. It's a cliche, I know, but he was the first guy to really put James Bond to task, plus he got to order around Harold Sakata (of cough syrup commerical fame).

Michael Corleone from Godfather Part II. I realize he's our protagonist, but that doesn't mewan you have to like him. The man is utterly ruthless in this movie; *SPOILER* he has his own brother killed for Pete's sake! He earns himself some sympathy during Part III, but in this movie he's simply evil.

And, since TV has been drafted into this listing, too, I'm choosing Gaius Baltar from the new Battlestar Galactica. He is such a sad, tortured little man who's just trying to survive as best he can but instead keeps damning himself again and again. I've never seen a character that you simultaneously want to hug and throttle.

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

o0o0o, if we're including TV villains, I think Mr. Burns deserves some props. I like Mr. Burns the best in the early seasons of the Simpsons, when he was an out and out bad guy, rather than now, where he's just a parody of himself (like pretty much all the characters on the show). Anybody who can sing a Disney-esque song about killing puppies is pretty cool in my book.

[PoolMan]

oogieboogieman said:

o0o0o, if we're including TV villains, I think Mr. Burns deserves some props.

Well... he WAS in the movie, too...

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

True, but he wasn't the bad guy in the movie...

[Ms. Jellybean]

Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. She gives McMurphy her icy stare, and when he doesn't back down, she goes into seriously disturbing quietly vengeful evil mode. It's terrifying.

Satan (as played by Tim Curry) from Legend. So much camp, and really the only decent actor in the film.

Cardinal Richelieu (again, Tim Curry) from the 1993 version of The Three Musketeers. I think only Tim Curry could deliver lines such as "All for one, and more for me" while still being so scene-chewingly menacing.

Creedy from V for Vendetta. I don't know about you guys, but he scared me witless. I shudder to think of society turning into such a controlled police-state, and this man is at the forefront of those nightmares.

The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This character scared the living daylights out of me as a child. I also could never pin down the character's gender until recently.

[blinkfan]

I am so happy someone mentioned Nurse Ratched, She makes Darth Vader look like a saint.

5. Middle Eye from Apocalypto- By far one of the most psychotic characters I have ever seen. That whole movie is amazing but his character takes the movie to a whole new plateau and Jaguar Paws and Middle Eye's showdown at the end is probably the most exhiliarating sequences I have ever seen.

4. Theron and Xerxes from 300. They are both such loathsome characters, and are both great villains.

3. Cheryl from Evil Dead- What can I say about her, that describes her evilness, the actors performance in it puts Linda Blairs as Regan to shame.

2. Nurse Ratched from One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest- As I stated earlier she makes Darth Vader look like a saint. The way she loves being in control, The actresses performance is amazing, She makes everything sinister.

1. Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. Yes he is the protagonist but he is also the antagonist at the same time. Watching his mind deterioate during the film is damn scary.

[Ms. Jellybean]

blinkfan said:

I am so happy someone mentioned Nurse Ratched, She makes Darth Vader look like a saint.

...

2. Nurse Ratched from One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest- As I stated earlier she makes Darth Vader look like a saint. The way she loves being in control, The actresses performance is amazing, She makes everything sinister.

Apparently a very popular bit of trivia is that Louise Fletcher (the actress) stood on the set one day and, errr, removed some garments to just remind everyone else that she was still human. And female.

Off-topic, but if the book and movie have anything to say about it, Ken Kesey had serious mommy issues.

[merlinmerry]

Okay, I have to make a change to my list. I just returned from a 9 hour shopping trip to the local mall where I was pummeled, stepped on and stampeded over by hoards of Santa seeking tots. Therefore, I officially remove Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham (in Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves) from my Greatest Villains list. Instead of a Villain, he is now my hero. He wanted to cancel Christmas. Nothing evil about that. No sir.
Instead of Mr Rickman, I nominate Bing Crosby's character from the movie "White Christmas." The fiend sang a song about dreaming of a white Christmas. We were hammered with 11 inches of snow a couple of days ago and are currently under a winter storm warning with an additional foot of snow expected. Damn you, Bing!

[coccatino]

Husband deplores my list and insists that I post his weigh-in on this topic. I have no reasons for his picks, but this is what he wanted posted:
Megatron
Kevin Spacey from Se7en
Kevin Bacon from Sleepers
The Warden from The Shawshank Redemption
The Borg Queen

Instead of The Borg Queen he originally wanted Ursula the Sea Witch but I told him this was already listed. He insisted that I at least mention her again because he's almost 28 and still afraid of her

[Al]

coccatino said:

Kevin Bacon from Sleepers

Oooh, good choice. The movie isn't quite as horrific as the book, but he was absolutely vile in that.

And as a quick aside, my family has started doing 'themed' gifts for Christmas each year, and this year my cousin picked Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, meaning we have to link our presents to to a movie he's been in. It's fun yet frustrating, just like family gatherings!

[PoolMan]

coccatino said:

Husband deplores my list and insists that I post his weigh-in on this topic.

Husband should sign in with his own ID!

[Hucklebubba]

Most of my greatest villains aren't actually all that great.


Johnny Wong from Hard Boiled

Not really a well-constructed villain in the sense of being believable or charismatic or whatever, but he makes for a fine lead receptacle. In other words, not a good villain; just one that you really want to see dead.

He does have one of the best lines in the whole film. While forcing Tequila to slap himself: "Now your other cheek; Jesus said."


Otis Hazelrig from Dark Night of the Scarecrow

Otis possesses none of the admirable traits that make for a "great" villain, but he makes up for it with pure sleaziness. Seriously, he's naught but a big chunk of backwoods effluvium, molded into a vaguely humanoid shape, and held together by a postal worker's uniform.


Einon from Dragonheart

So continues my trend of villains whose primary value is found in their ability to die real good.

What's particularly annoying about Einon--aside from his overwhelmingly slappable face--is that there isn't one whit of tragedy or forgivability in his villain-becoming process. He's given every opportunity to not become an evil prick, but does so anyway.

Oh, and there's also the fact that the average viewer, when placed in a hypothetical engagement against Einon wherein his immortality is taken off the table, will feel more than confident in their ability to. . .I believe the proper term is "walk all up and down his ass."


Giant Magnet and Crusher from The Brave Little Toaster

Today=Actually still scary.

As a child=Hi-octane nightmare fuel.


Fire Clown from the same.

Have I ever mentioned that The Brave Little Toaster gets my enthusiastic nomination for darkest, most twisted American animated feature ever made?

[Rett Mikhal]

hucklebubba said:

Giant Magnet and Crusher from The Brave Little Toaster

Today=Actually still scary.

As a child=Hi-octane nightmare fuel.

This had me laughing for a good couple minutes.

I still have to go with... Darth Maul. Now, I know, I'm just painting a big 'RIP ME OPEN AND FEED ME TO ANIMALS' sign on my face by picking Maul over Vader, BUT LET ME REMIND YOU THAT NO ONE HAS PICKED VADER. So, hear me out, meow.

Darth Maul, is a killing machine. If you opened up his bios settings, you'd see every setting was set to 'kill' 'maim' 'hurt' 'destroy' and all the other words thesaurus.com feels like throwing at you; even the fancy ones like liquidate, guillotine, extirpate, and obliterate. I always liked the word obliterate, ever since StarCraft and my lovely Archons... I so rarely can use it in conversation without most of my friends wanting to run away for fear of humiliation on a grand scale.

Back to the topic. Darth Maul is bad-ass[/i]. Just look at him. He has a crown of horns and is tattooed red and black all over. But at the SAME TIME, he doesn't smile evilly or laugh insanely, or say much of anything, really. He's like a businessman's id: completely evil and willing to kill anyone but also very polite and charming on the exterior.

Then he takes the cloak off.

Then you're dead. You're deader than dead. You're one with the Force dead. Even his combat speaks volumes to his character. He growls, he snarls, he drools, he sleeps five feet above his covers, etc. Then, to kill Qui-Gon, not only does he use a cheap shot, he uses a cheap shot that hurts. He slams his hilt into Jinn's FACE. Then STABS him.

Between Darth Vader and Darth Maul are all our dirty "I wish I could"s. Where Darth Vader is the symbol for absolute abuse of power (and lovin' it), Darth Maul is basically all our GTA replays come back to haunt us, with a lightsaber... a double bladed one.

Hey, bonus points if you can name who invented the double bladed lightsaber!

Oh, wait, I need five? Ok.

Darth Maul.

Darth Vader.

The Alien Queen. Just look at her. JUST LOOK AT HER!!

Mr. Stay Puft. He's so evil and crushes churches, BUT HOW COULD YOU EVER STAND TO SHOOT HIM. Genius...

David Fincher. He made Alien 3 and thus even Darth Maul is afraid of him.

[Al]

sirgallahad2 said:

Okay, just like the "Top 5 Most Disturbing films" list, one basic rule applies. Darth Vader (The REAL Darth Vader from the Holy Trilogy), and the Shark from "Jaws", are all exempt from this posting.

rettmikhal said:

Darth Vader

Vader's exempt, man. No soup for you.

And, because I'm a giant dork:

author=rettmikhal]Hey, bonus points if you can name who invented the double bladed lightsaber!

Exar Kun