Sunday, August 17, 2008

Who are your favorite movie villains?


Boo and hiss at their beautiful wickedness
in the comments please.

62 comments:

Anonymous said...

"El Capitan" from Pan's Labyrinth.

Anonymous said...

Nurse Ratchet, Catwoman and Gollum are the ones that pop immediately into my head.

ctrout said...

Darth Vader
Michael Corleone
Amon Goeth
The Wicked Witch of the West
Hannibal Lecter

Robert said...

Noah Cross from Chinatown

Anonymous said...

Miranda Priestley!

Anonymous said...

Hannibal Lecter

Anonymous said...

Alien
Rosa Klebb
Auric Goldfinger
Khan Noonien Singh
Bridget Gregory
Lilly Dillon...

I've got a serious villain fetish.

Cluster Funk said...

Maleficent! Or for sheer chill factor, a three-way tie between Pennywise ('It'), Hans Becert ('M') and Reverend Kane ('Poltergeist II'). They still scare the shit out of me!

Anonymous said...

HANS GRUBER as played by Alan Rickman in Die Hard
Genius!

female...NURSE RACHET...a woman without a concious

Rion said...

Brick Top in Snatch

Chad said...

Robert Mitchum in either Night of the Hunter or Cape Fear

The Bishop from Fanny and Alexander

Joseph Cotten as Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt

A cool villain: Bill from Kill Bill

Hottest (sort of a) Villain: Regina George

El Gigante said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
El Gigante said...

Aaron Sletzer and Jason Friedburg, those @$$holes are ruining film comedy (in Date, Epic and Disaster Movie) and dumbing down an entire generation of film-goers.

Oh you mean fictional? Mrs. Iselin (as played by Angela Lansbury) in the Manchurian Candidate. Would Daniel Plainview (of There Will Be Blood fame) count as a villain?

Sean Knight said...

Hannibal Lector - Silence of the Lambs
Amon Goeth - Schindler's List
The Joker - The Dark Knight
Catwoman - Batman Returns
Alien/Alien Queen - Alien, Aliens
Has Gruber - Die Hard
Demon/Satan/Linda Blair - The Exorcist
Gollum - The Lord of the Rings
Darth Vader - Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi
Joe Pesci - Goodfellas, Casino
Bruce - Jaws
Frank Costello - The Departed
the one ring - The Lord of the Rings

Anonymous said...

Bill the Butcher

Emma said...

The Warden from The Shawshank Redemption, the schoolteachers and parents in The 400 Blows (:P), and Scar in The Lion King.

Anonymous said...

Hannibal Lector (Silence of the Lambs)
Darth Vader (Empire Strikes Back)
The Joker (The Dark Knight)
Amon Goeth (Schindler's List)
Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

Anonymous said...

Harry Powell from Night of the Hunter, Batty from Blade Runner, and Aguirre from Aguirre, the Wrath of God, in addition to others mentioned here.

Anonymous said...

Eve from All about Eve
Beth Jarret from Ordinary People
Jack Torrance from The shining
Alex from A clockwork orange
Otto from A fish called Wanda (if he counts as a villain)
Frank Booth from Blue velvet
Michael Corleone from The godfather part II
Tom Ripley from The talented mr. Ripley
Anton Chigurh From No country for old men
Hannibal Lecter from The silence of the lambs

RahulB said...

Ursula. Always.

J.D. said...

I'm kinda surprised (even if it's just overly expectant fanboyism) that no one has said Edvard Vergerus yet. He's gotta be important in the history of villains, right? Or at least with the "esp. fucked up beyond all belief" ones.

Runs Like A Gay said...

It's tricky thinking of someone who hasn't already been mentioned but for pure boo-hissableness how about The Baroness from The Sound of Music?

Of course she does do the decent thing in the end, and dresses fabulously.

Anonymous said...

Nice job, El Gigante, with Angela Lansbury's Mrs. Iselin. She'd top my list, too.

A couple more deliciously evil divas:
- Regina Giddens (Bette Davis) in The Little Foxes
- Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver) in Working Girl
- Captain Lewis (Eileen Brennan) in Private Benjamin
- Beth Jarrett (Mary Tyler Moore) in Ordinary People

Anonymous said...

Annie Wilcox in Misery.

BTW Eve in all about eve and the baroness in sound of music are not really villains are they? Especially the latter.

The Jaded Armchair Reviewer said...

Any woman played onscreen by Miranda Richardson I consider to have the hint of villainy immediately.

Anonymous said...

nurse ratcher - human
the alien - non human

Catherine said...

Nini Legs In The Air.

BeRightBack said...

Tilda Swinton as the White Witch in the first Narnia movie.

BeRightBack said...

Shit! Just as I hit submit, I remembered a better Swinton villian, which is my new top choice: Queen Isabella in Jarman's Edward II. The scene when she bites the dude in the neck wearing that fabulous dress was more, um, formative for me than perhaps it's wise to admit.

Anonymous said...

Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People.

Her icy persona can be felt in EVERY scene. Amazing performance.

libhom said...

Ronald Reagan

Doc_P said...

Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear

Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men

Anonymous said...

Sandra Bullock.

The creepiest screen presence by far.

Iggy

Billy D said...

Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus.

"Dance, dance until you DIE!"

Anonymous said...

Harry Lime from The Third Man

Anonymous said...

Katherine Hepburn in Suddenly, Last Summer. But really, the lady could've played anything with perfection.

Also, some lesser admired villains have stuck in my mind since the day I saw them:

Selena (Faye Dunaway) - Supergirl
Princess Mombi - Return To Oz
Jane Palmer (Lizabeth Scott) - Too Late For Tears (if you've never seen this film noir, seek it out. you must)

Joel said...

John Doe from Se7en...
More recently, I would say Mrs Carmody from The Mist.

Anonymous said...

OT: Hey Nathaniel, I recently got the script for Changeling. It's a really well written role that is entirely subtle. If you want a copy please reply with an email I can send it to you. Thanks!

NATHANIEL R said...

catherine ---hear hear

runs like --love it. i think maybe she deserves an appreciation post somewhere.

Iggy --hee!

everyone --a lot of great choices here and some that I'd forgotten about.

Anonymous said...

John Malkovich in "Dangerous Liasons"

Tim Curry in "The Three Musketeers"

What's His Name in "True Lies"

but the ultimate evil villain is definitely Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"

Anonymous said...

Scar - Lion King
The Joker - TDK
Chigurgh - No Country
The Beast/Hercules - The Sandlot
Patrick Bateman (is he a villain?)
Wes Studi - that one Native American actor who is a bad guy in every movie involving Native Americans since the late 1980s most notably Magua in Last of the Mohicans

Anonymous said...

Scar - Lion King
The Joker - TDK
Chigurgh - No Country
The Beast/Hercules - The Sandlot
Patrick Bateman (is he a villain?)
Wes Studi - that one Native American actor who is a bad guy in every movie involving Native Americans since the late 1980s most notably Magua in Last of the Mohicans

Pedro said...

Nobody has mentioned Katharine Hepburn as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night.

Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (who is my favorite villain) and Chernabog from the segment "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria" from Fantasia (a little bias for animated films).

Anonymous said...

My Favorite Cinematic Villains:

Hannibal Lecter- “Silence of the Lambs”
Alex Forrest- “Fatal Attraction”
Norman Bates- “Psycho”
Nurse Ratched- “One Flew Over Cuckoo’s”
Maleficent- “Sleeping Beauty”
Annie Wilkes- “Misery”
Frollo- “Hunchback of Notre Dame” (96)
Regan/ The demon- “The Exorcist”
The Joker- “The Dark Knight”
The alien- “Alien”

RU: Tom Ripley- “Talented Mr. Ripley”, Darth Vader- “Star Wars”, Anton Chigurh- “No Country”, Michael Myers- “Halloween”, Ms. Minchin- “A Little Princess”

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I so second the Sandra Bullock comment; a cinematic villian indeed!

Chris Na Taraja said...

Cruelle Deville in 101 Dalmations
(who else has a cool song?!)

Bella Lagosi as Dracula

Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort

Jack Nicholson in the Shining

Alan Rickman in Robinhood

Angelica Housten in the Witches

Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson

Garen said...

I'm gonna go ahead and suggest a potentially unpopular name with Mandy Moore as Hilary Faye in Saved!

Don't knock it till you see it.

My other favorite is Madam Mim in Sword in the Stone. She's also possibly my favorite Disney character.

Also major major major major agreement with Billy D re Bette in Hocus Pocus. Absolute thespian genius.

Cluster Funk said...

Nicodemus in 'The Secret of NIMH' is one for the all-time list.

Michelle Pfeiffer as Ingrid in 'White Oleander' is also fab -- very much in the vein of Mrs. Iselin.

Dame James said...

Hannibal Lecter
Annie Wilkes
Norma Desmond
Baby Jane Hudson
Alex Forrest

Yih said...

arnold in batman and robin...

just kidding

Anonymous said...

Judge Frollo from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. I still think this film is criminally underrated - it's probably my all time favorite Disney movie. Some amazingly complex/mature villainry for an animated family film.

Also:
Amon Goeth
Edvard Vergerus
Anton Chigurh
Frank Booth
Hans Gruber
Blair Witch/Zodiac Killer (I figure they have to share ;) )

Deborah said...

Jaws
Goldfinger
Odd Job
Annie Wilkes
Anton Chigurh
The Wicked Queen from Snow White

Anonymous said...

I just wanna add:

The Nuns : The Magdelene Sisters

Anonymous said...

Sorry I'm late...

Angela Lansbury retires the cup with the perfect villian in "The Manchurian Candidate" - it goes right to the pit of the soul like a hot needle in a cold nerve to see a mother betray her own for something so crass as power.

One not metioned so far (?) - Jaws from "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker". Indestructably over-the top. Such good fun.

Anonymous said...

Gotta add:
Mrs. Danvers - Rebecca
Tom Ripley - Plein Soleil (1960)
Lady Asaji - Throne of Blood - scariest Lady Macbeth ever. Just the sound of her kimono sends chills.

Anonymous said...

Ivan Drago from Rocky IV.

"I must break you."

Who comes up with these lines?

Unknown said...

Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in Misery

Anonymous said...

Commodus from Gladiator... nobody can top that!
The White Witch from Narina!
The entire town in Dogville (children are included)

Anonymous said...

Noah Cross, from Chinatown
Harry Lime, from The Third Man
Roman & Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's Baby
Frank Booth, Blue Velvet
Anton Chigurh, No Country For Old Men
Harry Powell, from THe NIght of the Hunter
Karen Crowder, from Michael Clayton

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of them right now

Roberta Lipp said...

Alan Arkin as Rote in Wait Until Dark.
Martin Sheen in the Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.

You've hit most of the other ones.

Anonymous said...

Bette Davis in The Anniversary

Xenia said...

Me too, Agent69 ;)

Though I think he becomes increasingly sympathetic over the course of the series, I must crown Hannibal Lecter as the best villain =)