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You are here: Home / Popular Culture / Open Thread: Bad Guys

Open Thread: Bad Guys

by WaterGirl|  March 6, 20218:30 pm| 248 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Popular Culture

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I am catching up on Black Lightning this evening, and I thought – not for the first time – that Tobias Whale is the creepiest bad guy that I have ever seen in a film or TV show.

Professor Moriarty in the TV show Elementary also creeped me out, though I don’t exactly know why.

Who would you name as your best/worst bad guys in film or TV?

Totally open thread.

Update:  Sort of related…  (has to do with TV) I am finishing Season1 of Crossing Lines, which I paid for on Amazon Prime, and I have Season 3 recording on Tivo, but I cannot find Season 2 streaming anywhere.  This show keeps me engrossed while I am walking on the treadmill, so I would really like to find Season 2!

In the meantime, I just downloaded Season 1 of Bosch for when I finish the final 2 episodes of Crossing Lines, Season 1.

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Reader Interactions

248Comments

  1. 1.

    The Thin Black Duke

    March 6, 2021 at 8:34 pm

    Yes!

  2. 2.

    Wileybud

    March 6, 2021 at 8:35 pm

    One of the best, yet underrated, bad guys in cinema was Clarence Boddicker as played by Kurtwood Smith in the original Robocop.  No evil super powers, just plain evil with a side of nasty.

  3. 3.

    The Thin Black Duke

    March 6, 2021 at 8:35 pm

    The cigarette smoking guy from The X Files.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    March 6, 2021 at 8:36 pm

  5. 5.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 6, 2021 at 8:37 pm

    Allan Rickman as Hans Gruber.

    Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lechter.

    David Prowse/James Earl Jones as Darth Vader.

    Kurtwood Smith as Clarence Boddiker.

    Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa

     

    Oh…Donald Trump as “President”.

  6. 6.

    zhena gogolia

    March 6, 2021 at 8:38 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Yes, he was good.

    My all-time favorite is James Mason.

    In anything. But check out North by Northwest or Prisoner of Zenda to get started.

  7. 7.

    feebog

    March 6, 2021 at 8:38 pm

    You will love Bosch, one of the finest detective series ever made for television.  And based on one of the best fictional detectives of all time.  They are filming season 7 now, and they have just announced a spinoff of the series with the great Mimi Rodgers, who is a recurring character in the current series.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    March 6, 2021 at 8:38 pm

    Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men

  9. 9.

    zhena gogolia

    March 6, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    That last one is too scary!

  10. 10.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 6, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    @Wileybud: YES!  “Major league bang bang!”

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    March 6, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke: Yes to what?  How creepy Tobias Whale is? (shudder)

  12. 12.

    zhena gogolia

    March 6, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    My husband says Cesar Romero as the Joker.

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    March 6, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke: oh, yes, he was creepy.  Tied with Tobias Whale, I think.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    March 6, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    @Baud: What happened?

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    March 6, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    Christopher Lee is a pretty scary Dracula.

  16. 16.

    VOR

    March 6, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    @feebog: Seconded, I really enjoyed Bosch despite never reading any of the source novels.

  17. 17.

    Gvg

    March 6, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    The penguin in the 2nd batman in the 80’s.

  18. 18.

    Baud

    March 6, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    @WaterGirl: Nothing. Changed my mind.

  19. 19.

    zhena gogolia

    March 6, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    Sherlock had some pretty scary bad guys. Lars Mikkelson creeped me out. But best of all was the evil cab driver played by the great Phil Davis in A Study in Pink.

    You have hit upon a topic that I am being very garrulous about.

  20. 20.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 6, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    Orson Welles as Hank Quinlan. Yes, I know he’s not supposed to be the bad guy.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    March 6, 2021 at 8:44 pm

    @zhena gogolia: When I think of James Mason, I think of him as the charming angle in Heaven Can Wait.

  22. 22.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 6, 2021 at 8:44 pm

    Rickman was a terrific Sheriff of Nottingham too.

    “And cancel Christmas!”

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 6, 2021 at 8:45 pm

    @Gvg: Danny DeVito?  He was indeed creepy in that role.  Pee Wee Herman played the Penguin’s father!

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    March 6, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    @Baud: I thought maybe you were holding a grudge because earlier this week when I saw a bunch of comments from “Bau.” in spam, I hit “trash and ban” just as I saw your email address and recognized my mistake.

    You were only banned for maybe 60 seconds, but I thought you must have sensed it somehow.  How could I ban my favorite commenter????

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    March 6, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    I nominate CGB Spender, the Cigarette-Smoking Man, The X-Files‘ shadowy assassin, serial liar, Deep State power player, quisling to our alien would-be conquerors, and arrogant flouter of no-smoking zones, who has been killed off several times in the show’s history but keeps coming back to do yet more villainy.

  26. 26.

    Mo MacArbie

    March 6, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    The Abominable Snowman in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer freaked me right the fuck out.

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    March 6, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    Frank Booth in “Blue Velvet” [Dennis Hopper].

  28. 28.

    Baud

    March 6, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    @WaterGirl: 

    I was having an all thumbs day that day. Glad you erased those comments.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    March 6, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    @Mo MacArbie: I think The Thing was the scariest movie I saw as a kid.  I think there may have been a creepy hand thing as part of that movie, but I don’t really remember the details.

  30. 30.

    Poe Larity

    March 6, 2021 at 8:50 pm

    Bosch is good but Welliver and Hector must have had some falling out as they aren’t really partners in the last few seasons. It’s like two detective series and they have chats in the office.

  31. 31.

    bbleh

    March 6, 2021 at 8:50 pm

    Clancy Brown, both as the Kurgan in Highlander (yeah whatever) and as Brother Justin in Carnivàle was a great bad-guy, at least in part because he clearly enjoyed the roles.

  32. 32.

    Sloane Ranger

    March 6, 2021 at 8:52 pm

    Robert Hardy as Charles Augustus Milverton in the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series. He oozed a kind of oily avuncular malevolence from every pore. And those pince nez glasses!

  33. 33.

    MagdaInBlack

    March 6, 2021 at 8:52 pm

    “Bob” from Twin Peaks.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    March 6, 2021 at 8:53 pm

    Yul Brenner in West World.

  35. 35.

    Rand Careaga

    March 6, 2021 at 8:53 pm

    Charles Dance as the implacably malevolent family lawyer Tulkinghorn in the 2005 BBC Bleak House has always stuck with me.

  36. 36.

    zhena gogolia

    March 6, 2021 at 8:54 pm

    @Sloane Ranger:

    Great actor.

  37. 37.

    Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)

    March 6, 2021 at 8:55 pm

    I just loved le Chiffre in Casino Royale.

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    March 6, 2021 at 8:55 pm

    @Rand Careaga:

    He’s very creepy in And Then There Were None. Not to mention as a Nazi on Foyle’s War.

  39. 39.

    Dagaetch

    March 6, 2021 at 8:56 pm

    FYI @WaterGirl, Bosch gets MUCH better in season 2 and remains equally good after that. S1 was a bit…formulaic.

    Person of Interest had some great antagonists. Carl Elias, played by Enrico Colantoni and Root, played by Amy Acker, were incredibly morally complex and really made you consider different points of view. And even the ‘baddest’ bad guy, Greer, wasn’t a cackling supervillain out to conquer for no reason, he honestly believed that humanity couldn’t govern itself and thought in his twisted way that he was saving them. Just a great, great show all around.

  40. 40.

    Josie

    March 6, 2021 at 8:57 pm

    Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter and Cape Fear.

  41. 41.

    The Thin Black Duke

    March 6, 2021 at 8:57 pm

    Remember Oliver Twist? That cotton candy rumor of a movie which somehow nailed Best Picture? It becomes an entirely different film the moment Oliver Reed makes his appearance as Bill Sykes. He was a terrifying monster.

  42. 42.

    debbie

    March 6, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    Jeremy Irons in Die Hard 3. The blond hair didn’t hurt either.

  43. 43.

    Mo MacArbie

    March 6, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    Kenneth Branagh made a great Iago.

  44. 44.

    SFBayAreaGal

    March 6, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    Robert Mitchum as Max Caddy (Cape Fear) and Harry Powell (Night of the Hunter).

  45. 45.

    The Thin Black Duke

    March 6, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    Robert Blake from Lost Highway.

  46. 46.

    debbie

    March 6, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Poor Nancy.

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    Couldn’t get into Bosch. OTOH, among Prime originals liked Goliath and the tongue super glued to cheek Patriot. The latter being a rare case of the second season being even better than the first.

    Hm. Gotta cogitate on bad guys for a bit, perhaps with the aid of a song and dance. ;)

  48. 48.

    debbie

    March 6, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    @Mo MacArbie:

    Yes!

  49. 49.

    eponymous

    March 6, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    Casey Affleck – The Killer Inside Me.

    Full disclosure: All I saw was a trailer. It freaked me out so much I couldn’t stand to look at Casey Affleck in anything else for awhile.

  50. 50.

    Josie

    March 6, 2021 at 9:00 pm

    @SFBayAreaGal:

    Ah, another lover of old movies.

  51. 51.

    Abnormal Hiker

    March 6, 2021 at 9:02 pm

    Z-man Barzell in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

  52. 52.

    wvng

    March 6, 2021 at 9:02 pm

    Buffalo Bill/Jame Gumb in Silence of the Lambs. He was modeled on a number of actual serial killers and was chillingly realistic.

  53. 53.

    The Thin Black Duke

    March 6, 2021 at 9:02 pm

    @SFBayAreaGal: Mitchum was the guy who knocked on your door when you owed money to the wrong people.

  54. 54.

    khead

    March 6, 2021 at 9:02 pm

    Damien creeped me out in The Omen.

    Michael Myers creeped me out in Halloween.

    The alien creeped me out in Alien.

    That pretty much covers what scared the shit out of me and had a lasting impact.

  55. 55.

    MagdaInBlack

    March 6, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    Brad Pitt as “Early Grayce” In “Kalifornia.”

  56. 56.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    March 6, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    Christopher Lloyd playing Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

    Leonardo DiCaprio playing “Monsieur” Calvin J. Candie in Django Unchained.

    Billy Drago playing Frank Nitti in The Untouchables.

  57. 57.

    Rand Careaga

    March 6, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    @zhena gogolia: And yet, he was plausibly the romantic interest during the latter episodes of The Jewel in the Crown.

  58. 58.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    March 6, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    Harry Dean Stanton screaming “avenge me” to his sons  in Red Dawn.

    Selfish old wingnut shoulda told his kids to keep low and keep safe. Instead, he expected a vendetta.

  59. 59.

    FridayNext

    March 6, 2021 at 9:04 pm

    The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang gave me nightmares.  He was played by a ballet dancer Sir Robert Helpmann.

    And Katherine Bates’ Annie Wilkes in Misery was creepy as shit.

  60. 60.

    SFBayAreaGal

    March 6, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    Raymond Burr as Lars Thorwald

  61. 61.

    RSA

    March 6, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    Michael Emerson as Ben Linus in Lost

    Bill Paxton as Dad Meiks in Frailty

    Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd

    And going back to childhood, Benny Hill as the Toymaker in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

  62. 62.

    SFBayAreaGal

    March 6, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    @Josie: Yes. I do love them. My favorite of all time is the Ghost and Mrs Muir.

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    March 6, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    Fled Cruz.

    NJ.com – Princeton strips Fled Cruz of honor for trying to overturn presidential election.

    [womp, womp]

    (via JuanitaJean.com)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    March 6, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    As to bad guys I like, Crowley in Supernatural tops the list.

  65. 65.

    khead

    March 6, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    Also, when I watch RoboCop (or even Star Trek VI) now I always expect Kurtwood Smith to call SOMEone a dumbass.

  66. 66.

    Fester Addams

    March 6, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    Smoothie (Patrick Fischer) in Happy! (2017-2019) comes to mind. Kinda wish he hadn’t, though.

  67. 67.

    SFBayAreaGal

    March 6, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke: Yup. He was so good in a lot of his movies.

  68. 68.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    March 6, 2021 at 9:09 pm

    Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello in “The Departed”. He’s seriously demented, but not one dimensional.

  69. 69.

    SFBayAreaGal

    March 6, 2021 at 9:09 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Oh he’s one of my favorite bad guys. I loved the actor who portrayed Crowley.

  70. 70.

    cope

    March 6, 2021 at 9:09 pm

    Richard Boone as Cicero Grimes in “Hombre”.

  71. 71.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    March 6, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    @SFBayAreaGal:

    Mark Sheppard. He’s a fun watch.

  72. 72.

    James E Powell

    March 6, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) on Lost

    Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) in Gone Girl

    Sgt Barnes (Tom Berenger) in Platoon

    Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

    I’d say Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) and Omar Little (Michael K Williams) from The Wire, but I’m not sure they’re villains

  73. 73.

    Kent

    March 6, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    Not necessarily the scariest.  But some of my favorite villains were on the series Justified.  Margot Martindale was fabulous as the mob boss matriarch.  And Walten Goggins was fabulous throughout as the local Nazi drug kingpin Boyd Crowder.

    for truly creepy   Both the original Cape Fear with Mitchum   And the remake with DeNiro are hard to beat

  74. 74.

    Chief Oshkosh

    March 6, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    The Flying Monkeys in The Wizard of Oz really freaked us out as kids.

  75. 75.

    raven

    March 6, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    I bought the DVD of “Tom Horn” a couple of years ago and we’re just getting around to watching it now. It should have been Steve McQueen’s last movie but he made one more that was sort of a stinker. This is a beautifully filmed and great story of the west just as it was turning.

  76. 76.

    phein61

    March 6, 2021 at 9:14 pm

    @Mo MacArbie: 
    My wife’s cousin is the spitting image of Rudolph’s Abominable Snowman, and another cousin is the spitting image of Hermie, the elf dentist. It’s our Christmas special favorite.

    My favorite film bad guy of all time is Robert Mitchum in “Night of the Hunter.” Although he did kill Shelley Winters, so at least he has that going for him . . .

  77. 77.

    hotshoe

    March 6, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Yes, more please, if you have lots more to say.

    I think Andrew Scott’s Moriarty is too … umm … cute … to be terrifying, but he does have that amazing ability to bring out his inner psycho with only a tiny movement of his eyelids.

    Phil Davis as the murderous cabbie, though, seems more realistic, and that’s more frightening somehow.

  78. 78.

    raven

    March 6, 2021 at 9:16 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: You better lay off the candy bars. . .

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 9:16 pm

    Woefully incomplete quickly thrown together list:

    Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death
    George Sanders in
    Man Hunt
    Robert Ryan in Crossfire
    Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar
    James Cagney in White Heat
    The creepy dudes in Dark City, particularly the little kid
    Jessica Walter in Play Misty for Me
    Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man
    Siân Phillips in I, Claudius
    Desslok in Star Blazers
    .

  80. 80.

    Craig

    March 6, 2021 at 9:17 pm

    John Huston as Noah Cross in Chinatown. One of the most horrifying characters in cinema

  81. 81.

    SFBayAreaGal

    March 6, 2021 at 9:17 pm

    Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Iselin

    Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates

    Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing

  82. 82.

    Laura W.

    March 6, 2021 at 9:18 pm

    Unfortunately, only season 1 of Crossing Lines is available. Seasons 2 and 3 are even available as dvds. I really liked that show.

  83. 83.

    James E Powell

    March 6, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    @Wileybud:

    Kurtwood Smith was also pretty evil  [SPOILER ALERT] as the father of the kid who kills himself in Dead Poet’s Society.

  84. 84.

    SFBayAreaGal

    March 6, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    @raven: I agree.

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    March 6, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    James Mason in The Verdict.

    Charles Dance in Game of Thrones.

    Heath Ledger’s Joker

    Laurence Olivier’s Nazi dentist in Marathon Man

     

    John Wick. Good Guy? Bad Guy? Angel of Death

  86. 86.

    Chief Oshkosh

    March 6, 2021 at 9:20 pm

    Mitch McConnell as Senate Majority Leader (someone else took Trump as President)

  87. 87.

    RSA

    March 6, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    @FridayNext: Oh, thanks for your comment! I was mixing up characters (and actors) in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It was the Child Catcher I was thinking of.

  88. 88.

    Kristine

    March 6, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t know what it is about the Mikkelsen family. Definitely agree about Lars. Then there was Mads as Hannibal Lecter.

    If my degree of hatred counts for anything, Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. Classic abuser behavior towards Rey, his envy of her abilities obvious. A blazing incompetent with way too much power.

    Sean Harris as Solomon Lane in MI: Rogue Nation was so creepy. He had a habit of invading peoples’ spaces that made him that much creepier. His voice just added to the overall effect.

  89. 89.

    James E Powell

    March 6, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    @NotMax:

    I feel like you and I are the only two people who liked Patriot

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    One more which just popped into the cranium.

    Angus Scrimm in the original Phantasm

  91. 91.

    The Thin Black Duke

    March 6, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    @SFBayAreaGal: How about Hume Cronyn in Brute Force?

  92. 92.

    Kristine

    March 6, 2021 at 9:23 pm

    @Brachiator:

    John Wick. Good Guy? Bad Guy? Angel of Death

    Dog lover. Potential Juicer.

  93. 93.

    prostratedragon

    March 6, 2021 at 9:23 pm

    @Wileybud:  Saw this last night for the first time in years, and wow, you’ve got a point.

    I’ve got a little list. This is not exhaustive (it’s an exhausting subject, isn’t it), and in no particular order, ’cause evil merely is, but here are some highlights:

    • Gregory Anton by Charles Boyer, Gaslight (1944); the earlier version played by Marius Goring is pretty bad also. A kind of stupid unawareness that he projected drives me up a wall.
    • Noah Cross, Chinatown. Need a reason?
    • J.J. Hunsecker, Sweet Smell of Success; but do not overlook
    • Sidney Falco from the same place. People who use other people’s entire lives, and for very small reasons to boot.
    • Windom Earle, Twin Peaks, who has no excuse for his bullshit.
    • Neither does Michael Corleone, really. Glamorized, hell.

    Since asking me something invariably causes volumes of well-formulated thought to flee my mind, I consulted Wikipedia and found additionally these: HAL 9000; Harry Powell The Night of the Hunter; Eve Harrington, All About Eve; Harry Lime The Third Man; Frank Booth Blue Velvet (honorable mention to Ben, though no action is contingent on him); Eleanor Iselin The Manchurian Candidate, all provocatively bad.

    For a more personal touch, just thought of Harry from To Sleep with Anger and his Twin Peaks counterpart, Hank Jennings, Insidious planters of tiny, evil seeds. Got a real thing about evildoers who want to be loved by their victims.

  94. 94.

    James E Powell

    March 6, 2021 at 9:25 pm

    @Brachiator:

    James Mason in The Verdict.

    The Prince of Fucking Darkness!

  95. 95.

    Josie

    March 6, 2021 at 9:26 pm

    How could I forget? Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West.

  96. 96.

    LesGS

    March 6, 2021 at 9:26 pm

    @SFBayAreaGal: Mark Sheppard! I also liked him as the bad guy Badger on Firefly.

  97. 97.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 6, 2021 at 9:27 pm

    @Rand Careaga:

    Charles Dance as the implacably malevolent family lawyer Tulkinghorn in the 2005 BBC Bleak House has always stuck with me.

    Scarier as a Victorian solicitor in Bleak House than as a medieval warlord in Game of Thrones.

  98. 98.

    The Thin Black Duke

    March 6, 2021 at 9:27 pm

    I’m surprised nobody mentioned Alex from A Clockwork Orange.

  99. 99.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 6, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    Are we doing spoilers? Igby Goes Down is going on twenty years old, but as I recall the character who’s revealed as the villain is… a surprise for a couple of reasons

  100. 100.

    Kropacetic

    March 6, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Oh…Donald Trump as “President”.

    Nah, performance wasn’t believable.

  101. 101.

    RSA

    March 6, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    @prostratedragon:

    Eleanor Iselin The Manchurian Candidate

    Good one. I think the characterization of women as villains in the movies tends to be be much narrower than with men, but that’s a great one.

  102. 102.

    Geminid

    March 6, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    Walter Brennan as Old Man Clanton in John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946). An evil man, vicious to the very end. The stark black and white photography gives added impact.

  103. 103.

    prostratedragon

    March 6, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    @RSA:
    Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd

    See? I just watched that, dammit!

  104. 104.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 6, 2021 at 9:31 pm

    @Josie: ​

    Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter and Cape Fear.

    Haven’t seen Cape Fear, but yes on The Night of the Hunter.​

  105. 105.

    WhatsMyNym

    March 6, 2021 at 9:32 pm

    WaterGirl:  Ovation TV has the rights to Crossing Lines and is broadcasting it (if you can get the station) and it’s looks like they might show it on the website as well.  They just started the 2nd season.

  106. 106.

    Benw

    March 6, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    1/3 = 0.33333…

    1/3 x 3 = 1

    0.333333… x 3 = 0.99999999….

    0.9999999… = 1

  107. 107.

    prostratedragon

    March 6, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    @James E Powell:  I think Stringer is, in the matter of young Barksdale at least. He’s also tragic on several levels, but then so are many villains.  Omar I don’t think is one, notwithstanding.

  108. 108.

    Ascap_scab

    March 6, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    Anthony Perkins in Psycho

    Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs

  109. 109.

    danielx

    March 6, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     
    Christopher Lee as Saruman.

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 9:34 pm

    (Dis)honorable mentions:

    Geno Segers as Chayton Littlestone in Banshee.

    Also, while not so much bad as intrinsically flawed, Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People.

  111. 111.

    MagdaInBlack

    March 6, 2021 at 9:34 pm

    @Josie: Oh yes! I’d forgotten that one too.

  112. 112.

    Jackie

    March 6, 2021 at 9:35 pm

    The flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz terrified me as a child and still give me the heebie-jeebies.

  113. 113.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 6, 2021 at 9:37 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh: ​

    The Flying Monkeys in The Wizard of Oz really freaked us out as kids.

    Flung poo from the skies!

  114. 114.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 6, 2021 at 9:37 pm

    Gene Hackman in The Unforgiven.

    Margo Martindale in Justified.

  115. 115.

    glc

    March 6, 2021 at 9:38 pm

    Fascinating. Mostly in terms of what I have missed over the years.

    I was definitely freaked out by Cape Fear but then I was 13 and not into the genre. A little older, fortunately, when I saw Psycho. Anthony Perkins disturbs me  even when he is the love interest. Which I mean as a compliment.

  116. 116.

    danielx

    March 6, 2021 at 9:40 pm

    @NotMax: ​
     
    Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man

    Der Weisse Engel!

  117. 117.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 6, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    @NotMax: ​
     BOOOOOOYYYYYYY!!!!!!

  118. 118.

    Mathguy

    March 6, 2021 at 9:42 pm

    James Mason as Richard Straker (the vampire’s right hand man) in Salem’s Lot.
    Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert (the serial killer) in M.
    Heath Ledger as the Joker.

  119. 119.

    prostratedragon

    March 6, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    @NotMax: Ordinary People is an interesting case. She caused a lot of damage, but I think somehow she herself was quite damaged as well and no one around her seemed cognizant of it. Since she hadn’t willfully caused the central calamity, I always felt a bit sorry for her.

  120. 120.

    prostratedragon

    March 6, 2021 at 9:46 pm

    And yes, those flying monkeys got me but good when I was about 10, in an aisle seat at a live performance (Goodman Theater).

  121. 121.

    Peale

    March 6, 2021 at 9:46 pm

    Yoo Ji Tae’s character in Oldboy. The cruelty of his revenge is extreme and not commensurate with the injustice it was trying to correct.

  122. 122.

    raven

    March 6, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    Tom Berenger, Platoon

  123. 123.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 6, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    Not a traditional villain, but Nicole Kidman in To Die For. Still the best thing I’ve ever seen her do on screen. And then… the other guy

  124. 124.

    Craig

    March 6, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    Lena Headey in Dredd. Grim.

  125. 125.

    Almost Retired

    March 6, 2021 at 9:49 pm

    Soames Forsyte in the Forsyte chronicles/saga.  Especially since the character was played by otherwise likeable actors (Damian Lewis, Eric Porter).  The character was low-level evil, and powerless to disrupt lives much beyond his immediate circle.  But he wreaked havoc on the people closest to him.  Soames wasn’t historic-level vile, but he was the mundane devil we know.

  126. 126.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    March 6, 2021 at 9:50 pm

    @Josie:

    How could I forget? Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West.

     

    Years later, while discussing the scene in which Frank and his men slaughter an entire family, Fonda told an interviewer: “Sergio had cast me because he could imagine the audience at that moment saying, ‘Jesus Christ! It’s Henry Fonda!’”

  127. 127.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 6, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    @prostratedragon: And yes, those flying monkeys got me but good when I was about 10, in an aisle seat at a live performance (Goodman Theater).

    Did actors come running down the aisles?

  128. 128.

    Josie

    March 6, 2021 at 9:52 pm

    @Thor Heyerdahl: ​
     
    Exactly. And he pulled it off so beautifully.

  129. 129.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 6, 2021 at 9:54 pm

    Pat Hingle as Bobo Justice in The Grifters. Also, though it’s more complicated, Anjelica Huston. And Annette Benning.

  130. 130.

    rikyrah

    March 6, 2021 at 9:54 pm

    ???

    Both my seventy something mom and a relative got asked out in the vaccine line. Im telling you ppl are ready. This summer will be wild— Kaitlyn Greenidge (@surlybassey) March 7, 2021

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 9:55 pm

    @prostratedragon

    Remember standing in line outside waiting to be let in for the next showing.

    Usually when the previous patrons exit there’s chattering about what they just saw. This was the only occasion I ever witnessed when an entire audience filed out in utter silence.

  132. 132.

    Suzanne

    March 6, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    Ehhhhh my father-in-law was taken to the hospital via ambulance. Neither he nor my MIL have been vaccinated yet. He apparently hasn’t been taking his anti-seizure meds for two weeks. EHHHHHH.

  133. 133.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    March 6, 2021 at 9:58 pm

    @Kent:

    Mitchum’s original Cape Fear psycho was scarier, as his menace was more subdued. And given the time, the whole subject was beyond tense.

  134. 134.

    TiredOfItAll

    March 6, 2021 at 9:59 pm

    Christopher Walken in “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead”.

    Christopher Walken in “True Romance”.

    Christopher Walken.

  135. 135.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    March 6, 2021 at 9:59 pm

    Ralph Fiennes as SS officer Amon Göth in Schindler’s List

  136. 136.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    March 6, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Laurence Olivier’s Nazi dentist in Marathon Man

    As a dentist-phone, that movie scared (and scares) the shit out of me.

    “Is it safe?” (Shudder)

  137. 137.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 6, 2021 at 10:02 pm

    @Jackie: ​
      The flying monkeys were among the few things I liked.

  138. 138.

    prostratedragon

    March 6, 2021 at 10:05 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:  They did! One got right in my face. I could hardly focus on the rest of the performance.

  139. 139.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 10:05 pm

    @TiredOfItAll

    Also can execute a mean tap.

    ;)

  140. 140.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 6, 2021 at 10:06 pm

    @prostratedragon: Yikes!

  141. 141.

    Amir Khalid

    March 6, 2021 at 10:07 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    dentist-phone

    I had not heard of this occupation before. :-)
     ​

  142. 142.

    TiredOfItAll

    March 6, 2021 at 10:09 pm

    @NotMax

    I admit, the man can dance, ‘specially when he does The Continental.

    But I think he has resting villain face.

  143. 143.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    March 6, 2021 at 10:10 pm

    American Film Institute “100 Years…100 Heroes & Villians”

  144. 144.

    Craig

    March 6, 2021 at 10:10 pm

    Marc Warren as The Gentleman in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

  145. 145.

    RobertDSC-Mac Mini

    March 6, 2021 at 10:14 pm

    Ian MacDairmid in Return Of The Jedi as Emperor Palpatine.

  146. 146.

    Craig

    March 6, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    @NotMax: hella creepy as Frank White

  147. 147.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    March 6, 2021 at 10:16 pm

    Morgan Woodward – the mirrored sunglasses boss aka “The Man with No Eyes” in Cool Hand Luke

  148. 148.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 6, 2021 at 10:16 pm

    You want scary?  Nurse Ratched.  The less said about Pennywise, the better.

    You want charismatic?  Vader.

    You want oddly appealing romantic couple?  Spike and Drusilla.

  149. 149.

    AliceBlue

    March 6, 2021 at 10:16 pm

    Joseph Cotten as Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt

    Orson Welles as Harry Lime in The Third Man

  150. 150.

    debbie

    March 6, 2021 at 10:18 pm

    @raven:

    “I am reality.”

  151. 151.

    khead

    March 6, 2021 at 10:18 pm

    James Coburn as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction

  152. 152.

    cain

    March 6, 2021 at 10:20 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke: ​ Speaking of which I am out in my patio smoking a cigar and having
    whisky’s as a celebration of our win tonight ! And some nice 79s funk and bunch of other stuff​
     

    Eta apparently Nicaraguan cigars are better than cuban these days .. paired with a Westward 100 proof super smooth whiskey.
    Anybody else a cigar aficionado?

  153. 153.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 10:20 pm

    @TiredOfItAll

    Ever see him in Scotland, Pa.?

  154. 154.

    Chetan Murthy

    March 6, 2021 at 10:23 pm

    Denzel Washington, _Training Day_.  [mic drop]

  155. 155.

    Craig

    March 6, 2021 at 10:23 pm

    Ryunosuke Tsukue in The Sword of Doom. The grim and darkest of samurai films.

  156. 156.

    Mike in NC

    March 6, 2021 at 10:23 pm

    I nominate Donald Fucking Trump, Russian asset, to be one of the worst persons who ever lived.

  157. 157.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 6, 2021 at 10:24 pm

    @Thor Heyerdahl: Bruce from Jaws is listed, but no Sharptoooooooooth! from The Land Before Time? :(

  158. 158.

    cain

    March 6, 2021 at 10:25 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: ​Gubbar Singh from Sholay.. check him out on amazon prime .. great flick !

  159. 159.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    March 6, 2021 at 10:26 pm

    Harvey Korman in Blazing Saddles

    Keenan Wynn in Dr. Strangelove

  160. 160.

    Ann Marie

    March 6, 2021 at 10:28 pm

    Tobias Whale and Elementary’s Moriarty are two of my favorites too.  Also, Billy Burke as Phillip Stroh in multiple episodes of Major Crimes.  Really creepy and really smart.

    Mark Sheppard is fun as a sort of villain on Leverage.

  161. 161.

    zhena gogolia

    March 6, 2021 at 10:28 pm

    @Suzanne:

    I’m sorry. I hope it will be okay.

  162. 162.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 6, 2021 at 10:29 pm

    Everyone in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

    I’ve never seen a movie where I felt bad at the end. Not sorry for the characters, but sorry for myself.

  163. 163.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 6, 2021 at 10:29 pm

    Gary Oldman in The Fifth Element was a great villain. I always draw a weird blank when these sorts of question come up but eventually he came to mind.

  164. 164.

    billcinsd

    March 6, 2021 at 10:30 pm

    I had Peter Lorre in M, but was beaten to that one.

    I’m adding Max Schreck as Count Orlov in Nosferatu

  165. 165.

    TiredOfItAll

    March 6, 2021 at 10:31 pm

    @NotMax

    I have not; I will check it out.

  166. 166.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 6, 2021 at 10:31 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That actor’s a great villain wherever he shows up, haha

  167. 167.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 6, 2021 at 10:33 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: ​
      Oldman in The Professional.

  168. 168.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 6, 2021 at 10:34 pm

    @billcinsd: *Count Orlok

    “Your wife has a beautiful neck.” BEST. LINE. EVER.

  169. 169.

    MissBarbie

    March 6, 2021 at 10:35 pm

    @debbie: You beat me to it. I saw J Bardem on some late night television show with that bowl cut. He joked that his hair had its own fan club.

  170. 170.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 6, 2021 at 10:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oldman’s great.

  171. 171.

    Tehanu

    March 6, 2021 at 10:39 pm

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     

    My all-time favorite is James Mason.

    Mine too, and not just as a bad guy. He was great as a noble hero, as a pathetic loser, as an intrepid explorer, as a sad old man, as — well, as anything.

  172. 172.

    Craig

    March 6, 2021 at 10:40 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I wish he’d play George Smiley again.

  173. 173.

    Amir Khalid

    March 6, 2021 at 10:40 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has a cast of four really unpleasant characters, but none of them exercises the kind of malign power over the others that marks an actual villain.

  174. 174.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 6, 2021 at 10:41 pm

    @Craig: I really hope Smiley’s People is on the horizon, much as I love the Guiness version.

  175. 175.

    catclub

    March 6, 2021 at 10:44 pm

    @Kent: ​
    &nbsp

    ;for truly creepy Both the original Cape Fear with Mitchum And the remake with DeNiro are hard to beat

    yeah, beat me to it.

  176. 176.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 10:46 pm

    Kind of surprised no one seems to have mentioned Dr. Miguelito Loveless.

    ;)

  177. 177.

    J_A

    March 6, 2021 at 10:47 pm

    @James E Powell: I liked Patriot very much

  178. 178.

    catclub

    March 6, 2021 at 10:48 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     

    You want scary? Nurse Ratched. The less said about Pennywise, the better.

    Glenn Close Fatal Attraction. Angela Lansbury Manchurian Candidate.

  179. 179.

    catclub

    March 6, 2021 at 10:49 pm

    @NotMax: ​

     

    Kind of surprised no one seems to have mentioned Dr. Miguelito Loveless.

    Wo Fat on H50?

  180. 180.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 6, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Heck, Sterling Hayden in Dr. Stranglove.

  181. 181.

    opiejeanne

    March 6, 2021 at 10:51 pm

    @WaterGirl: Jack Elam as John Wesley Hardin. For some reason his performance in the somewhat obscure movie “Dirty Dingus McGee” made me want to hide under the seat in the theater

     

    But Javier Bardem in No Country still gives me chills.

  182. 182.

    catclub

    March 6, 2021 at 10:51 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh: The Flying Monkeys in The Wizard of Oz really freaked us out as kids.

     

    I could watch the Flying Monkeys, I could not watch the scene in the forest right before they arrive.

  183. 183.

    J_A

    March 6, 2021 at 10:53 pm

    One of the best (worst) villains ever is Tim Piggott-Smith as Roderick Merrick in The Jewel in the Crown.

    His resentment, his sadism, his racism, his misogynism,  his sociopathic lack of empathy.  Is there anything he doesn’t excel at?

  184. 184.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 6, 2021 at 10:53 pm

    @catclub: “I’m not going to be ignored!”

    Rabbit stew, anyone?

  185. 185.

    The Fat White Duchess

    March 6, 2021 at 10:55 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke: The movie is just called Oliver.  Or possibly Oliver!, and I’m not going to look it up.  (But, as you know, a definite Yes for Oliver Reed as Bill Sykes.  Nightmares when I first saw the movie at age 9.)

    Alan Rickman (again), in Closet Land, which is just one of the creepiest films I’ve seen. If his character has a name, I don’t know it.

    David Warner as Jack the Ripper in Time After Time.

  186. 186.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 10:56 pm

    Ooh, ooh. Frank Sinatra in Suddenly.

  187. 187.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 6, 2021 at 10:58 pm

    @TiredOfItAll: Christopher Walken as Max Zorin in A View to a Kill.  You get the feeling he was having such fun doing that.

  188. 188.

    opiejeanne

    March 6, 2021 at 11:01 pm

    @opiejeanne: How could I forget Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter.

  189. 189.

    lollipopguild

    March 6, 2021 at 11:01 pm

    @khead: Kurtwood was a very good bad guy who was also quite funny.

  190. 190.

    burnspbesq

    March 6, 2021 at 11:02 pm

    Mr. Morden from Babylon 5. Dude would have been a perfect fit in the Trump White House.

    Hyman Roth from The Godfather, Part 2.

    Sheriff Cobb from Silverado.

    Capt. Dudley Smith from L.A. Confidential.

  191. 191.

    burnspbesq

    March 6, 2021 at 11:05 pm

    There is only one George Smiley, and Sir Alec Guinness is his name.

    Gary Oldman was amazing as the bent cop in The Professional.

  192. 192.

    lofgren

    March 6, 2021 at 11:07 pm

    Azula

  193. 193.

    Craig

    March 6, 2021 at 11:10 pm

    Linda Fiorentino as Wendy Kroy in The Last Seduction. Just unrelenting evil femme fatale, but such a thoroughly watchable nightmare person.

  194. 194.

    The Fat White Duchess

    March 6, 2021 at 11:15 pm

    @Suzanne: I’m sorry.  Best wishes to all of you.

  195. 195.

    burnspbesq

    March 6, 2021 at 11:15 pm

    Does Don Draper count as a villain, or is he just severely messed up?

  196. 196.

    SFAW

    March 6, 2021 at 11:17 pm

    Although not a character with much screen time, for me as a child it was the Gremlin in “Terror at 20,000 Feet”; the scene where the curtain is ripped back freaked me right-the-fuck out. [And, in case there are any wiseasses out there (looking at YOU, NotMax): No, Bill Shatner was not scarier.]

    I have a soft spot for Andrew Scott’s Moriarty. He was scary in a different way, almost matter-of-fact in his evil, and definitely having fun in his evil. Much better than Jared Harris’s version. [I don’t remember much about the Moriarty in the Jeremy Brett series, unfortunately, although I liked Brett’s Sherlock.]

    Other than those, I’m drawing a blank re: whether there was anyone (not already mentioned) who creeped me out. Will probably think of a couple after this thread has died.

  197. 197.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 6, 2021 at 11:18 pm

    @burnspbesq: antihero, isn’t he?

  198. 198.

    wvng

    March 6, 2021 at 11:18 pm

    @danielx: is it safe?

  199. 199.

    Kirk Spencer

    March 6, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    I’ll add Terry O’Quinn in the 1987 The Stepfather. Yeah, the opening scene helps a lot, but it still takes acting to constantly carry off the impression “there’s something evil in that normality”.

  200. 200.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 6, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    @SFAW: Oooh, if we’re talking monsters of the week, John Ritter was amazing in Buffy.

  201. 201.

    James E Powell

    March 6, 2021 at 11:21 pm

    @TiredOfItAll:

    Christopher Walken in At Close Range

  202. 202.

    SFAW

    March 6, 2021 at 11:21 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    “Your wife has a beautiful neck.” BEST. LINE. EVER.

    Nah, it’s “I never drink … wine” by Bela Lugosi. [For the Drac-like movies. For other movies, it’s either “Well, nobody’s perfect” or “Mein Fuehrer, I can walk!”]

  203. 203.

    Jackie

    March 6, 2021 at 11:23 pm

    Steve Railsback as Charles Manson in Helter Skelter and Ted Bundy’s portrayal by Mark Harmon. The eyes were so creepy. It took years for me to see Mark Harmon as someone other than Bundy.

  204. 204.

    SFAW

    March 6, 2021 at 11:24 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

     John Ritter was amazing in Buffy.

    My brother thought “The Gentlemen” (if I have that right) were the scariest villains in Buffy.

  205. 205.

    BruceFromOhio

    March 6, 2021 at 11:25 pm

    Arthur in Peaky Blinders was pretty bad.

  206. 206.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2021 at 11:26 pm

    @SFAW

    Also Karloff’s “The phone is dead. [pause] Even the phone is dead.” in The Black Cat.

  207. 207.

    wvng

    March 6, 2021 at 11:28 pm

    Turns out there are a lot of really great villains and bad guys..

  208. 208.

    James E Powell

    March 6, 2021 at 11:30 pm

    James Woods in Ghosts of Mississippi

    James Woods in Once Upon a Time in America

    James Woods in real life

  209. 209.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 6, 2021 at 11:36 pm

    @SFAW: you know I never really got into anything after they went to college.

  210. 210.

    Kristine

    March 6, 2021 at 11:37 pm

    I haven’t watched the Netflix series Jessica Jones, but friends have mentioned David Tennant’s character as pretty darned creepy.

  211. 211.

    Anya

    March 6, 2021 at 11:46 pm

    Tyler Hayward of Wandavision is the worst villain in the history of villains because he is so lame.

  212. 212.

    James E Powell

    March 7, 2021 at 12:05 am

    @J_A:

    I was exaggerating, but I was completely unsuccessful in getting any of my friends to watch more than one episode.

  213. 213.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    March 7, 2021 at 12:06 am

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Gary Oldman, but in The Professional.

  214. 214.

    Danielx

    March 7, 2021 at 12:21 am

    @wvng:

    Usef to joke with my dentist about that scene.

  215. 215.

    Martin

    March 7, 2021 at 12:22 am

    The Borg. I don’t find most villains to be that creepy because they’re always given some human sensibilities and shortcomings. There’s always got to be a weakness. Even virtually indestructible heroes like the Hulk and Superman can be pushed back, stunned, delayed, etc. Most villains will try to justify their actions, pause to consider killing someone. The Borg should not have been defeatable in Star Trek as they were described. Terminator/Skynet falls somewhat in the same category.

    The scariest to me as a kid were the spaceships/aliens in the original War of the Worlds. They were a notch worse than the flying monkeys.

    @TiredOfItAll: Christopher Walken in ‘More cowbell’. The way he kept pushing the band members into conflict without a single care.

  216. 216.

    rikyrah

    March 7, 2021 at 12:27 am

    @Suzanne:

    ????

  217. 217.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 12:29 am

    @Martin

    Until the Borg were forever ruined by the introduction of the queen.

  218. 218.

    patrick II

    March 7, 2021 at 12:35 am

    @Josie:
    I am with you 100% about Robert Mitchum, especially in Night of the Hunter.  I am surprised there are so many mentions of him in the comments considering how old the films are. But he conveyed such an undercurrent of threat. He was such a fine actor.

  219. 219.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 12:46 am

    @patrick II

    Here is young Bobby in a wartime propaganda film, part of a crew grounded because their pilot has contracted syphilis.

  220. 220.

    Martin

    March 7, 2021 at 12:46 am

    @NotMax: Yeah. The initial introduction by Q was really good, but as they made them part of the landscape they had to keep screwing with them and nerfing them.

    That’s really the problem with villains – they have to lose, and so they can’t really be as bad as they need to be.

  221. 221.

    cain

    March 7, 2021 at 12:47 am

    @Suzanne: ​
     
    oh goodness, I hope he’ll be ok.

  222. 222.

    TiredOfItAll

    March 7, 2021 at 1:00 am

    Personally, I am utterly terrified by Transformers. And those dancing Boston Dynamics robots freak me the f*ck out. I’ll take flying monkeys over metal death machines any day of the week.

  223. 223.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 1:08 am

    @TiredOfItAll

    Beware the ones TiredOfItAll.

    Also too, Turbo Teen had a high, if ignored, creepiness factor.

    ;)

  224. 224.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 1:12 am

    @NotMax
    Errata on my part. Attention diverted with the ongoing Zoom RPG group on the other monitor. Fix.

    @TiredOfItAll

    Beware the ones which fart.

    Also too, Turbo Teen had a high, if ignored, creepiness factor.

    ;)

  225. 225.

    patrick II

    March 7, 2021 at 1:15 am

    @NotMax: ​ Wow! Wallace Beery Jr. was his partner! I remember him mostly as Rockford’s dad.​

  226. 226.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    March 7, 2021 at 2:38 am

    Dean Wormer in “Animal House”
    Illinois Nazis in “The Blues Brothers”​​

  227. 227.

    prostratedragon

    March 7, 2021 at 3:21 am

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
    Keenan Wynn in Dr. Strangelove
    Hard to beat ill-timed and resolute stupidity for evil, in’t?

  228. 228.

    piratedan

    March 7, 2021 at 3:22 am

    sure its late but….

    Bob Guinton as The Warden on The Shawshank Redemption

    Imelda Staunton from Happy Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

     

    these petty tyrants of power frighten the shit out of me for some reason, maybe because we know that they are out there amongst us every damn day.

  229. 229.

    Tony Jay

    March 7, 2021 at 4:54 am

    ‘Ralphie Glick’ in the TV Miniseries of Salem’s Lot. Haven’t been able to sleep with the curtains open since I was seven.

    The ship itself in Event Horizon and the house in Haunting of Hill House. Redeeming features they have none, they just want you forever and ever and ever….

  230. 230.

    Chris Johnson

    March 7, 2021 at 7:07 am

    Seriously, no mention of this one?

    Kevin Spacey. Glengarry Glen Ross, Seven, The Usual Suspects, Baby Driver. And apparently, real life.

    I don’t get why this guy isn’t being cited as an ultimate villain. They can’t all be Margaret Hamilton, a cool person who got to play a great villain. I’m thinking, sometimes an actor is channelling something real, and though that implies a terrible price is being paid, you get something you wouldn’t get otherwise.

  231. 231.

    tokyokie

    March 7, 2021 at 7:24 am

    Dead thread, I know, but another vote for Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter and the original Cape Fear. I’d also throw in Laurence Olivier and William Devane from Marathon Man; Olivier is the main bad guy, but the death of Devane’s character is the one for which the audience cheers. And I would be remiss if I didn’t do a shout-out to Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes in Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo.

  232. 232.

    AM in NC

    March 7, 2021 at 7:34 am

    @FridayNext: I was coming here to vote for the Child Catcher.

  233. 233.

    Booger

    March 7, 2021 at 7:44 am

    @NotMax: Well, he’d be on my short list.

  234. 234.

    Booger

    March 7, 2021 at 7:45 am

    @J_A: See also his performance in “V for Vendetta”

  235. 235.

    Geminid

    March 7, 2021 at 7:49 am

    Alan Arkin terrorizing the blind Audrey Hepburn, in Wait Until Dark. She gets him in the end, though.

  236. 236.

    Dave P

    March 7, 2021 at 8:28 am

    Tim Curry as Pennywise in the made-for-TV version of Stephen King’s “It”

  237. 237.

    WaterGirl

    March 7, 2021 at 10:14 am

    @WhatsMyNym: Are you sure?  Because where I live they are halfway through Season 3 on Ovation, and I don’t see how to get Season 2.

  238. 238.

    SFAW

    March 7, 2021 at 10:15 am

    @TiredOfItAll:

    “flying monkeys over metal death machines”

    New band name

  239. 239.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 7, 2021 at 10:36 am

    Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire

    Ramsey Bolton and Joffrey Lannister in GoT

    Andrew the Nazi and Tuco Salamanca in Breaking Bad

    Glad to hear you are enjoying Black Lightning.  We watched season 1 but then lost interest sometime in season 2.  Really just found other stuff we liked more.  But it’s a fun and silly show that sometimes has some great messages about social justice.  We really enjoyed seeing a comic/superhero story in a super-Black setting for a change.

  240. 240.

    Tokyokie

    March 7, 2021 at 10:45 am

    @Craig: The actor who plays Ryunosuke Tsukue in Sword of Doom is the great Tatsuya Nakadai, for whom one can make a compelling argument is the world’s best living actor. He has a face that seems incapable of expressing joy, and when he tries, he’s only scarier.

  241. 241.

    Heidi Mom

    March 7, 2021 at 11:19 am

    @UncleEbeneezer:

     

    @UncleEbeneezer: My husband and I once had a discussion about whether Ramsey or Joffrey was the more evil.  Then it occurred to me that the most evil character was neither of them, but Stannis Baratheon, for one absolutely unforgivable act committed in pursuit of his supposed destiny.

  242. 242.

    Mathguy

    March 7, 2021 at 11:24 am

    @Tokyokie: It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Sword of Doom, but Tsukue is a great one.

  243. 243.

    JimV

    March 7, 2021 at 11:42 am

    Dr. Hannibal Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs”.

    Siskel & Ebert had what Ebert called their biggest disagreement ever about this film in their review show.  Ebert thought it was a great movie (as did I–had to then buy the book, which was even better), Siskel was thumbs-down because “it glamorizes serial-killers”. It turned out Siskel was right, it caused an explosion in serial-killer plots and made Hollywood somehow make Thomas Harris write a sequel in which Lecter was the hero (which semi-disgusted me).

    In SotL, it is clear that Lecter is an egotistical psychopath, who knows all along from past history who Buffalo Bill is and where he lives, but pretends to figure out things the FBI has missed from slight clues in the case files. Clarice Starling is the hero of that movie, not Lecter. However Sir (then Mr.) Anthony Hopkins did an amazing, mesmerizing performance. Since then I have made it a point to see every movie he is in, figuring that if I ever made a movie, Sir Anthony would come to see it.

  244. 244.

    JustRuss

    March 7, 2021 at 12:36 pm

    No love for Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood?  I find his plucky, hard-scrabble businessman revealed to be a remorseless monster to be terrifying because it’s completely believable.

  245. 245.

    opiejeanne

    March 7, 2021 at 1:10 pm

    @JimV: My sister’s ex worked as an extra in movies for many years, and one day he was working on something with Hopkins in it. My nieces were there with their dad and when he got a call that he was needed, Hopkins offered to babysit them. He fed them lunch in his trailer and played a board game with them until Tony came back from his scene.

    This was about a year after Silence of the Lambs had been released and my reaction was visceral horror.

  246. 246.

    bluefoot

    March 7, 2021 at 4:14 pm

    @Kristine: omg, I had to stop watching Jessica Jones partly because of Tennant’s character. Way too believable. The show also had IMO one of the depictions of the aftermath of trauma in an abusive relationship I’ve ever seen.

  247. 247.

    DaveInOz

    March 7, 2021 at 5:51 pm

    @WaterGirl: Have you tried https://justwatch.com. You can add the streaming services that you have and it will recommend movies and TV series for you. You can also search for particular items and see where they are being streamed.

    I’ve discovered loads of content that Netflix has never recommended for me.

  248. 248.

    Nelson

    March 8, 2021 at 11:34 am

    A lot of great villains in the Harry Potter series:
    Alan Rickman as Snape (yeah, turns out not to be a villain in the end, but still, wonderfully creepy)
    Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange (that girl had issues)
    Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy (nobody does sneering arrogance better)
    Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge (I was really disappointed that she didn’t receive some explicit comeuppance at the end of the series)

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