Movie characters too "evil" and/or "despicable" to forget
 

Some movie characters are just so "vile" they're unforgettable. Here are a handfull off the top of my head.

Noah Cross (John Houston) in Chinatown - Spoiler: we discover that he's the biological father of his own granddaughter having raped his own daughter (Faye Dunaway) at the age of 12. At the end he takes custody of his granddaughter ... makes me queasy. I can't even look at John Houston in film without cringing anymore.

Harvey Keitel's character in The Bad Lieutenant - he was just too convincingly unsavory ... Spoiler: which really amplified the impact of his convincing epiphany at the end

The kidnapper in The Vanishing (I'm talking about the original Dutch film not the Hollywood remake)

Max Cady (Robert DeNiro) in Cape Fear - I'm afraid I didn't see the original so I can't compare

Colm Feore was so great in "Storm of the Century", an ABC miniseries written by Stephen King, that when i saw his as Meg Ryan's Fiance in "City of Angels" I not only cringed, but actually made a fist.. quite a visceral reaction for me.

Mrs. Davenport in Antwone Fisher. Every time she appeared on screen I wanted to strangle the life out her. She gets me more than most because she seems so real, and was based in part on the real Antwone Fisher's foster mother.

-I liked Escobar Gallardo from the first season of Nip/Tuck. As ashamed as I am to admit it, I've become accustomed to the stupid drug dealer. The stupid gang banger. The stupid pimp. The diabolically inteligent dealer/gangster/pimp was something that we don't see often enough, and he managed to be incredibly cruel while maintaining a sick sense of ironic humor and two very smart doctors under his thumb. Spoiler: I look forward to his character's return in season 4. Just you wait, it's going to be something.

-The entire cast of Sin City. Nuff said.

-Le Chiffre, Casino Royale. If a screening comes to your town, don't pass this one up. It's incredible. Spoiler: The torture scene involving James Bond being at the mercy of Le Chiffre is something that will stay with me for the rest of my days.

-The Joker, as portreied by Jack Nicholson. Oh man, is that going to be hard to top. Dark and sinister, but with the humor that makes you laugh but feel badly about it later. There's a lot to be said for evil clowns.

-Alien, you know, from Alien. I don't know what kind of intelect that the alien posessed, but the term 'evil' always seemed applicable to the viceral incarnation of fear that hunted your nightmares. Ridley Scott is a genius.

-Livia Soprano, a.k.a. Tony Soprano's mother. YEESH, she was one very despicable character that somehow managed to elicit sympathy even to the end. Spoiler: When she arranged with Corrado to have Tony whacked, I wanted to punch my TV.

Louise Fletcher in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

Marlon Brandon in "Apocolypse Now".

Another vote for DeNiro in "Cape Fear".

Anthony Perkins in "Psycho".

Anthony Hopkins in "Hannibal".

Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, in Die Hard. Superbly done.

100% with you on that one. Did you know that movie is the most watched Christmas movie ever? :thumbsup:
Robert De Niro's wife in "Casino." : I'm not sure if she was evil, but she made me more angry than any movie character ever has.

The alien from "Alien.": That shot of it hanging in the docks while it was raining was brilliant. The subtety in that movie was amazing. It set the bar, which was then trampled on by newer horror movies.

Sir Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast." : "Nononono! No! No! Nono! No!"

The birds in "Birds" : Couple hundred thousand ill tempered birds can be quite a thing.

Kimberley Joyce in Pretty Persuasion. The film was populated with the most misanthropic characters ever assembled in one ensemble.

No one's mentioned Hannibal Lechter yet?

Christopher Walken in Nick of Time. If you haven't seen this, get it. I'm convinced Walken started his comedy/dancing bits on SNL and elsewhere to try and wipe out the memory of this evil character.....

Post #5: Still sends chills up my spine.

Tobin Bell as Jigsaw from Saw and Saw II.

-The entire cast of Sin City. Nuff said.

You're kidding! The ENTIRE cast? Marv? Dwight? Hartigan!?

Now, Kevin, The Yellow Bastard, and Archbishop Roark are just fucking EVIL. And that doesn't begin to get into characters from the books that don't appear in the movie.

Anne Wilkes (Kathy Bates) in Misery
Dr. Szell (laurence olivier) in marathon man -- Is it safe????
mrs Danvers(Judith anderson) in Rebecca
Travis Bickle (robert deniro) in Taxi Driver
alonzo (Denzel washington)-in training day
Max cady (robert mitchum) in cape fear
Gordon Gecko ( michael douglas) in wall street
Mrs Islin (angela lansbury) in the manchurian candidate
Gregore anton (charles boyer) in gaslight (perhaps a honorable mention to angela lansburyin that movie as well - as the manipulative maid)

late addition:
Nurse Ratchet (Louise Fletcher) in One flew over the cuckoos nest

Two evil charaters that will always stick with their actors no matter what other role they play are Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs, and Private Pyle from Full Metal Jacket.

I cannot watch Ted Levine or D'Onofrio in any other show without seeing those characters.

And I know Pyle wasn't technically evil, but watching him transform over the first half of the film from a harmless simpleton to a hate filled timebomb waiting to explode was chilling. And it doesn't help that D'Onofrio has played several lowlifes in his career.

DeNiro is a pansy ass compare to the evil that was robert mitchum.. watch the original - the daughter is way less slutty but the movie is much better... much much better.. polly bergen as the mom and gregory peck as the dad.. and telly savales with hair... it's worth seeing...

Mitchum was an absolute sociopath in the movie... and working with the movie censors that he had back then... he was a lot scarier... and a lot more menacing than deNiro
Tim Curry as Pennywise the clown in Stephen King's It was pretty darn evil :D


Speaking of Robert Mitchum... the preacher character he played in Night of the Hunter...

Totally, totally agree...Private Pyle and D'Onofrio's performance in FMJ was immediately what came to my mind when I saw this thread. D'Onofrio is such an amazing actor, and he's fuckin' scary sometimes--even on Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

But Buffalo Bill gave me nightmares, and he's the only villain in a movie who has ever done that.

Absolutely Hannibal
Alan Rickman has had a few... Die Hard and his version of the Sheriff of Nottingham

Several of the villians from the Hellraiser series.

Darth Vader man... especially from Empire Strikes Back

The Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

What?
Well he was scary!

Hey, Mal!
Y'know...I've noticed something.
We watch a lot of the same classic movies. :D

it's surely not because we're old is it? :D


oooh the scariest of alll Man in the movie Bambi... or Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty...

Alan Rickman is a great villain, but he's too sexy to be scary.

Especially as Professor Severus Snape (obligatory picture):
http://ms.wikipedia.org/upload/thumb...0px-Snape2.jpg

I dedicate this post to Atropos and my Miss ShaniFaye.

This thread got me to thinking about villains whose malevolence is more than necessary.

I'm watching the first season of Deadwood right now and Swearington (sp?) is over the top phychotic. It's almost like has a quota of murders to meet per episode. That's one cold bastard.

I had to look him up so maybe he doesn't count, but Ben Gazzara as Patrick Swayze's nemisis in Roadhouse is another one of these guys. He has umpteen number of people killed, just to keep control of the drug action at one podunk bar in a small town? If only he had diversified, he wouldn't have gotten his butt whooped by the best bouncer that ever bounced.

Deadwood rules. I'm on episode 5 of Season 2 at the moment. Swearingon does tend to a) endear himself over time, or b) desensitize you, the viewer over time (cocksucker!)

For me the villain that always has me gripped in the wonderment of callous disregard was James Remar's portrayal of Albert Ganz in 48 Hours. His, at the time, unthinking spray of gunfire into a crowded subway station, or string of dead bodies, just beggard the imagination in 1982.

I am also entranced by Gary Oldmans portrayal of Dracula in 1992. Shiver.

Phhhtt
Old, my ass!
Older. Well seasoned. experienced. :suave:

The chronography's got nothing to do with it. Most of the movies we watch were filmed way before either of us were born. :D

It's taste, baby!
You and me...we got taste. ;)

I'll prove it...
Cary Grant..or Brad Pitt?

Yeah...I thought so. :D

Another vote for Alan Rickman!!! thanks for the picture snowy!!!

Forgot to mention Charles Foster Kane, from Citizen Kane. His use of yellow journalism is dispicable in an amazing way, and his grabing for power at any price and unwillingness to let himself become close to anyone is astounding. His character manages to muster both disgust and pity from me, and the movie gets me every time.

Have I just missed the mention of the Wicked Witch of the West? The first time I saw "The Wizard of Oz", I had nightmares for a week about her. Seriously, she my baseline against which all other villans are measured. She's been surpased, but she's still the trend-setter.

Unfortunately this is a real-life person, but if you've seen the documentary "Murderball", the Canandian coach is a bigger-than-life asshole. It's hard to believe that a person could be so self-absorbed. It's even sadder that he has a kid, although at the end there seemed to be some progress.

Why the six-fingered man, of course...
http://www.lefantastique.net/cinema/...ride/guest.jpg

Well if we're gonna go with Oldman, we need to also go with Cruise as Lestat....he was perfect IMO


Vincent Price...in, well....just about anything he played a villian in but a few that come to mind are Tingler, Haunted Palace (dual role as warlock and descendent) and House of Wax

Elizabeth Montgomery The Legend of Lizzie Borden

NOW who's old :)

Mal... spot on. Mitchum is the man. Hands down.

My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

My first avatar was WWW, but she was freaking me out. I've switched to the original for the "shiver" factor she gave us as kids. :)

ya, but Oldman? wow, creepy.

and um, my fav cheeseball actor, Vincent Price as the Abominable Dr Phibes.... how could I forget???

(Shani, I can meet your age, and raise you a couple of years! - although I always had a thing for Elizabeth Montgomery & Karen Black.... who seemed to be a brunette doppelganger to Liz...)

Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success - "You're a cookie full of arsenic ... I'd hate to take a bite out of you."

Sidney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon - Spoiler: betrays his own "adopted" son ...

Peter Lorre in M. Talk about creepy.

Wez (Vernon Wells) in The Road Warrior.

The main character (I forgot his name) in Match Point. - such a bad, bad man!

the mother in Sybil...

Alex (glenn close) Fatal Attraction (thoughmichael douglas is kind of a slime bag too to step out on Anne Archer

Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) Schindler's List

Jack Nicholson- the shining
Cody Jarrett (Jimmy Cagney) White Heat -- Made it, Ma! Top of the world!
(a fantastic performance as a psychopath...)


Trash movie...
Peyton whatever her name was(Rebecca De Morney) The hand that rocks the cradle...

I just saw the book, and am adding one more...

Aaron stampler (edward norton) in primal fear...

My vote is for Bricktop (and his gang) from Snatch. They were so real. Most of the above mentioned characters felt too over-the-top to make me tremble. This guy (and is lackies) were some bad mothers not to cross.

I would add my second to the mother in Sybil. I saw it at an impressionable age and it gave me nightmares. Few things do.

Jason Isaacs as Col. William Tavington in The Patriot.....that role has ruined him for me in any other movie I just want to hurt him badly anytime I see him on the screen, and for that reason he also makes a really good Lucius Malfoy

I 3rd the mother in Sybil

Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty...do cartoons count? if so then add Cruella de Vil

Betty Davis, Whatever happened to Baby Jane

Another man who is just too sexy to scare me...lol :)
http://movies.warnerbros.com/pub/mov...P2SP-2334R.jpg

lol and see to me I cant see him as sexy because he pissed me off so badly heheheh

Its kinda like trying to watch Gary Cole....I LOVE Gary Cole, but after he played Jeffrey MacDonald in the tv movie Fatal Vision, and did such a good job, I have a hard time watching him do anything else (ESPECIALLY playing Mike Brady in the Brady Bunch movies)

Paul Bettany in just about anything:

Gangster #1
Dogville
Firewall

At the end of Firewall, he Spoiler: gets a pickaxe in the back which was too merciful a comeuppance for his brutality.

In the remake of Hills Have Eyes, there is one scene. If the whole movie was written like this one night scene the movie would be the best horror movie ever (hint: it wasn't).

Spoiler:Spoiler: There is a family consisting of Father, Mother, Daughter 1 (married w/baby), Daughter 2 (about 18, totally hot), and Husband (married to Daughter 1), and Baby. The Hill People (HP) capture the father, in the middle of the night tie him to a tree and set him on fire for his entire family to see. Everyone but Daughter 2 and Baby rush to help him. The Hill People (HP) enter the trailer and start to rape Daughter 2. Daughter 1 comes in, tries to fight them, but stops when they threaten her baby. They then continue to rape Daughter 2, and begin to breastfeed off Daughter 1. Mother comes in, gets shot. Daughter 2 stabs one of the HP, gets shot. They run off with the baby. This all within a few minutes.

Exactly the first person I thought of. Very evil in the Patriot, almost as evil as Lucius.

Clancy Brown. Great in Highlander, Shoot to Kill and he is the cartoon voice of Lex Luthor.

Soo... what was Husband doing in all of this???

Spoiler: The burning father was a pretty good distance away from the trailer where the girls were, and the husband was trying to find a way to get the father down from the tree he was tied to while burning.

Keyser Söze

And too merciful a comeuppance for his being involved in that stinker of a movie.

Ah yes...and he also plays the prison guard in Shawshank Redemption, and also Brother Justin in HBO's Carnivale. Both great villains.

I wanna be Clancy Brown...

OMG how could I have forgotten Robert Englund????? Freddy Kruger????? The old man in The Mangler?????? Oh, yeah, he made me lose a night of sleep or 3 in my younger years.

You want evil? How about a group who are so evil they inspire pain with one word?! Who give impossible quests only to watch their victim's suffering? The Knights of Nee!

NEE!

NEE!

NEE!

:lol:

Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre...well, any of the family members really. That was one fucked up movie.

I third Nurse Ratchett. That woman was pure evil.

I agree! Robert Mitchum was a much more menacing Max Cady than DeNiro was. And, with the censors back then, I was actually shocked at what they got away with in the original. Excellent movie.

Micheal Madson as Vic Vega aka Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs

Spoiler: After the three men leave, Blonde reveals his intentions to the cop. He plans on torturing him, not for information, but simply because he enjoys it. Blonde turns on the radio to K-BILLY’s Super Sounds of the ‘70s weekend and removes a straight razor from his cowboy boot. In a shocking scene, Blonde dances around the warehouse to Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You” and cuts off the man’s right ear.

how could you not think of Mr. Blonde?

I tend to find performances where actors were portraying real life monster more evil.

The guy who played the child rapist in Bastard Out of Alabama and also the guy who played Harry in Harry Portrait of a Serial Killer. Those two movies really freaked me out.

When I was a kid, the other two characters I found terrifying were Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. That witch was just pure evil. Also, I saw this movie Magic when I was a kid about a guy who was a ventriloquest and whose puppet was talking to him. Recently, I found out the actor in that was Anthony Hopkins. :D Well, that explained a lot.

Michael Wincott as Top Dollar in The Crow

Bruce Payne as Terrorist Charles Rane in Passenger 57
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ssenger_57.jpg

Still no mention of Darth Vader. A man who, for two movies tries to kill his own son or get his son to kill him.

(There can be only two sith after all).

I see a Darth Vader mention up there!

This isn't a movie but Kavvinaugh from The Shield TV series is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

Like Mal said...Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter...scariest and most despicable movie bad guy ever.

Then there's Richard Widmark in his first film, Kiss of Death...pure evil with the most insidious giggle ever.

There's a little known film named Caught (early '50's, I think) starring Robert Ryan as the insanely domineering husband of Barbara Bel Geddes. His performance is chilling.

As for Taxi Driver, I think Harvey Keitel's character was more disturbing than Travis Bickle.

How about Alan Arkin in Wait Until DarK?

Mr. Brocklehurst in any film version of Jane Eyre, but especially the 1940's one starring Joan Fontaine...don't know who played him but he's an asshole :p

Some of the most evil women...

Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?...serious childhood trauma

Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest

and in similar femme fatale roles...

Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity
and
Kathleen Turner in Body Heat

Despite the cheesy effects and John Boy in the cast, that movie scared the crap out of me for a long time. We all float down here...

But he's also Mr. Krabs....and how can you be scared of Mr. Krabs?

I watched a clip from Se7en yesterday and was reminded just how creepy evil Kevin Spacey can be...

*swoon* Clancy Brown.....He did great in Highlander

I love Clancy

Macaulay Culkin's character from "The Good son"

Pure evil and in the form of a child. Killed his brother, neighbor's dog, and countless other despicable things all with a smile on his face and manipulating adults to believe he is an angle, and all before puberty.

Christian Bale in American Psycho
John Malkovich in Mary Reilly... that man scares the crap out me just naturally.
Kevin Bacon in Sleepers
Gaspard Ulliel in Hannibal Rising... that kid is creepy.
The entire cast of Closer for mindfucking each other.
The Fanelli's... yes, all of them... from Vulgar.
Glenn Close in that bunny boiling movie.
Otik from Little Otik.... because I still have nightmares.

And, the grand finale, that creepy dude from Fright Night who was also in The Princess Bride. But Fright Night scared the beejezus out of me as a child and I've never been able to see that guy in ANY role without flinching.

Has anyone mentioned Bruce, the shark from Jaws? I also don't see the HAL 9000 from 2001. Awesome villain.

And Erin Brockovich. I don't know why.

Capitán Vidal from Pan's Labyrinth. That man was EVIL. *shudder*

Although I definitely agree with the 6 fingered man from Princess Bride...I saw that torture scene when I was about seven and it freaked me out for quite a while.

I love your sci-fi/nerdy nods to the ultimate evils that are fish and psychotic computers.
I would like to say that I found it a bit unnerving to have a villian so dark in a Disney movie like "The Incredibles". Whatever the villian's name was with the short stature and awesomely-huge quaff. Way too evil to be even mentioned in the same breath as Disney.

Buddy Pine (aka Syndrome) voiced by Jason Lee, of My Name is Earl.

Ummm...yeah...I gots kids. :rolleyes:

Well, if we're going to bring up Disney movies...then there's Geraldine Page who did the voice of Medusa in The Rescuers and George C. Scott who was McLeach in The Rescuers Down Under. Those two were about the most menacing Disney characters that I can think of. Oh, and of course, there's Cruella DeVille.

Oh yes, cartoons count, perhaps moreso than live movies because their look can be way more evil...

McLeach WAS cool, however the most memorable part of that movie was McLeach's truck!
Jeromy Irons as Scar: He kills his own brother & tries to kill his nephew, that's EVIL!
William Hurt as The Horned King in The Black Cauldron

As for live action...
I loved Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook in Hook
Robin Williams as Cy the Photo Guy in One Hour Photo, he gave a new meaning to the word "creepy."
Jack Palance as Jack Wilson in Shane.

Just remembered...

The menacing Mercedes McCambridge in A Touch of Evil.

I found Wild Bill to be much more terrifying than Hannibal. She puts the lotion in the basket...:eek:

I'm so glad you mentioned this, Shani. I was looking for this the whole time. Jasan Isaacs played SUCH a fantastic villain in this movie that it made me seriously wonder what kind of guy he was in real life. His mannerisms, way of speaking, and way of carrying himself were so perfect, it was frightening.

Also, Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator. Seriously, I absolutely hated him in this movie. He was such a slimy little pissant and it just made me so mad to listen to ANYTHING this character said. It really speaks well of his acting talent if he can make me despise him so much, hah.

Bringing up Joaquin reminds me of Nicole Kidman in To Die For.

I thought no one would mention him. Not really evil, but truly despicable.

I can't believe no one mentioned Olivier's character in Marathon Man. I mean fillings without anesthetic....how menacing is that?

If anyone else saw Silver Bullet... the Werewolf/Priest terrified me for years. I couldn't go upstairs by myself until I was 12.

Was it you, hagatha, that brought up Oliver Reed in the Hottest Men in Showbusiness thread? I seem to think it was....

But anywho, Oliver Reed in the movie Oliver! was pretty damn menacing.

He was a bastard in Tommy too, but the man was just so sexy.....

Steve Buscemy in Fargo *shudder*

Tim Roth in Rob Roy. I have NEVER hated - and I do mean hated - a character in a damn movie like his character. He's an unbelievable actor.

Although, I must give an honorable mention to the, uh, ultimate betrayer in Matchstick Men, which is really just an OK movie. But I really wanted to kill that person, who I won't mention in case you haven't seen the movie.

George Bush in Fahrenheit 9/11.

Well, you know, I have always had a thing for the bad guys. Even before I knew what sexy was, lol. And he was, yes. :)

But in a delicious, drooling sort of way.

Mr Bumble from Oliver Twist.

Judge Turpin of Sweeney Todd

ngdawg: you know, Steve Buscemi has played several villians, all very well, and all very differently too. Despite qualifying as a "charictor actor," he has an amazing body of work and alwyas delivers a great performance.

Wait, what? Did we see the same movie? With the same ending? I don't consider some of the things he did to further his military cause to be evil, per se, call of duty and all that sort of thing, but his final treatment of his step daughter? I believe that crosses from 'despicable' into genuine evil territory.

Back to Disney:
Jeremy Irons as Scar, the evil lion who kills his brother, the Lion King, Mustapha and tries to kill Simba.

Good one ngdawg, but I beat you to the punch, post #69... I would say that Scar is perhaps the most truly "evil" of the Disney villians.

Oops...read thru and still missed it. Sorry...
We'll say Cruella DeVille, then...she wanted to skin puppies!!

Come to think of it, Disney probably holds the record for the most despicable evil characters in filmdom!

For the heck of it, I googled 'most evil characters in film' and a forum came up with the same question-someone said 'Jack Valenti' :D Cracked me up!(RIP, Jack, but it was funny!)