Top 10 Evil Movie Villains
Published on November 14, 2007 - 70 Comments
Without antagonists, there would be no protagonists. Without sinister evil doers, there would be no heroes. Without dark there is no light… you get the idea. History, whether in reality or on the big screen, shows us that a decent, believable bad guy (or gal) makes our tough-guy (or gal) lead that much more desirable. Who would Beowulf have proven himself with had there not been a Grendel? Here are ten of cinema’s most ghastly villains.
10. The Wicked Witch of the West
From Dorothy’s initial arrival in Munchkin City, and the very fact that she’d landed smack on top of the Wicked Witch of the East, good old Margaret Hamilton as the W.W. of the West nips at her heels and tries to stop her every move toward home. Tossing insults as skillfully as she tosses fire balls, the Witch proves herself a worthy foe indeed as she commands her band of flying monkeys and seemingly loyal soldiers.
9. Lex Luthor
Be it Gene Hackman or, to a lesser extent, Kevin Spacey, the portrayal of Lex Luthor as the ultimate nemesis to America’s hero, Superman, is a daunting task. One has to be of particular evil genius to not only out wit, but also out muscle The Man of Steel. Somehow always within reach of a chunk of Kryptonite, Lex Luthor manages to get the upper hand for what seems like a breathless eternity. But Superman will always triumph in the end.
8. Jason Voorhees
What more could you want in an unstoppable juggernaut than a presumably walking corpse in a goalie mask? Few villains have had the staying power as the Camp Crystal Lake killer, Jason. Born from the very lake, in which he was drowned, Jason has racked up the revenge victims for years only to ‘die’ once more at the end of what could potentially be his final killing spree. But, like a good villain, death never keeps him down for long.
7. Freddy Krueger
Like Jason before him, Freddy only truly exists because we fear him so deeply. Lodged firmly in a town’s subconscious. Freddy appears most frequently on Elm Street where he collects his victims while they sleep. Not bound by real-world laws or even physics, Freddy uses anything and everything he can ‘dream up’ to antagonize his prey before finally skewering them on his razor-fingered glove. But, much like every other evil killer, someone manages to banish him for just long enough to take a breath. But he always comes back.
6. Michael Myers
Halloween always brings out thoughts of monsters and evil masked men, and who better to fit that description than a massive silent murderer wearing a discount, plastic William Shatner face? Michael Myers had the good old-fashioned troubled childhood and wound up in a mental ward only to find release on Halloween and also find his sister. But, like any good slasher, Meyers continued his endless rampage focusing on anyone who got in his way.
5. Max Cady
Originally portrayed by Robert Mitchum, Max Cady in Cape Fear was a brutal, relentless beast who would stop at nothing to torture a desperate family. Later, Robert DeNiro took the reigns, but something about the first performance stuck with everyone and made his name a classic in the annals of movie bad guys.
4. Jigsaw
Evil without ever coming into personal contact with his victims is pure genius. Jigsaw lets his diabolical torture devises do all the work for him as he watches hapless victims struggle for their very lives attempting to undo, by equally torturous methods, the predicament they’ve found themselves in. Surviving three movies, and appearing in flashbacks in a fourth with a fifth doubtless in the works, Jigsaw has become a master of his craft.
3. The Joker
Tormenting Batman for a half century, The Joker has been one of the most prominent figures in bad-guy lore. Having killed Bruce Wayne’s parents, then systematically murdering everyone Wayne tried to get close to, and eventually Robin himself, the Joker is a sadistic lunatic bent on nothing more than vindictive malice. Sure, Batman jails him as often as not, but the Joker always finds a way to get back to work.
2. The Emperor / Darth Vader
Though bent on locating his son and stopping at nothing to do so, Darth Vader was not, unfortunately, the brains behind his evil. No that job falls straight on the shoulders of Emperor Palpatine: his very creator. Yes, Vader helped extinguish thousands of Jedi throughout several years, and Vader used his Force powers to firmly place him atop the upper echelon of Dark Lords, it was always The Emperor pulling the strings. Until, that is, monster turned on master.
1. Hannibal Lecter
Dr. Lecter ATE people. That’s all you need to know. Oh, and he ATE a lot of them. That is enough for me to top the list.
Contributor: StewWriter
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1. yaurt - November 14th, 2007 at 6:13 am
where’s Dr.Doom ?!
great list! Jason is my preferate villain and hero, loved when he kicked Freddy’s ass! 
Go Jason!
2. RobS - November 14th, 2007 at 6:21 am
Good list. Really tough choices, though because there have been so many really, really excellent villians throughout the decades. Some of these guys, I think, only make the cut due to their longevity, thanks to their movie sequels. And would the Joker and Lex Luthor really have been in the running without cashing in on the cache of the characters who existed for years in the comics?
3. DanOhh - November 14th, 2007 at 6:46 am
Ernst Stavro Blofeld, from the early Bond movies needs to be on the list. He put the super in “super villian”.
I think the slasher villians need to be “cut” down to just one and that should be only Freddy. Michael and Jason are more monsters than villans. Freddy was a good villian because of how he enjoyed doing what he did.
4. smac - November 14th, 2007 at 6:56 am
I agree that there are too many slasher movies represented. Maybe put a Bond villain in there? Or maybe have the gangster genre represented?
5. bucslim - November 14th, 2007 at 7:01 am
j - of course there’s going to be bitching about the list, but dude, Frank Booth from Blue Velvet. Your favorite director, the meanest som bitch from his best movie.
Anyway, I like where this list is going. Some possible others might be Frank from Once Upon a Time in the West, The Terminator, Sauron from LOTR, Bill from Kill Bill, and Stunt Man Mike for that matter, although he turned out to be a pussy. Brick Top from Snatch was a piece of work.
I’d probably have to mention George Lucas for destroying the best Trilogy ever. He’s evil and a villain.
6. Joe - November 14th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Is Hannibal really a “bad guy”? I mean, sure he’s a psychotic cannibal but not an antagonistic one. He helped the feds. catch the moth loving cross dresser in SOTL and eventually hooks up with Jody Foster’s character in a later book.
7. evan - November 14th, 2007 at 7:30 am
WHAT? No Dr. Evil????? come one, he has evil in his name!
8. Emily - November 14th, 2007 at 7:39 am
what about cruella deville? she freakin stole puppies to skin them and make coats! doesn’t get much more evil than that!
9. evan - November 14th, 2007 at 7:42 am
double post to add, since for some reason i cant edit.
on a more serious note,
Kaiser Soeze / Verbal Kent from The Usual Suspects.
A diabolical manipulative character and evil no less, killed his own family to put fear in his rivals.
10. yaurt - November 14th, 2007 at 7:45 am
Emily you are SO right!
Joe “psychotic cannibal” = “bad guy”
11. Anthony - November 14th, 2007 at 8:09 am
Hmmm. List needs more Kahn.
12. Leo - November 14th, 2007 at 8:14 am
What?! no Dr. Evil??…and Hannibal Lecter is #1? I think Hannibal is a cool guy, otherwise Jodie Foster and Julianne Moore would have ended up dead.
13. Clues - November 14th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Great List!
A few I would add are:
Norman Bates (Psycho)
Alex Delarge (Clockwork Orange)
John Doe (Se7en)
Alex Forest (Fatal Attraction)
of course the Terminator
and the Hillbillies from Deliverance
14. dangorironhide - November 14th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Hannibal Lector is one of my favourite film characters. Anthony Hopkins plays him so well.
How about Count Olaf from ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’? Maybe not the most serious of villains, but his schemes are pretty nefarious.
15. Randall - November 14th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I’ve noted a pattern on this site, where these lists tend to give more weight to the new/recent when it comes to media–films, music, etc. while handing short shrift to the old/classic. This is, I humbly suggest, a major mistake.
A list of top 10 movie villains that leaves out *every* James Bond villain? Where is Goldfinger? Blofeld? Dr. No? A list of this type that leaves off Ming the Merciless? Or Fu Manchu? (Not PC, I know, but still… there aren’t many greater, more diabolical villains than Fu Manchu, no matter who played him) Or Christopher Lee’s Dracula?
It seems like Max Cady is here as one of a few token bones thrown to appease the classic film crowd–and I frankly doubt the villain would appear on the list if there hadn’t been the remake with DeNiro. What about Mitchum’s other great villain, the deranged preacher in “Night of the Hunter”? (Which I think is a better film than the original “Cape Fear”).
In addition, mad slashers like Jason and Michael Myers, etc. aren’t really villains—they’re more akin to *monsters*… villains really ought to have a “plan,” they should speak, have some sort of interaction with the hero–not just go around killing people.
Sorry jfrater–I do think you really missed the boat on this list.
16. StewWriter - November 14th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Randall: Don’t blame Jamie, I made the list and I left off a ton of people on purpose…. just so we’d all have something to do on the comments otherwise they’d all be: “Great List” “Love the list”… No, I want the extras, the ones I missed, and the ones that needed to be on there, that’s the point! Of course there are more, movies throughout the ages have had powerful villains to stuck in our collective subconscious. I agree, I could have stuck a few Bond baddies on here, but I also could have just said “Bond Villains” as well. As for the slashers, It was tough for me to separate the three I have since each one is so morally inept in his own way. And as for talking and thinking needing to be in a villains repertoir, I submit several of histories greatest evil doers as not necessarily hatching cohesive schemes or being particularly chatty. Anyway, I’m glad you all seem to like it… or dislike it, as it were.
17. heavybison - November 14th, 2007 at 8:44 am
I would certainly put a word in for Damien (The Omen trilogy). Great list this, btw. You rock J!
18. heavybison - November 14th, 2007 at 8:47 am
or rather StewWriter!
19. jfrater - November 14th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Hey - I’ll take credit for the nice comments but not the bad
20. Martin L - November 14th, 2007 at 9:19 am
I don’t always agree with Randall, but he raised some really good points his last post here. The Bond villains are definitely on the money as villains, a test of the hero’s strengths, whereas Freddy, Jason, and Michael are monsters: they don’t have a plan, they don’t explain their diabolical plans or pose riddles for the hero to solve, they’re just horrific forces of nature. Dr. No, Goldfinger, Largo and Blofeld (and some of the later, lesser villains) always acknowledge Bond as an equal, invite him to dinner, show him around the secret hideout and the Doomsday machine they’ve built in the attic or whatever, because they know Bond will get it, and they KNOW Bond will try to stop them, and they want to crush the world’s greatest secret agent as a further show of their power and genius. Even Hannibal Lecter doesn’t fit that formula; fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Hannibal’s gotta eat. With him, cannibalism isn’t evil, or a power grab or a get-rich scheme: it’s art. The way he listens to his music, dreamily conducting it after killing the two guards in SOTL, says it all. Fu Manchu is closer to the Bond villains, in the way he loves to bait the good guys who come after him, and always escapes to cook up another fiendish plot. And maybe he’s not what we would call PC these days, in his uber-Chinese way — but come on, everybody has to be from somewhere.
On a parting note, it’s interesting that neither Stew nor any poster mentioned the villain who’s clearly been in the most movies (and books and TV shows — and paintings, for that matter). I guess he’s a little obvious, huh. Loved Al Pacino’s take on him in that thing with Keanu.
21. jfrater - November 14th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Martin L - good call on the last sentence - maybe he will turn up on a “Ten Most Evil Entities” list or similar?
22. Hobolad - November 14th, 2007 at 9:29 am
I would have gone for the villain in the Third Man- who’ll remain nameless in case of someone not having seen it yet (Go see it!)
23. Randall - November 14th, 2007 at 9:30 am
StewWriter: thanks for the clarification… still, I think the list was…. lacking… in some areas.
But at least—thank god—you had the good sense and taste to not include any Disney Villains. I half expected to see a few of them when I first opened the list up and was pleasantly surprised when not a one was included. Disney is crap, and Disney is evil.
In fact… Walt Disney as a villain. There you go.
24. Black Lutefisk - November 14th, 2007 at 9:32 am
I agree with most lists you guys do and appreciate them all, but this has to be the first I’m disappointed with. I mean, you’ve mostly listed stylized mass murderers. That’s middle management evil. Palpetine probably has a back story that would curdle water. But on screen, in the very first movie, it is Vader’s willingness to blow up an entire honking planet full of billions of people to get no more useful information than we do waterboarding. THAT is what made Vader massively evil (certainly wasn’t showing up for dinner with Lando or the whiny back story). Palpetine (on screen) is Cheney evil, which makes him about middle management in the Devil’s beaurocracy. Vader’s got a corner office.
And Emily is correct. Cruella’s puppy coat is more evil (frankly, all furriers are). The jerk who cut off the Martian’s air in Total Recall is more evil. The Malcolm McDowell guy in Tank Girl, Doris the Bowler Hat, Mr. Glass from Unbreakable, and Big Brother are all massively more evil than almost anyone on that list. I’d almost go with Lex Luthor, but not the one portrayed in the movies. At worst, he still kept Australia.
Now if you were going for the *best* villains, some of those guys would make the list…the ones with sympathy and good reasons that they get in the way of the protagonist (and still Vader, not Palpetine). That would be a good list.
25. Black Lutefisk - November 14th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Wrote that last bit over a long period of time while other good comments came up (esp. Randall’s). Disagree about the Bond villains though. There’s Odd Job, and then there’s Doris. Both point out the evil of bowler hats. But Odd Job is a *better* villain, Doris is more evil.
26. stegosaurus - November 14th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I know I am a nerd but your description about the Joker was wrong. Joker only killed Bruce Wayne’s parents in Tim Burton’s Batman. In both the comics and Batman Begins, they are killed by Joe Chill. The Robin, who the Joker killed, was not Dick Grayson, the first Robin, but rather Jason Todd, his replacement.
27. Leo - November 14th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Randall you also made the same kind of comment for the list of most elegant women. I personally didn’t like that list because there was a bunch of women I never heard of (I’m referring to the ladies in black and white pictures)….Although I don’t agree with your comment I don’t think you are wrong, however, one thing you have to keep in mind is the demographics of the WWW. I don’t know how old you are and this might be a generalization but I think that most internet users are a considerably young crowd. That might answer your question why we cheer for the new and give the cold shoulder to the old stuff. Not that there is anything wrong with that….it’s just different
28. Camille - November 14th, 2007 at 11:16 am
Black Lutefisk: Vader’s not the one who blows up an entire planet in the first SW film. The planet was blown up by Grand Moff Tarkin, the true villain of the film. In fact, Leia greats Tarkin by commenting on the fact he’s holding Vader’s leash. Vader my be a villain later on, but he started out as just muscle.
29. steve - November 14th, 2007 at 11:29 am
its a good list, but i agree there are far too many “slasher” villians.
While they may be able to “survive” endless movies, that doesnt necessarily make them ultimate Evil villains.
Truthfully, there should have been a Bond villian, and, maybe Hans Gruber (Die Hard), and come on, The Terminator, Mr. Smith, both pure evil in the form of machines…
30. Randall - November 14th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Leo:
I’m 42.
But you know what, Leo? Your statements (or argument, if you’d rather) carry no weight (sorry). A lot of the women on that list were in their heyday long before *I* was born, too. Most of the movies I cherish were made long before I was born.
Age, therefore, isn’t terribly relevant in this regard.
This thing you point out, about the web, and the implied attitude of, “well, those movies (or those actresses) are from a hundred years ago, so we young people don’t know about them and don’t care about them” is silly. (Again, sorry, but it is). Being ignorant of one’s own cultural past is no excuse. Now true, some people are always like that—certainly not everyone is into old movies and so on. But trust me on this, Leo… cutting yourself off from your own cultural past—and excusing yourself for it because, after all, “all that happened so LONG ago”—is a MAJOR mistake.
We still read old books—would you say that a novel written before you were born, or before the world wide web came into existence, isn’t worth reading? I would hope not. I would think you could see how absurd such a thing would be.
It isn’t just a matter, you know, of being into “history” or being interested in “the past.” The fact is, Leo, that people don’t change that much. And they haven’t changed that much. It’s not easy to get a grip on this and accept it when you’re a teenager, or a twenty-something… but in time, and with enough experience of the world, and with enough encounters with the past (through older people, older media, etc.) you come to accept the absolute truth of it. So to dismiss the past, or to give it short shrift—it’s an error. It cuts you off not only from a lot of valuable experience, but also from a lot of beautiful, fun, and interesting things. And it cuts you off from knowledge, knowledge which can teach you, and help you to find wisdom. And wisdom is found in all kinds of odd places—even in silly old movies and silly old TV shows. You can’t always get it if you refuse to look beyond what’s around you in the immediate moment.
31. StewWriter - November 14th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Stegosaurus: You know what, I was kind of under the influence of the Burton Batman film and I didn’t really think of the comic lineage, but you are obviously right and I should have considered the recent film’s changes as well. Thanks for steering me to the right path. Honestly, I was never much of a Batman fan in the first place so my knowledge is seriously lacking.
32. DiscHuker - November 14th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
some others
Rory Braker - “that mad man with an afro” (Lock, Stock)
Brick Top - “a ‘orrible cunt” (Snatch)
Woo-jin Lee - relentless older brother (Oldboy)
John Doe - “and i seem to remember breaking your face” (se7en)
Le Chiffre - you’re gonna do WHAT as torture?!?!? (casino royale)
Mama Fratelli - how ’bout some fingers in the blender? (the goonies)
Asami - time for some meat work with the black leather apron (audition)
33. Leo - November 14th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Randall, don’t misunderstand me please. Remember I said I didn’t think you were wrong. Again I think you are right on your latest comment. My point is that I can’t appreciate what I don’t know and I think that’s a universal truth. If I told you that best meat in the world is guinea pig meat, you will tell me I’m crazy, well how do you know? have you ever had it, I doubt it, unless you’re from Ecuador, I’ve never had it so I don’t know. I like ancient art, literature, etc…and I’ve learned to appreciate it because I’ve learned about it but I can’t appreciate something that I’m totally ignorant about, should I be judged for it? I don’t think so, at least in America. So my point is that we can’t be so judgemental of others because they don’t appreciate what they don’t know.
34. evan - November 14th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Mama Fratelli lol yes!
35. Eric - November 14th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
how about bill the butcher from gangs of new york? he’s pretty bad-ass, he kills a guy with a flying butcher knife for gods sake. if you want to get into monster/villain theres the aliens from the alien series or how about leatherface from TTCM. The guy who runs the concentration camp in poland in shindlers list is pretty damn evil to.
36. Xavier - November 14th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Very nice list.
What about Captain Vidal from Pan’s Labyrinth?
Frank from Once Upon a Time in the West (IT’S HENRY FONDA, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!)
Or Marsellus Wallace from Pulp Fiction (He’s gonna go medieval on yo ass!)
Joaquin Phoenix on Gladiator, as well. (He cheated in his fight with Maximus and he still lost!)
And of course, Saddam Hussein in South Park: BLU haha.
37. Randall - November 14th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Leo:
Fair enough, but in your original post you seemed to be leaning towards making an argument, of sorts, and that seemed to hint at something along the lines of, “if we haven’t heard of it, we shouldn’t care.”
If I misunderstood you, okay. Nonetheless, there’s LOTS of people out there who WOULD make that kind of argument… so my statements stand, I think—you can just consider that they aren’t directed at *you.*
38. Kelsi - November 14th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Here’s another vote for Cruella DeVille! And Captain Vidal is SOOO evil! I agree with that one too. You just love to hate him. I really liked this list though, tough choices indeed.
As for Leo and Randall, please don’t become part of the ever-frustrating lunacy fringe that argues on the internet. Remeber, (pardon my extreme rudeness here, but…) fighthing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics: Even if you win, you’re still retarded.
39. Arkz_Archduke_of_Geeks - November 14th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
..vader eh.. you know who was evil.. grand moff tarkin, guy blows up a planet to prove a point
40. Black Lutefisk - November 14th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Yikes, that’s right. Ok, Grand Moff Tarkin gets the corner office. My bad.
I still stand by the rest.
41. Rob - November 14th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Love Hannibal (although no one tops Vader in my book), however, Hannibal is not the villain. Buffalo Bill is the villain. Hannibal is the mentor - he’s Obi-Wan Kenobi or Gandalf. He guides Clarice on her journey to defeat Buffalo Bill. He has villainous qualities, but is that enough to qualify him as a villain? My inner film geek always gets the best of me.
42. Yarr - November 14th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Hannibal ate people, huh? BIG DEAL!!!
The shark in Jaws is by far the coolest movie villain. He not only ate people, but he scared the ever-loving shit out of you for 3/4 of the movie before you even freakin’ saw him!!!
Hannibal Lecter indeed…
Oh yeah- any chick that sends flying monkeys out to mess with people is a chick I want to hang out with. Wicked Witch of the West is dope!
43. Flash Gordon - November 14th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
The list is incomplete without the classic Emperor Ming “The Merciless.”
44. DiscHuker - November 15th, 2007 at 7:01 am
how bout Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) from the Shining?
totally out of his mind. these are the types of people that really creep me out. no reason or emotion or argument can change their mind. to make matters worse, they don’t realize any of these things. to quote Det. Mills (Brad Pitt) from Se7en..
“When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you’re insane? Maybe you’re just sitting around, reading “Guns and Ammo”, masturbating in your own feces, do you just stop and go, “Wow! It is amazing how fucking crazy I really am!”? Yeah. Do you guys do that? “
45. Randall - November 15th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Kelsi:
“As for Leo and Randall, please don’t become part of the ever-frustrating lunacy fringe that argues on the internet. Remeber, (pardon my extreme rudeness here, but…) fighthing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics: Even if you win, you’re still retarded.”
You never get tired of using that line, do you?
Listen Kelsi…. while I understand the sentiment–and to a small extent I sympathize with it–I kind of think there’s a flaw in your logic on this. Now of course, you’ll simply feel that I’m just “arguing” again… which… okay, I am… but I think you owe me an answer on this one: namely, *what is wrong with arguing?*
And what difference does it make if the medium for carrying on a debate is the ether (the internet) or if you do it on a street corner, or in a newspaper, etc.? I frankly see no difference, and so miss the point you’re trying to make.
People exchange information in a myriad of different ways. They also exchange differences of opinion, as well as different interpretations of facts. Now, I don’t know if you have something against this process in and of itself (in which case, I honestly don’t know how you get through life… you’re either removed from the passions of intellectual discourse in some saintly fashion… or you’re an incredibly boring person to talk to–no offense) or if you’re just saying it’s silly to carry it on over the internet. I will assume you mean the latter.
But then… there’s the logical flaw, for me anyway. WHY is it “silly” or “wrong” to argue on the internet? How does it make you “retarded?” Why, because neither person knows the other? Because we can’t know which person (if either) has some kind of valid credentials?
As for not knowing each other, newspaper editorial exchanges frequently involve individuals who do not know each other. And as for the issue of credentials, the answer is that one simply doesn’t fall back on arguments from authority—one’s own individual authority, that is—because it isn’t readily supportable.
Public discourse and debate goes on all the time, in all places, over all sorts of topics. Sure, much of the time it’s a couple of yahoos arguing over stuff they don’t even fully understand. But that’s the privilege (and the price we pay) for living in a free-thinking, democratic society.
I simply don’t buy the analogy, that this process is like competing in the Special Olympics. It might be a valid one if you could prove the two individuals to be uneducated, unintelligent morons who don’t have a clue as to what they’re talking about—but since you can’t prove *that*, either—the analogy is invalid and falls apart.
So frankly, I suggest you stop offering it up.
46. Dan - November 15th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I think Rob Feines from Schindlers List should be included on this. He plays one of the most heartless characters ever poytrayed in a movie.
Definitely would have scared the crap out of me
47. Sandra - November 15th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Am I that out of it that I didn’t know that Joker killed Robin? When did that happen??? I need to go on a Batman marathon this weekend so I can find out, I havent watched thoase movies in forever.
48. Yarr - November 15th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Sandra- He did it in the comics about 20 years ago. Not in the movies.
49. Amanda - November 16th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Hannibal Lector was the coolest.
Remember “I’m having an old friend for dinner.” It wasn’t his cannibalism, it was his style.
50. jfrater - November 16th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Amanda: that line is the best in the movie - thanks for quoting it
51. dofnup - November 20th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Top 10 Evil Movie Villains, as opposed to the Top 10 Nice Movie Villains? Hee hee!! All in good fun ^_~
52. jbjr - November 20th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Darth Vader #1. the coolest villian would be Darth Maul. How about Miguel Corleone? Freddy, Jason and MM should be lumped as one!
53. Dandelion - November 24th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Hannibal Lecter is my all time favourite character. He’s just a pure genius. I absolutely love him. Okey, that sounds a bit odd, but he’s just so smart. He never gets caught. And Anthony Hopkins plays him so well.
54. navin23 - January 18th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
“The Kurgon” from the original Highlander movie should in here somewhere. In my opinion one of the best movie bad guys of all time.
55. CONAN121 - January 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
James Earl Jones as Thulsa Doom.
56. Lady_Luzhin - February 2nd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
What about Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs? Even though Hannibal is on the list, we actually SEE what Bill does. All together now: “It puts the lotion on it’s skin or else it gets the hose again!”
57. Polly Odyssey - February 8th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Too many slasher horror films.
58. BongoFury - February 11th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Ralph Fiennes as nazi officer Amon Goeth on Schindler’s list. That dude is pure evil.
59. devilishgrin66 - February 13th, 2008 at 3:26 am
hannibal lecter definitly tops the list. a couple people suggested some bond villains but none of them were really evil enough. They all wanted the same thing, money or power. None of them really were just killing people to kill people. And most of them had no back story, you dont know anything about them except for what they do in the movie.
60. druss - February 25th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Two other guys I’d submitt for your consideration.
Anton Chigrugh No country for old men
Magua.. The Last of the Mohicans
61. druss - February 25th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
And who can forget Dr. Evil LOL
62. bocser - February 28th, 2008 at 7:01 am
not a bad list i agree with polly though here are some of my favorites:
Dr. Hannibal Lector - Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lambs: Hannibal: Red Dragon
Emperor Sidius - Ian McDiarmid - Star Wars Series
Agent Smith - Hugo Weaving - The Matrix
Saruman - Christopher Lee - The Lord of the Rings Series
Elijah Price - Samuel L. Jackson - Unbreakable
John Doe - Kevin Spacey - Se7en
Col. William Tavington - Jason Isaacs - The Patriot
Javier Bardem - Anton Chigurh - No Country for Old Men
Jigsaw - Tobin Bell - Saw Series
The Terminator - Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Terminator
Bill the Butcher - Daniel Day Lewis - Gangs of New York
63. bocser - February 28th, 2008 at 7:11 am
list isnt in any order by the way
64. Kelber - March 18th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Hannibal should be number one.good.
65. Eric Gmeinder - March 20th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I have some–how about Scar (voice of Jeremy Irons) from THE LION KING? Or how about Jennifer Coolidge in a certain inept spoof I’d prefer not too mention? The latter is based on the Bush administration. I am quantifying evil people, and have found Cheney to be worse than Hitler.
66. Eric Gmeinder - March 20th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Oh, and one more–the bad guy from CASINO ROYALE (2006).
67. tom - March 27th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
You forgot Tommy Udo from Kiss of Death. Most of the villains you listed are cartoonish characters. Watch Tommy Udo, the giggling psychopath, push the old lady in the wheelchair down the stairs.
68. Eric Gmeinder - March 29th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Oh, and did I mention Macaulay Culkin in THE GOOD SON? The villains I mentioned are more evil than any on this list.
69. Siggie - April 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
First Randall - November 14th, 2007 at 11:34 am, YOU GO !
Max Cady (Robert Mitchum)from the original “Cape Fear”
Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark)from the original “Kiss of Death”
Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) from “Schindler’s List”
Rhoda Penmark (Patty McCormack) from “The Bad Seed” She was truely evil!