Top 10 Terrifying Women in Movies

The Femme Fatale character is not seen often enough in movies, but when she does appear, she is hard to forget. This is a list of the 10 most terrifying women in movies. Be sure to add your own favorites to the comments.

10. Louise Fletcher

Movie: Flowers in the Attic

Fletcher – also famous for her role as the cold nurse in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest appears here as the evil grandmother who flogs her daughter, beats her grandchildren, and ultimately tries to poison them.

9. Rebecca De Mornay

Movie: The Hand that Rocks the Cradle

De Mornay plays Peyton Flanders who seems to be the perfect nanny, but secretly she is out to wreck the lives of the family she is supposed to be helping.

8. Faye Dunaway

Movie: Mommie Dearest

The life story of Joan Crawford who was the Bitch of Hollywood in her time. In the trailer above we see the “best” bits of her life – in which she beats her daughter, mentally abuses her, and goes slowly insane.

7. Piper Laurie

Movie: Carrie

Skip to 06:26 in the clip above. Carrie may seem scary, but her mother is so much more so! Laurie plays Margaret White, the hyper-religious woman who uses religion to abuse her telekinetic daughter.

6. Juliette Lewis

Movie: Natural Born Killers

Juliette Lewis brilliantly plays the character of Mallory in this Oliver Stone film. The clip above sums her up perfectly.

5. Glenn Close

Movie: Fatal Attraction

Glenn Close is also known for her role as the evil Cruella Deville in 101 Dalmations. In Fatal Attraction, a married man’s one night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family

4. Chiaki Kuriyama

Movie: Kill Bill

Chiaki Kuriyama played the part of Gogo Yubari, the school girl with perfect hair, impeccable clothes, and a killer personality. While Chiaki is a full-fledged teen idol in her home country of Japan, her name elicits no recognition from mainstream filmgoers in the West. Nevertheless, she is not a complete stranger to the geeks of international cinema, who can’t easily dismiss her stirring performance in Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale.

3. Jennifer Jason Leigh

Movie: Single White Female

Allie’s new roommate is about to borrow a few things without asking. Her clothes. Her boyfriend. Her life.

2. Eihi Shiina

Movie: Audition

A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all…

1. Kathy Bates

Movie: Misery

It is said that a picture paints a thousand words… watch the clip above and you will understand completely why Kathy Bates has position one on this list.

Bonus: Anthony Perkins

Movie: Psycho

Yes, I know he is a man, but the character could not be left off a list like this!

Notable Extras: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct