Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Top 5 Psycho Villains

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. And like that... he is gone"
Here are the finest five of them all.

5) The Joker - Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989)
He's definitely the craziest villain there is, although he's a comic character. Even so, with no superpowers, but with a chilling grin and a genious criminal mind, Jack Nicholson's performance stole momentum from Batman himself. If you think about it, we've seen bad guys with much more power than him. The only thing he wants to do is to release nerve gas to a whole city. But this a pure lunatic, one of a kind, we've never even seen a character this insane since 1989. Nicholson's Joker can't possibly be surpassed by Heath Ledger in the upcoming Batman. A trully mind-blowing performance.

4) John Doe - Kevin Spacey in Se7en (1995)
Kevin Spacey actually appears in just the last 30 minutes of the film. But that's more than enough for delivering one of the best serial killers contemporary cinema has ever faced. Actions talk better than words, therefore John Doe's presence is undertoned, his murders speak for his devious deeds. This guy is borderline psychotic, you feel like he's the result of society's decline, which means he could be your next-door, well-educated, everyday man. And, boy he's got a plan. Kudos to the screenwriter for his detailed portrayal of John Doe, but most of all, kudos to Spacey who knows how to deliver a scene-stealing character.

3) Dr Hannibal Lecter - Anthony Hopkins
Speaking of scene-stealers, Hopkin's Hannibal achieved in 16 minutes of screen time in The Silence of the Lambs to create the most talked about villain since Darth Vader. His exceptional manners, his academic education, his nearly superhuman sense of perception, combined with his serial killer instincts, chilling glare and rather unusual eating habbits, gave the big screen this fucked-up persona. He may be a bit surreal, but otherwise there wouldn't be so much hype over this psycho. Anthony Hopkins gave us a performance he has yet to match, except maybe for Nixon. Hannibal Lecter is the dream role for a movie villain wannabe, you can't but admire this
one.

2) Norman Stansfield - Gary Oldman in Leon (1994)
Such a glorious performance. Gary Oldman has thrived in bad guy roles. But here, he gives us one of the best there are. The character of Stansfield isn't that well written, but Gary's portrayal gives this man depth and personality. Each time he says one of his memorable lines, you get that tingling feeling up your spine. He's mad, immoral, ruthless, with a sick sense of humour. "It's the cops outside... we better go". Plus, he's a cop who enjoys killing, something you don't get often in Hollywood. Thank Besson for this. It's a feared and awe-inspiring villain, not like most Tinseltown bad guys, who are out of this world. He is the impersonation of vileness, which brings him in second place.



1) Annie Wilkes - Kathy Bates in Misery (1990)
When I sat down to see this movie, I didn't know what to expect. After Annie's first outburst, my jaw dropped and I kept repeating the F word like in a Richard Curtis' script. This is a character with real life psychosis. A stalker who traps her victim in her own house. The number one fan.Annie Wilkes is the most down-to-earth villain there is in cinema.Kathy Bates elevates this character to unknown psycho levels. She's not overacting, she delivers a perfect performance. She's got the looks that make you see in her the great aunt you have that lives in the suburbs. She's nice mannered, plus she is utterly believable when in normal mode. When the Ms Hyde comes out of her, you can't help but daze. She hasn't got an alter ego, they both exist at the same time. She is smart too, you can't fool her like your average Hollywood crazy villain.Furthermore, quite determined.That sledgehammer scene. Anyway, funny how all the men got beaten by a female villain, but this crazy bitch deserves it.

Comments
Face it, Norman Bates set the example, but there have been much better psycho villains since 1960. This list is named "psycho villains", so that mentally ok characters are excluded. That leaves out Nurse Ratched and Verbal Kint who could make it in the top 5. Anti-heroes and slasher killers don't count.Sorry Travis Bickle, Freddy Krueger and colonel Kurtz. Amon Goeth from Schindler's List and Patrick Bateman from American Psycho could well be in. I actually feel guilty for not including Tony Montana, but he's borderline anti-hero /villain. And guys, Darth Vader is soooo over appreciated, when are you going to realise that.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

How can you leave out Frank Booth from Blue Velvet?

mentwras said...

Totally slipped my mind.
Although Frank is a character that makes you feel aversion like no other, he doesn't eat a man's brains or plan to gas a whole city, so he wouldn't make it to the top 5. But he would definitely be in the top 10.

Anonymous said...

Henry from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Real disturbing stuff.

Anonymous said...

Vincent D'Onofrio's "Pooh Bear"from The Salton Sea, DD Lewis' "Bill The Butcher" from "Gangs of NY", Irons in "Dead Ringers" and Robert Mitchum's Preacher from "Night of the Hunter". De Niro as either Bickle or Jimmy Conway.

Anonymous said...

What about Michael Myers from Halloween or Kakihara from Ichi the Killer?

Anonymous said...

Annie? Really?

Anonymous said...

Do you want to reconsider your prediction on Ledger's Joker you made? He smoked Jack's performance from 89....why so freakin serious?

Unknown said...

I prefer Jacks's. The way he talks, and his mannerisms scream joker. Keith seemed to try and reinvent him focus on being completely random. Anyways, I think Seed from "Seed" has the potential to be up there, though not on this list.

Anonymous said...

What about Heath ledgers Joker? His Joker has been named the best villian in comic book/film history!

Anonymous said...

jack is a great actor but his joker wasn't realistic, it reminds me of a clown. ledgers joker was much better in my opinion

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