Today he posed a bigun, one that I fear he may take my answers and exploit them for Viacom gain: Given the entire history of movie villains, which one is the most TERRIFYING, and why?
Now, of course, we have to define terrifying, because there is a difference between horror and just plain unsettling. For instance, the oft-mentioned Pinhead (Hellraiser, 1987) and clownish Pennywise (It, 1990)are both freaking creepy, but they just don't do it for me
on the long run - they don't have that villainous pizzazz. I mean, I ain't bout to cuddle with either, but they don't have that long term, mind-altering omnipotence of others.We are looking for icons, characters that have helped define evil. Yes, the Predator made me shit my pants, but its JOB was to pray. It's in its damn name. Nothing twisted, no deep abiding characteristic drove it to kill.
We automatically discounted Darth Vader, because Matt said the last movie ruined it for him because, "he was all shriveled and white." (Latent Star Wars racism? Intergalatic gentrification? Yes please.) For some reason, Harper kept harping on Kaiser Soze, which provoked an argument, because Kaiser Soze was a TWIST, and not only was he a twist, you never SAW the guy.
Matt: i'm just thinking of iconic and noteworthy villains - and i think kaiser soze deserves to be there
Me: OMG
Me: KEVIN SPACEY IS KAISER SOZE!
Me: no way, cuz you are kinda down with kaiser by the end
Me: you aren't scared of him
Me: you are like, "go kaiser"
Me: go with your bad self.
Matt: its not about being scary - its about getting inside your head
Me: I think the point of this discussion is, and I quote, "what are - in your opinion - the scariest movie villains of all time?"
Matt: ok whatever - kaiser is scary and definitely notable
Matt: i mean, leatherface is straight up scarier - but he's boring. kaiser is interesting
Me: kaiser is almost NOT a villain inasmuch as an anti hero
Me: kaiser soze has a forgiving streak
Matt: ok whatever - forget kaiser
So, we forgot Kaiser.
We came up with a tentative list, spanning several decades (there is one anomaly time-wise)
and I focus on the latter half of the twentieth century because villains before the 70s weren't really terrifying because they were either faceless (communism, nuclear threats) or totally one dimensional.I picked:
Hans Beckert from "M" - Because in the end, who is the real villain? The compulsive child murderer, or us, the furious mobs hell-bent on justice? WHO IS THE REAL VILLAIN!?
Bob from "Fire Walk With Me" - Because, you know, he encapsulates an entire TV series. And all of evil. AND he was played by the sound guy, who just lurked around stage looking utterly horrifying.Pyramid Head from "Silent Hill" - While the movie itself
wasn't mind blowing, the villain, this silent, slow-moving and totally destructive man/thing with a pyramid head was pretty terrifying. I mean, he deskinned a girl. With one movement. In fact, that whole movie was pretty eerie. Hey, I had to put SOMETHING modern.Matt picks a slightly more modern crowd. His first pick is Jigsaw from the "Saw" movies, because, as he says, "Leila, he's a bit more
iconic than Bob." He's probably right, but I don't think he has the staying power. That mask is a little too Hot Topic for me (he does work at MTV), but it's pretty flippin scary.Norman Bates from "Psycho", because he is the first filmed psychopath - I believe, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong (aside from M, perhaps - where we really see demented behavior.
Norman doesn't kill on the large scale, but his murders are particularly ghastly. The shower scene is truly iconic.Lastly, Matt chooses the new kid on the block, Anton Chigurh from "No Country For Old Men." I think this is mostly because of 
Javier Bardem's incredible acting (and I also think Mr. Bardem just looks sinister in general. I haven't totally seen the movie, but I was thinking that Daniel Day-Lewis from "There Will Be Blood" should be nominated to be on this list as the most morally ambiguous and terrible.
Now, the fun part. Matt and I are usually in agreement with everything, and the things we aren't in agreement with, we have a delightful time fighting about. But it was pretty easy for us to make our comprehensive picks, and I'll just feature a few right now:
1. Hannibal Lector - The intelligent, perfectly calculated and totally in/human Lector pretty much, for me, defines what it is to be a villain. "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti..." I mean, it almost sounds tasty.
2. Baby Jane - Initially I thought that Matt and I chose Bette Davis purely to represent the villainess, but Bette Davis' characterization of a scorned child star torturing her kindhearted
(though spoiled) sister is literally chilling. Especially during the latter half of the movie when we are allwe never wondering if Joan Crawford is going to live or die - and really know...
3. Michael Myers - Yeah, Freddy is scary but he's got that goofy
sweater. Michael Myers is unstoppable, unnerving and knows exactly what he wants. And for being, like 6'7", he's awfully quiet. The "everywhere and nowhere" villain, he is totally omnipotent, completely being that figure that is around every literal corner. And that face...blank, totally expressionless. MM doesn't need a getup like Pennywise or a face like Freddy, he's just totally blank and evil. Which is evil at its most evilish.
4. Damien - In fact, the devil is a pretty good villain, but Matt said that he would rather stick to humans as opposed to concepts, and he's totally right. But think of the lasting impact that Damien had - every time we see a scary little boy with sunken eyes - it comes from the Omen. I didn't see the new one, but the notion of pure innocence mixed with terrible evil is really an uncanny one.
5. Obviously...obviously the scariest villain of all time, the most effective, is Jack Torrence from the Shining. Matt brought up the point that you can tell how truly effective a villain is by their catch phrases, and "HEEEEERE'S JOHNNY" is one of the most popular, and most deranged of all. What's terrifying about Jack is that he isn't bad to begin with. We watch his descent and consciously or not, the viewer can't help but wonder if in a similar position, they would be driven to murder their spouse and kids. Is he imagining everything, or are there really ghosts? Either way, its Jack Nicholson, who is scary just reading a phonebook.
Javier Bardem's incredible acting (and I also think Mr. Bardem just looks sinister in general. I haven't totally seen the movie, but I was thinking that Daniel Day-Lewis from "There Will Be Blood" should be nominated to be on this list as the most morally ambiguous and terrible.Now, the fun part. Matt and I are usually in agreement with everything, and the things we aren't in agreement with, we have a delightful time fighting about. But it was pretty easy for us to make our comprehensive picks, and I'll just feature a few right now:
1. Hannibal Lector - The intelligent, perfectly calculated and totally in/human Lector pretty much, for me, defines what it is to be a villain. "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti..." I mean, it almost sounds tasty.
2. Baby Jane - Initially I thought that Matt and I chose Bette Davis purely to represent the villainess, but Bette Davis' characterization of a scorned child star torturing her kindhearted
(though spoiled) sister is literally chilling. Especially during the latter half of the movie when we are allwe never wondering if Joan Crawford is going to live or die - and really know...3. Michael Myers - Yeah, Freddy is scary but he's got that goofy
sweater. Michael Myers is unstoppable, unnerving and knows exactly what he wants. And for being, like 6'7", he's awfully quiet. The "everywhere and nowhere" villain, he is totally omnipotent, completely being that figure that is around every literal corner. And that face...blank, totally expressionless. MM doesn't need a getup like Pennywise or a face like Freddy, he's just totally blank and evil. Which is evil at its most evilish.4. Damien - In fact, the devil is a pretty good villain, but Matt said that he would rather stick to humans as opposed to concepts, and he's totally right. But think of the lasting impact that Damien had - every time we see a scary little boy with sunken eyes - it comes from the Omen. I didn't see the new one, but the notion of pure innocence mixed with terrible evil is really an uncanny one.
5. Obviously...obviously the scariest villain of all time, the most effective, is Jack Torrence from the Shining. Matt brought up the point that you can tell how truly effective a villain is by their catch phrases, and "HEEEEERE'S JOHNNY" is one of the most popular, and most deranged of all. What's terrifying about Jack is that he isn't bad to begin with. We watch his descent and consciously or not, the viewer can't help but wonder if in a similar position, they would be driven to murder their spouse and kids. Is he imagining everything, or are there really ghosts? Either way, its Jack Nicholson, who is scary just reading a phonebook.
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