25. Tommy- "Goodfellas"(1990)
Joe Pesci took home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his unforgettable portrayal of the most volatile wiseguy in Martin Scorcese's mob masterpiece. So desperate to prove his toughness and move up the ranks of the Mafia, Tommy will resort to violence with little or no hesitation or provocation. There's the beating to near death of made man Billy Batts. The shooting of poor defenseless Spider. That icepick to the back of Morrie's head. Spraying Stacks Edwards' brains all over his apartment. It's difficult to say which of Tommy's actions was the most reprehensible. He loves his Mom, though.
24. Max Cady- "Cape Fear"(1991)
Robert De Niro's portrayal of the tattooed and terrifying, philosophical rapist Max Cady has to go down as one of the method man's most underrated performances. This is the last guy you want hanging around your wife and daughter. He's interested in them both. He bites Illeana Douglas's cheek off during a rather unpleasant tryst, and I didn't believe him when he said he had nothing to do with the death of the Bowden family dog. He's apparently impervious to pain as well. Being burned and attacked with a lead pipe and biker chains doesn't seem to bother him one bit. The only way to extinguish Cady's hateful rage is to kill him, but first he's gonna make you learn about loss.
23. Cruella DeVille- "101 Dalmatians"(1961)
One of Disney's oldest and most notorious villains, this hideous woman has her own theme song("Cruella De Vil, Cruella DeVil…") and has been terrifying children for generations. A heavy smoker AND a dog hater, she would be even more hated in these politically correct times if she wasn't already permanently ingrained in pop culture. Cruella steals this animated classic away from all hundred-and-one Dalmatians, and got a live action update courtesy of Glenn Close in 1996 and 2000 respectively. More recently, Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez have joined the band Queen in producing songs inspired by her, with the former dressing up as her in concert.
22. Catherine Tramell- "Basic Instinct"(1992)
She's evil. She's brilliant. Sharon Stone went places that no other mainstream actress would go in 1992 and became a household name as this icy blonde bisexual murder suspect. Catherine is always in total control of every situation even when she's being interrogated by a room full of cops. Come to think of it, Nick Curran(Michael Douglas) may be the worst hero in movie history. He's completely under her spell for the entire film. You're gonna catch the killer, Nick? Before or after you have sex with her 12 times? The final shot hints at his eventual fate but I would probably take an icepick to the chest for this broad, too.
21. The Evil Queen- "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"(1937)
She's a vain, narcissistic, and cruel beauty who gains her royal position by marrying a widowed king who dies tragically shortly thereafter. Insanely jealous of stepdaughter Snow White, she makes her a lowly maid before famously attempting to kill her. Everyone knows about her mirror and her poisoned apple and it's a good thing the Seven Dwarfs were around to chase her deep into the forest and up a mountain where she eventually falls to her death on the jagged rocks below. The Queen lives on though as Julia Roberts and Charlize Theron both played her in separate 2012 live action film versions but the animated version is not likely to ever be surpassed.
20. Jack Torrance- "The Shining"(1980)
Stephen King didn't like Stanley Kubrick's treatment of his book because Jack Torrance seemed to hate his family even before the ominous Overlook hotel invaded his psyche. He seems to be the only one, though. An abusive alcoholic with very questionable writing skills, this character has a depth that is rarely acknowledged. Forget about those pesky ghosts- an annoying wife and a really bad winter is enough to make a man permanently part ways with his sanity. Try changing the channel when Jack Nicholson is in full creep mode, going on about the importance of moral and ethical principles. He takes an axe to the midsection of a meddlesome Scatman Crothers, but loses some points for chasing son Danny through that endless maze in zero degrees all night.
19. The Alien-"Alien"(1979)
We have Ridley Scott to thank for showing us what the inhabitants of other planets really look like. They're not little green men. They're nasty, slimy creatures with acid for blood that methodically stalk and kill anything within a 3 mile radius. Bursting out of John Hurt's stomach was quite an introduction. Imagine being in a theater in 1979 and having no idea what to expect. It was only the beginning of a reign of terror that's lasted 30-plus years and seven films to date. The hapless crew of the Nostromo never stood a chance and the Colonial Marines didn't fare much better in James Cameron's turbocharged sequel. Scott has returned to the helm in an attempt to restore this franchise's former glory and disgust a whole new generation for the 2012 prequel "Prometheus".
18. Michael Meyers- "Halloween" series(1978, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1995, 1998, 2002, 2007, 2009)
He's the embodiment of pure evil. An unstoppable force with superhuman strength that can't be killed by bullets, stab wounds or fire. His first rampage kick-started the slasher genre in 1978 and he hasn't left the poor folks of Haddonfield alone since. And Hollywood hasn't left him alone, either with a staggering nine films(he didn't appear in 1982's "Halloween III"). It took him 24 years, but he finally got Laurie Strode(Jamie Lee Curtis) before Rob Zombie gave him a reboot. The third film in this new series will be in 3-D and will be Myers' tenth film in total. At this rate, our grandkids will be familiar with that white William Shatner mask.
17. Jason Vorhees- "Friday the 13th" series(1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2009)
This indestructible, machete-wielding mass murderer trumps Michael Meyers with 11 movies(12 if you count "Freddy vs. Jason") and upward of 154 kills- probably the most of any villain in history. He's appeared in books, comics, video games, and has been referenced and parodied in various entertainment mediums. His hockey mask is a widely recognized image in pop culture. He's one of only three completely fictional characters to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from MTV. Jason is a film icon if there ever was one. His movies are terrible, though.
16. Freddy Kruger- "A Nightmare On Elm Street" series(1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 2003, 2010)
Wes Craven's disfigured dream stalker is probably the most entertaining member of the unholy trifecta of '80s horror villains(Jason and Michael Meyers don't say much) and may be the most famous as well. There's just no escaping him in or out of your dreams. Armed with razor sharp claws and bad puns, Freddy became an international superstar that had his own TV show, appeared on magazine covers, got fan mail, and even scored groupies according to Robert Englund. Not bad for a child killer in an ugly striped shirt with third degree burns.
15. John Doe- "Seven"(1995)
This brutal serial killer isn't seen for the first hour and a half of David Fincher's grim, now-classic thriller and Kevin Spacey wasn't exactly known to audiences yet, and that's precisely what made his third act appearance all the more unsettling. But we're constantly aware of how sick this guy is as we meet an obese man recently forced to eat himself to death, and I don't even want get into what he did to that hooker. All of John Doe's plans go off without a hitch and he basically wins in the end. Putting Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box and mailing it to Brad Pitt has to go down as one of the most appalling acts in movie history. First he tried to play husband and taste the life of a simple man. What the hell does THAT mean?!
14. Amon Goeth- "Schindler's List"(1993)
Steven Spielberg bravely tackled one of the darkest chapters in human history and made the most important movie in his legendary career. He cast a then unknown Ralph Fiennes as the sadistic SS officer put in charge of the Plaszow concentration camp. He orders the final liquidation of the ghetto and callously murders anyone who appears elderly or uncooperative. He befriends Oskar Schindler(Liam Neeson) but later becomes suspicious of his motives as he requests to put hundreds of Jews to work in his factory. He remains loyal to Hitler right up until his execution. A chilling portrait of real life evil.
13. Regan- "The Exorcist"(1973)
When we first meet poor Regan MacNeil, she's just a happy-go-lucky 12 year old unlikely to be found anywhere near this list. But that was before she pulled out that Ouiji board and became possessed by the demon Puzuzu. Suddenly she's displaying all sorts of strange and aggressive behavior and her physical appearance starts changing considerably as well. As if spewing pea soup wasn't bad enough, her commentary about Father Karras' late mother was totally uncalled for. Linda Blair never could escape the 'Exorcist girl' label, but Regan will always be the ultimate symbol of movie horror.
12. Anton Chigurgh- "No Country For Old Men"(2007)
"What's the most you ever lost in a coin toss". Javier Bardem came to our attention with his Oscar winning role as a relentless hired killer tearing through rural Texas in search of Josh Brolin and some drug money in this Best Picture winner. Anyone with the misfortune of crossing paths with him is either getting strangled, shot, or at the very least scared shitless. We never really find out where Chigurgh came from or who exactly he works for. All we know is that he has bad hair and is absolutely terrifying. The moral of the story is that evil is omnipresent and can never really be stopped or contained. Tommy Lee Jones' aging lawman decides to call it a career instead of continuing his pursuit of the guy. Smart move.
11. Alex DeLarge- "A Clockwork Orange"(1971)
Malcolm McDowell's twisted teen robs, rapes, and murders for his own amusement. He loves classical music, always a telltale sign of a psycho, and listens to it while fantasizing about torture and slaughter. His improvised rendition of "Singin' in the Rain" during a home invasion was enough to clinch a spot on the countdown. Stanley Kubrick withdrew his film from the UK over reported death threats and copycat crimes but that only furthered the myth as posters of Alex soon adorned the bedroom walls of thousands of kids, many of whom probably never even saw the movie. McDowell offers his take on the character's lurid appeal- "People have miserable lives. They hate their jobs, everything. But Alex loves life. He eats it up".
10. Annie Wilkes- "Misery"(1990)
Can you think of anything more horrifying than spending a winter with this deranged former nurse? Author Paul Sheldon(James Caan) would have been better off freezing to death in that car wreck than being 'rescued' by his number one fan. She has this major passive-aggressive streak going on and gets unusually excited over cheesy romance novels. She won't curse, but she WILL tie you to your bed and take a sledgehammer to your legs. She'll do it out of love, though. Sheldon never gets over the experience(who would?), as Kathy Bates goes from respected stage actress to movie star and picked up the Best Actress Oscar for bringing Stephen King's literary creation to nightmarish big screen life.
9. The Terminator- "The Terminator"(1984)
He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. You know the rest. Although he got all warm and chatty in the sequels, Arnold Schwarzenegger's original killer cyborg turned him and then 28 year old writer-director James Cameron into major Hollywood players overnight. That's some legacy in retrospect. Street punks, a gun shop owner, and two women who just happened to be named Sarah Connor are the first few victims of his murderous rampage. Then Ginger, her boyfriend Matt and everybody that made the mistake of going to Tech-Noir had a very bad night. He killed 17 police officers with families the night he uttered the immortal line, "I'll be back". The world hasn't been the same since.
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8. Hans Gruber- "Die Hard"(1988)
Alan Rickman's memorable debut as the elegant leader of a gang of German terrorist-robbers that ruined Christmas Eve for all the associates of the Nakatomi Corporation was the perfect foil for working class cop hero John McClane(Bruce Willis) and basically became the blueprint for nearly every action movie villain that followed. Don't let his intelligence and nice manners fool you. Just because he appreciates men's fashion doesn't mean he won't blow your brains out. He's ruthless but he's not a maniac although he employees a few of them, and that's what sets him apart. The genre deserved a better class of criminal and Gruber gave it to us.
7. Michael Corleone- "The Godfather Part II"(1974)
In the original "Godfather', Francis Ford Coppola took a nervous, young NY theater actor and set him on the path to legend status. Over the course of two films in the Corleone saga, we see Michael go from idealistic war hero who didn't want to get mixed up in the family business, to cold and calculating Don who spends much of his time sitting in dark rooms, plotting revenge and the bloody expansion of the Family's interests. Michael doesn't want to kill everybody. Only his enemies. The problem with that is he starts to see everyone as an enemy including his own family. Michael never sees himself as a gangster until he's ordered so many murders that he forgets who he was in the first place. A brilliant flashback sequence at the end of the film reminds him and us of the startling contrast and is more powerful than anything offered up in Part III.
6. The Wicked Witch of the West- "The Wizard of Oz"(1939)
Threatening an innocent 16 year old like Dorothy(Judy Garland) is enough to make you the object of scorn but her little dog too? The green skinned menace is more than a little upset about the death of her sister even though it was an accident. Margaret Hamilton's screechy voice along with her trusty broom stick and flying monkeys are all practically folklore- she showed us what witches look like, what they do, and how they act. Even her soldiers cheer her demise and hail Dorothy for melting her with that bucket of water. The Witch may have been dethroned in the 70 plus years since, but she's the first villain that most of us became aware of and she reigned supreme in the number 1 spot for over two decades until this next guy showed up.
5. Norman Bates- "Psycho"(1960)
Taking a shower is supposed to be a sacred and peaceful part of your day. This nutjob tried to ruin that forever. He's gotta be the worst motel owner of all time. He seemed like a nice sensitive young man until he started telling Marion Crane(Janet Leigh) about his mother whose mummified corpse he keeps in the cellar. This is pretty shocking stuff now, I can't imagine how audiences in 1960 reacted to seeing this guy burst into the room holding a knife dressed as 'mother'. That psychiatrist at the end summed up Norman's madness better than I ever could right before we see him sitting calmly in that jail cell cracking that still-disturbing smile. Anthony Perkins never escaped the shadow of Norman, eventually playing him again in three forgotten sequels, but Alfred Hitchcock's classic will never die.
4. Travis Bickle- "Taxi Driver"(1976)
Robert De Niro's quietly unhinged NYC cabbie is his most iconic role and in a career with no shortage of electrifying turns, that's really saying something. A socially awkward Vietnam vet, Travis isn't the most well adjusted guy to begin with and working the graveyard shift in 1970s Manhattan only further erodes his damaged psyche. Before long he's obsessed with guns and pornography and getting some "bad ideas in his head". The reason Bickle is so high on this list is because he's real. He could be your brother, your son, your co-worker, or your next door neighbor. This is what it really looks like when a person is slowly driven over the edge. When Bickle looks in the mirror, he could be looking at you.
3. Hannibal Lecter- "The Silence of The Lambs"(1991)
Brian Cox deserves a nod for originating the role in 1986's "Manhunter", but Anthony Hopkins' unforgettable take on the good doctor earned him the Best Actor Oscar and worldwide recognition. Housed in the depths of a Baltimore mental hospital for acquiring a taste for human flesh and organs, he's just about the most dangerous man on Earth. He needs to be placed in a straightjacket and strapped to a gurney with his face covered by a mask just to be brought out in public. Lecter doesn't have to get to you physically to do damage, though. He'll throw psychological daggers until you either kill yourself or at the very least, feel really bad about your childhood. Sir Anthony reprised the role twice with mixed results, but the Lecter from "Lambs" never needed to serve up Ray Liotta's brains as an encore to make it to the forefront of silver screen psychopaths.
2. Darth Vader- "Star Wars"(1977, 1980, 1983, 2005)
From the first moment we see this bad-ass Sith lord march onboard a rebel ship surrounded by Imperial Stormtroopers to recover those stolen Death Star plans, well, it's safe to say that movies, pop culture, and the lives of a generation of fan-boys who took permanent residence in the parents' basements was forever altered. Vader isn't just one of the biggest villains, he's one of the biggest movie characters period with an entire prequel trilogy letting us know how he came to be. What makes Vader so cool? His all-black suit of armor, James Earl Jones' booming voice, his heavy breathing, the fact that he can choke guys without even touching them. Saving son Luke and killing the Emperor at the end of "ROTJ" may have kept him from the number one spot, but he had a good run for at least 20 years prior, hunting down and killing all the Jedi and ruling George Lucas' galaxy far, far away as our favorite intergalactic tyrant.
1. The Joker- "Batman", "The Dark Knight"(1989, 2008)
"Why so serious" or "Wait till they get a load of me"? The Joker is number one because he has two show-stopping portrayals from two great actors and there's no need to choose one over the other. Let's just say that they were both perfect for their respective eras. Jack Nicholson played the classic, old-school comic book Joker complete with gangster-meets-chemical-bath origins and set a new standard for movie villainy(and got paid a whopping $60 million for his efforts). To those looking to diminish Jack's Joker, I'm here to remind you that he killed about 50 people in Tim Burton's mega-hit and laughed uncontrollably afterwards. The late Heath Ledger redefined the role for a more complex world as a psycho anarchist committed to chaos and disorder. With no clear origin or motives, he's a frightening force of nature who tears through Chris Nolan's Gotham en route to a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Something tells me it'll be another 20 years before we see another actor dare try to tackle the Clown Prince of Crime.
Updated Oct 2019
Every generation gets it's own Joker in these fast-moving times. I stand corrected, as this decade gave us TWO, Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix. One of them was awesome.
