Favourite screen villains

I have always thought that the best screen villains are not necessarily portrayed as totally evil but to be quite charismatic and likeable with the ability to switch to the psychotic side at a moments notice.  This is a characteristic that seems to be inherent in the world’s greatest dictators.  In the “Last King of Scotland”, Forrest Whittaker portrays Idi Amin as someone with great affection towards his friends but takes even the slightest act to be a serious betrayal, unleashing hell on these he considers to have crossed him.   This seems to give the character a vulnerability that you don’t expect to see in the bad guy in a film and you can almost feel sympathy towards him until you realise the extent that they have gone to in the name of betrayal.

Having this based on real events makes it all the more harrowing than many fictional characters.

Charles Logan from 24 uses the same sort of technique, he portrays himself to be an understanding and caring person but all the time is manipulating people to do his dirty work without having to get his own hands dirty.  Although he is a fictional character you cannot help to make comparisons to some people from the real world.

 As screen villains go you could not hope for a better one than Hannibal Lector, When you first see him in “The Silence of the Lambs” he has already been built up to be the essence of pure evil so the dead eyed stare from the cell sends a chill right down the spine. Although in this film he is not technically the bad guy his misdemeanours from the past have placed him in his current situation and are often referred to and he does add to his, already considerable, body count in the second half of the movie.

In Misery, Kathy Bates plays Annie Wilkes as a well meaning woman who is trying to nurse her favourite writer back to health after a car accident. When she discovers he has killed off her favourite character a switch clicks in her head and she put him through some torturous scenes until he writes the character back to life.  Although the story reads better that it is portrayed on screen I still think this lunatic deserves a mention.

One of my ultimate favourite screen bad guys isn't really shown on screen at all until the last few minutes of the film and this adds mystery to the legendary figure of Keyser Soze.  All of his crimes and acts of cruelty are referred to as past events and are portrayed as either legends or through the eyes of his victims.  A quote from one of the characters says, "The Greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

The iconic image of Jack Nicholson smashing down a bathroom door with an axe creates the idea that Jack Torrance is the villain of this story but in this case it is the hotel itself that is really to blame.

Sometimes the epitome of evil does not take Human form, over the years we have been tortured by creatures from distant planets, hunted in our dreams and even warned of the dangers of a refreshing dip in the sea.  It seems our imaginations know no bounds when it comes to facing the bad guys but as Arnie reassuringly tells us “If it bleeds, we can kill it”!

So, I think we need a top 10. As usual in no particular order.

1, Hannibal
2, The Alien
3, Freddy Kruger
4, Charles Logan
5, John Doe (Se7en)
6, Darth Vader
7, Norman Bates
8, Jaws
9, Predator
10, Keyser Soze.