My Top 40 Movie Villains Of All Time.

^ Urgh I couldn't stand that %^&*$ in The Mist either - so got the right reaction out of me towards that character. Marcia Gay Harden was fantastic.

Nice list. Strange that you don't have Predator on the list, considering it's your 9th top movie.

Predators are so cool, but they are best as the sole villain in a film. Unlike the new film & the AvP films.

Aww, Predator wasn't a villain.

He was a kid on his school holidays, enjoying a bit of fishing.

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One that has probably been forgotten - Buford T Justice (Jackie Gleason) from Smokey and the Bandit. With such colourful one liners: There's no way, no way that you came from my loins. Soon as I get home, first thing I'm gonna do is punch yo mamma in da mouth.

Not a bad villain I suppose, I just didn't find him to be very memorable.

How about Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange? Even though he's the protagonist of the film, his actions during the first 2 thirds of the film are pretty villainous in my eyes. He beats up people, yet he's well-spoken and enjoys classical music such as Beethoven. Plus, he takes great joy in doing wrong, such as performing Singin' in the Rain while raping a woman. If that doesn't say villain, I don't know what does.

Another good choice. Was never really a fan of CO. Might get some stick for saying that but hey.

You guys should all ping up your own Top 40 (with descriptions). Be an interesting project to see everyone's choices.

Use this thread as a general thread for them all (rather than filling Yoda's forum with repeated threads).

Well, I haven't seen that many films to create a top 40 villains thread, but I can at least make a top 10.

10. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) from Misery - think about it: an outwardly calm, sweet woman turning into a raging lunatic at the slightest insult? That's disturbing in itself. Combined with a gripping and unsettling Oscar-winning performance from Kathy Bates, Annie Wilkes is nothing short of frightening.

9. T-1000 (Robert Patrick) from Terminator 2 - I know Arnold gets all the credit in the Terminator films, but Patrick seemed much more unnerving due to how well he could camouflage himself even while being a killer robot. Arnold walked, talked, and even seemed like a robot, so there was really no surprise there. With the T-1000, he could be a nice guy while even trying to kill a kid. That creeped me out even more than Arnold did.

8. Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman) from Leon: The Professional - Normally, a corrupt drug agent who kills people plays more as a prick than an actual villain. However, Oldman found a way to make this guy into an unhinged psychopath with a charming side. His unpredictability (caused by his drug use, I believe) makes him even more unpleasant to be around.

7. Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 - Okay, aside from his already frightening appearance (his face looking disturbingly realistic even though it is CGI), this terror of the sea has it all: motivation (anger at his love betraying him), power, and a mean streak to boot. He kills because he can, and he enslaves those who are on the brink of death. His evil cackle is haunting to listen to, and with the Krakken at his command, he's nigh unstoppable on the seven seas.

6. Pazuzu/Regan McNeil (Linda Blair/voiced by Mercedes McCambridge) from The Exorcist - This brat from hell is what helped make the Exorcist one of the most terrifying films ever conceived. She spins her head, can make objects move on their own, can float in mid-air, possesses an innocent girl, and possibly(?) killed Father Marrin. The voice is also creepy beyond belief, and gave me the shakes every time I had to listen to it.

5. Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) from The Silence of the Lambs - not quite terrifying, but he's disturbing beyond reason. Portraying a cannibalistic serial killer with frightening realism, he's well-spoken, has quite the temper, and is intelligent. While his actions are only seen once throughout the film, the build-up for it helps to create one scary scene, as well as making the film more unnerving than it already was.

4. Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) from No Country For Old Men - A merciless hitman who kills people just for the sake of killing them, this bastard is someone I wouldn't want to invite to any social gathering. His philosophy is also pretty disturbing, saying that everything means nothing, and vice versa, which helps him justify his actions. He never smiles, showing that he doesn't enjoy what he does. But at the same time you feel as though he takes pride in it. That to me is unsettling enough.

3. The Joker (Heath Ledger) from The Dark Knight - Putting all sentiment for his unfortunate death aside, Heath Ledger created a Joker that was both entertaining and terrifying at the same time, though mostly terrifying. He does everything in his power to create chaos in Gotham City, and he even has Batman questioning his very beliefs. I had to catch my breath during the scene with the Joker and the handheld video camera while he killed a guy. The bad audio and shaky movement made the scene that much more realistic, and you could hear a feather land on the ground after his chilling cackle broke the relative silence.

2. Darth Vader (David Prowse and Hayden Christensen/voiced by James Earl Jones) from Star Wars Episodes 3 through 6 - Dressed in all black and has mechanical body parts, Vader's appearance is memorable to anyone. Combined with a cold and cruel demeanor, having supernatural powers, is deadly with a lightsaber, and voiced perfectly, Vader is everything realized about a tragic villain. The first few scenes with Vader in Episode 4 cemented his evil status for the rest of the series, even after his turn from the Dark Side.

1. HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain) from 2001: A Space Odyssey - A space computer who only thinks logically, this is my number one pick for best villain. Always going with the logical conclusion, when he realizes that the crew of the ship plans to unplug him after making questionable choices, he stops at nothing to systematically destroy them with no second thoughts. There's also no reasoning with him, and he even uses tricks to get inside the minds of the humans aboard the ship. That monotone voice is unsettling enough, but combined with the fact that humans made him, this provides a caution to further AI advancement. You can't blame HAL for his actions, because you'd be blaming humanity. With that said, HAL is forever my choice for best villain in all of film.

Nice #1. I never even considered HAL9000 when making my list. Good choice.

It was either HAL or Norman Bates from Psycho, and I remember HAL just creeping me out more. Bates is pretty nutty though, so I should've put him on my list. But whatever lol.

Great list. Fun to read through.

I completely agree with you regarding Ledger. He really plays the Joker role amazingly.

Male - Al Pacino in "Scarface" as Tony Montana.I really hated that character.He had those qualities which I hate the most.

Female - Louise Fletcher in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" as Nurse Ratched.To be honest,I don't think that I've seen any other female villains

Also I liked a lot - Gary Oldman in Leon and True Romance,Heath Ledger in Dark Knight,Nicholson in The Shining,Klaus Kinski in Aguirre(I didn't notice anyone mentioning him),Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men,Anthony Perkins in Psycho,

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Never really thought of Tony Montana as a villian.

Well I tend to think that he is a vallain,although yes, he's the main character,too. :/

I would have liked to see Thulsa Doom, portrayed by James Earl Jones in Conan The Barbarian.

Although he's just always a cool bad guy!

good list, though i would have Heath Ledger as The Joker at #1. But that's just my opinion.

This is part of why I love Unforgiven so much, it takes the mythical hero versus villain theme of the West and shows us that not everything is all good and bad, that things aren't very pretty. Where as Hackman's character can be perceived as a villain you can easily argue that he was simply trying to uphold the law rightfully whilst building his own house, then you have Munny who although would typically be seen as a hero admits to killing mothers and children.

A few others I'd add to the list:

Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood, Daniel Day-Lewis) - Fantastic type of villain centred around greed, willing to do anything to achieve his ambitions.

Noah Cross (Chinatown, John Huston) - Once again an ambitious villain who wants to control the water supply, and as he says, the future. Really dark character who we begin to despise more as the film goes on (incest etc.) and the ending attributes to our hatred as well. Love his inspired character in Rango as well.

Then there's a few Stanley Kubrick ones: HAL 9000, Alex DeLarge, Captain Mandrake - all completely different characters but all equally as great.

Edit: As a poster mentioned on the first page of this thread there's Henry Fonda as Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West, what is so great is that he usually plays the good guy so to see him be cast in such a role is pure genius from Leone, his character is awesome. The first scene where him and his gang kill an entire family at their home is brilliant and one of the film's most memorable, "What are we going to do with this one, Frank?"
"Now that you've called me by name". Him and Bronson are just awesome throughout the whole film actually and there's loads of great quotes, another of my favourites "How can you trust a man who wears both a belt and suspenders? The man can't even trust his own pants."

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To me one of the greatest movie villains ( if not the greatest)was Raymond Burr before he changed to being good guys Perry Mason & Ironsides.


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The role that made him as an outstanding villain was that of Lars Thorwald in Rear Window.

Some other villainous roles in films were:

Code of the West (1947) as Boyd Carter

Desperate (1947) as Walt Radak

Raw Deal (1948) as Rick Coyle

Pitfall ( 1948) as J B MacDonald

Bride of Vengeance (1949) as Michelotto

Adventures of Don Juan (1948) as Capt. Alvarez

Borderline (1950) as Pete Ritchie

His Kind Of Woman (1951) as Nick Ferrero

The Whip Hand (1951) as Steve Loomis

The Magic Carpet (1951) as Grand Vizier

Bride Of The Gorilla (1951) as Barney Chavez

Meet Danny Wilson (1951) as Nick Driscoll

Mara Maru (1952) as Brock Benedict

Horizons West (1952) as Cord Hardin

The Blue Gardenia (1953) as Harry Prebble

Tarzan & The She Devil (1953) as Vargo

Fort Algiers (1953) as Amir

The Bandits Of Corsica (1953) as Jonatto

Rear Window (1954) as Lars Thorwald

You're Never Too Young (1955) as Noonan

A Man Alone (1955) as Banker Stanley

Count Three & Pray (1955) as Yancey Huggins

Great Day In The Morning (1956) as Jumbo Means

Secret Of Treasure Mountain (1956) as Cash Larsen

A Cry In The Night (1956) as Harold Loftus

Crime Of Passion (1957) as Police Inspector Tony Pope

Desire In The Dust (1960) as Col. Ben Marquand

Though more an antagonist rather than a villain, he was the D A Frank Marlowe set on convicting Monty Cliff in A Place In The Sun ( one of my all time favorite films).

Burr was capable of some really nasty deeds like throwing a flaming desert in his girlfriends face in Raw Deal, shooting his partner in the back in A Man Alone, murdering his wife in Rear Window, kidnaping a teenaged girl in A Cry In The Night and knifing his girlfriend to death in Great Day In The Morning.

According to the book "Raymond Burr - A Film, Radio and Television Biography" by Ona L. Hill Burr met his death in his career in various ways:

Shot 17 times
Beaten 3 times
Stabbed 2 times
Drowned 1 time
Killed in a duel 2 times
Trampled to death 1 time
Fell to his death three times
Blown up 1 time
Killed by a blow to the head 1 time
Dead by alcohol poisoning 1 time
Killed in fights 2 times
Suicide victim 1 times

If Raymond Burr is in a film or TV show, I will want to see, record or purchase that film or TV show.

Unfortunately when Burr got religion, the movies lost one of it's best villains.

I would nominate Jason Isaacs' role, Col. Tavington, from The Patriot for this list as well...

Best movie villain ever.

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