Try and avoid the big obvious ones like Darth Vader, Freddy Kreuger, Jason, Hannibal Lector and The Joker.
What about Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) in Die Hard. John Ryder (Rutger Hauer) in The Hitcher The Kurgen (Clancy Brown) in Highlander or The Humungous in Mad Max 2.
Syndrome, the bad guy in the pixar movie "The Incredibles" was really nasty I mean he killed loads of super heroes just to tune up his death machine to kill his former hero. I mean that is pretty twisted, even if it wasn't a cartoon lol.
Ralph Fiennes in Red Dragon was pretty nasty Joe Pesci in Casino
Your reply to Colin (XBL/PSN Donkeyrhubarb85)'s post:
Believe it or not, they actually made movies before 1990 -- and some of them even had villains in them. For starters (in no particular order):
Conrad Veidt in "Casablanca" Conrad Veidt in "The Thief of Bagdad" Margaret Hamilton in "The Wizard of Oz" Basil Rathbone in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" Gert "No, Mister Bond, I expect you to die" Frobe in "Goldfinger" James Cagney in "White Heat" (not exactly a villain, but a scary psychopath nonetheless) Robert Shaw in "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" Robert Mitchum in "Night of the Hunter" Dennis Hopper in "Blue Velvet" Mercedes McCambridge in "Johnny Guitar" (I'd mention Peter Stormare in "Fargo," but that one was made after 1990)
Here's my list (no particular order, just a bunch of screen villains & villainesses I've found genuinely scary! lol.)
Rutger Hauer as John Ryder in 'The Hitcher'. Colonel Stewart and Major Grant in 'Die Hard 2'. Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962 original not the awful remake) Robert Shaw in 'The Taking of Pelham 123' (1974 original) Cody Jarrett in 'White Heat' Hans Gruber in 'Die Hard' Female accomplice in 'Die hard Vengeance' Amanda Young in 'Saw 1-3' Dwight Renfield 'Stephen Kings The Night Flier' Kurt Barlow and Mr Fraser 'Stephen Kings Salem's Lot' (1979 original)
Don't forget Wez (Vernon Wells) from Mad Max 2 Sauron from Lord Of The Rings James Earl Jones as Thulsa Doom in Conan The Barbarian Can't remember the characters names but Lance Henriksen & Arnold Vosloo in Hard Target. Henriksen has played a couple of good villains in Stone Cold & Johnny Handsome. Temuera Morrison as Jake The Muss in Once Were Warriors & Russell Crowe as Hando in Romper Stomper. Paul Bettany as Gangster No1 Tom Hardy in The Take Geoff Bell in Green Street
the guy from SAW cos he is the only one i can think of right now that got away with it, all the rest always get defeated which i'm totally bored of, i want to see more super baddies actually achieve their evil plan.
Your reply to RumbaBopoRembeTopo SumbaTopoPumbaHopoNumba...'s post:
Gian Maria Volonte in For A Few Dollars More, Lee Van Kleef in The Good,The Bad and the Ugly, Eli Wallach in The Magnificent 7, James Franscicus in Across 110th Street, Clarence Williams 111 in Against The Wall,
I know he was the lead character in this film but hey what about Michael Caine's character in the original 'Get Carter'. He's a cold hearted, ruthless gangster in that which to me means villain even if he is the main character.
I think Chiwetel Ejifor (sp?) as The Operative in Serenity is excellent. He's very rational and well aware that he's a real piece of work, while nonetheless doing what must be done.
I like Agent Smith in the The Matrix. Ironically, he was full of far more character than any of the humans. He was also the best thing about the sequels too, although they were both awful so it's pretty irrelevant.
Kathy Bates in Misery was a great. So chilling and insane.
I also agree with the vote for Thulsa Doom. I bloody love that film; it's far better than it has any right to be.
EDIT - also, Javier Bardem as Chigurh in No Country for Old Men. A real chilling, unstoppable, evil robot.
Your reply to Triggerhappytel says 'do not feed the trolls''s post:
Gary Oldman as Stan in Leon does it for me,I also think Joaquin Pheonix as Commodus in gladiator has just the right amount of spite,cowardice and ambition to really be up there as a proper scumbag.
Michael Corleone. Although the main character, his fall from grace ultimately leaves him the most evil person in the Godfather films. Might seem tame by todays standards, but the most iconic villian has to be Darth Vader. I would say the most disturbing villian ever is Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in Schindler's List.
Yes I agree about Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in Schindler's List. He is absolutely evil in that and so convincing and realistic in the part it's chilling.
I agree with the above choices and would like to add The Tattooed Man (played by the brilliant David Calder) from Mr In-Between to the list. This is a very disturbing British gangster movie from 2001 which also featured an excellent Andrew Howard as his protege, the torturer/assassin, Jon.
TV villains I would like to list, include Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart in The House of Cards and Matthew Kelly as the serial killer Brian Wicklow in Cold Blood.
Another one I forgot to mention earlier but now I think about it it's a performance well worth thinking about and that is Brian Cox as Dr Hannibal Lektor in 'Manhunter'. He plays him as a version with such calculation and evilness that he can almost convince the most innocent and intellectual person that he is not the murderous psychopath he really is. That makes a memorable villain and to me he is a little bit scarier than the Hopkins version.
Norman Bates in Psycho but i don't think you can call it action. Darth Vader in Star Wars Roy Batty in Blade Runner but not really action either Jack Torrance in the Shining The Joker in Batman Gary Oldman in Leon Bela Lugosi in Dracula Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs