# Best/Creepiest One-Off Villains **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617 "2005-12-14T19:09:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/21 "2005-12-14T23:17:00Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > \*\*Adam \*\* and \*\*the First \*\* were nice evils, but they were recurring characters, do they count? > **B-** for effort to \*Charmed \* Not that anybody’s REALLY in charge–but as the OP, I say “nope.” I was looking for most chilling villains who appeared only ONCE. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/22 "2005-12-14T23:28:15Z")
I liked the Evil Clown from an old _Voyager_ episode. Basically, a bunch of people hooked themselves together in a communal mindlink/virtual reality, and the Clown is a rogue manifestation of their subconscious, and knows everything they know and think. It had been torturing and even killing them with their worst fears for years. ---
**Author:** ![marque\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/23 "2005-12-14T23:45:36Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > Not that anybody’s REALLY in charge–but as the OP, I say “nope.” I was looking for most chilling villains who appeared only ONCE. :smack: OOps. I missed that about the 1 time only. Sorry… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/24 "2005-12-15T00:08:45Z")
> [@Der Trihs](#): > > I liked the Evil Clown from an old _Voyager_ episode. That was one of the few _Voyager_ episodes that actually had a dramatic, understated and entirely unpreachy ending, which was downright refreshing. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/25 "2005-12-15T00:16:21Z")
Well, it may or may not have been a two-part episode so I’m not sure this qualifies (?), but Bruce Willis played a horrible, fucked-up, wife-beating bad guy on _Miami Vice_ once. He was pretty damn menacing. You don’t get to see him play bad guys much, but he’s really good at it. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/26 "2005-12-15T00:43:43Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > The Peacock Family in the _X-Files_ episode “Home.” Gaaaah. My favorite episode, but _man_, they creep me right the hell out. And they’re almost the only really villainous X-Files villains who were one-offs. Eugene Tooms? Repeat. Donnie Pfaster? Repeat. I suppose you could make a technical exception for Robert Modell (“Pusher”) because in his second episode he wasn’t actually the villain How about the Flukeman from “The Host”? Or don’t monsters count as villains? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/27 "2005-12-15T01:12:59Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Too bad Khaaaaan’s a two-off, or he’d get my vote. I think he counts: he’s a one-off who was so good they brought him back later for a whole movie. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/28 "2005-12-15T02:11:33Z")
Hans Gruber from _Die Hard._ What an evil, mean, educated, polite, sneaky bastard who wants to kill several hundred people under the guise of terrorism so he can be “sitting on a beach earning twenty percent.” ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/29 "2005-12-15T03:34:06Z")
Tim Roth’s character in “Rob Roy” ? Michael Madsen’s character in “Reservoir Dogs” ? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/30 "2005-12-15T04:24:25Z")
> [@Der Trihs](#): > > I liked the Evil Clown from an old _Voyager_ episode. Basically, a bunch of people hooked themselves together in a communal mindlink/virtual reality, and the Clown is a rogue manifestation of their subconscious, and knows everything they know and think. It had been torturing and even killing them with their worst fears for years. I remember that one. It kept me watching another year or two. Truly villainous. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/31 "2005-12-15T04:24:49Z")
> [@Der Trihs](#): > > I liked the Evil Clown from an old _Voyager_ episode. Basically, a bunch of people hooked themselves together in a communal mindlink/virtual reality, and the Clown is a rogue manifestation of their subconscious, and knows everything they know and think. It had been torturing and even killing them with their worst fears for years. Oh, yes, HIM I remember. Played by what’s-his-name from spinal time/lavern & shirley…michael something…annette o’toole’s husband. That clown was even creepier than your average clown. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/32 "2005-12-15T04:45:08Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > Oh, yes, HIM I remember. Played by what’s-his-name from spinal time/lavern & shirley…michael something…annette o’toole’s husband. That clown was even creepier than your average clown. Michael McKean? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/33 "2005-12-15T06:38:09Z")
The Peacock Family was who I came in to mention, not at all surprised somebody beat me to it. That was one disturbing episode. I think it was the Johnny Mathis music that really sent it over the top. Sticking to TV shows (which is how I read the OP, not that I haven’t strayed from an OP before), Patrick Macnee’s appearance as [Count Iblis](http://www.movieprop.com/tvandmovie/Battlestar/iblis.htm) on the original _Battlestar Galactica_ was pretty cool. It’s rare that Satan himself (or someone like him) appears on a non-comedic episodic TV. If only the Battlestar folk had known that al-Iblis is an Arabic name for the devil… dumbasses. (He was actually in 2 episodes, but it was a 2 parter, so I’m counting it as a single appearance.) John Hanna’s appearance on _Carnivale_ as essentially a pimp for a town of zombies was pretty eerie. Also eerie on the same series was Brother Justin’s inadvertent patron who, it was discovered, was a pedophile. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/34 "2005-12-15T06:52:16Z")
> [@](#): > > If only the Battlestar folk had known that al-Iblis is an Arabic name for the devil. Wait. Why do you say that they didn’t? Or am I being whooshed? It would seem to me that their use of the fairly uncommon name would imply that they were aware of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/35 "2005-12-15T06:54:49Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Wait. Why do you say that they didn’t? Or am I being whooshed? It would seem to me that their use of the fairly uncommon name would imply that they were aware of it. I’m talking about the characters on Battlestar Galactica, not the producers and writers (who most certainly knew about it- there is also a good deal of Mormonism in the series). ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/36 "2005-12-15T14:41:15Z")
The female lead in Body Heat. Very bad woman. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/37 "2005-12-15T14:47:40Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The Peacock Family was who I came in to mention, not at all surprised somebody beat me to it. That was one disturbing episode. I think it was the Johnny Mathis music that really sent it over the top. I _cannot_ hear that song without getting creeped out. 🙂 > [@ryobserver](#): > > And they’re almost the only really villainous X-Files villains who were one-offs. Eugene Tooms? Repeat. Donnie Pfaster? Repeat. After I came up with the Peacocks, I thought about it, and I came up with Tooms and Donnie and discarded them. Donnie would have been a great one, but alas, they gave him a second episode. I’ll also submit (though I can’t remember his name) the bad guy from “Unruhe.” Eeeeeeek. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/38 "2005-12-15T15:23:58Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > The female lead in Body Heat. Very bad woman. Kathleen Turner, who can be deliciously evil just about anytime she sets her heart to it. I didn’t know McKean was actually married to O’Toole; I thought **Fabulous Creature** was just remembering an episode of _Law & Order_ when they _played_ a married couple: She’s angry over a time when he slapped her around, so she leads him to believe she’s having an affair, subtly manipulates him into killing her “lover” and cheerfully watches him get dragged off for a life sentence. Brrrrr… and it makes her a good nomination for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/39 "2005-12-15T17:45:19Z")
Sorry – I see now that I violated the OP by referencing a movie instead of a TV show, as requested. Obviously, movies would need their own thread. What a maroon. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617/40 "2005-12-15T19:24:52Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’m talking about the characters on Battlestar Galactica, not the producers and writers (who most certainly knew about it- there is also a good deal of Mormonism in the series). Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-creepiest-one-off-villains/335617.md?page=3)