# Female Movie Villians **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272 "2002-11-23T00:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/1 "2002-11-23T00:36:13Z")
I’ll admit to being slightly sexist when it comes to movie bad “guys”: I just have a hard time accepting a woman as the antagonist. Perhaps it’s that I associate villians with superior physical power, which the women in movies seldom seem to have. That’s not to say that I don’t think women can be evil or nasty in the movies; I just can’t see a female as the head heel, as it were (a female Hannibal Lecter? can’t see it). So, I’d appreciate it if ya’ll could give me the names of some movies that DO have effective female villians, so I can try and overcome this shortsightedness. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/2 "2002-11-23T00:50:54Z")
The Borg Queen comes to mind. There is SHE, H. Rider Haggard’s antagonist. There is probably a Holmes movie with “the woman” whose name escapes me. Whats-her name, Mirna Loy (sp) The Maltese Falcon. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/3 "2002-11-23T00:53:06Z")
Angela Lansbury in Manchurian Candidate Penny Johnson in 24 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/4 "2002-11-23T01:17:00Z")
I believe it was Mary Astor in “Maltese Falcon”. Sean Young in “Ace Ventura” (if I don’t get laughed off the Board for having seen that flick). “The Intendent” in the DS-9 Mirror Universe (Star Trek, ever the innovator in the female bad guy) Lots and lots of “femme fatale” flicks out there, like “Body Heat” (Kathleen Turner), (and “Double Indemnity” which inspired it) “Last Seduction” (Linda Fiorentino) and of course the current DePalma “Femme Fatale” movie which I haven’t seen yet. And many others. As a general observation, movie villians often have very little physical strenght; they love to put them in wheelchairs (Blofeld), remove their limbs (Dr. No), hide them in hot-houses (“Eiger Sanction”), etc. Being a frail woman is no great disadvantage in the world of E-vil…Timmy ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/5 "2002-11-23T01:43:58Z")
From Disney: Maleficent Cruella De Ville Ursula and various stepmothers Other movies: The Bad Seed (a little girl no less) The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (evil nanny) Superman II (Ursa) Misery (Annie the obsessed fan) That’s all that’s springing to mind atm. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/6 "2002-11-23T01:53:44Z")
“The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” had Rebecca De Mornay as a really evil bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/7 "2002-11-23T01:54:09Z")
Lilith. Delilah. Judith. Herodias and Salome. Circe. Medea. The Bacchante. For more, see Bram Dijkstra’s IDOLS OF PERVERSITY: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-de-Siecle Culture (Oxford, 1986). ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/8 "2002-11-23T01:55:55Z")
Damn, sorry Luna I just spotted you had mentioned that already. Instead I offer: “Fatal Attraction” - Glenn Close played a fairly creepy psycho, though not strictly a villain in the traditional sense. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/9 "2002-11-23T02:01:25Z")
Fay Dunaway in “Supergirl.” Not the best example, of course. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/10 "2002-11-23T03:36:06Z")
Not “Baby Jane”, but “Blanche”. A really bad, bad sister. Oh yeah, and sweet little Patty McCormick from the movie, “The Bad Seed.” (the original) Whoa, talk about a midget-villainess. They invented the “bad girl” mold with her! ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/11 "2002-11-23T03:57:55Z")
Lena Olin in ROMEO IS BLEEDING. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/12 "2002-11-23T04:31:12Z")
Miyazaki’s animated films have some fairly memorable female half-villains. Half-villains because they usually have some good points as well. The best is Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke but there are others in Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away. The “wicked witch” is a standard in children’s films including Wizard of Oz and Snow White. For a different kind of female villain see All About Eve for a terrific portrayal of a scheming,lying actress played by Anne Baxter IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/13 "2002-11-23T04:45:21Z")
Paulina Novacek from _Undercover Blues_. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/14 "2002-11-23T04:56:59Z")
Jessica Walter in “Play Misty for me.” ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/15 "2002-11-23T06:17:38Z")
Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) in “Memento” Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) in “Rebecca” (although there’s some question whether she was was more psychotic than evil). And from the various screen adaptations of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” -Lady Macbeth ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/16 "2002-11-23T06:30:56Z")
Baroness, from _G.I. Joe: The Movie_. Accept no substitutes. 'Though Xenia Onatopp from _Goldeneye_ almost comes close. Then there’s Mrs. Haversham, from _Great Expectations_. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/17 "2002-11-23T07:03:12Z")
Ilsa, she-wolf of the SS ? ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/18 "2002-11-23T13:57:50Z")
Phyllis, played by Barbara Stanwyck, in “Double Indemnity”. Diana(Fay Dunaway) in “Network”. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/19 "2002-11-23T14:29:04Z")
Sadako, in the Japanese original of The Ring (Samara is her American counterpart). ---
**Author:** ![Cholo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Cholo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cholo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272/20 "2002-11-23T14:52:34Z")
Laura Flynn Boyle in **Men in Black 2** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-movie-villians/138272.md?page=2)