# Most evil character in movies.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2004, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461 "2004-03-10T08:42:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dio\_e\_morto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@dio\_e\_morto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dio_e_morto)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/1 "2004-03-10T08:42:27Z")
Who do you think is the greatest villain/most evil character in movie history??? personally i d say " Nurse Mildred Ratched" in “one flew over the cuckoos nest” but i am sure there are a lot more… ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/2 "2004-03-10T08:59:54Z")
I don’t know if Rutger Hauer’s character in _The Hitcher_ is the most evil, but he certainly deserves special mention. He slaughters who-knows-how-many people (including ripping a woman in half by using her as a tractor-trailer hitch) just for the sake of messing with C. Thomas Howell’s mind. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2004, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/3 "2004-03-10T09:26:09Z")
Hitler, Himmler, and Reinhard Heydrich don’t count, right? Then I’d say…Kevin Spacey’s character in _Se7en_. With a nod to the Joker in _Batman._ ('natch.) ---
**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:** [March 10, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/4 "2004-03-10T12:19:20Z")
Kayser Houze from The Usual Suspects strikes me as someone you wouldn’t want to mess with unless you had actual, supernatural powers. Probably not even then. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/5 "2004-03-10T12:49:46Z")
What about Mike Myres? I mean, he was called “ **The** Evil” by his psychiatrist. I can’t think of anyone more evil than that. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/6 "2004-03-10T12:50:35Z")
Brick Top from Snatch may not have been the most powerful, but he was incredibly brutal. ---
**Author:** ![DrMemory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DrMemory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrMemory)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/7 "2004-03-10T12:53:43Z")
My two nominations are both named “Frank”. Henry Fonda’s “FRank” from Once upon a time ine the West. Dennis Hopper’s “Frank” in Blue Velvet. Both of these guys are EVIL… ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/8 "2004-03-10T13:02:28Z")
Laurence Olivier’s character in _Marathon Man_. ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/9 "2004-03-10T16:41:45Z")
> [@DrMemory](#): > > Henry Fonda’s “FRank” from Once upon a time ine the West. “Now that you’ve called me by my name…” Also, DeNiro as Max Cady in the _Cape Fear_ remake. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/10 "2004-03-10T16:50:16Z")
I’d rank Hannibal Lecter up there pretty highly. From L.A. Confidential, Captain Dudley Smith, played by James Cromwell, is pretty damn evil, especially since we think he’s one of the good guys until the big climactic reveal 2/3 of the way through the film. Alan Rickman’s terrorist leader Hans Gruber from Die Hard may not have been the most EVIL per se, but he’s definitely one of the best movie villains of all time. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/11 "2004-03-10T17:28:51Z")
Glenn Close’s character in “Fatal Attraction” deserves a mention - hell, she boiled a little girl’s bunny, for Christ’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/12 "2004-03-10T17:39:33Z")
Does Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello count? Probably my favorite villain of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/13 "2004-03-10T18:26:06Z")
How about Grand Moff Tarkin? He commited planetcide, basically just to prove how big his sack was. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/14 "2004-03-10T18:42:36Z")
> [@Kaspar Hauser](#): > > Also, DeNiro as Max Cady in the _Cape Fear_ remake. No, Robert Mitchum’s Max Cady in [the original](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055824/). He’s the first I thought of. Beautifully understated, and just thinking of the scene in the bar with Gregory Peck still sends chills up my spine. ---
**Author:** ![flonks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@flonks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flonks)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/15 "2004-03-10T18:56:13Z")
Benoit from _Man Bites Dog_ Kills children while telling the filming camera team that this is the part he doesn’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/16 "2004-03-10T19:08:31Z")
On a couple of Disney notes, Cruella DeVille from _101 Dalmations_, or Ursula from _The Little Mermaid_. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/17 "2004-03-10T19:10:23Z")
Can’t get more evil than [personification of evil](http://www.imdb.com/Find?select=Characters&for=satan&Go.x=17&Go.y=13&Go=Go) himself. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/18 "2004-03-10T20:20:12Z")
The little girl in **The Ring**. The Demon in the **Exorcist** For non-supernatural Alex from **Clockwork Orange** talk about a pure sociopath. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/19 "2004-03-11T01:36:12Z")
“Henry” in **Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer** … based upon the life of RL evil bastard, Henry Lee Lucas ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461/20 "2004-03-11T02:05:02Z")
Keyser Soze from the Usual Suspects is the person that immediately came to mind. Commodus from Gladiator was a bit of a badass. Hannibal Lector and Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-evil-character-in-movies/233461.md?page=2)