Movie villains who spook you.

I rented The Salton Sea last night and was truly spooked by Vincent D’Onofrio as Pooh-Bear. This got me thinking: Which movie villain would you least like to spend a night with in an abandoned shack in the middle of, say, the Louisiana Bayou.

My list would include:

Pooh-Bear (Vincent D’Onofrio) from The Salton Sea

Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) from Blue Velvet

Max Cady (Robert DeNiro) from Cape Fear

When I was little, I refused to watch any of the Star Wars movies-Darth Vader scared the living crap out of me.

When I got over it, I never cared then, and didn’t see the movies until I was seventeen. Oh, wasted time…

the two hillbillies (assume the Beatty position) in ‘Deliverance’ are an obvious choice.

Also wouldn’t want to spend any time alone with Hannibal Lecter (the scary “Silence” Hannibal, not the cartoonish later one)

The Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz, particularly the crystal ball close-up scene, is quite terrifying for a child.

Some other creepies:

  • Willem Dafoe in Streets of Fire.

  • Crispin Glover in The River’s Edge.

  • Bikers Stanley and Richard in The Ninth Configuration.

  • Not exactly a villain, but the carjacker in Grand Canyon gave me serious chills.

This is easy for me… Alan Rickman’s character (nameless, as far as I know) in Closet Land gives me chills every time I watch it. Brrr.

The Strangers from Dark City gave me the willies. If you’ve seen the Buffy episode “Hush,” The Gentlemen are an homage/ripoff of The Strangers. The Strangers did not look so skeletal, but they were very, very creepy and had names like Mr. Hand, Mr. Book and Mr. Sleep and one of them looked like a child.

Gary Oldman’s (I know, I know, but he has had some great roles) character in The Professional.

I love the part at the end when Leon and Matilda are in the hotel room and Oldman calls for the police to send him “everyone.” One of his guys questions him and Oldman turns around and screams “I said EVERYONE!” I love that part.

Frank Booth is one that I wouldn’t like to meet either, although I guess I could always just start singing Candy Coated Clown!

In general, Poltergeist II was a whole sackful of stupid, but Julian Beck played a damned creepy Reverend Henry Kane.

“God is in his holy tem-ple.”

Brrrrr…

The unseen truck driver from ‘Duel.’

Surely you mean:

Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) from Cape Fear.

His creepiness on film was probably accentuated by the fact that he was dying of stomach cancer even as he was being filmed.

He was certainly sallow and gaunt enough. I’m sorry to hear that. From what little I’ve read about him, he seems like a really fascinating person.

I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen the movie, but when I was a kid, Margaret Hamilton appeared on Seasame Street to show how she used make-up to change from herself to the Wicked Witch. I suppose the idea was to show that the Witch was really just this nice actress lady. Didn’t work. My mom describes me watching her wide-eyed, slowly contracting into a ball as she got more and more witchy. Finally, when she put on the hat and suddenly started talking in character, I shrieked and ran out of the room.

Anyway, moving on to movies I’ve actually seen, well, I seem to be drawing a total blank. I can think of really good performances and great writing, but for visceral, lasting dread… The closest I can come is The Blob. It’s a really bad movie, but something about the blob always freaked me out. You can’t get away from it. It’ll come under the door, out of the heating ducts, up the drain, and if it touches you, even a little bit, it starts turning you into more of it. I literally shudder thinking of it just now.

Kate, East of Eden.

The one-armed man from The Fugitive. Creepy.

The blonde guy from The Bodyguard (I know the movie sucks but he was scary)

An obscure one: The brown haired killer from the Stallone classic Cobra. When he’s in the hospital…I was a kid when I saw that crap on cable and it still freaks me out.

I’m scared of “actual killers” instead of freaks.

I was always creeped out by “The Dane” in “Miller’s Crossing”. He was just so cold hearted that he made me shudder.

I would like to be trapped with Salma Hayek’s vampire as in ‘From Dusk till Dawn’. :smiley:

When she stares into her victim’s eyes, places a (shapely) foot on their body and sneers something like ‘You’re my dog’, I can only think ‘Woof!’ :eek:

Billy Zane’s character in Dead Calm.

<shudder>

The child catcher from Chitty Chitty Band Bang. Thw worst ia when he’s trying to tempt them “…all free today…” eek.
As an adult, I’d have to say Kevin Spacey as John Doe in Se7en. My best friend and I were still holding on to ech other for dear life when the lights came up in the theatre. I still have to watch it with someone else.

LunaSea, while reading the post I said to myself “I can’t believe no said that guy from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. I was all set to add it to the list but you beat me to it.

That guy creeped me out when I was a kid.