# Movie villains who spook you. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261 "2002-10-21T17:00:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gardencat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9bcb4/32.png) [@gardencat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardencat)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/21 "2002-10-22T17:47:49Z")
Jack Palance in Oklahoma Crude was one evil S.O.B. As you recall George C. Scott’s character peed on Palance’s character in one scene. Jack had it comming in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/22 "2002-10-23T04:21:53Z")
Any villian played by Christopher Walken (hell, even non-villians played by Walken are a bit creepy). Same deal for Steve Buscemi. “Mr. Joshua” from Lethal Weapon–he’s a cold son of a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/23 "2002-10-23T05:32:54Z")
Edward Norton in _American History X_. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/24 "2002-10-23T06:04:20Z")
Martin Sheen in **The Dead Zone**. Klaus Maria Brandaur in **Never Say Never Again**. Robert Shaw in **From Russia With Love**. ---
**Author:** ![Giselle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Giselle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giselle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/25 "2002-10-25T02:34:56Z")
The creepy children-catcher-guy from **Chitty Chitty Bang Bang** scared the hell out of me when I was younger. I don’t know whether it has the same effect now, as I’ve not watched the film in several years, but still . . . _shudder_ And Jude Law in **Road to Perdition**. Dear god. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/26 "2002-10-25T04:06:03Z")
I second Jude Law’s “Maguire” in Road to Perdition. An utter psycho. How creepy, in that conversation in the diner? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/27 "2002-10-25T15:04:45Z")
Whoever that bad guy was in **Time Bandits** - he scared the living crap out of me as a 7 year old. ---
**Author:** ![mlerose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mlerose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlerose)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/28 "2002-10-25T20:36:50Z")
The scary clown-looking guy in _Lost Highway_. I was 20ish when I saw that movie and I still had nightmares. Oh, and Gollum from the animated _The Hobbit_. I was afraid for years. scarred for life, mle ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/29 "2002-10-25T22:02:40Z")
The killer in the original **Dirty Harry** was scary and crazy. I knew the actor’s name at one point in my life, but my long-term memory retrieval skills are not what they once were. Some Doper out there is sure to fill in that blank. Anyhoo…he appeared in other TV and movie roles, but I could never see him without flashing on that maniacal cackling insanity. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/30 "2002-10-25T23:12:42Z")
**Clarence Bodiker** from Robocop. He was just plain mean. Good call on the child-catcher dude from Chitty Chitty. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/31 "2002-10-26T01:43:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Proudest Monkey \* > \*\*The killer in the original **Dirty Harry** was scary and crazy. I knew the actor’s name at one point in my life, but my long-term memory retrieval skills are not what they once were. Some Doper out there is sure to fill in that blank. Anyhoo…he appeared in other TV and movie roles, but I could never see him without flashing on that maniacal cackling insanity. \*\* That was [Andrew Robinson](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Robinson,%20Andrew) in what was apparently his his first movie role. Most well known to me as Garak in _ST: DS9_. BTW, you’re not the only one who was impressed by his portrayal of Scorpio: > [@](#): > > Robinson’s portrayal of the chilling Scorpio Killer in Dirty Harry led to him receiving serious death threats via telephone after the film’s release. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/32 "2002-10-26T02:08:29Z")
I was thinking the other day that the Michael Palin character from the movie _Brazil_ is one of the most terrifying villains in any movie I’ve ever seen. Absolute run-screaming-from-the-room type. I also second “Mr. Joshua” (Gary Busey) from Lethal Weapon, and fifth or sixth or whatever we are up to now the Kid Catcher from Chitty Chitty. Not sure if they are really villains in the classic sense, but the Aliens in the second _Alien_ flick still give me the heebie-jeebies. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/33 "2002-10-26T07:52:48Z")
Vincent Price without his “mask” in \*\*The House of Wax \*\* (okay, I was a kid…) Alan Arkin in **Wait Until Dark** The birds on the playground in **The Birds** ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/34 "2002-10-26T20:51:18Z")
James Mason is the best villain ever. I am talking of course of North by North-West. Polished, elegant, educated and yet cold and evil. He steals a great movie (not a minor achievement). Incidentally I don’t think Edward Norton was the villain of America X. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/35 "2002-10-26T22:21:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > **Whoever that bad guy was in Time Bandits - he scared the living crap out of me as a 7 year old.** That would be David Warner, if memory serves. He’s a great villain in any film. Especially awesome as the Cardassian who tortured Picard in one of the better Star Trek episodes. Oh, and I agree with Gary Oldman’s cop character in _Leon/The Professional_ completely. The scene that gets me is when he’s talking to the sleazy father about the effect Beethoven has on him, just before he goes ballistic. You can see the madness, boiling underneath the skin. And the guy from _Poltergeist II_… “God is in… his holy temple!” Yeesh. And Spacey in _Se7en_ as well. What a great character. ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/36 "2002-10-26T23:14:22Z")
The clown from _IT_. And I so agree with the Childcatcher. ---
**Author:** ![ninevah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@ninevah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninevah)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/37 "2002-10-27T08:47:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjk \* > \*\* > > Surely you mean: > > **Max Cady** (Robert _Mitchum_) from _Cape Fear_. \*\* **KarlGauss** was referring to the 1991 version of the movie, and **rjk** , you’re referring to the 1962 version. Jareth the Goblin King in _The Labyrinth_ always freaked me out. He came across as paedophillic. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/38 "2002-10-27T11:10:01Z")
Y’know who gave me the absolute willies? The Cowboy, from _Mulholland Drive_. It was just… Oy?!? Wha…?!? Why…?!? STOP BEING SO CALM!!! And in _The Frighteners_, the villain ghost (I forget the name) was creepy as all hell when he still had the nasty cloak on… ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/39 "2002-10-27T22:19:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DarkWriter \* > \*\*The clown from _IT_. > > \*\* That would be Tim Curry and he seriously freaked me out in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261/40 "2002-10-27T23:06:27Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Estillicon_ > Incidentally I don’t think Edward Norton was the villain of America X. He’s not the villain _of_ the movie, in the sense of being the movie’s antagonist. But for the bulk of the movie, is most emphatically a very, very bad guy. Far more than most other traditional movie villains. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-villains-who-spook-you/133261.md?page=3)