I find that rather like such movies. The examples provided are Godfather III, Scarface, and Falling Down. I can think of some others:
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Day of the Jackal
The Terminator*(if a robot can be psycho) Blue Velvet(just about everybody’s psycho) Reservoir Dogs(ditto) Alien(if an alien can be considered psycho)
*A Clockwork Orange
Bonnie and Clyde
Fahrenheit 911 *
A bunch of Jimmy Cagney films
I’m sure there’s a whole lot of shitty ones my mind is blanking on.
Please add to my list, good or bad. Movies that are more about heroes fighting serious scumbags DON’T coun’t (example: 48 hours). More borderline would be something like Silence of the Lambs, when there is as much attention to the evil character as the hero. If the evil character is actually mentioned in the title, that definitely counts.
Some off-beat, non-mainstream recommendations:[ul][li]Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Probably the most disturbing serial killer movie I’ve ever seen. It’s pretty much a matter-of-fact account of several days in the life of a twisted murderer and his idiot side-kick.[/li][li]Man Bites Dog. The second most disturbing serial killer movie I’ve ever seen but also hysterically funny in parts. A faux documentary about a Belgian serial killler being followed around by a film crew. Raises interesting questions about the media’s role in goading psycho attention whores into action.[/li][li]The Vanishing. Make sure you get the Dutch original and not the crappy Hollywood remake. A mans wife disappears without a trace at a truck stop. Years later, the man’s obsession with his missing wife has destroyed his life but, when he finally gets a chance to find out what happened he. . .well, the less said about that, the better.[/li][li]Miami Blues. A quirky early Alec Baldwin cult flick. He plays a violent ex-con just released from prison who goes on a brutal tear through Miami whilst impersonating a policeman. Very black humour.[/ul]The interesting thing about these movies is that there are almost no redeeming characters at all in any of them. Even some of the so-called innocents or good guys are flawed or morally compromised.[/li]
I think I’m going to go watch Amelie to light a candle in all of this darkness.
It seems like the father (played by Christopher Walken, in the usual style) in At Close Range was quite the psycho. Sad movie, but Sean Penn is gorgeous in it.
Natural Born Killers.
And that movie with Jodie Foster (?) where this young girl kills her dad and neighbors one at a time and drags them to the basement… What was that movie called?
Disclaimer: These are both movies I’ve only seen once. And the second one I saw when I was, like, ten years old. So there may be plot twists that I forgot… but it seems as though these two were pretty much all about twisted psycho people and not much else.
Incidentally, speaking of movies I saw when I was 10-- anybody remember Bad Ronald (I think it was called)? A flick about a psycho D&D geek who, I think, lived in the walls of somebody else’s house. I remember it being so bad it was funny.
I don’t remember Bad Ronald, but the title made me remember Ben and Willard. The weaselly little rat trainer is extra pitiful, and at first doesn’t understand the evil possibilities, but he embraces them pretty quickly. Or was he already dead by the second movie?
The ONLY sympathetic character in the movie, the only one who showed any emotion higher than greed and famewhoring, was Amos. And he had all of about 15 minutes total of screen time.
It was interesting in that it was the only movie I’ve ever watched that I was ashamed of liking so much. :dubious:
It’s been a long time since I saw it, but I would add the first Hellraiser movie. I don’t recall the guys name, but he’s a pretty good example.
That and Scarface are also examples of where females inexplicably get all hot over the psycho asshole. I don’t understand it at all, and it adds to my dislike. In Hellraiser, the guy hadn’t even finished regrowing his skin when the chick rolled over and assumed the position. And Scarface, well, he was a nasty little runt and yet Michelle Phiffer playing this classy hot chick was all over him. That just really adds to my disgust.
Oh, I just remembered Casino. Not so much DeNiro’s character, who at least seemed to care for his kid, but certainly Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci’s characters. The gold-digging prostitute and the psycho mobster. No redeeming qualities there.
Many a Johnny Depp character. Sure, they may not be unsuave, but their corruption is just as deep as those who are outwardly psychos as well as inside.
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