As someone already said, that was The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. But I wouldn’t call Jodie Foster’s character a psycho asshole with no redeeming qualities. She was a young girl trapped in a very difficult situation with no adults she could turn to for help. She only killed those who meant her harm in some way (especially the child molester). And she didn’t kill her dad. He died of cancer or something before the story began.
The character of Richard III in any filmed version of the play, but especially the one starring Ian Mckellan. He was so deliberately and designedly evil, he made you shudder, yet he still managed to charm the viewer (as a well-played Richard ought).
The character of Eve Harrington in All About Eve, the most lying, manipulative, unashamed bitch since Becky Sharp. She even twisted Bette Davis around her finger! That would look good on anyone’s resume.
It was right after that incident where he tells his sidekick: “I’ve hit fuckin’ rock bottom; I just punched out a couple of kids.” His redemption doesn’t really come until the very end. Up until that, the guy is just a complete horror story.
That must have been some damn good drugs and a fortune in cash! 
You may be right. I’m not above admitting that my rage may have clouded my memories of the some of the more delicate plot points of that movie. But even with a lack of emotion on the part of her character, it still doesn’t make sense to me that she would tolerate someone so unredeemingly vile. I don’t see the compensation for putting up with him. I could see it in someone with really deep issues, but in a shallow user? I would think that a shallow user would be less likely to tolerate a psycho asshole, simply because of the lack of control over him and the situation.
Maybe the character was just badly done.
Another movie made from a Willeford book is The Woman Chaser. Patrick Warburton’s character is a little psycho, and has few redeeming qualities.
No one’s mentioned Gangs of New York …especially Bill the Butcher.
The mention of James Spader way up there ^ reminded me of another film he was in, Bad Influence. Rob Lowe’s character was all the slimy evils of the world, wrapped up in a pretty package.
Re: The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane ( one of my all time favorite stories)
Foster’s character (Rinn) did not deliberately kill anyone. She did not know the tea she served her mother was laced with cyanide, until after the fact. Mrs. Hallet fell down the cellar stairs after being accidentally hit on the head by the cellar hatch. The last death, of Frank Hallet, is the only one she could be accused of knowingly causing, but more for not stopping him from drinking the poisoned tea than from a malicious act. She had made the tea for herself.
Ugh. That movie scared the crap out of me as a kid.
Albert Spica in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover . A vicious, sadistic, arrogant bastard who tortures, abuses, or murders anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. Like a high school bully who has now taken over an entire town.
I guess it’s because I felt those kids really deserved to get a good ass kicking and thus I can’t hold it againest them.
I don’t know. I seem to remember Bill having some sense of honor, or maybe it’s just respect for Leo’s dad.
actually, i read the book and watched the (TV) movie.
[spoiler]all killings were planned and pre-meditated. her father probably poisoned himself before walking into the ocean (after thoughtfully checking the tides and currents tables to make sure his body wouldn’t be found). he had set up everything to allow his high-intellect daughter to grow up without the stullifying confines of the outside world intruding. unfortunately, his ex-wife, her mother, showed up looking for money. poisoning mommy dearest was not accidental. the nosey neighbor had to go after she insisted on snooping and found mom’s body in the basement. her pervert son was more than happy that Mom got hers, since this left the field open for him to make a move on the girl. if the final cuppa was actually meant for him or for herself totally depends on whether you think she’s clever enough to think of the cliched “poison my own cup so the suspicious evil person will swap, thinking THIS one’s safe” ploy.)
and having said all that… i don’t really consider her a psycho, particularly. certainly not an asshole. 
[/spoiler]
Either Robert Mitchum or Robert Deniro as Max Caddy (sp?) in Cape Fear . When Deniro approaches Juliette Lewis in the school auditorium, you can just feel the creepyness - it makes my skin crawl. Lewis’ portrayal of the gawky, adolescent girl is so good it ramps the whole thing up.
I can think of no better qualifier for the OP than Andy Warhol’s Bad.
A woman who runs an electrolysis salon out of her home has a side business. She is hired by various folks to contract psycho assholes to beat up/kill/maim people they don’t like.
One fat woman who is offended when her neighbor makes a snide comment about her legs wants the Hit Madam to send somebody to kill the neighbor’s dog. Another woman has an autistic child so she hires Hit Madam to get somebody to kill the kid. The hitman tells his girlfriend, “The kid’s artistic. She doesn’t want a faggot kid.”
Two women under the Hit Madam’s employ are the most vile skanks in existence. As they’re walking down the street discussing how to kill the dog, one of them says “Let’s get these people,” and they both attack a bunch of handicapped people in wheelchairs. Later, they set fire to a projection booth and burn down a theatre.
The only person in this movie who has any redeeming value is the Hit Madam’s daughter-in-law, mainly because she’s stupid. The people who phone in the hits are obnoxious scum themselves. One woman who wants to get rid of her baby decides she can’t wait for the hitmen and throws the infant out of the window.
Like the title of the movie says, it’s Bad.
I nominate Michael Douglas in Falling Down. What a jerk.
Late last night, this thread suddenly came back to mind and it hit me like a thunderbolt - PINK FLAMINGOES. Why has no one mentioned this flick? A flick in which people actually compete for the title of filthiest, most unredeemable character in the world! And, as everybody knows (even me, who could never sit through that movie until the bitter end), Divine wins hands down!
Damn, I hated Pink Flamingoes. Worst movie I’ve ever seen, beat the next-worst contender (The Doom Generation) by a wide margin. Stomach-churningly gross, twisted, perverse (and not in a good way), nothing redeeming about it at all. It takes a lot for me to hate a movie and everyone involved with it that much, but this one pushed all my buttons.
Trainspotting fits the bill, IMO. Renton, the hero of the film, is a junkie who thinks nothing of thieving from his alleged mates to start a new life. Simon is another junkie who despite his adoration of Sean Connery, is utterly narcissistic and predatory, and hates dogs (well, that last part is in Welsh’s novel, but you see a bit of it in the film when he shoots the skinhead’s dog with a BB gun). Spud is a junkie with the personality of a doormat, and is often so smashed he’s unable to perform sexually with his girl (and then he shits the bed, but I’m sure we’ve all been there at one time or another so let’s not hold that against him). And then there’s Begbie, who’s the very definition of a psycho asshole, always up for a fight and instigating violence wherever he goes while lording his non-junkie status over the rest of them. There’s also the child who dies of neglect in her crib.
But for all the unredemptive qualities possessed by Renton, Simon, Spud, and Begbie, there’s still something very compelling about their characters, and their attempts to maintain their existence such as it is are not without occasional moments of outright hilarity.
Paris Trout
Sweeny Todd and Mrs. Lovatt (especially the 1936, UK version, with Tod Slaughter)
Wow, I didn’t remember all of that. I’ll have to read the book and rent the movie (if I can find it) again. I liked it so much, but I guess I’ve gotten fuzzy on the details. You know, with Jodie Foster being as big a star as she is now, you’d think they’d have released it on DVD by now.