# Scary actresses **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748 "2002-10-31T20:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/1 "2002-10-31T20:28:35Z")
From the 10/31/02 IMDB poll: [“What attractive, recent actress has also always secretly kind of scared you?”](http://www.imdb.com/Poll/) As I write this the top three are Fairuza Balk, Juliette Lewis, and Angelina Jolie. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/2 "2002-10-31T20:51:25Z")
Glenn Close. Ever since Fatal Attraction, I can never look at her without shivering. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/3 "2002-10-31T20:55:42Z")
I dunno,…Mariah Carey in “Glitter” was pretty damn horrific. Oh, yeah…and Bette Davis in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/4 "2002-10-31T21:01:41Z")
Not on the list, but - When Kathleen Byron, playing the psycho nympho nun, emerges after changing into into her civillain clothes in “Black Narcissus,” the look in her eyes is incredibly creepy. …and yet so…attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/5 "2002-10-31T21:22:03Z")
Miranda Richardson. She looks like she could kill you with a thought. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/6 "2002-10-31T21:36:01Z")
There’s something about Nicole Kidman that I find scary. She looks like she has really sharp teeth, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/7 "2002-10-31T23:48:51Z")
Interesting topic. Here are my votes: Eliza Dushku (that may be wrong) – you know, Faith from BtVS Helena Bonham Carter – very scary in Fight Club. Famke Jannsen – she’s hot (!) but there’s also something kind of eerie about her. There’s also her role as Xenia Onatopp in Goldeneye, where she crushed men between her legs! Sigourney Weaver – tough in all the Alien movies, but downright menacing in Alien: Resurrection. Angelica Huston – I’ve always found her attractive, but also scary–even before Witches or The Addams Family. Cher – I don’t know why, but she frightens me. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/8 "2002-10-31T23:51:48Z")
Watch _The Manchurian Candidate_ and then try to look at _Murder, She Wrote_ the same way. Lena Olin as an insane Russian hitwoman in _Romeo is Bleeding_ was charmingly creepy. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/9 "2002-11-01T01:27:24Z")
Sean Young–but not so much for her roles as for her real life antics. She seems like somebody who you shouldn’t turn your back to. Agree on Juliette Lewis. It will take years for her to stop being typecast as a drug addict/serial killer. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/10 "2002-11-01T05:10:56Z")
Sigourney Weaver can be scary, in the ‘tough and intimidating’ sense. Even when she’s being gentle and affectionate, you still get the feeling she could snap your neck without changing expressions. I get this feeling about Geena Davis, too, for some reason. Christina Ricci looks scary, and not in a good way. She looked perfectly natural as Wednesday Addams, and in everything else since then, she’s looked bizarre. Of course, I’ve never seen anyone who could make people run screaming from a theater like Melanie Griffith, but that’s probably not what you were asking about. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/11 "2002-11-01T05:17:57Z")
Oh! Oh! I’ve got a great one: \*\*Linda Fiorentino[/B} **Very** intimidating in **The Last Seduction.** ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/12 "2002-11-01T05:21:42Z")
Meg Foster. It’s those eyes. You just look at 'em and think “Those can’t be her _real_ eyes, can they? That’s gotta be colored contacts…” ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/13 "2002-11-01T15:06:08Z")
[Alice Krige](http://www.krige-page.com/voy1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/14 "2002-11-01T15:28:32Z")
"Watch The Manchurian Candidate and then try to look at Murder, She Wrote the same way. " Angela Lansbury was also in the first run of “Sweeney Todd,” so she’s equally capable of cooking you in to a meat pie. I always thought that Hitchcock’s “icy blond” was equally effective at being menacing. Eva Marie Saint, Tippi Hedron, Grace Kelly, Kim Novack - all beautiful, but I also figured that you couldn’t trust them as far as you could throw them. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/15 "2002-11-01T15:36:00Z")
When I first looked at the title the first thought that popped into my head was “Shelly Duvall!” And then I noticed you limited it only to _attractive_ females. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/16 "2002-11-01T16:48:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cmkeller \* > \*\*Glenn Close. Ever since Fatal Attraction, I can never look at her without shivering. \*\* Not to mention her portrayal of Cruella DeVille … ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-actresses/134748/17 "2002-11-01T16:51:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sublight \* > **Sigourney Weaver can be scary, in the ‘tough and intimidating’ sense. Even when she’s being gentle and affectionate, you still get the feeling she could snap your neck without changing expressions. I get this feeling about Geena Davis, too, for some reason.** Jodie Foster in _Contact_ always looked like she was about **this** close to biting your head off. Take a gander at those tensed jaw muscles. _shudder_