When brilliant actors play hateful characters, they often do it with such perfection that we can only see them as villains. Reflect on some of the most hated characters in movies and see if we’ve added them to our list.
Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes (Misery)
Do villains get any better than Annie Wilkes in Misery? Her fan-girl obsession with the famous author Paul Sheldon led her to kidnap and torture him when she didn’t like the ending of his book. She gave us the fantastic hobbling scene, and while we were gripped, we never wanted to be trapped in a lift with her.
Gary Oldman as Stansfield (Leon)
Few villains are as evil as Stansfield. When you combine the cold-hearted killing of a young family with his post-pill-popping seizure, there’s little more terrifying than this performance. Unsurprisingly, he’s gone down as one of the best villains ever. And then there was Drexl.
Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford (Mommie Dearest)
When Faye Dunaway played Hollywood Great Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest, she was haunted by the experience for years after. She captured the essence of Joan Crawford’s cruelty towards her daughter with such conviction that audiences believed she was genuinely evil.
Joaquin Phoenix, Commodus (Gladiator)
In one of his most famous roles to date, it stands to reason that we can’t forget the menace portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in the movie masterpiece Gladiator. The side smirk and the hair lip added to the compelling hatred he projected, and if you’re a Game Of Thrones fan, you might not be surprised to hear that this wholly believable performance inspired the villainous King Joffrey.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom (Nightcrawler)
Despite his long portfolio of diverse characters, escaping his creepiness as Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler is hard. The sunken eyes, reed-like physique, and staring eyes; some say he’s autistic, we’re going with a psychopath.
Doug Hutchison as Percy Wetmore (The Green Mile)
Besides his role in the iconic movie Green Mile, Doug Hutchinson failed to make a name for himself in Hollywood. This might have been due to his believable portrayal of an evil mouse-crushing prison guard who sabotaged an inmate’s execution. We still hate him.
Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith (The Matrix)
Agent Smith was Neo’s ultimate nemesis, and we loved to hate his two-dimensional character throughout the franchise. It’s hard to imagine Hugo Weaving in any other role, particularly one that requires a fraction of emotion.
Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa (Inglorious Basterds)
The Weinstein Company.
So impressed was director Quentin Tarantino by Christoph Waltz’s portrayal as the sinister Nazi in Inglorious Basterds that he made him hold back in rehearsals to shock actors during filming. His performance was shrouded in evil, and we’re still unsettled by his deceiving calmness.
Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance (The Shining)
Since The Shining, he’s appeared in many successful movies, but when we see those expressive eyebrows and upturned Joker smile, we’re right back in that bathroom with his snarling face peering through the broken wood.
Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goth (Schindler’s List)
There was no escaping the deep-rooted hatred we held for Ralph Fiennes’s portrayal of the horrific war criminal Amon Goth. Brutal, barbaric, and seemingly sociopathic, he didn’t help that he went on to play Voldermort. He’s meant to be a nice guy in real life. We believe you.
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
The success and popularity of Die Hard are partly responsible for reminding us of how evil a character Alan Rickman can be. We’ve seen him in numerous roles over the years, but his portrayal of the heartless hotel-hijacking German terrorist is hard to get away from.
Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne (Gone Girl)
Many viewers of Gone Girl now regard Rosamund Pike as the sociopathic character she so perfectly portrayed in the movie. Moving on to play a narcissist in a later film hasn’t helped her plight.
Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)
Any actor who is that convincing as a twisted psychopathic serial killer has to be evil, right? Wrong. Christian Bale is merely a phenomenal actor who can transform into any given character at the flick of a switch. He still gave us the creeps for a long time.
Anthony Hopkins, Hannibal Lecter (Silence Of The Lambs)
When you think of this great Welsh actor, you’re hard-pressed to remember any other performance than Hannibal Lecter. His calm, collected nature was terrifying, and he only had to flicker those blue eyes to make us uncomfortable. His partner at the time, Martha Stewart, admitted that she broke up with him because she couldn’t stop seeing him as Hannibal. Harsh.
Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest)
From her stern appearance to her facial expressions, Louise Fletcher embodied the role of Nurse Ratched a bit too convincingly. The fact that she cruelly exploited a ward of mentally ill patients with her torment is enough to keep us sane.
Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter)
She might have been a British icon for over forty years, but we can’t see beyond her role as the mean Hogwarts Professor in Harry Potter. She emotionally and physically abused the students with such menace that we’ve got her card marked.
Tim Curry as Pennywise (IT)
You might be one of the lucky ones that remembers him from Rocky Horror Show. If not, you probably remember his spine-chilling performance as the evil child-killing clown from IT. Others have reprised the role, but none have left us eternally fearful of sewers. If you’re scared of clowns, he’s the reason why.
Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg (The Social Network)
His career appeared to be on the rise, but since his appearance as Mark Zuckerberg on The Social Network, he has been nowhere to be seen. Sadly, we can’t help but associate Zuckerberg’s wrongdoings with the actor who played him; that’s how well he convinced us of his vindictive trickery.
