Villains I Fell in Love With

By dictionary definition, a villain is a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately. Read below to check out 5 villains that I consider to be profoundly well developed.

Annie Wilkes played by Kathy Bates in Misery
(1990 D. Rob Reiner) 

"God came to me last night and told me your purpose for being here. I am going to help you write a new book." You'd probably think in this photo to the left is about a nice woman doing a poor man the favor of shaving him because he's injured. Well, if you thought that, you're wrong. That is Annie Wilkes being a psycho crazy stalker who's obsessed with writer Paul Sheldon (James Caan). He got into a car accident and she saved his life. Little did he know she's his biggest fan and thrives off of his book series about a woman named Misery Chastain. His number one fan wants to nurse him back to health, but things get a little out of hand. I tend to be drawn to villains who have a little humor to them. Annie treats Paul like she has known him forever. She played obsessed so well that she won an academy award for her role. She is just the creepiest of creepers. 

Watch this clip. Notice how she goes from being extremely polite to full of rage in a matter of seconds.. it's perfect.

Bill Cutting aka “The Butcher” played by Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York
 (2002 D. Martin Scorsese)

You don't mess with The Butcher

"You know how I stayed alive this long? All these years? Fear. The spectacle of fearsome acts. Somebody steals from me, I cut off his hands. He offends me, I cut out his tongue. He rises against me, I cut off his head, stick it on a pike, raise it high up so all on the streets can see. That's what preserves the order of things. Fear. "

Daniel Day Lewis is one of my favorite actors. He knows how to play his characters so well it seems flawless every time. He is absolutely fantastic. Anyway, Bill the Butcher is the feared one in the city, he is the respected one, the one who people want to like them and do what they can to get that accomplished. In Gangs of New York, Bill kills the father of Amsterdam Vallon played by Leonardo DiCaprio. it's about him coming to get his revenge once he's grown up and ready to plot his vengeance to try and restore peace to the Five Points of America. Why do I like this villain so much? One, because D-Day Lewis plays The Butcher so well. Two, because D-Day Lewis plays the Butcher so well. Maybe I'm just biased because I love Daniel Day Lewis. Regardless, the movie is worthwhile. Watch it if you haven't.

Anton Chigurh played by Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men (2007 D. The Coen Brothers)

"So this is what I'll offer - you bring me the money and I'll let her go. Otherwise she's accountable, same as you. That's the best deal you're gonna get. I won't tell you you can save yourself, because you can't." This is Anton Chigurh. He is the most calm and collected psychotic villain I have ever seen on screen I almost think he's not evil because he masters his behavior so effortlessly, it made me believe that he was just doing it because it was his job.. his duty, or something along those lines. Point is, he makes evil look graceful. In No Country for Old Men, Anton Chigurh is after money. When some guy named Llewelyn Moss, played by the most wonderful Josh Brolin, gets a hold of it, and Chigurh obviously goes after him to get the money at any cost. This film won Best Picture, and Bardem snatched the Best Actor Award which was well deserved. Chigurh is a mesmerizing character. When I was watching this film, I love watching the scenes he's in the most because every move he makes is so smooth and yet, terrifyingly and perfectly psychotic. I remember the first time I watched this, me and my mom were counting how many people he was killing because he seemed to be doing it to anyway crossing his path. That is evil.

In the video below is a clip of Chigurh. He decides to randomly play a coin toss game with the clerk in the store. Little does the clerk know that his life depends on either heads or tails. Check out the way Chigurh talks and how collected his presence is.

 

George Harvey played by Stanely Tucci in The Lovely Bones
(2009 D. Peter Jackson)

I've got to be honest and say that the movie as a whole wasn't that great. I feel like you had to read the book by Alice Sebold to actually enjoy this movie. I think that it didn't fully develop the characters, and things weren't made clear enough. However, George Harvey was flawless. Flawlessly terrifying, that is. Stanley Tucci plays the neighbor who is actually a serial rapist and killer of little girls. There's nothing funny about this character, which is usually what I steer more towards when I fall in love with villains. George Harvey is straight up horrifying. He is one of the creepiest character's I've ever seen. I was really surprised when he received an Oscar nod for the role because he is extremely underrated and usually goes unnoticed. The reason this character is so fascinating to me is because I don't usually see Tucci as a psycopathic killer, and he does it so well. I was honestly horrified when he brought the main girl into an underground "play house." I felt like I was in there with them because I wanted to scream and run out of the room. You should watch this movie to see if you have the same reaction. You should watch the movie.. maybe you'll end up liking it! But you should watch it just to see how terrifying George Harvey really is. He's so terrifying that Stanley Tucci almost didn't take the role..


Colonel Hans Landa aka "The Jew Hunter" played by Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds
(2009 D. Quentin Tarantino)

This is my favorite scene.

"What a tremendously hostile world that a rat must endure. Yet not only does he survive, he thrives. Because our little foe has an instinct for survival and preservation second to none... And that Monsieur is what a Jew shares with a rat" First thing I want to say is if you haven't already seen this movie, something is wrong with you and you need to go rent it right now. I fell in love with the Jew Hunter because of how natural his evil tendencies are. I love the way he goes about getting things done. He is witty, funny, and won't let anything get in the way of his goals. This movie is about.. basically, Nazi's. Tarantino puts a humourous twist on it, and you don't want to miss it. The Colonel appears in the very first scene, which is one of my favorites (not the one pictured to the left) because it sets the entire movie to a standard that it exceeds. It's one of the best first scenes I've seen.. seriously. How can you not love an evil villain who makes you want to be his friend?

The video I posted below is just a quick little intro to the Jew Hunter, but to get the full idea, you really have to see the movie.. because he's not just in my top five favorite villains.. he's in the top three.

I'd like to add that some people think that Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange and Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver are villains... but I don't agree with that, therefore they aren't on here. But.. they are some of my favorite characters. :)

Thanks for reading!