Cinema's Finest Villains part 1

As a large fanatic of films I am able to appreciate the actors portrayal of villains and for me this is very important, so I am going to do an essential list of my personal favourite villains (human and non-human). I have decided to make it 15 and in any order. However it will be in 3 parts with 5 villains per blog.

Hal 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)


Hal is the brainchild and symbol of the development of humanity as a whole, he is emotionless, lacks empathy and is willing to do anything to get the job done, so when it comes to the point in which he feels the mission is on the verge of jeopardy due to the humans, he pulls the plug. The worst thing is that he cannot be held responsible for his actions because he was programmed to continue the mission regardless.

Jack Torrance (The Shining)


The man is persistent and clearly went through a mental breakdown due to the isolation he has to deal. Slowly he begins to become more and more aggressive during until he finally snaps and attempts to murder his wife and son simply as punishment.

Frank Booth (Blue Velvet)


Frank is nothing more than insane, he is a sadist and enjoys getting himself induced on an unknown drug so that he can beat anyone. However there is a clear indication of emotional instability for instance when Dorothy is singing Blue Velvet or when Ben (whom Frank defines as "one suave f***er") lip-syncs to In Dreams.

Reverend Harry Powell (Night Of The Hunter


Harry Powell is by far one of the most significant and greatest villains in cinema history one of the reasons for this is simply because he doesn't try to save people as much as he would condemn them to hell, when he learns of a large amount of money, he feels that he has to get his hands on it so he could continue his "holy" crusade. But in order to get the money he has to take it from 2 children which makes him even more sinister because it shows that he couldn't care less about who he has to kill.

Anton Chigurh (No Country For Old Men)


In terms of recent cinematic villains; Chigurh is by far one of the more significant. During the film he seems like he is unsure about whether what he does is right or wrong, but feels like he has no choice but to kill people and get the job, which he is asked to do, done. There may be some form of sympathy or empathy towards him as you watch him do his job. But nevertheless he is nothing more than evil.