Top 50 Movie Villains of All-Time: Part V

      Okay, readers, we've finally reached the finale of this five part series. Coming up with 50 of the greatest film villains wasn't an easy task as there were at least 20 other possible candidates I could've put on this list. Having said that, let's finish up the series with the 10 greatest villains to ever appear on the silver screen.

10) Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street) - Robert Englund

      1984 - John Carpenter's Halloween may be the greatest of the "slasher film" genre, but there's doubt that Robert Englund's perfect turn as creepy child murderer Freddy Krueger in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (just the first one, mind you) is the greatest of the genre's villains. Having once murdered up to 20 children and then released on a technicality, Freddy was burned alive by the town's parents. Years later, Freddy is getting his revenge from beyond the dead by haunting and killing the teens within their dreams. Englund is truly terrifying, but also displays just the right amount of dark, twisted humor to blend in with the terror. It's one of the most memorable and long lasting images in horror villain history. For the record, the remake was garbage.

9) SS-Lieutenant Amon Goeth (Schindler's List) - Ralph Fiennes

      1993 - With all due respect to both Tommy Lee Jones and the film The Fugitive - a great film, by the way - Jones's performance there wasn't even the best of his to be nominated for an Oscar, much less the best of his career period. The man who should've won Best Supporting Actor in 1994 was by far Ralph Fiennes for his sadistic turn as the Nazi Lieutenant Amon Goeth. To see just how psychotic Amon Goeth really is, look no further than the scene where he wakes up and nonchalantly shoots Jews entering the camp like it's a daily breakfast routine. No remorse. No hesitation. It's like a walk in the park for him.

8) Reverend Harry Powell (The Night of the Hunter) - Robert Mitchum

      1955 - Walt Disney has five villains on this list. Director Steven Spielberg has three. Directors Quentin Tarantino, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, James Cameron, Alfred Hitchcock, and Stanley Kubrick each have two. Robert Mitchum, though, is the only individual actor to appear, not just in this list, but in the top 20 twice. As the Reverend Harry Powell, he's an itinerant preacher... and serial killer with the words "LOVE" tattooed on the right hand knuckles, and "HATE" tattooed on the left. He spreads the Gospel along the Ohio River. Gains the trust of wealthy widows. Marries them... and then kills them for their money. It's a truly haunting performance by the late, great Mitchum, and quite possibly the best performance of his career.

7) Pazuzu (The Exorcist) - voiced by Mercedes McCambridge

      1973 - One of the most controversial films of its time, we never see the demon Pazuzu per se, but we certainly see the horror it unleashes on one family. Once it possesses Regan McNeill (Linda Blair) we see the slow, gradual physical affliction it places on the once innocent girl, making her do and say things we'd never expect from a young girl. The way Pazuzu disguises its voice as Father Karras's recently passed mother during the climatic exorcism saying "Demi, why you do this to me, Demi?" shows just how pure evil it really is. Like Nosferatu, this isn't a "scary" film by today's standards, but I challenge anyone to find a movie that's just as unsettling as this film. It's the loss of innocence forced upon Regan that makes Pazuzu such a truly terrifying villain.

6) Michael Corleone (The Godfather Part II) - Al Pacino

      1974 - In my opinion, Michael Corleone represents the ultimate film personification of a heart that's easily corrupted. It's far too ironic that in Part I Michael, unlike his brothers "Sonny" and "Fredo", wanted nothing to do with the family business. Once a decorated Marine who fought in World War II, Corleone - come Part II - is now as cold and unforgiving as they come. To those that haven't seen The Godfather series, I'll avoid spoiling the exact reasons why Corleone is so cold and unforgiving, 'cause this series is a must see above all others. I'll just say the character of Michael Corleone is one of the best, if not the best, depictions of a once honorable man - a war hero even - now downfallen into a life of crime and murder.

5) Dr. Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs) - Anthony Hopkins

      1991 - Anthony Hopkins won the Academy Award for his portrayal of the infamously iconic cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Assisting FBI Agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) in catching a serial killer known as "Buffalo Bill", Lecter - although technically a villain - manages to form a strange relationship with Starling. He gives her clues and information on the serial killer she's after in exchange for details about her unhappy childhood. Hannibal is eloquent, intelligent, and extremely gruesome. Watch his escape from captivity to see what I mean.

4) Miss Almira Gulch/The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz) - Margaret Hamilton

      1939 - In one of the greatest films of all time, The Wicked Witch of the West was the stuff of nightmares for children watching this classic. The voice. The cackling laugh. The look. Her theme song. The fact that this cold-hearted bitch not only wanted Dorothy, but her little dog too. Everything about the wicked witch is perfectly chilling, and Margaret Hamilton gives a performance that's just as entertaining as it is frightening leading up to the thrilling "I'm melting! Oh, what a world! What a world!" scene. Yeah, that's a spoiler, but for God's sake. This is The Wizard of Oz! The only excuse I'm allowing from you for not seeing this film by now... is that you're Amish.

3) Darth Vader (Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope) - David Prowse/voiced by James Earl Jones

      1977 - While not the number one villain here, you could argue Darth Vader has the most iconic appearance out of any of the 50 villains mentioned here. While Star Wars is certainly not a scary film by any means, Darth Vader still managed to leave a frightening impact with his deep, menacing voice (superbly performed by James Earl Jones) and mechanical breathing. It's hard for me to explain too much of the original trilogy without giving away the "big reveal" from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (the best of the series, in my opinion), but the clip I just played for you here is all you need to see how unrelenting, uncompromising, and intimidating of a presence he was within the Galactic Empire.

2) Norman Bates (Psycho) - Anthony Perkins

      1960 - Norman Bates is the epitome of creepiness. The scene (part of which I just played) where he has dinner with Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) - much to the displeasure of Bates's mother - is one of the many reasons why I am shocked Alfred Hitchcock has never won a Best Director Oscar. It's such a quiet conversation between Bates and Crane. There's hardly a word shouted, yet that's what makes it so disturbing. He appears like a normal, clean cut man, but deep down you know there's something off about him. It's a truly brilliant performance by Academy Award nominee Anthony Perkins, and the quiet tension, that you could practically cut with a knife, created between him and Leigh in that dinner scene is as nail biting intense as they come.

      And now for the number one villain ever. We've finally reached it after five weeks. And the winner is...

 

1) HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey) - voiced by Douglas Rain

      1968 - Some of you may be wondering, "What?! Over Darth Vader?! Over Norman Bates?! Hannibal Lecter?!" Well, hear me out. Hal 9000 isn't flashy or charismatic like a number of the villains mentioned in all of the five segments. Hell, he's not even human... or even personified for that matter. At least T-101 and T-1000 from The Terminator series were in the form of a human. That's what makes HAL such a terrifying villain and the greatest of them all. Its simply a computer with a voice, and a soft-spoken, monotone one at that too. When it first premiered in the late 60s, computers were still a new idea, so the thought of seeing one in a film turn sentient probably scared moviegoers shitless. When astronauts Dave Bowman and Frank Poole debate disconnecting HAL, and attempt to conceal their conversation, they're unaware HAL can lip read. HAL then attempts to kill both the astronauts in order to continue its programmed operations. The idea of what most people would view as an inanimate object such as a computer becoming self-aware in the vast emptiness of space where your life is at the mercy of both HAL and the ship is what makes it such a frightening villain. It's not thrilling. It's not gruesome. It's not psychotic. It's not even human. It's simply a machine.

      There you have it. The top 50 movie villains of all-time. It's been a great five weeks coming up with these 50, and maybe sometime later in the year, I'll have another top 50 list for you all. Feel free to comment on who you think should be the number one greatest villain ever. It's okay to disagree with my pick. I'd love to read what your pick would be.