• 13 of Criterion’s Most Villainous Villains

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      Hans Beckert in M
      In Fritz Lang’s film, Peter Lorre plays the man with the lamentable distinction of being cinema’s most famous child killer, seeming as scared of everyone else as we are of him.

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      Harry Powell in The Night of the Hunter
      The pulpy title of Charles Laughton’s film doesn’t do justice to the profound evil of Robert Mitchum’s impostor preacher, who has no qualms about marrying and murdering just to get his mitts on some buried loot.

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      Bishop Edvard Vergérus in Fanny and Alexander
      The first hour of Ingmar Bergman’s epic family drama is a warm and wonderful holiday extravaganza. Say good-bye to all that when Dad dies and Mom marries an icy bishop (Jan Malmsjö). He locks Fanny and Alexander in the attic; he whips them for disobedience. He’s a fairy-tale monster, and he gets a satisfying storybook send-off.

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      Doctor Génessier in Eyes Without a Face
      You may feel bad for Pierre Brasseur’s good doctor following his daughter’s disfiguring car accident in Georges Franju’s film. Your sympathy will dissipate once you see what he does with a scalpel to deal with his grief.

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      Kaede in Ran
      Akira Kurosawa’s glorious epic is a gloss on King Lear. But it also contains one of cinema’s great Lady Macbeth figures: Mieko Harada as the devious Kaede, whose selfishness and thirst for blood spark the film’s warfare.

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      Burke in Blow Out
      There’s something about John Lithgow in Brian De Palma’s nail-biter that creeps us right out. Maybe it’s the overgrown-baby face—or maybe it’s the handy garrote, which gets a lot of use.

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      Captain Munsey in Brute Force
      Jules Dassin’s prison melodrama is a raw punch to the gut, thanks largely to Hume Cronyn’s frighteningly calm overlord, who hangs a framed photo of himself in his office and listens to Wagner while he tortures inmates. Fascist overtones not coincidental.

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      Dominique in Sisters
      In Brian De Palma’s thriller, Danielle is demure and delicate. Her twin, Dominique (Margot Kidder), is something else entirely. Whatever you do, don’t buy her a birthday cake.

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      General Paul Mireau in Paths of Glory
      Stanley Kubrick’s antiwar cry condemns a whole rotten system, but a lot of your despondent rage will be directed at George Macready’s severe army general, who commands his soldiers to open fire on their comrades. Stiff and robotic (with that terrifying scar—the actor’s own), he’s the chilling personification of a mindless military machine.

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      The blob in The Blob
      An indestructible, unstoppable force lacking feeling, motivation, or vertebrae, the titular gelatinous pink ooze from outer space of Irvin S. Yeaworth’s film could put you off grape jelly for life. But we’re eternally grateful to it for inspiring that catchy Bacharach tune.

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      Mr. Scratch in The Devil and Daniel Webster
      Walter Huston netted a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his gleefully wicked work in William Dieterle’s still-unsettling classic—as Beelzebub himself, tempting and tricking a poor farmer into an unfortunate fortune.

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      Yone in Kuroneko
      Filmmaker Kaneto Shindo was devilishly good at devising new sorts of outings for mothers and their daughters-in-law (see also: Onibaba). Like, in this case, murdering samurai by ripping their throats out. Nobuko Otowa’s avenging-spirit matriarch, with her oddly feline grace, is firmly in control.

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      Raymond Lemorne in The Vanishing
      An unassuming professor and happily married man, Raymond (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) is one of those discreetly charming bourgeoisie you hear about. He’s also responsible for an act that has given viewers of George Sluizer’s film nightmares for decades. You’ve been warned.

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    Large_peter_lorre_m

      1 of 13  

    Hans Beckert in M
    In Fritz Lang’s film, Peter Lorre plays the man with the lamentable distinction of being cinema’s most famous child killer, seeming as scared of everyone else as we are of him.

     
     
     

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18 comments

  • By Robert H.
    October 31, 2011
    06:38 PM

    No Peeping Tom??? That gave me nightmares for weeks. And he was so evil that he ruined Michael Powell's career.
    Reply

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  • By Ray
    October 31, 2011
    07:25 PM

    Surprised not to see Ryunosuke from "The Sword of Doom" on the list.
    Reply

  • By Joseph
    October 31, 2011
    11:11 PM

    Not to sound like a typical 13 year old Horror fanatic, but Silence of the Lambs anyone?
    Reply

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    • By D.j. W.
      March 26, 2013
      01:08 AM

      Buffalo Bill was one of the most 1-dimenional villions i've ever seen. Hannibal Lecter is a different story...

  • By NAME
    October 31, 2011
    11:38 PM

    Strange that Ryunosuke Tsukue isn't here. I'd put him before Kaede.
    Reply

  • By NAME
    November 01, 2011
    12:08 AM

    No Sebastian Hawks from Naked? Clarence Broddicker from Robocop? Idi Amin? Dr Mabuse? The serial killer from Vengeance Is Mine?
    Reply

  • By Scott Handley
    November 02, 2011
    03:57 AM

    I dunno guys, the poor blob was just a vegetative organism looking for food, and Yone from KURONEKO seemed like a hauntological pacifist getting pragmatic in a pre-emptive policy Man's Man's Man's World (she didn't write the rules!)....so can we make room for HUNSECKER HUNSECKER HUNSECKER? J.J. Hunsecker seems like a timely slimeball (contemporary to both his time and ours) if ever ya'll immortalized one...
    Reply

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    • By Jack
      November 02, 2011
      11:14 PM

      I agree, J.J. Hunsucker should have been mentioned

  • By Travis
    November 03, 2011
    11:12 PM

    The Blob from The Blob...yes.
    Reply

  • By Michael
    November 10, 2011
    03:48 PM

    Dr. Soberin (Albert Dekker) from Kiss Me Deadly should definitely be on this list.
    Reply

  • By dasboot4211
    November 17, 2011
    02:00 PM

    Oh My God!!!!!!!! Harry Lime in The Third Man. One of the top 3 top villains in cinema history along with Hannibal Lecter and the HAL 9000 in 2001.
    Reply

  • By SamJamwich
    December 24, 2011
    08:50 AM

    Dr. Mabuse is a must!
    Reply

  • By Nick B.
    December 27, 2011
    01:14 AM

    I vote for the four villains of Salo
    Reply

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    • By Joel V.
      February 06, 2012
      07:43 PM

      I second that. That googly eyed president in Salo is quite possibly up there with the joker in terms of villainy. Manga!!!

  • By Cinematic Cteve
    December 29, 2011
    04:28 PM

    Harry Lime in The Third Man gets my vote. A suave sociopath.
    Reply

  • By AndrewB
    December 31, 2011
    01:22 AM

    I vote for Ireland as the villian in Hunger. Or maybe it's stubborness, either way, whatever is fucking with those guys is a great/terrible villian. Also Island of Lost Souls has a great villian.
    Reply

  • By Antichrist
    July 27, 2012
    03:20 PM

    What about the Antichrist from Antichrist?
    Reply

  • By Neville
    February 12, 2013
    08:17 AM

    Paul Mireau is lucky he wasn't involved in the Vietnam War; his cold-hearted ass would have been fragged but good.
    Reply

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