The Best Portrayals of a Villain
by CollinThomasEverett | created - 07 Jul 2012 | updated - 13 Jul 2012 | PublicMy most memorable villain roles. These are simply amazing and must-see movies!! Don't pass any of these movies up, because you might just love them as much as I do.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
Votes: 1,549,663 | Gross: $130.74M
And all the sequels: Hannibal, Red Dragon, Hannibal Rising
2. Pacific Heights (1990)
R | 102 min | Thriller
A couple work hard to renovate their dream house and become landlords to pay for it. Unfortunately, one of their tenants has plans of his own.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine, Michael Keaton, Mako
Votes: 22,793 | Gross: $29.38M
Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton)
3. Ransom (1996)
R | 121 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Multi-millionaire Tom Mullen's son is kidnapped, but after initially agreeing to pay the ransom Mullen then decides to use the ransom money as a bounty.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Mel Gibson, Gary Sinise, Rene Russo, Brawley Nolte
Votes: 135,556 | Gross: $136.49M
Jimmy Shaker (Gary Sinise)
4. Lakeview Terrace (2008)
PG-13 | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A troubled and racist African-American L.A.P.D. Officer will stop at nothing to force out a friendly interracial couple who just moved in next door to him.
Director: Neil LaBute | Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington, Ron Glass
Votes: 55,494 | Gross: $39.26M
Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson)
5. Saw (2004)
R | 103 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Two strangers awaken in a room with no recollection of how they got there, and soon discover they're pawns in a deadly game perpetrated by a notorious serial killer.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover, Ken Leung
Votes: 467,114 | Gross: $56.00M
And all the sequels
Jigsaw
6. The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)
R | 106 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatcher Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, Luis Guzmán, Victor Gojcaj
Votes: 208,148 | Gross: $65.45M
Ryder (John Travolta)
7. Se7en (1995)
R | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Andrew Kevin Walker
Votes: 1,800,829 | Gross: $100.13M
John Doe (Kevin Spacey)
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
R | 98 min | Horror
After picking up a traumatized young hitchhiker, five friends find themselves stalked and hunted by a deformed chainsaw-wielding loon and his family of equally psychopathic killers.
Director: Marcus Nispel | Stars: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Andrew Bryniarski, Erica Leerhsen
Votes: 152,458 | Gross: $80.57M
Leatherface
9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
R | 91 min | Horror
Before being sent to serve in Vietnam, two brothers and their girlfriends take one last road trip, but when they get into an accident, a terrifying experience will take them to a secluded house of horrors, with a chainsaw-wielding killer.
Director: Jonathan Liebesman | Stars: Jordana Brewster, Matt Bomer, Diora Baird, Taylor Handley
Votes: 77,315 | Gross: $39.52M
Leatherface
10. One Hour Photo (2002)
R | 96 min | Drama, Thriller
A mentally unstable photo developer targets an upper middle-class family after his obsession with them becomes more sick and disturbing than any of them could imagine.
Director: Mark Romanek | Stars: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Dylan Smith
Votes: 131,800 | Gross: $31.60M
Sy Perrish (Robin Williams)
11. Zodiac (2007)
R | 157 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Between 1968 and 1983, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards
Votes: 598,919 | Gross: $33.08M
Zodiac Killer
12. Ted Bundy (2002)
R | 99 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of serial killer Ted Bundy.
Director: Matthew Bright | Stars: Michael Reilly Burke, Boti Bliss, Julianna McCarthy, Jennifer Tisdale
Votes: 8,151 | Gross: $0.01M
Ted Bundy
13. The Strangers (2008)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.
Director: Bryan Bertino | Stars: Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler, Gemma Ward, Alex Fisher
Votes: 143,791 | Gross: $52.60M
Doll Face
14. Face/Off (1997)
R | 138 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
To foil a terrorist plot, FBI agent Sean Archer assumes the identity of the criminal Castor Troy who murdered his son through facial transplant surgery, but the crook wakes up prematurely and vows revenge.
Director: John Woo | Stars: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola
Votes: 401,185 | Gross: $112.23M
Caster Troy
15. Desperate Measures (1998)
R | 100 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Frank Conner is an honest police officer who desperately needs to save his son's life. However, after losing all hope, he finds out that a criminal Peter McCabe in jail is his only savior.
Director: Barbet Schroeder | Stars: Michael Keaton, Andy Garcia, Brian Cox, Marcia Gay Harden
Votes: 17,878 | Gross: $13.81M
Peter McCabe (Michael Keaton)
16. The Dark Knight (2008)
PG-13 | 152 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine
Votes: 2,873,405 | Gross: $534.86M
The Joker (Heath Ledger)
17. Misery (1990)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
Votes: 235,834 | Gross: $61.28M
Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates)
18. Reindeer Games (2000)
R | 104 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
After assuming his dead cell-mate's identity to get with the other man's girlfriend, an ex-convict finds himself a reluctant participant in a casino heist.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, James Frain
Votes: 42,410 | Gross: $23.36M
Gabriel (Gary Sinise)
19. Monster (2003)
R | 109 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Based on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.
Director: Patty Jenkins | Stars: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen
Votes: 161,940 | Gross: $34.47M
Aileen Wurnous (Charlize Theron)
20. Cape Fear (1991)
R | 128 min | Crime, Thriller
A convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a fourteen-year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis
Votes: 216,915 | Gross: $79.10M
Max Cady (Robert De Niro)
21. Domestic Disturbance (2001)
PG-13 | 89 min | Crime, Thriller
When Danny witnesses his stepfather Rick murder a man, Danny's father Frank has to protect his son from the greatest danger.
Director: Harold Becker | Stars: John Travolta, Nick Loren, Matt O'Leary, Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Votes: 28,736 | Gross: $45.25M
Rick Barnes
22. Red Eye (2005)
PG-13 | 85 min | Thriller
A woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine flight. Threatened by the potential murder of her father, she is pulled into a plot to assist her captor in a political assassination.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Laura Johnson
Votes: 141,050 | Gross: $57.89M
Jackson Rippner
23. Fatal Attraction (1987)
R | 119 min | Drama, Thriller
A married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer, Ellen Latzen
Votes: 97,212 | Gross: $156.65M
Alex Forrest (Glenn Close)
24. Disturbia (2007)
PG-13 | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When a teenager is placed under house arrest, he succumbs to despair and starts spying on his neighbors, hoping to spice up his life. This, however, leads him to witness a serial killer on the loose.
Director: D.J. Caruso | Stars: Shia LaBeouf, David Morse, Carrie-Anne Moss, Sarah Roemer
Votes: 248,435 | Gross: $80.21M
Mr. Turner (David Morse)
25. Deception (2008)
R | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An accountant is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by his lawyer friend. But in this new world, he soon becomes the prime suspect in a woman's disappearance and a multi-million dollar heist.
Director: Marcel Langenegger | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams, Bruce Altman
Votes: 40,847 | Gross: $4.60M
Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman)
26. Insomnia (2002)
R | 118 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan
Votes: 319,360 | Gross: $67.36M
Walter Finch (Robin Wiliams)
27. The Perfect Host (2010)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
An on-the-run convict looking for temporary cover finds it at the house of a very colorful character.
Director: Nicholas Tomnay | Stars: David Hyde Pierce, Clayne Crawford, Nathaniel Parker, Tyrees Allen
Votes: 28,495 | Gross: $0.05M
Wawrick Wilson (David Hyde Pierce)
Tell Your Friends