The Bad Guy by Gerri Brousseau

Leia Shaw’s blog on Tuesday about handsome heroes got me thinking about villains, or the bad guy.  Some movies have the most evil villains, those who do unspeakable things, but also play with your mind.  For me, those are the worse and most scary villains.  When I think of those types of psychologically evil villains, two really come to the front of the line.  Now, this is just my opinion and for me the most evil is Hannibal Lecter, played to perfection by Sir Anthony Hopkins.  Hannibal is the type of villain who really gets to you and messes with your head.  I read somewhere that when they filmed the sequel to Silence of the Lambs, Jodi Foster refused to return because she was so psychologically affected by the movie.  Silence of the Lambs was not your run-of-the-mill “slasher” movie, but was frightening on a much deeper level.

The villain who took second place for me was The Joker, brilliantly portrayed by the late Heath Ledger.  The Joker is another villain who gets to you and messes with your head.  Heath took this character to the deepest level of evil, and it was said this role also took quite an effect on him.

Then we have the villains such as Freddy who chases his victims around the screen slashing and trashing.  Admittedly, this is not my favorite venue of film.

Then we have some of our all time favorite villains, such as Darth Vader and the evil Lord Voldemort.  These characters play evil to perfection.  We want our hero to slay them, and yet, are sad to see the story end.

Now we come to likeable bad guys, such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, played respectively by the late Paul Newman and his sidekick, Robert Redford.  These two are destined to stand at the wrong end of a gun, and we know it.  Yet, we love them.

And now, for a few of my personal favorites.  He’s a pirate, and, therefore he must be a bad guy, right?  One would think, but is he really?  He’s flamboyant, savvy, and the smartest pirate the British Navy has ever seen, he’s Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp.  The perfect role for Johnny, although another of my favorite roles of his was Edward Scissorhands, another “bad guy” we can’t help but love.

We can’t talk about bad guys without talking about our beloved vampires.  The original Dracula (Frank Langella), the sullen and moody Edward Cullen (the handsome Robert Pattinson), and my personal fav, the passionate and irrational, Damon Salvatore (the sexy Ian Somerhalder).  We know they are predators, we know if they can lure us into their arms they will drain us of every last drop of our blood and yet, we simply can’t resist their charm.

I have told you some of my picks for villain, or bad guys I love (and some I certainly would like to).  Now it’s your turn to share.  Who do you think is the most evil villain?  Who is the bad guy you love?

Filed under: romance