Actually, I’ve got to give it up to our esteemed peers over at Entertainment Weekly because this is a pretty nice overview of dastardly personae in movies. It starts off on the wrong foot. Darth Vader? Darth Vader ceased being imposing the moment he made an effeminate, golden robot. Then Leatherface, which is acceptable but come on. The bad guy in a movie called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn’t an exciting entry! The list kicks into gear when it starts reaching further into the past and gets unpredictable. For example, I had forgotten about the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang altogether and now I’m going to spend the rest of today reliving childhood trauma. And Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus in Gladiator comes out of nowhere. What an inspired choice! He’s a bad guy so icky he makes horrific Gene Simmons-tongue faces while watching other dudes kill each other and then tries to impregnate his sister. It’s no Ten Best Murderous Duos but, hey, what is?
You can check out the first 25 of 50 right here.
