Scary Stuff

Stephen asked me to list my top 5 fictional evil villains of all time.  The ones that scared me or impressed me with the intensity of their evil.  I say fictional, because actual villains would be an entirely different sort of list.  One that might include Bush/Cheney, and Hitler.  But that one is for another day.

Here it goes:

1.  Michael Myers from "Halloween".  I mean seriously, the original film was scary as hell.  The myriad sequels went downhill.  But the first one was about pure faceless bloodthirsty evil.  

2.  Hannibal Lector from "Silence of the Lambs" and "Red Dragon".  He was diabolical with a cultured twist of impeccable manners.  Unless he decided to make you into a tasty meal with Chianti and fava beans.  

3.  Pennywise, the clown from Stephen King's "It".  Pennywise was scary enough not to have to do all that much.  Standing around looking scary was plenty enough to give children AND adults nightmares.

4.  Norman Bates from "Psycho".  Not only is the shower scene from the original version frightening enough to make anybody hesitate to take a shower in a strange place, but dressing up like your dead mother is one step beyond creepy.

5.  Mountain man and Toothless guy from "Deliverance".  Oh my Lord, just hearing banjo music makes my nerves jangle.  

Honorable mentions include Annie Wilkes from "Misery" (hobbling anyone?), Heath Ledger's Joker from "Batman", and "The Terminator" because an unstoppable robot programmed to kill is pretty darn scary.

Yikes!