The Most Evil Movie Villains Ever (2024)

Cinema is a great medium for telling important, relatable, and entertaining stories that cover a range of tropes and themes, such as the hero's journey. From expansive franchises to cult classics, cinema has produced a range of compelling, dynamic, tenacious heroes. However, every great hero needs an equally formidable villain, one who represents the opposing qualities of what makes a hero. Though some films have morally complex and nuanced foes, others have unambiguously evil threats.

Movie villains serve as a way to create contrast for their heroes and can take them to the edge of their moral philosophies, showing that even in their darkest hour they remain on the side of good. Some villains are much more evil than others, and some are practically the embodiment of an irredeemable, classically evil threat. These characters are among the best-received bad guys on film, and that only becomes truer as they embrace their love of pure, true evil.

Updated on November 20, 2024, by Robert Vaux: Villains make movies enjoyable just as much as heroes do. It is fun to see how heroes overcome their antagonists' actions. While some antagonists have sympathetic backgrounds, there are plenty that are just plain evil for the sake of being evil. We wanted to bring more of these despicable characters to light, as well as further detail why previous entries are rotten to the core. The article has been expanded to include five more dastardly blackhearts, and the formatting has been adjusted to meet CBR's current guidelines.

25 The Predators Hunts Humans to Challenge Themselves

The Yautja are Obsessed with Finding Interesting Species to Hunt as a Whole

As a species, the Yautja are focused on finding the most interesting prey to hunt, which is how they found their way to Earth in Predator, eventually facing off against Arnold Schwarzeneggers’ Dutch and the rest of the soldiers. Their single-minded determination would not necessarily be evil if it was done for food or to fulfill some other requirement, but they instead hunt for sport.

Additionally, Predator, the colloquial term for the Yautja given by Earth’s populace, revels in torturing their prey. They set out traps that prolong death, and then take a trophy from the dead bodies. They even breed Xenomorphs specifically to hunt them for sport, since they consider them the ultimate prey. This dedication to hunting others makes the Predator — and the rest of the Yautja — some of the most evil villains.

Predator

R

Adventure

Horror

A team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.

Director

John McTiernan

Release Date

June 12, 1987

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger , Carl Weathers , Kevin Peter Hall , Elpidia Carrillo

Writers

Jim Thomas , John Thomas

Runtime

1 hour 47 minutes

Main Genre

Action

Production Company

Twentieth Century Fox, Lawrence Gordon Productions, Silver Pictures, Davis Entertainment, Amercent Films, American Entertainment Partners L.P., Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.

24 Warden Norton Abuses the Prisoners Under His Control

Despite Touting His Morality, Norton is a Cruel Man

The Shawshank Redemption is a film that has understandably been recognized for its greatness due to its intense tension and great acting. Bob Gunton’s acting as Warden Samuel Norton is no exception, as he perfectly portrays the corrupt warden in charge of Shawshank State Prison. On the outside, Warden Norton portrays himself as a devout Christian heavily invested in the reformation of criminals, but he is truly a merciless taskmaster.

The hypocrisy he displays in doing so is the least of his crimes, however, as he doesn’t hesitate to use the prisoners as slaves with which to complete hard physical labor. When bidding for a job against other contractors, he coerces the other contractors into bribing him, as he knows he can underbid them for the work. Warden Norton also proves that he is villainous to his core when he refuses to release Andy Dufresne, the main character, when he proves his innocence, instead putting him in solitary for a month.

The Shawshank Redemption

R

Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.

Director

Frank Darabont

Release Date

October 14, 1994

Cast

Tim Robbins , Morgan Freeman , Bob Gunton , William Sadler , Clancy Brown , Gil Bellows , Mark Rolston , James Whitmore

Writers

Stephen King , Frank Darabont

Runtime

142 minutes

Main Genre

Drama

Production Company

23 Noah Cross Uses His Influence in a Villainous Way to Gain More Riches

He Manages to Escape Punishment for His Evil Deeds

Chinatown is an influential film that was inspired by the California water wars. Noah Cross, the main antagonist of the film, is a crime boss and industrialist who destroys water tanks and sullies wells once he is put in charge of the water department. In doing so, he is enacting the first part of a multistep plan that would result in the incorporation of Northwest Valley into Los Angeles. This would increase Los Angeles’ access to water and gain an exorbitant amount of money.

If this wasn’t despicable enough, Noah Cross also assaulted his own daughter, resulting in the birth of Katherine. These personal crimes are enough to make anyone sick, as is the fact that he manages to get away with these heinous actions. When confronted by the protagonist, Gittes, he manages to get the upper hand and leaves before facing the consequences of these actions.

Chinatown

R

Crime

Documentary

Drama

Mystery

Thriller

A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.

Director

Roman Polanski

Release Date

June 20, 1974

Cast

Jack Nicholson , Faye Dunaway , John Huston , Perry Lopez , John Hillerman , Darrell Zwerling

Writers

Robert Towne , Roman Polanski

Runtime

130 minutes

Producer

Production Company

22 Clarence Boddicker Murdered the Man Who Would Become RoboCop

RoboCop Is Far From the Only Cop that Clarence Killed

As the leader of a gang, it is no surprise that Clarence Boddicker is a heinous individual. While he serves as the impetus for RoboCop, he does so in the worst way possible, being the one responsible for Alex Murphy's murder, who is then rebuilt into RoboCop. In addition to Alex Murphy, he was also suspected of the murder of over 30 other cops. Murder is not the only crime that Clarence Boddicker commits with frequency.

It was after he conducted a bank robbery that he first encountered Officer Murphy. The robbery ended in a firefight that was a result of a mistake made by one of his lackeys named Bobby. During this fight, he had Bobby tossed out of his car to slow down the police, successfully hindering the officers and killing Bobby, too.

RoboCop

R

Crime

Sci-Fi

In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.

Director

Paul Verhoeven

Release Date

July 17, 1987

Cast

Nancy Allen , Peter Weller , Dan O'Herlihy

Writers

Edward Neumeier

Runtime

1 Hour 42 Minutes

See Also

'Predator' Review: Somehow, Men Doing Macho Things Still WorksAnalysis of ‘Predator’Best Rocky Movies Ranked from Rocky V to CreedThe 10 Best Thanksgiving Movies With Great Acting, Ranked

Main Genre

Action

Production Company

Orion Pictures

21 Nurse Ratched Prioritized Her Control Over Helping Psychiatric Patients

Her Superiors Turned a Blind Eye to Her Cruel Actions

Proper representation of psychiatric patients in film has been varied over the years, with many portraying those with mental health in a poor light. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest takes a different track, though, as the main antagonist isn’t one of the patients, but rather the nurse in charge of the institution, Nurse Ratched. She doesn’t hesitate to revoke medication, food, or toiletries to force the patients to follow her rules.

As all her superiors care about is the fact that there aren’t any incidents, Nurse Ratched is given free rein to keep doing as she likes, including a version of psychotherapy that's truly about humiliating the patients into doing what she asks. This unabashed abuse of patients isn’t just an indication of her absolute villainy, but also an astute commentary of how corrupt workers abuse their power over vulnerable populations.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

R

Drama

Director

Milos Forman

Release Date

November 19, 1975

Studio

United Artists

Cast

Jack Nicholson , Louise Fletcher , William Redfield , Brad Dourif , Sydney Lassick , Christopher Lloyd , Danny DeVito

Writers

Lawrence Hauben , Bo Goldman

Runtime

133 minutes

Main Genre

Drama

Website

https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/one-flew-over-cuckoos-nest

Characters By

Ken Kessey

Cinematographer

Haskell Wexler, Bill Butler

Producer

Michael Douglas, Saul Zaentz

Production Company

Fantasy Films, Bryna Productions, N.V. Zvaluw

20 Dolores Umbridge Jumped from One Evil to Another

In Each of the Positions She Held, She Spread Malice

Dolores Umbridge was a horrifying character in Harry Potter, and her evil kept going deeper and deeper as her arc progressed. At first simpering sweet, her demeanor hid a very bitter and angry woman, who thought it was okay to physically hurt children, and drug them with Veritaserum to make them tell her the truth.

Even as she was ousted from Hogwarts by its own students, Umbridge did not cease committing atrocities. In the Ministry of Magic, she headed the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, which unfairly prosecuted people with Muggle relations. The punishments were severe, and Umbridge seemed to enjoy them thoroughly. Even though she was one of the weakest Harry Potter villains when it came to skill and strength, her positions of power allowed her to fulfill her cruel desires.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

PG-13

Adventure

Family

Fantasy

Mystery

With their warning about Lord Voldemort's return scoffed at, Harry and Dumbledore are targeted by the Wizard authorities as an authoritarian bureaucrat slowly seizes power at Hogwarts.

Director

David Yates

Release Date

June 28, 2007

Studio

Cast

Daniel Radcliffe , Emma Watson , Alan Rickman , Ralph Fiennes , Rupert Grint , Helena Bonham Carter , Robbie Coltrane , Warwick Davis , Michael Gambon , Brendan Gleeson , Richard Griffiths , Maggie Smith

Runtime

138 Minutes

Tagline

Sequel(s)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince , Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 , Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

19 Cruella de Vil Wanted to Kill Puppies For a Coat

She Had a Single-Minded Determination to Murder Innocent Animals

The original animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians was a huge hit for Disney in the early 1960s, and its villain, Cruella de Vil, left an indelible mark on audiences. The fashion designer was very much the embodiment of evil, as she couldn't spare even puppies for her nefarious sartorial ventures. Glenn Close portrayed Cruella's single-minded pursuit of the puppies chillingly well.

While Emma Stone undid some of this formidable antagonist's terror with her more sympathetic version, both Close's Cruella and the original animated version are some of the most terrifying villains. Her personality and looks were based on Tallulah Bankhead, who herself was notorious for her narcissism and sharp features that were the result of her smoking habit. She could go to any lengths to create her fur coat, and the murder of 101 puppies was a laughing matter to Cruella. Her personality also made a shiver run down the audience's spine.

101 Dalmatians

Adventure

Comedy

When a litter of Dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of Cruella De Vil, the owners must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement.

Director

Stephen Herek

Release Date

November 27, 1996

Cast

Glenn Close , Jeff Daniels , Joely Richardson

Runtime

103 minutes

18 Marla Grayson Didn't Care for Age or Respect

She Worked to Con the Elderly Out of Their Pensions

Rosamund Pike's Marla Grayson was a particularly gifted grifter, using her perfect appearance and persuasion to con well-meaning old people out of their life savings. Marla's con was devious; she would appoint herself guardian of several aged people, claiming that they needed her assistance to live their lives well. She would then get them sent to assisted living, deliberately rendered helpless as she would sell their apartments and belongings.

Marla was heartless and even targeted an old woman who had built her wealth by herself and lived peacefully alone. The destruction of these people's lives meant nothing to Marla. Targeting such a vulnerable group of people is definitely enough to cement her as one of the most evil villains in fiction. All that mattered to her was her own interest, and her ending was quite well-deserved.

I Care A Lot

R

Drama

Comedy

Crime

Director

J Blakeson

Release Date

February 19, 2019

Cast

Rosamund Pike , Peter Dinklage , Eiza Gonzalez , Dianne Wiest

Runtime

118 minutes

Main Genre

Drama

17 Amy Dunne Was Lethal

Initially Presented as the Victim, It Soon Became Clear She Was a Ruthless Mastermind

Another morally corrupt character played by Rosamund Pike, Amy from Gone Girl started as a sympathetic character as she was presented as missing and possibly even murdered by her husband. Soon enough, audiences got a glimpse of the reality of the situation, as Amy had orchestrated her own disappearance, framed her husband for it, and even planned her death to make sure that Nick went down with her.

However, when she felt her affection return for her husband, Amy made it look like her ex-boyfriend had kidnapped and assaulted her when all he did was give her shelter. Amy eventually killed him, and made a triumphant return to her husband, blackmailing him to stay with her. She cared little for free will and made people do her bidding by arm-twisting them.

Gone Girl

R

Mystery

Thriller

With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.

Director

David Fincher

Release Date

October 3, 2014

Studio

20th Century Fox

Cast

Ben Affleck , Rosamund Pike , Neil Patrick Harris , Tyler Perry

Writers

Gillian Flynn

Runtime

2 Hours 29 Minutes

Main Genre

Drama

Producer

Ceán Chaffin, Joshua Donen, Arnon Milchan, Reese Witherspoon

Production Company

Twentieth Century Fox, New Regency Productions, TSG Entertainment, Pacific Standard

16 Norman Bates Was Seriously Disturbed

He Kills With Impunity

Psycho is a film still spoken of today, not least because of its memorable slasher-horror antagonist. Meek and quiet at first glance, Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates hid his mother's corpse in his home and her personality in the recesses of his mind. Both a victim and a villain, Norman had had an emotionally turbulent childhood because of his abusive mother. Eventually, he killed her and her lover and made it look like a suicide.

Norman's second personality, that of his mother, came out when he felt threatened or angry. He killed with impunity, even attacking the private detective who came to look for Marion. Eventually, Mother took over Norman's entire being, turning him into the mean-spirited woman who had ruined his life. The vile actions he takes under this influence certainly make him one of the most evil movie villains.

Psycho

R

Horror

Mystery

Thriller

A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.

See Also

Carl Weathers And Sylvester Stallone: A Legendary Duo In Cinematic History

Director

Alfred Hitchcock

Release Date

September 8, 1960

Cast

Anthony Perkins , Janet Leigh , Vera Miles , John Gavin , Martin Balsam

Writers

Joseph Stefano , Robert Bloch

Runtime

1 hour 49 minutes

Main Genre

Horror

Production Company

Shamley Productions

15 Joker Represents Malevolent Chaos

​​​​​He Kills and Destroys Simply to Get a Reaction

The world of DC Comics has many great villains with broad motivations, but Batman's arch-nemesis, Joker, stands out as one of the franchise's most iconic foes. He embodies pure nihilism, dedicating his genius to hurting and killing as many people as possible more or less for the yuks. The Clown Prince of Crime has been interpreted by many actors, all with their unique take on the villain, and each of whom deserves a slot on this list. Heath Ledger's portrayal in The Dark Knight remains perhaps the most compelling, and his unprecedented posthumous Oscar win established artistic legitimacy for superhero movies for the first time.

In The Dark Knight, Joker appears in Gotham looking to take over the criminal underworld, wage a war on Batman, and break Gotham's spirit. Throughout the film, it's made clear that Joker represents a chaotic version of evil, one motivated, as Alfred says, by wanting to watch the world burn. After murdering prominent Gotham leaders, Joker's deranged plan takes a dark turn when he tries to force the people on two ships, one full of prisoners and the other civilians, to choose which one he should blow up.

10

10

The Dark Knight

PG-13

Superhero

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.

Release Date

July 18, 2008

Director

Christopher Nolan

Cast

Christian Bale , Heath Ledger , Gary Oldman , Aaron Eckhart , Maggie Gyllenhaal , Michael Caine , Morgan Freeman

Runtime

152 minutes

Main Genre

superheroes

Writers

Jonathan Nolan , Christopher Nolan , David S. Goyer , Bob Kane

Production Company

Warner Bros Pictures; DC Comics, Legendary Entertainment, Syncopy

14 Michael Myers Is Horror's Boogeyman

He Is Eventually Revealed to Be Evil Incarnate

In 1978, John Carpenter's Halloween introduced the world to Michael Myers, a serial killer who breaks out of his confinement and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield. Since his night of murder, Michael has become symbolic of a force-of-nature style of evil, one seemingly indestructible. No matter how many times Michael is shot, stabbed, burned, or run over, he always seems to get back up and keep coming.

Having appeared in over a dozen movies, Michael Myers has been established as one of the slasher genre's most formidable villains. Some movies, such as The Curse of Michael Myers, have tied the villain to dark magic, as he's influenced by the power of a cult. The even more recent Halloween trilogy that began with 2018's Halloween even asserted that he is evil itself, which is why his reign of terror has extended for so long.

Halloween

Halloween is an American slasher franchise that centers on the serial killer Michael Myers and the terror he inflicts on the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois.

Created by

John Carpenter , Debra Hill

First Film

Halloween

Latest Film

Halloween Ends

Cast

Jamie Lee Curtis , George P. Wilbur , Andi Matichak , Donald Pleasence

Character(s)

Michael Myers

13 Judge Doom Is a Literal Cartoonish Villain

He Orchestrated a Murder and Framed Toons to Turn the Non-Toons Against Them

Despite the existence of movies like Space Jam, the classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit? remains the definitive movie based on the clash of reality and the cartoon world. Following the private eye of Eddie Valiant in his partnership with the anxious toon named Roger Rabbit, he is charged with saving the very toons he hates from the wrath of Judge Doom. Judge Doom is the epitome of a cartoon villain even before he takes on cartoon characteristics, displaying no remorse for his actions.

Judge Doom, along with his band of cartoon hyena henchmen, pursues cartoons outside Toontown, plunging those he finds into "the dip," a vat of acid that dissolves cartoons. In the movie, Doom was written to quite literally be the pinnacle of cartoon villainy and was revealed at the end to be the very cartoon villain who framed Roger Rabbit — as well as having killed Eddie's brother. Christopher Lloyd makes his personality utterly terrifying, punctuating his irrational hatred for all toons. It's an apt comment on the real-world madness of racism.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

PG

Animation

Adventure

Comedy

Crime

A toon-hating detective is a cartoon rabbit's only hope to prove his innocence when he is accused of murder.

Release Date

June 22, 1988

Director

Robert Zemeckis

Cast

Bob Hoskins , Christopher Lloyd , Charles Fleischer , Joanna Cassidy

Runtime

1 hour 44 minutes

12 Freddy Kreuger Is Horror's Most Over-The-Top Villain

He Was Evil Both in Life and After Death

As one of the major figures of the slasher genre, A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger is best known for his power to prey on his victims by entering their dreams. Although he doesn't exist in reality, the harm and violence he inflicts on people's dreams become real in reality. The harm he inflicts ranges from creating gruesome wounds to controlling his victims’ bodies.

Freddy Krueger is, without a doubt, horror's darkest, most irredeemable villain, something cemented by his murder of children when he was a regular man. Damned to the dream world, Krueger exacts vengeance upon the children of the vigilantes who killed him, and revels in their pain, using creative methods to torture and murder the teens of Springwood. A Nightmare on Elm Street even ends with the success of the survivors being called into question, demonstrating Freddy Kreuger’s relentless spirit.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

R

Horror

Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.

Release Date

November 9, 1984

Director

Wes Craven

Cast

Heather Langenkamp , John Saxon , Ronee Blakley , Amanda Wyss , Jsu Garcia , Johnny Depp , Robert Englund , Charles Fleischer , Joseph Whipp , Lin Shaye , Joe Unger , Mimi Craven , Jack Shea , Ed Call , Sandy Lipton , David Andrews , Jeff Levine , Donna Woodrum , Shashawnee Hall , Carol Pritikin , Brian Reise , Ash Adams , Don Hannah , Leslie Hoffman , Paul Grenier

Runtime

91 minutes

Main Genre

Horror

Writers

Wes Craven

Studio

11 Voldemort Is So Evil, People Dared Not Speak His Name

He Showed His Evil Tendencies from a Young Age

Based on the book series by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter tells the story of Harry, a young boy who discovers that he's a wizard, and is sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn to hone his magic. While there, Harry befriends fellow magic-users Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who help him overcome a series of trials, challenges, and threats. The series' main villain, the Dark Lord Voldemort, is an evil wizard so feared that people dare not speak his name.

Voldemort is revealed to be a corrupted wizard, Tom Riddle, who succumbed to the dark arts and became an unstoppable force of evil. Kept alive by binding his soul to magical artifacts, Horcruxes, Voldemort can stay alive against all odds. After murdering Harry's parents when he was a baby, the dark lord returns during Harry's adolescence — when he wages a war on the wizarding world.

Harry Potter

The Harry Potter franchise follows the adventure of a young boy introduced a whole new world of magic, mayhem and darkness. Traversing the obstacles in his path, young Harry's rise to heroics pits him against Lord Voldemort, one of the most dangerous wizards in the world and all his minions.

Created by

J.K. Rowling

First Film

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Latest Film

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2

Upcoming TV Shows

Harry Potter

Cast

Daniel Radcliffe , Rupert Grint , Emma Watson , Maggie Smith , Alan Rickman , Helena Bonham Carter , Ralph Fiennes , Michael Gambon

Where to watch

HBO Max

Spin-offs (Movies)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) , Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Character(s)

Harry Potter , Voldemort

Video Game(s)

Hogwarts Legacy , LEGO Harry Potter Collection , Harry Potter: Wizards Unite , Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells , Harry Potter: Magic Awakened , Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets , Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 1 , Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

10 Malebolgia Rules Hell With An Iron Fist

He Has Tricked Others Into Becoming Hellspawn for Ages

In 1992, comic book veteran Todd McFarlane released his Image Comics antihero, Spawn. The dark, supernatural hero became one of the decade's best-selling characters as readers watched him fight the treacherous lord of Hell, Malebolgia, in a bid to get his old life back. Coming to life in 1997’s Spawn, Malebolgia displayed his evil actions on the big screen.

Malebolgia isn't Satan, but he isn't far from it either. The Lord of Hell has a long history of cruelty and betrayal, tricking many damned souls into becoming his Hellspawns. A creature of sin and terror who is focused on harvesting the souls of humanity, Malebolgia is the epitome of vile evil in the world of Spawn. The extent of his cruelty knows no bounds, as he kills anyone who fails him or outlives their usefulness.

Spawn

superheroes

An elite mercenary is killed, but comes back from Hell as a reluctant soldier of the Devil.

Release Date

August 1, 1997

Director

Mark A.Z. Dippé

Cast

Michael Jai White , Martin Sheen , John Leguizamo

Runtime

96 minutes

Writers

Mark A.Z. Dippé , Alan B. McElroy

Story By

9 Pennywise the Dancing Clown Terrorized the Town of Derry

He Gained More Power from Children's Fear

Stephen King's shocking 1986 novel It takes place in the small town of Derry, where the creature It, under the disguise of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, steals the town's children. When a group of friends known as the Loser's Club discovers the truth, they try to save the town from Pennywise in an endeavor spanning some 20 years. Tim Curry memorably played Pennywise in the 1990 ABC television adaptation of the story, and Bill Skarsgard's portrayal in the two live-action versions of the film might be definitive.

Pennywise is fear incarnate as a creature, whose true form is closer to a spider-like Lovecraftian nightmare, who fell to Earth from space and consumes children. The creature is one of King's most terrifying creations, and preys on the worst fears of his victims before finally killing them. The fact that he not only inflicts pain on others but also does it because he enjoys it makes him one of the most evil villains in film.

It Chapter One

R

Thriller

In the summer of 1989, a group of bullied kids band together to destroy a shape-shifting monster, which disguises itself as a clown and preys on the children of Derry, their small Maine town.

Release Date

September 5, 2017

Director

Andy Muschietti

Cast

Sophia Lillis , Jaeden Lieberher , Jeremy Ray Taylor , FInn Wolfhard , Wyatt Oleff , Chosen Jacobs , Jack Dylan Grazer , Bill Skarsgard

Runtime

2 hours 15 minutes

Main Genre

Horror

8 Darkseid Is a Force of Destruction In the DCEU

His Goal is to Enslave All Living Beings

Since Jack Kirby created his New Gods mythos in 1971, Darkseid has existed as the looming shadow over the DCU. Bent on finding his coveted Anti-Life Equation, a power that would allow him to enslave the minds of living beings, Darkseid has waged war on Earth and its heroes many times. Due to this, he has developed an especially strong rivalry with Superman. In Zack Snyder's Justice League, the villain finally made his live-action debut.

Darkseid has virtually no redeeming qualities, and has dedicated his existence to conquering the free will of life throughout the universe, something he has even achieved in the comics. Through his rivalry with Highfather of New Genesis, Darkseid is a blunt metaphor for Satan himself, ruling over the hellscape that is the fiery planet of Apokolips.

8

10

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

R

Action

Adventure

Fantasy

Determined to ensure that Superman's ultimate sacrifice wasn't in vain, Bruce Wayne recruits a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions.

Release Date

March 18, 2021

Director

Zack Snyder

Cast

Ben Affleck , Amy Adams , Henry Cavill , Gal Gadot , Ray Fisher , Jason Momoa , Ezra Miller , Willem Dafoe , Jeremy Irons , Jesse Eisenberg , Diane Lane , Connie Nielsen

Runtime

242 minutes

Main Genre

Superhero

Writers

Chris Terrio , Zack Snyder , Will Beall

Franchise

The Justice League

Production Company

Warner Bros. Pictures

Budget

$70 million

Where to watch

HBO Max

7 Anton Chigurh Is a Flesh-and-Blood Terminator

The Coen Brothers' Killer Went From One-Note to Uniquely Weird

Few of the Coen Brothers' memorable characters are as terrifyingly weird as Anton Chigurh, the hired killer in their Academy Award-winning masterpiece No Country for Old Men. Author Cormac McCarthy envisioned him as an unstoppable psychopath akin to Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator. The Coens wanted to keep that sense of relentlessness but avoid one-note cliches. They transformed him into a singularly menacing presence, sporting a Beatlemania haircut and a low-pitched growl of a voice that seemed to turn every exchange into a life-or-death affair.

In some ways, he does. Like Two-Face in the Batman comics, Chigurh has a habit of flipping a coin to decide whether or not he'll kill someone, which he demonstrates to a hapless gas station attendant early in the film. He carries a bolt gun to murder his victims, and he deploys it as swiftly and effortlessly as the coin. He may be a ruthless killing machine, but he's memorable for reasons that have nothing to do with the bodies in his wake.

No Country for Old Men

R

Crime

Thriller

Drama

Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.

Director

Ethan Coen , Joel Coen

Release Date

November 9, 2007

Studio

Miramax Films

Cast

Tommy Lee Jones , Javier Bardem , Josh Brolin

Writers

Joel Coen , Ethan Coen , Cormac McCarthy

Runtime

122 minutes

Main Genre

Drama

6 Daniel Plainview Devours Everything He Touches

Daniel Day-Lewis Won the Oscar for His Portrait of Greed Incarnate

Daniel Day-Lewis won the second of his three Oscars for Daniel Plainview, the monstrous protagonist of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. He's an oilman around the turn of the century, with a keen sense of where fertile fields are located and a ruthless way of getting around anyone in his way. He adopts a young boy solely to present himself as a family man, hustling small towns out of their claims and engaging in dangerous practices to pull the oil from the ground.

There Will Be Blood portrays him as a good capitalist, which is to say that nothing gets in the way of domination and profit. That extends to murder more than once, up to and including friends who trust him. He ends up fantastically wealthy, alcoholic, and living alone in a colossal mansion when his final, inevitable sin seals his fate as an utterly irredeemable soul.

There Will Be Blood

R

Historical

A story of family, religion, hatred, oil, and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.

Director

Paul Thomas Anderson

Release Date

September 27, 2007

Cast

daniel day-lewis , Paul Dano , Ciarán Hinds , Kevin J. O'Connor

Runtime

2 hours 38 minutes

Main Genre

Drama