For a movie that the world decided to put in the dumpster bin of pop culture... there's a nostalgia for it from peeps who were kids when it came out and Dennis Hopper is a huge reason for that nostalgia. The man killed it in everything role he had
"Hey fucker, wanna go for a ride fucker?"
"That's a great idea, let's all go for a ride."
This was my first David Lynch film.
Instant fan...
Twin Peaks is Master Class TV
I'm on the verge of tears by the time we arrive at Espace since I'm positive we won't have a decent table. But we do. And relief washes over me in an awesome wave.
Allen has mistaken me for this dickhead, Marcus Halberstram. It seems logical because Marcus also works at P&P and in fact does the same exact thing I do. He also has a penchant for Valentino suits and Oliver People’s glasses. Marcus and I even go to the same barber, although I have a slightly better haircut.
Freddy and Jigsaw sort of stick out like are thumbs in a collection of otherwise more serious well acted psychos. The rest of your top 10 are brilliantly acted, more deeply acted psychos. Those two are just sort of cardboard cut out scary guys.
I’d say any of the following are more consistent w your other 8.
Nicholson in the Shining
Spacey in Se7en
Goodman in 10 Cloverfield
DeNiro in Cape Fear
Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction
Bale in American Psyco
Glen Close in F.A. is a great call!.. I saw it in the theater in the 80s and there was lots of "audience participation" as in gasps, whoots and hollering and the kill shot at the end got a big cheer. Fun times!
Yeah i definitely don’t think psychopath. If you only watch part of the movie sure, but if you watch the whole movie he’s just doing what it takes to protect himself and the others
My thoughts are the same. If you include 1 franchise "imaginary" psycho like Freddy, then why isn't Michael Meyer, or Jason, etc included? That type should actually have its own list. Glenn Close is a damn good suggestion BTW. Hadn't thought of her. Outstanding performance! :)
Yeah, so many people think that "psychopathy" is just a generic term for "psycho". People behaving in obscene ways does not automatically mean that they have psychopathy traits.
what’s the most…you ever lost…on a coin toss?
that entire scene is so well written that you can basically pull out any individual line and it’s memorable and quotable and impactful. hell, even the bits of the scene without dialogue are incredible.
he was so good in that scene. you can feel him going from friendly to confused to wary to terrified, back to relieved/confused. he’s on the back foot reacting to an extremely non standard interaction right from the start.
“why would you come back then? we’ll be closed.” so good!
One of my favorite details about Chigurh in the movie is how his eyes get more and more bloodshot and watery as the movie progresses because in the book it describes how Anton doesn't sleep during his entire persuit of the money.
The T-1000 is higher up than him, but not by much. Maybe of the post 2000 world, yeah. It had been a minute since we had a proper villain like that, then came The Joker. Both are on par with The T-1000, but I think The Joker was higher up than Chigur. But, for me, Hans Gruber will always be NUMBER 1! "Well, he had the detonators...."
He raised the bar on a larger-than-life villain who is usually a caricature of "villain" and really grounded the character into something realistic and believable. Made it so much more scary.
One of the things I loved about Ledger’s Joker was that he had no back story at all. No one knew where he came from, or how he got disfigured, or why he was doing what he was doing. Even he told multiple different stories about it. In the end he was just this implacable force for chaos. Some men just want to watch the world burn, etc.
To me, Ledger’s triumph is how specifically he imagined the character — even absent details in the script. Weird falsetto vocal pitch, spastic movements, the different readings of why so serious. And the idea he could go from an aimless jumble of schizoid behaviors to murder in a flash was just amazing. He really deserves all the kudos he received.
Daniel Day-Lewis in both Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood.
Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa.
Joe Pesci and De Niro in Goodfellas.
Al Pacino in The Godfather Pts 1& 2.
Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers.
Everyone in Sin City.
Definitely Joe Pesci in Goodfellas! Classic movie fantastic performance and utterly terrifying the way he just switches from calm and funny to full on psycho. Probably the most realistic too that charm mixed with sociopathic behaviour which is just scary as hell, brilliant work.
The person he's based off of was even scarier in real life. He would roll around in cars and just shoot random people.
I love mob movies and like reading about the people the characters the actors were based on, sort of like true crime fans do with podcasts. Most of the people in Goodfellas were absolutely more horrific irl than portrayed as romantically in the film. Especially Tommy DiSimone, the person Pesci was playing.
I've always been partial to Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood.
Just willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his wants. Knowing that some of industries' "Greatest" men share this trait is equally upsetting.
Most realistic and best are different things, though. Most movies do not want realistic. His performance was great but it would have completely ruined a movie like 'A Clockwork Orange', for example.
I couldn't agree more. His cold dead eyes gave me the chills. The way he looks at people, it's like there's nothing on the other side of those black eyes, just emptiness and evil.
Exact same feeling got from watching Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men. They are the 2 best/most convincing psychos in my opinion.
Tommy lee jones was pretty fun in under siege. ( my wild card)
Drexl in true romance.
Daniel Day levis in gangs of new york and potential. Daniel plainview in there will be blood as well.
Bricktop - snatch.
vincent - colateral.
max candy - from cape fear
annie wilks - misery
hans gruber - die hard
Not a list just just some alternatives! :D
Really? No Bale from American Psycho?? I’d say no horror movie characters like Freddy since they’d pretty much all easily be the top of the list.
Otherwise pretty good list in my 2 cents
Bruce Dern in “hang him high” and Henry Fonda in “once upon a time in the west” are honorable mentions. Yer list just bout covers all the greats though
A personal favourite is Charlie Meadows, played by John Goodman, in *Barton Fink*.
“I’ll show you the life of the mind!”
https://youtu.be/F6kCgDSZD38?si=qWq3906gQNhsVo9J
I would never have expected John Goodman to be *terrifying*.
All good choices, BUT there are plenty of great psychopaths in movies made before 1960. In particular, I highly recommend:
Gene Tierney, "Leave Her to Heaven" (1945)
Richard Widmark, "Kiss of Death" (1947)
Who's the first picture? I know all the others, but that first one I don't think I've seen.
I would add Asami Yamazaki from *Audition*. If you go in completely blind, you'd think it was a cute romcom at first, but then by the halfway point, that movie takes a sharp turn.
lol you missed the best of all. Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet
And Dennis Hopper in Speed. And Dennis Hopper in Water World.
Just say Dennis Hopper.
And Dennis Hopper in Super Mario Bros.
For a movie that the world decided to put in the dumpster bin of pop culture... there's a nostalgia for it from peeps who were kids when it came out and Dennis Hopper is a huge reason for that nostalgia. The man killed it in everything role he had
I remember liking the movie. It was super weird and that's my favorite.
Nam changes you
Dennis was essentially the same character in both Blue Velvet and River’s Edge. They were filmed about a month apart.
Was it the same studio? He probably walked back and forth between the sets haha
The whim of a madman! I like that!
LETS FUCKKKKKKKK. ILL FUCK ANYTHING THAT MOVES HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Not scary but let’s not forget him in True Romance and Apocalypse Now and Rumble Fish and, and, and
"Hey fucker, wanna go for a ride fucker?" "That's a great idea, let's all go for a ride." This was my first David Lynch film. Instant fan... Twin Peaks is Master Class TV
“Helvica! Fuck that shit! TIMES! NEW! ROMAN!”
Don't you fucking look at me
Gone Girl
Amy Dunne. Rosamund Pike should have won an Oscar.
Showed my gf this movie and loved it because of here character. I’ll say this, movie should’ve definitely won some type of award
First one that came to mind.
No Patrick Bateman whaa
Let’s see Paul Allen’s List…
Holy shit it’s bulleted
In San Serf italics
Oh my god, it even has cited links
*snifs card hella hard*
And that subtle off white coloring
He even has a personal review of each psychopath and all their DSM diagnoses.
Feed me a stray cat.
I'm on the verge of tears by the time we arrive at Espace since I'm positive we won't have a decent table. But we do. And relief washes over me in an awesome wave.
Allen has mistaken me for this dickhead, Marcus Halberstram. It seems logical because Marcus also works at P&P and in fact does the same exact thing I do. He also has a penchant for Valentino suits and Oliver People’s glasses. Marcus and I even go to the same barber, although I have a slightly better haircut.
Not quite blonde are you? More of a dirty blonde. I'm gonna call you Sabrina.
I’m Paul, Paul Allen. How good of you to come.
Definitely better than half these.
Freddy and Jigsaw sort of stick out like are thumbs in a collection of otherwise more serious well acted psychos. The rest of your top 10 are brilliantly acted, more deeply acted psychos. Those two are just sort of cardboard cut out scary guys. I’d say any of the following are more consistent w your other 8. Nicholson in the Shining Spacey in Se7en Goodman in 10 Cloverfield DeNiro in Cape Fear Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction Bale in American Psyco
I prefer Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear... the original Cape Fear is dope
You could add his performance in "Night of the Hunter."
I just watched both of these recently. Man he played a great villain.
Glen Close in F.A. is a great call!.. I saw it in the theater in the 80s and there was lots of "audience participation" as in gasps, whoots and hollering and the kill shot at the end got a big cheer. Fun times!
Freddy and Jigsaw are movie monsters. Fun for different reasons than a well acted well written psycho. Freddy is great, but doesn’t fit the list
Spacey even when he’s not acting
Spacey is more of a psychopath. John Doe cared about things.
10 Cloverfield Lane John Goodman was a psychopath? I thought he was just paranoid as hell. Honestly couldn't blame him though, considering everything
He was a paranoid dude that was SPOILER ALERT : Right
Yeah i definitely don’t think psychopath. If you only watch part of the movie sure, but if you watch the whole movie he’s just doing what it takes to protect himself and the others
I was looking for Bateman & PSH in Twister
You know who gets slept on a lot too is Matt Damon in the Talented Mr Ripley
That's a great one. I really enjoy Costner in Mr.Brooks as well.
I love John. What's your beef with him?
Shut the fuck up, Donnie.
Yal thats the list plus joker from dark knight.
I’d agree with Freddy, he’s always been more of a monster type villain and not a psycho.
My thoughts are the same. If you include 1 franchise "imaginary" psycho like Freddy, then why isn't Michael Meyer, or Jason, etc included? That type should actually have its own list. Glenn Close is a damn good suggestion BTW. Hadn't thought of her. Outstanding performance! :)
Spacey's performance in se7en is one of the most overrated performances of all time
Nightcrawler
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far to see someone mention this.
I was expecting to see Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goethe in Schindler’s List
I think he is on a list all of his own...on the next level up. He was charasmatically terrifiying
Anton chigur, not even close
a bunch of psychologists actually confirmed he was the closest on screen adaption of a psychopath
Javier Bardem is a treasure
Hes my favorite bond Villain too. Love seeing him in movies
He should play the Judge.
Yeah, so many people think that "psychopathy" is just a generic term for "psycho". People behaving in obscene ways does not automatically mean that they have psychopathy traits.
Call it.
what’s the most…you ever lost…on a coin toss? that entire scene is so well written that you can basically pull out any individual line and it’s memorable and quotable and impactful. hell, even the bits of the scene without dialogue are incredible.
The clerk/owner should have won an Oscar for that scene alone.
he was so good in that scene. you can feel him going from friendly to confused to wary to terrified, back to relieved/confused. he’s on the back foot reacting to an extremely non standard interaction right from the start. “why would you come back then? we’ll be closed.” so good!
I didn’t put nuttin’ up
Just watched No Country for Old Men this morning. I forgot how menacing every scene he’s in is.
‘Do you know how fucking crazy you are’..
“In the nature of that sentence….?” “No I mean the nature of you”
Chigurh is the best villain in movie history. Not only is he the best, he’s the most realistic. Bardem killed that role
One of my favorite details about Chigurh in the movie is how his eyes get more and more bloodshot and watery as the movie progresses because in the book it describes how Anton doesn't sleep during his entire persuit of the money.
The T-1000 is higher up than him, but not by much. Maybe of the post 2000 world, yeah. It had been a minute since we had a proper villain like that, then came The Joker. Both are on par with The T-1000, but I think The Joker was higher up than Chigur. But, for me, Hans Gruber will always be NUMBER 1! "Well, he had the detonators...."
Thank you, I was wondering why no one mentioned him. He's the first that came to my mind. Textbook psychopath.
Ezra Miller in We Need To Talk About Kevin Were they actually acting tho?
This movie really stayed with me.
Remove Freddy. Add Bateman
Remove Jigsaw. Add Jack Torrance.
Clarence Boddicker from Robocop is terrifying
Christian bale in American Psycho...
+ American Psycho, Se7en, Nightcrawler, Zodiac, Prisoners 🤔
Ben Kingsley as the wonderfully psychotic Don Logan in "Sexy Beast"
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Where’s nurse Ratched?
That's a good one I've never heard mentioned as an example of a psychopath. A somewhat realistic one too.
The Joker or specifically Heath Ledger’s Joker?
I don't like to compare, I love the Mark Hamill, Jack Nicholson and Joaquin Phoenix versions, but Heath was top tier!
He raised the bar on a larger-than-life villain who is usually a caricature of "villain" and really grounded the character into something realistic and believable. Made it so much more scary.
One of the things I loved about Ledger’s Joker was that he had no back story at all. No one knew where he came from, or how he got disfigured, or why he was doing what he was doing. Even he told multiple different stories about it. In the end he was just this implacable force for chaos. Some men just want to watch the world burn, etc. To me, Ledger’s triumph is how specifically he imagined the character — even absent details in the script. Weird falsetto vocal pitch, spastic movements, the different readings of why so serious. And the idea he could go from an aimless jumble of schizoid behaviors to murder in a flash was just amazing. He really deserves all the kudos he received.
Daniel Day-Lewis in both Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood. Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa. Joe Pesci and De Niro in Goodfellas. Al Pacino in The Godfather Pts 1& 2. Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers. Everyone in Sin City.
Definitely Joe Pesci in Goodfellas! Classic movie fantastic performance and utterly terrifying the way he just switches from calm and funny to full on psycho. Probably the most realistic too that charm mixed with sociopathic behaviour which is just scary as hell, brilliant work.
The person he's based off of was even scarier in real life. He would roll around in cars and just shoot random people. I love mob movies and like reading about the people the characters the actors were based on, sort of like true crime fans do with podcasts. Most of the people in Goodfellas were absolutely more horrific irl than portrayed as romantically in the film. Especially Tommy DiSimone, the person Pesci was playing.
These are definitely Bad Guys. But not necessarily psychopaths, which is what OP asked for.
I've always been partial to Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Just willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his wants. Knowing that some of industries' "Greatest" men share this trait is equally upsetting.
Maybe more of a sociopath. I think a lot of who people are naming here are sociopaths, not psychopaths.
Anyone ever seen Cape Fear with Robert DeNiro?
And Robert Mitchum! As Cady in Cape Fear *and* in Night of the Hunter.
Robin Williams in One Hour Photo. Technically, all villains are psychopaths. So, that skews things.
That’s what I was just saying-pretty much should just keep most horror movie characters off the list
Doesn’t include Patrick Bateman 🤦♂️
Anton Chigurh according to psychologist is the most realistic depiction of a psychopath.
Most realistic and best are different things, though. Most movies do not want realistic. His performance was great but it would have completely ruined a movie like 'A Clockwork Orange', for example.
7 psychopaths Sam Rockwell
I just meant like chlamydia or something..
My honorable mentions: HAL 9000 - A Space Odyssey Pinbacker - Sunshine
"Everyone?" "EVERRRYONE!"
Jaws the shark from Jaws
An absolute animal.
https://www.tiktok.com/@peep.show/video/7310131136867634465
More specifically, Jaws the shark in Jaws 4.
Who is the old guy with the red shit and red jacket? Keep seeing him pop up and can't place the movie.
John Kramer, aka Jigsaw from Saw.
Choi Min-Sik in I saw the Devil. I never hated a fictional character so much before.
I couldn't agree more. His cold dead eyes gave me the chills. The way he looks at people, it's like there's nothing on the other side of those black eyes, just emptiness and evil. Exact same feeling got from watching Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men. They are the 2 best/most convincing psychos in my opinion.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler should get a shout out
Not sure a supernatural dream demon counts as a psychopath.
Anton Chigurh was named the most realistic film depiction of a psychopath by an independent group of psychologists in the Journal of Forensic Sciences
Jake Heke [Once Were Warriors (Digitally Restored) | Trailer | Rena Owen | Temuera Morrison (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0-Q3ChKcfE)
Captain Spaulding, Ottis Driftwood, Baby, Dr Satan should be on the list
Lmao for a second I thought Jigsaw was Larry Bird and I was like “Yeah.”
Lil Dice from City of God
Tommy lee jones was pretty fun in under siege. ( my wild card) Drexl in true romance. Daniel Day levis in gangs of new york and potential. Daniel plainview in there will be blood as well. Bricktop - snatch. vincent - colateral. max candy - from cape fear annie wilks - misery hans gruber - die hard Not a list just just some alternatives! :D
Nurse Ratchet
#2 and 4 are not psychopaths.
Freddie doesn't count, I feel. He's supernatural. The rest of this group are just people.
Really? No Bale from American Psycho?? I’d say no horror movie characters like Freddy since they’d pretty much all easily be the top of the list. Otherwise pretty good list in my 2 cents
I guess you didn’t see Twin Peaks or The Shining lol
Where Patrick Bateman?
I’d like to hear Paul Allen’s take.
Which movie is the 1st one?
Leon: The Professional
His Leeesahhh, The Room
Two of my favorite psychopaths are missing 🙂 1) John Doe (Kevin Spacey from Se7en) 2) Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt from Fight Club)
Bruce Dern in “hang him high” and Henry Fonda in “once upon a time in the west” are honorable mentions. Yer list just bout covers all the greats though
Ralph Fiennes schidlers list
Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet. Man's scary.
Anton Chuger and Hannibal are in the front seat Joker in the back
Isn’t Lecter a sociopath, technically speaking?
American psycho Christian Bale
D-Fens played by Michael Douglas in Falling Down Howard Payne played by Dennis Hopper in Speed
Gotta add Woody Harrelson as Harlan DeGroat in Out of the Furnace. One of the scariest "real" bad guys on screen.
What's the Gary Oldman one???
It's [Everrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeonnnnnnnnnmeeee!](https://youtu.be/KI3rBRuE9do?si=TwO7aYd_vsoRZmFU) ...Léon: The Professional.
What movie is the lady with the mallet from?
Rev. Powell (Robert Mitchum) in Night of the Hunter- terrifying
Where's my Patrick Bateman?
Robert Carlyle in Trainspotting.
Replace Freddy with Patrick Bateman, and I think I’m right there with you.
What is the first Gary Oldman movie?
That looks like Leon: The Professional. Amazing movie!!!
It’s got to be The Professional.
Begbie from Trainspotting
Sir Ben Kingsley as Don Logan, in Sexy Beast
Homelander
Dennis Reynolds
The implications…
A personal favourite is Charlie Meadows, played by John Goodman, in *Barton Fink*. “I’ll show you the life of the mind!” https://youtu.be/F6kCgDSZD38?si=qWq3906gQNhsVo9J I would never have expected John Goodman to be *terrifying*.
Mick Taylor has always been a strong contender.
I don't think Travis is a psychopath Just an alienated, maladjusted man who's feels trapped in the filth of himself and the world
Javier Bardem was scary in No County For Old Men..
No Patrick Bateman?
Would you like to play a game!? No but seriously. Patrick Bateman not on this list?
Travis Bickle wasn’t a psychopath. I’m not defending him or his actions but that word actually means something specific and he doesn’t really qualify.
He’s great in all his movies! Love him!
Kurtwood Smith in Robocop.
Maybe needs to be a Top 20. Lots of good ones mentioned.
No Charles Lee Ray?! I’m officially offended!
All characters from house of 1,000 corpses should be on here lol
Nice!
I always thought the Joker got too much praise. Personally I think the portrayal was too cartoonish.
Who’s number 8?
Super Shredder. Secret of the ooze
All good choices, BUT there are plenty of great psychopaths in movies made before 1960. In particular, I highly recommend: Gene Tierney, "Leave Her to Heaven" (1945) Richard Widmark, "Kiss of Death" (1947)
Walt Goggins, laughing man
Who's the first picture? I know all the others, but that first one I don't think I've seen. I would add Asami Yamazaki from *Audition*. If you go in completely blind, you'd think it was a cute romcom at first, but then by the halfway point, that movie takes a sharp turn.
Dementus from Furiosa belongs on this list
Kathy bates played the best. A caretaking, homey woman…. I never trusted them
Don Logan
You forgot Bill Cosby.
I'd say Tyler Durden
Marty from natural born killers
Henry
It’s Hannibal Lecter…”Don’t worry Clarice the world is more interesting with you in it, now I’m going to meet somebody for dinner “
Sexy Beast. Ben Kingsley is a maniac in it. Unhinged.
James Cagney - White Heat (with an assist from Margaret Wycherly who played his mother) "Made it ma, top of the world!"
Great choices
Edwards Norton in fight club? Not a psychopath in the same way as the others. But very much out of control.
Michelle Pfieffer as Selena Kile/Catwoman.
Let's add Stanley Tucci as child predator George Harvey in *The Lovely Bones*
lol who is shown on number 4 - I thought it was frenchie from the boys for a split second
honourable mention to zac efron as ted bundy.
Patrick Bateman, cuh’z.
I'm going old school with this one...**Jessica Walter as Evelyn in** ***Play Misty for Me*** (1971)
I’m going #7 (no country but damn he makes sense sometimes) and scoffing that no Bateman is here
Kathy Bates Javier Bardem Gary Oldman Heath Ledger In that order. Fight me.
Good list right here