Villainswelove Videos

There are villains we love, and villains we'd love to be -- at least fictionally, imaginatively within our own little dream worlds. These are worlds where we don't have to really kill anybody or do anything bad, but can just lather ourselves in their badassedness, especially as the time ticks down towards Halloween. For me, there's probably no villain I'd rather mimic than Kill Bill's Elle Driver, California Mountain Snake. I was mesmerized when Daryl Hannah whistled her way into the hospital in the sexiest and coolest white suit known to man, only to change into something as equally cool -- taking the nurse look so far that there's even that bright red cross adorning her white eye patch. Cool song, cool clothes, and cool fighting style. If Uma didn't do such a great job, I would've been rooting for Elle the whole time. Of course, every time I watch the scene after the jump, I always grumble about the fact that every costume store sells "sexy nurse" outfits, but no truly sexy nurse outfits. Sorry models, but your practically bare-arsed images on those skimpy little costumes are no match for head-to-toe white suits with red umbrellas, or form fitting and classic white nurses' uniforms. But one day... I'll sew one myself if I have to!Filed under: Fandom, Scenes We LoveContinue reading Villains We Love: Elle Driver Permalink | Email this | Comments

I usually don't like kids in the movies all that much. Maybe I'm missing that maternal gene, or maybe I'm just not that into the little rugrats. But suffice to say that I sometimes have a pretty dark view of children, and that's why I love The Bad Seed -- and I especially love little Rhoda Penmark. The Bad Seed was based on William March's novel about a murderous little girl who terrorizes her family and friends, and by the time it's all said and done, she comes up with relatively respectable body count. The 1956 film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starred Patty McCormack as the pigtailed terror, and in spite of a tacked-on ending to satisfy the Hays code at the time, the film is still considered on of the penultimate 'creepy kid' flicks. But what set Rhoda apart is that usually when you have murderous kids, the moral caveat is usually that they are outside the 'normal run of things', leaving our heroes to dispatch the bad guy without any hand-wringing about harming children. So most films give you kids like Damian (the Antichrist himself) or those creepy little buggers from Village of The Damned who come from another planet -- but with Rhoda, there is no one to blame but her. Although in both the film and the original book, there is an argument that she is just the victim of her family tree, but that's not exactly the same as the supernatural kids in those other horror films. There is no excuse for why Rhoda is the way she is, and she reminds you that evil can come in all kinds of packages -- and that's why to this day, the sight of her skipping away with her braids swinging remains as one of my most beloved movie villain moments. After the jump; some of Rhoda's creepier moments and a tribute to her lasting inspiration to the macabre everywhere...Filed under: Classics, Horror, Thrillers, Fandom, Trailers and ClipsContinue reading Villains We Love: Rhoda Penmark, 'The Bad Seed' Permalink | Email this | Comments

Yes, Barnard Hughes' Grandpa stole all the thunder, between his Windex aftershave and his casual, his epic closing line, and his nonchalant way of staking the head vamp and saving his family from a pesky future of bloodlust. But the Big Bad that he killed, well, he's my favorite part of The Lost Boys. Forget the Coreys, Kiefer, or Jason. Edward Herrmann, well before his riche Richard Gilmore years, was the most unlikely head honcho of evil. Tall, awkward, with big, thick glasses and a seemingly huge heart, Max was the video store geek. It was a look he used to his advantage, pulling off the persona of well-meaning new boyfriend for Dianne Wiest's Lucy. He knew how to be charming, considerate, and just reserved enough that you weren't quite sure if it was all for real. Then again, maybe things would have been different with deleted scene #11 (see it after the jump). When Max describes Lucy as a lioness with her cubs and growls, I'm sure it would've given it all away. Okay, I kid. But sometimes the villain needs to be ridiculous. Not every baddie can look tough, or scare us to the bone. Just sometimes, they have to be the super-tall nerdy dude with bottle glasses and one unsexy vampire face.Filed under: FandomContinue reading Villains We Love: 'The Lost Boys' Permalink | Email this | Comments

How can I have a soft spot in my heart for a mute murderer who kills humans like cattle, wears their faces, and eats them for dinner? Why don't I feel the same way about, say, Michael Myers or even Freddy? Leatherface - the original Leatherface, not the more farcical one in TCM 2 where he pseudo-humps Stretch with his chainsaw in beat-you-over-the-head-phallic-symbol way, although I do love that one too - is sympathetic in a way the others aren't. The terror of Michael Myers is his blankness; his generic Halloween mask emphasizes how little is going on behind there besides just the desire to kill. And Freddy - well, the dude was a child molester. Enough said. But Leatherface, while he does bludgeon the free-wheelin' teens who find their way into his house of horrors, is sort of kerfuffled by the whole thing. In one scene, he mutters to himself, shaking his head by the audacity of the kids who are interrupting his normal day-to-day life. His home life is pretty messed up; his brothers pick on him, his grandmother is a dried-up corpse in the attic, and his grandfather is barely able to feed himself. And as far as the killing, he doesn't seem to see the people as much more than two-legged cows; he bludgeons them, hangs them on hooks, and stuffs them in freezers. He's just doing his job, as far as he's concerned.Filed under: Horror, FandomContinue reading Villains We Love: Leatherface in 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Permalink | Email this | Comments

While other countries have headless riders roaming their empty places, I believe America can lay claim to The Headless Horseman. Born out of the mists of early America, the Horseman is a vengeful, anonymous Hessian who lost his head to a cannonball during the American Revolution. While it's popularly assumed he rides around looking for his head (and claiming any he comes across along the way), he actually has it resting on the pommel of his saddle. He doesn't need a new head. He's just sadistic. As a kid, I firmly believed the Hessian was a real Sleepy Hollow legend, and finding out that he was just an invention by Washington Irving was a bitter disappointment. But now I find it impressive that a mere short story has worked itself so deeply into American folklore to become one of our most iconic horror characters. He's enigmatic and elegant in his hunting, traits that have survived Disney and Scooby-Doo without losing a shred of scariness. He really should be allowed to ride across movie screens more often. The wonderful thing about legend (even if it's not a real one that owes its existence purely to Irving) is that not one version is definitive, and any good writer or filmmaker can explore its murkier corners. Though I love the Disney version with all my heart (like many kids, it's how I first encountered the story) I'm including a scene from Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow below the jump. I was disappointed by it when I first saw it in theaters (I still question the production designer's decision to just plunk the bridge in the middle of town), but its chilly atmosphere and Hammer stylings have grown on me. 18th Century America is one of my favorite topics for horror and history, and Burton painted a delicious nightmare version of it. If only he hadn't chosen to give the Hessian such a familiar face ....Filed under: Horror, Johnny Depp, Scenes We LoveContinue reading Villains We Love: The Headless Horseman Permalink | Email this | Comments

It always amazes me how your perspective can change when you grow up with a movie, and sometimes the movie takes on a whole new meaning when you see it again with the eyes of an adult. When I was kid, I watched the 1980 cult classic Mommie Dearest and was terrified of Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, the maniacal clean freak and abusive mom. But as an adult, I watch this movie, and it's pretty darn funny -- of course, that has a lot to do with watching the film with John Waters' commentary (and if you haven't heard it, I highly recommend picking up the Hollywood Royalty edition of Dearest on DVD). Dearest was based on the expos written by Crawford's daughter Christina in 1978, and the book dragged the Hollywood icon's reputation through the mud, and even inspired other celebrity tell-alls from other famous kids in the years to come. The film might have been a commercial success, but was savaged by critics upon release, and Dunaway even made claims that the film managed to ruin her career -- although Supergirl probably didn't help much either. In Frank Perry's over the top masterpiece, Dunaway was a dead ringer for Crawford, and she is as scary as any movie monster when she gets going on one of her rages -- while chewing the scenery to shreds. So whether it was walloping little Christina with a wire hanger, or chopping down trees with an ax in a ball gown, the lady is just straight out bonkers. But even though I'm not afraid of her anymore, she does remain as one of my favorite movie villains of all time. After the jump; Christina fights back and one of the many moments of unintentional comedy...Filed under: Drama, Fandom, Trailers and Clips, Scenes We LoveContinue reading Villains We Love: Joan Crawford 'Mommie Dearest' Permalink | Email this | Comments

I cannot possibly think of villains without thinking of Lena Olin's Mona De Marco. While the trailer for Romeo is Bleeding suggests that the film is nothing more than a ridiculous camp fest, her portrayal of the sadistic Russian hitwoman is mesmerizing and scary. With ease, she oozes every aspect of evil. She can be the stoic, gravelly voiced baddie who bides her time, waiting for the perfect moment -- her eyes not missing a thing. She can be the seductress, using her beauty to easily prey on Jack's (Gary Oldman) continually wandering eye. She can be the villain who never gets killed -- not swayed by a shot to the arm, or other wounds that challenge her. But her most memorable evil -- her most villainous aspect -- is her adoration of real, intimate, bodily violence. She's not some bad gal with firepower. Her violence is within her, her weapons being the things lying around, or her own body. And she loves to give pain. She doesn't just smile -- violence makes her happy. Take the scene after the jump (strong language warning!): She starts to choke Jack, and as he struggles for air, she laughs -- not just a giggle, but an eruption of pure, seemingly sexual, delight -- the throaty laugh, eyes closed, back arched. When Jack finally breaks free, her panting body looks post-coital, not post-choking. He hurts her. She keeps fighting. She chokes him with her legs, and then frees herself. It's almost absurd, but not in the carefully crafted fictional way -- it seems just crazy enough to be true, like Peter Medak pulled a real villain off the streets to play Mona. In one package, she's the femme fatale and the tough-as-nails baddie.Filed under: Fandom, Trailers and ClipsContinue reading Villains We Love: Romeo is Bleeding Permalink | Email this | Comments

Great villains are scattered throughout the Westerns, but some of the most memorably savage come from the films of Sergio Leone. While Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West gets a lot of props for the way he mows down the McBain family (including its youngest and most adorable moppet), it was nothing that Lee Van Cleef hadn't already done in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Angel Eyes seems to be dismissed as something akin to Leone fan fiction, and it's his relation (or lack of) to Van Cleef's Col. Mortimer in A Few Dollars More that people find to be more interesting than his villainy. But he's a great villain, mostly because he's absent for much for so much of the film. Leone gives him a ruthless introduction (a scene Quentin Tarantino mirrored perfectly with Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds) and promptly yanks him out of the narrative. As Tuco and Blondie torture each other for an hour, Angel Eyes is doing his own thing and it's a wonderful shock when he shows up running a Civil War prison camp. In today's cinema, no one could resist giving Angel Eyes a prequel and a spin-off relating the trail of bodies that led to that alias and that prison camp. But Leone allowed a squint to speak for itself, and told you everything you needed to know by the way men like Blondie and Tuco squirm around him. Considering that no one in this film is exactly good, and they're all a little bit ugly, it takes a lot to convince us that a man is worse than all the others. Van Cleef and Leone did that, and few villains can match his nastiness even when they've got double the screen time. Go below the jump -- they don't call him Angel Eyes in here! Filed under: Quentin Tarantino, Western, Scenes We LoveContinue reading Villains We Love: Angel Eyes Permalink | Email this | Comments

I'll always remember David Fincher's Se7en for a few different reasons (I even had to write an essay once about the opening credits) but the number one reason this film sticks in my brain is John Doe. Now usually when it comes to on-screen villains, you tend to remember the big personalities. In the words of Buffy, "strait up, black hat, tied to the train tracks, soon my electro-ray will destroy Metropolis," types. But as scary as the big bad wolf can be, sometimes the evil you never see coming is the one that becomes the stuff of nightmares. In Fincher's thriller about a serial killer with a penchant for Dante and the wrath of god, we don't even get to see the bad guy until about half way through the movie. But when Doe (played to perfection by Kevin Spacey) calmly walks into the police station to hand himself over, you know that this is not your run of the mill psycho. Recently I took a look at some movie villains that manage to win you over with a little charm and charisma, and Doe definitely isn't one of those guys. He's the kind of guy you would cross the street to avoid, but only if you got to know him -- and that's what makes him scary, he is completely average. Instead of letting the audience get used to the idea of him, we only see his handiwork (as gruesome as it may be), and just like Mills (Brad Pitt) and Somerset (Morgan Freeman), we are just witnesses to the aftermath. After the jump; Why Doe still scares the crap out of me, and his horrible plan is made complete...Filed under: Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Fandom, Brad Pitt, Trailers and ClipsContinue reading Villains We Love: John Doe in 'Se7en' Permalink | Email this | Comments

One of the most chilling bad guys I've ever seen on film is in a soft-core sex flick -- a Russ Meyer movie, even. If you think of Meyer only as the director who featured supremely large-chested women in his films, you probably haven't seen his 1975 film Supervixens. Sure, there are plenty of voluptuous females in the movie, and some comedy moments, but there's also Charles Napier, and his character is truly villainous. Supervixens is about an ordinary guy, Clint, who's married to the title character, a bad-tempered tease who is brutally murdered by an even nastier cop, Harry Sledge (Napier). Clint -- who is honestly the least memorable part of the movie -- flees town to avoid Sledge, and ends up encountering all kinds of delightful women whose names begin with "Super," like Supersoul, SuperCherry, and SuperHaji. His soulmate, though, is the amazing SuperAngel, played by the same actress as SuperVixen, Shari Eubank. Just as Clint is ready to settle down to a happy ending with SuperAngel, Harry Sledge returns.Filed under: Fandom, Trailers and ClipsContinue reading Villains We Love: Harry Sledge, 'Supervixens' Permalink | Email this | Comments

We can't go through a month of villain themery on Cinematical without gushing over Maleficent. But since there's much to talk about, I wanted to give her more than a brief ode via "Villains We Love." She's one of the biggies when it comes to villainesses, so naturally, she should have a week's reign on Girls on Film. Maleficent first appeared after the stirring of a strong wind and dramatic music. From a green fog she emerged, a loyal crow at her side, but she didn't just delve into evil in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. She looked around her, at a celebration including royalty, nobility, and gentry. She saw her fairy foes, and asked where her invite was. Naturally, there wasn't one for the weird and powerful faery, so she decides on a curse: Before the sun sets on the princess' sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die. Devilish and evil, yes, but also layered with enough mystery and what-ifs to make her dynamic well beyond the world of family films.Filed under: Animation, Fandom, Girls on FilmContinue reading Girls on Film: Maleficent's Reign Permalink | Email this | Comments