User blog comment:Alwaysmore2hear/Nominate Your Essential Villains for the 2018 FANDOM 100/@comment-24520051-20180923055911

Noah Cross from Chinatown is perhaps my favourite movie villain. Not only is he a perfect representation of the kind of moral corruption and decay the film is trying to portray, John Huston turns in a marvelous performance that send sshivers down my spine. For Christ's sake, the guy (SPOILER, LOOK AWAY) impregnated his teenage daughter, and still thinks he's some kind of heroic pioneer.

Another phenomenal villain is Jean Renoult of The French Connection. So suave and debonair, yet so human. He takes a bit of a backseat to those lower down the ladder of the drug industry, but his few scenes are some of the most memorable. When he's evading Popeye in the subway you get an idea of his calculating intelligence and experience. He knows exactly who Doyle is, and how to lose him. But then you've got that little scene he has with his lover. He's not all business, and the dirty business he does is for a purpose.

And who could forget Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse's neighbors, the Castavets, in Rosemary's Baby? Obviously Ruth Gordon's Minnie is the stand-out, seeing as she won an Oscar for the role. It's an absolutely genius performance that evokes so much familiarity. It's such a perfect exaggeration of that distrust we sometimes have for the people around us that we don't really know.

Of course, I would be loath to forget Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven. What a wonderful counterpart to William Munny, a man who ultimately comes to terms with his unjust actions. In little Bill, you have a self-styled hero that thinks his abuse of power is all for the better. A disgusting pig that treats his little town like a dollhouse, doing what he pleases with its denizens.

It would be an understatement to say that Tigrero (Loco in the English dub) is the best part of The Great Silence. He MAKES that movie. Klaus Kinski is one of those infuriating actors that gives legitimacy to the argument that method acting works, and this is certainly one of his best performances. He's a more jolly villain, but in a way that nicely contrasts the sombre Silenzio, while fitting within the tone of the movie.

Though it's cliched, I have to mention HAL 9000. Easily the most sympathetic character on my list. While on a metaphorical level HAL is better served as mysterious, but when given the context of the book and/or sequel movie, you understand that HAL just snapped because he couldn't choose between following his programming and assisting Poole and Bowman. He tries to sweep his problems under the rug because, ultimately, I think HAL is more human than any human character in the movie. He's the only one with a very clear personality and motives. Plus, he's got maybe the most memorable and iconic design of any villain ever (save perhaps Darth Vader and the Joker).

Speaking of Batman villains, I really considered including an iteration of The Joker, but my heart ultimately lead my to Mr. Freeze in Batman the Animated Series, simply because he's so unlike anything ever seen in what is supposedly a kids' show. He's complex, intimidating, well-acted (Michael Ansara doesn't get nearly enough credit). And he's got a design that loos like something out of a '30s sci-fi comicbook, which is always worth extra points in my book.