RE: "EW greatest villains? Puh-lease"

I was going to add a comment to Jon's post, but I think there is a word limit on comments, and I am going to say too much. I lose editing abilities at 3am. First of all, Jon, you are correct it is busy times at the P-dub. I am not sure where QT is, but I think he has a meeting tomorrow that I was supposed to help with and totally neglected. Sorry about that, QT.

So here are some thoughts I have on the villains.

In the magazine, Stephen King gives his take (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20268412,00.html). Jon, you'll like that Dracula is Stephen King's number one. I would steal some characters from his list -- namely...

• Anton Chigurh, NCFOM -- He's got to be near the top because 1) he basically represents evil, so he's all-encompassing (2) he is unaffected by emotion (your problem with Darth Vader) and is driven by his own cold logic (3) he has catchphrases and a signature look (!) and (4) SPOILER ALERT he stays both evil and alive.

• Sauron, LOTR -- Just fuckin scary.

• Harry Powell, NOTH -- This guy, like Chigurh, has no emotion. Plus he's dressed like a Reverend, he's hot, he whistles, he rides his horse against that ominous horizon, and he is after an old lady and some kids. Hard to top that.

Other villains not mentioned in the magazine that I think are worth considering:

Human:

• Uncle Charlie in *Shadow of a Doubt* - People borrow the phrase the "banality of evil" to talk about one of Hitchcock's big themes. Uncle Charlie nails it.
• Mrs. Iselin *The Manchurian Candidate* - The Cold War's Lady Macbeth. Bonus points for manipulation -- she never does the dirty work. (For what it's worth, I really think Angela Lansbury's performance is one of the top five best ever).
• Noah Cross *Chinatown* - Mrs. Iselin's perfect match. XOX
  

Mechanical:

• Christine -- I feel like you've got to have a Stephen King character, and while I'm torn between Annie Wilkes, that It clown, and Cujo, I pick Christine because (1) I am afraid of crazy bitches with whom you can not reason and (2) because she is the heaviest.
• HAL 9000 in *2001* - Christine + Anton Chigurh = HAL

Alien:

• General Zod -- Way less funny than Lex Luthor. Bonus points for his buddies.
  
• Ming the Merciless -- Thinks Earth is a toy, sends his own daugther to the boreworms for (understandably) being horny for Flash Gordon, brainwashes a doctor, almost? rapes a journalist, and (obviously) shows no mercy. Does it all to theme music by Queen.

Other:

• Bureaucracy - *Brazil* - Probably the scariest of them all.
  

And my personal #1 --

• Mr. Dark, the leader of the carnival in *Something Wicked This Way Comes* -- He's the complete package for me. Pure evil -- and talk about banal -a carnival in the Midwest for crying out loud. Goes after kids. No mercy. Ruins you afterlife, too. No one will ever haunt (or inspire) nightmares for me like that guy did. It's not possible.