Sometimes while watching a movie, we realize that the villains are so much cooler than the good guys that we forget the whole “evil is bad” axiom, and we stan those bad guys as hard as we can.
Nowadays, even the villains have relatable backstories and believable motivation, but this wasn’t always true. In the old cinema, they did not give much time to the evil guys, but for some reason, those characters still hooked the audience.
1. Billy — Scream
Remember Billy? The guy who met with Cindy and tried to kill all of her inner circle? Wasn’t he a bunch of fun? Billy believed that Cindy’s mother was to blame for ruining his parents’ marriage, so he teamed up with his mentally unstable best friend, Stu. And they started stalking and killing women, you know, for practice. In general, Billy was not a great guy, but as long as he was pretending to be normal, he was a catch.
2. Hans Gruber — Die Hard
With his wonderful deep voice and amazing acting skills, Alan Rickman was a perfect candidate for the role of Hans — an international terrorist, and generally a very bad guy. What other arguments do you need? Okay, he’s also smart, has exquisite manners, and a very “German” sense of humor. But at the end of the day, it’s Alan Rickman, and we love him.
3. Jareth — Labyrinth
A tall blonde dude with a bombastic hairstyle and crazy costumes can’t be a villain, can he? Well, Jareth, the goblin king, was no hero, but he did conquer the audience’s hearts. David Bowie, who played the part, said Jareth was burdened by loneliness and wanted a different life, and therefore fell in love with Sarah. Isn’t that sweet?
4. Sarah Sanderson — Hocus Pocus
Ah, if it isn’t the most charming and harmless witch who is just trying to regain her youth? Sure, she wants to kill the guy, his cat, and the girl, to gain immortality, but remember that the locals tried to burn her at the stake and hang her. So it’s just pure self-defense!
5. Patrick Bateman — American Psycho
Patrick takes his morning shaving routine almost as seriously as decapitating victims with an ax. But grooming isn’t the only thing that fascinates Bateman. He’s really into honesty, and people eat that stuff up like fresh muffins! No wonder he’s on the list.
6. Agent Smith — The Matrix
He’s an AI program and a ruthless antagonist, whose only job is to maintain the order of virtual reality so that humanity continues to exist as living batteries. Oddly enough, humanity is in his source code since, technically, the programs should not feel emotions, but Smith expresses his contempt to Morpheus and taunts Neo multiple times. He is not the real villain but a puppet of the repressive regime, whom you begin to sympathize sooner or later.
7. Tyler Durden — Fight Club
Technically, Tyler is not a villain because (big movie spoiler here) he generally did not do anything evil. Tyler is the embodiment of what a macho-man should be in the consumer society: handsome, cocky, confident, a skilled fighter, fearless and independent, and also to look great in a mesh T-shirt. You’re allowed to hate that last part, but it’s your loss.
8. O-Ren Ishii — Kill Bill
The Tokyo Mafia is definitely not behind all the atrocities that happened to the Bride, but we still forgive them. O-Ren is not a ruthless killer or a cruel person, but a character with a tragic fate. That 15-minute animated scene, revealing the murder of her parents and her rise to the top of the underworld, is easily one of the saddest moments in the movie.
