It's time for yet another list, intentionally ignorant of all previous lists as compiled by famous critics and film historians, and one very much inspired by my own personal tastes. However, I do pay attention to the criteria of true villainy, specifically as it relates to the villain playing the part of the antagonist. The antagonist is a character or group of characters that represents the opposition to the hero, or protagonist of the story. A true villain threatens the hero and others that the hero may care about, which creates tension and discomfort--even fear, if the actor portraying the antagonist is that good. The disappearance of this five-star villain creates relief and the fear associated him or her can only be relieved by the character's death, not repentance. These criteria immediately disqualified great characters like Darth Vader or Alexander DeLarge, since I consider repentant villains (or at least pitiable ones) to be misguided heroes, not truly villainous because they relent their strong grasp on the throat of the audience. Also disqualified are villains who are presented as protagonists in the storyline, such as Michael Myers or Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, since they are actually playing the part of heroes and daring us to follow them into their perverted mission. This judging standard left only a handful of classic screen villains that played their part of unrelenting antagonist flawlessly.

10. Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dahm)
Sure, there have been plenty of moralistic hypocrites who have surely done worse deeds than Judge Frollo, but none of them have attempted to commit evil in such an inappropriate place as a Disney cartoon. Whereas most cartoon villains are a caricature of power lust, Frollo is the embodiment of realistic villainy (and that other kind of lust) existing in a Small World.

9.Norman Bates (Psycho)
Bates out-eviled other deceptively benign psychopaths like Roy from Primal Fear and Max Cady from Cape Fear. When it comes to "fear", by the 1990's we were already expecting some crazy men behaving badly, but Hitchcock blindsided us in 1960, daring to even allude to the real story of Ed Gein in a pre-Rated R Hollywood.

8.Mountain Men (Deliverance)
If you thought some things were sacred in cinema you were dead wrong by 1972 when a group of horny mountain men went where no bad men had gone before. The fact that the film starred a few 70's icons of machismo just emphasizes the point that you're never too safe at the movies--especially when you venture too deep into hillbilly territory.

7.Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction)
Any female antagonist that could scare millions of midlife men into monogamy is surely worth a mention. I think Glenn Close's performance was much more unnerving than other femme fatales like Sharon Stone or Kathleen Turner, mainly because her character was far more crazy than sexy. It makes a self-centered guy like Michael Douglas exclaim, the sex was so not worth this! (Note: This is based on the director's cut of the movie, not the Night of The Living Dead studio product)

6.Annie Wilkes (Misery)
While villainy has primarily been a leading man's game on screen, it would be sexist to imply that women are any less evil than men. In fact, in the case of Kathy Bates of vs. James Caan, Sonny Corleone has nothing on Annie Wilkes. What's fascinating about Misery is that it's a mostly sexless film that suggests that writer Paul must still reap the consequences for toying with a woman's heart whom he never even had the chance to exploit.

5.Anton Chigurh (No Country For Old Men)
Javier Bardem brought all of his international passion and channeled it in the worst way possible: as a transcendent serial killer one step ahead of every righteous man on the planet. Anton Chigurh one-ups Mickey (and Mallory) Knox from Natural Born Killers (protagonists all the way) because this villain was an invincible antagonistic presence to not one but two heroes in Sheriff Bell and Llewelyn Moss.

4.Frank Booth (Blue Velvet)
You have to internally fear any cinema villain who loudly proclaims his will to rape any living thing in existence. Frank Booth was the human equivalent of a rabid pit bull, spewing nonsense and obscenities while glaring at protagonist Jeffrey Beaumont with arguably the most insane expression in movie history. While I love Jack Nicholson's theatrics as The Joker, that crazy man couldn't hold a twisted grin to this demon because he chose to leave the audience with a smile. Frank Booth insisted on leaving his victims with dread and confusion, a far crueler fate.

3.Hannibal Lector (The Silence of The Lambs)
Respectable Brit Anthony Hopkins fell in love with flesh-eating Hannibal, which explains his inexplicable willingness to play Hannibal as the protagonist in Hannibal and Red Dragon. However, his antagonizing presence to Jodie Foster's Clarice earned him an Academy Award, and most importantly, the most memorable and quotable villain in cinema history. No truer words can be said of Hopkins' performance except that we, the audience, were convinced that Hannibal would eat us in a dark alley.

2.Tommy DeVito (Goodfellas)
Martin Scorsese's masterpiece features a lot of unlikable characters and snitching wise guys. But Tommy DeVito was so menacing he managed to play antagonist to even the bullies and murderers that trusted him. Joe Pesci's brings this character to life and gradually builds fear from its basest element, since in plain view Tommy Devito is short, goofy looking and has the voice of an Italian clown. Few actors could make such an under whelming presence into a modern monster.

1.Pazuzu (The Exorcist)
Pazuzu floated head-circles around other invisible villains like Keyser Soze and the mad truck driver from Duel. This nasty demon even surpasses other non-human terrors such as Jaws and the Borg Queen because of its blatantly malicious intent. Whereas we can debate the evil heart of the monster in Cloverfield or Godzilla (which theoretically could be a worried mommy looking for her eggs) Pazuzu's lust for evil is insatiable. This King of the demons was not content until it has possessed and violated a 12-year old girl, swore like a sailor, defied all human logic with its ghostly bag of tricks and wasted not one but two priests. That's what you call a devil's advocate.