The Most Psychotic Movie Villains Of All Time, Presented By "Straw Dogs" (PHOTOS)

Villains come in all shapes, sizes and spirits. They can be gigantic, tiny, tangible, apparitions, evil, ugly, aggressive and often times, humorous. Yes, there's Freddy and Jason (on our list) who leave us lying awake at night, quivering in fear. But there are also one's that are so evil, and -- dare I say -- hilarious, that we actually form an emotional bond with them.

To properly judge a "bad guy", you have to look at a variety of factors: death count, preferred prey, brutality, appearance, size, strength and, of course, quirky one-liners.

From Joan Crawford to Norman Bates, we present the 26 most psychotic villains to ever touch the silver screen.

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SPONSOR GENERATED POST FROM "Straw Dogs" in theaters September 16th

Leatherface, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

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Things happen here they don't tell about. Leatherface is considered by many to be one of the most terrifying slasher villains of all time. He terrorizes his victims with a chainsaw and garbs himself in masks of human flesh and a blood-soaked butcher's apron.

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Things happen here they don't tell about.

Leatherface is considered by many to be one of the most terrifying slasher villains of all time. He terrorizes his victims with a chainsaw and garbs himself in masks of human flesh and a blood-soaked butcher's apron.

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ptrgamb said on 29 Monday 2011 pm31 5:32 pm: The real villain of "Fatal Attraction" was Michael Douglas

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Scary. HORRIFYING!!!

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Comments

[Ben Daley]

05:52 PM on 09/02/2011

Shaking in my boots. If the characters in the new Straw dogs actually live up to their horror ratings, I'm SO in. Need a good scare here and there

[Alisa Barnes]

11:28 PM on 09/01/2011

Christian Bale, American Psycho
Heather Ledger, The Dark Knight
Bette Davis, Whatever happened to Baby Jane?
"Nurse Ratchitt", One flew over the cuckoo's nest

[pleblian]

09:55 PM on 09/02/2011

Aw yes so true

F/F

[MRDFS]

07:31 PM on 09/05/2011

great additions

[chardonnay48]

08:26 PM on 09/01/2011

Hands down Kurt Russell in Death Proof.

[chardonnay48]

07:13 PM on 09/01/2011

Kurt Russell in Death Proof. Icy hot was scary.

[rbarthjr]

01:38 PM on 09/01/2011

What, no Tommy from GoodFellas?

[3fingerbrown]

12:59 PM on 09/01/2011

The most psychotic movie villain of all time? Easy: Oliver Reed. In anything. It doesn't matter. He'd have been terrifying as Bashful in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

[Paul Baack]

11:35 AM on 09/01/2011

This list doesn't play fair. Freddy Krueger, Candyman, Chucky, Pennywise, and -- arguably -- Michael Myers & Jason Voorhees are supernatural creatures and not "psychotic" human villains. Why not have Count Dracula on the list as well? Or the animated Cruella DeVille?

Some notable HUMAN monsters not listed:
Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) in THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
Jack Wilson (Jack Palance) in SHANE
"Burke" (John Lithgow) in BLOW OUT
Gen. Jack D. Ripper (George C. Scott) in DR. STRANGELOVE
Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) in CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and subsequent Hammer pictures
Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) in THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY
Leopoldine Konstantin as Mlle. Sebastian (Claude Raines' mother) in NOTORIOUS
And here's a curveball: Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) in WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

As Stephen King once pointed out, "Some werewolves are hairy on the inside."

[MizLiz]

02:23 AM on 09/02/2011

Gene Wilder was a sweetheart compared to Johnny Depp's version. Depp looked just like Michael Jackson. That plus kids was way too much horror for me.

[rjmt12]

05:37 AM on 09/09/2011

Willie Wonka =excellent call. Gene Wilder character gave me a very unsettled feeling when I saw that movie as a kid. As an adult watching the movie I think it's because he seems like a pedophile.

[chardonnay48]

10:55 AM on 09/01/2011

Kurt Russell in Deathproof get's my vote.

[wrngchild]

08:25 AM on 09/01/2011

well personally, Chucky was Scary, especially since I remember the actual doll that so looked like him, called "My Buddy." Anyways, lots of good picks, and I contend that Malkovich as Mitch Leary from "In the Line of Fire" was definitely Psychotic and so Awesome as a Villian!
Keeping with newer films, I found Kevin Costner's performance as "Mr. Brooks" a little creepy since he was so mundane about it, also loved his alter ego Wiliam Hurt as "Marshall."

[Love2Run83]

11:31 PM on 08/31/2011

"It" scared my sister and I. I STILL can't watch the movie... ahhh

[Craig 212]

10:53 PM on 09/01/2011

I can't watch it either, but for different reasons: I really, really, really hate that guy from The Waltons.

[cybolt]

06:31 PM on 08/31/2011

You need people who are written as characters not as monsters. Chucky? C’mon…

Robert Mitchum as Rev Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter

Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver

Ralph Fiennes as the Commandant in Schindler’s List

Bette Davis as Baby Jane in Whatever Happened to…

Daniel Day Lewis as Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York

Olivier as Dr. Schell in Marathon Man

Gary Oldman as the police detective in The Professional

[rbarthjr]

01:40 PM on 09/01/2011

FYI, Fiennes' character was Amon Goeth, IIRC. And Olivier played Christian Szell, Der Weiss Engele (sp?). Some good choices, though...

[TeeSC]

08:49 PM on 09/01/2011

You know your bad guys... :-)

[cybolt]

10:07 AM on 09/02/2011

They even me out.

BTW, I haven't seen you around in a while. Did you take a break, spending less time in general here or were we just not on the same pages?

[doglove]

06:25 PM on 08/31/2011

That picture of Javier looks kind of like Eric Roberts

Both are hot

[Madworld430]

10:55 AM on 08/31/2011

Sorry but I would take out Joan Crawford from this list, she is not a Psychotic Villain in Mommie Dearest, she is a sweetheart compare to the others on this list. The others are psychotic and at time just plain evil.

[Kambriel2]

11:16 PM on 08/30/2011

I would add Henry, from 'Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer'. After seeing that film, any time I saw Michael Rooker in another movie he made me nervous - no matter what type of character he was playing!

[Hair ShirT]

06:21 PM on 08/30/2011

Anton Chigurh is my favorite bad guy/killer in all of movies. There's a sense of realism as opposed to Chucky or the Ring girl. His sociopath tendencies mixed with his tenacity are classic. Leave it to the best film makers today in the Coen bros to come up with him.