January 15, 2016

Snape...Snape...Severus Snape

Cancer is definitely on a roll this month, taking some of our best.

The passing of David Bowie and Alan Rickman just floored so many of us to tears or, at the very least, knuckle dragging sadness.

Bowie's portrayal of the Goblin King in Labyrinth raised goose flesh. He really did scare me, enough so that I couldn't watch the entire movie.

Alan Rickman is the only actor I could have imagined who could have brought Severus Snape to life in the Harry Potter series. There was a sensuality to his darkness that was hard to resist. He did do a bad-to-the-bone Hans Gruber in Die Hard, too.



Watching movies with truly scary villains is not my cup of tea, I'm not a scared-of-the-dark kind of person but I am scared of the dark when someone dark and scary is in there with me!

Darth Vadar was a bad guy and James Earl Jones' voice was perfection for that role.

Could anyone but Jack Nicholson break through the door and do Jack Torrance's "Herrrrrrrrrre's Johnny!"?

Ricardo Montalban did a believable bad-ass Kahn, 'my old friend' in Star Trek. Not scarry just mean.

Burgess Meredith' Penguin and Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West were pure genius. I believed the characters 100 percent.

Though he never uttered a word, I would have to say the bad guy who frightened me right down to the core was James Arness, in the 1951 black and white movie, The Thing! (see my spine shiver just at the thought of it).

Who are some of your favorite bad guys and villains? Do you like them slathered in make-up or disguised as a normal human? Do you like extraterrestrials, sociopaths, psychopaths or metaphysical manifestations? Who visits you in your nightmares?

19 comments:

  1. My favourite villain of the moment is Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from the Thor/Avengers movies. I like my villains handsome and conflicted.

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    1. Sexy villains with issues! Are you a rescuer or do you run away thinking what a close call that was?

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  2. I thought Alan Rickman's portrayal of Hans Gruber kind of set the tone for a new era of bad guys in movies. He was so good at being bad in Die Hard that it took me years to like him in another role where he wasn't a bad guy. Jaws left a pretty lasting impression on me as a young fella. I also got quite scared by Freddy Kreuger when A Nightmare on Elm Street first came out. Hope all is well. Take care.

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    1. So true. He did set the bar high for being good at being bad! Never have seen any of the Freddy Kreuger movies...color me a coward!

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  3. Alan Rickman was amazing as Hans Gruber. It wasn't that long ago that my husband and I watched Die Hard (again) and we snickered and snorted with that character. You can't but like him even while hating him. And he was just as good in 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' as the Sheriff of Nottingham. A very talented actor. His death is very heartbreaking.

    And there've been others that have impressed me. Here are a few:

    Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in 'Schindler's List'...oh my gosh...what a horrible character!
    Louise Fletcher as nurse Ratched in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. How can we forget her?
    Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in 'The Silence of the Lambs'. No need to say more.
    Bette Davis as Jane Hudson in 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'. Scary!
    Heath Ledger as The Joker in 'The Dark Knight'. Absolutely brilliant!
    Yul Brynner as Rameses II in The Ten Commandments. What a character!
    Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting in 'Gangs of New York'. Horrible, horrible...and brilliant.

    And the list goes on...

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    1. I forgot all about Louise Fletcher and Bette Davis. Good Call! I've heard Anthony Hopkins was uber evil in 'The Silence of the Lambs'. I've never seen more than bits and pieces and always rush to change the channel. Gives me the heebie jeebies!

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  4. without a villain no story can be interested and no one can explore his or her true energies and capabilities ,every hero is a product of villain

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    1. Yes, we all have our shadow side as do all good stories. Excellent insight.

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  5. I'm trying to think of a villain or a bad guy that I LIKED.
    Hmm
    ok, I'd have to say Dexter. Dexter killing people who are murderers, abusers and such.
    Oh wait! my very favorite is "Leon the Professional" played by Jean Reno.. he's the BEST!
    Now I want to watch that movie again. Have you seen it?
    It's about Leon, a hitman who rescues a 12 yr old who is being hunted by the people who killed her family.
    (I wonder if it's on Netflix! LOL!)
    anyway, Thank you SO much for commenting and leaving those kind words on my blog.
    xo

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    1. I'll have to look that one up. Haven't ever seen it.

      I didn't mean do you have a favorite bad guy who you liked for himself. It was more, do you have an actor who played a bad guy so believable, so utterly sinister, that he/she became one of your favorite actors. Pretty much, the bad guys themselves should be boiled in oil!

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  6. ps - I can't find a place here where I can Follow your blog. Bloglovin? email? Google?

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    1. There were two spots to follow and I can't see them either. I'll have to check to see what happened to them. Thanks for the heads up.

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  7. I love the quotes in your sidebar. Especially,

    "Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning,
    The Devil shudders and says...

    'Oh shit...she's awake!!'"

    I keep thinking of that and laughing. :)

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    1. That is one of my favorites also. Don't know where it came from but I love it.

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  8. PS I love James Spader in The Blacklist.

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    1. OMG, forgot all about him. He is scary good at his part!

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  9. I had a nightmare the other night that Hannibal Lechter was after me. I did not recently see the movie either so no idea why I'd be seeing him in my dreams. Very creepy to say the least.

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    1. Yuk! Made the hair stand up on the back of my neck! I've never seen the movie but have seen clips and it's a nightmare in itself. I hope your dreams are on the brighter side!

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