top ten: scariest movie characters.

I make a lot of lists. Usually when I'm bored, or just have a thought. I'll most likely post all of these up here. Today, as I'm sitting inside watching it snow outside I've decided to introduce you all to the world of A. Robb's Top Tens. Today we will explore the top ten most frightening movie characters of all time, in my opinion. Not only will I list them, I'll tell you why.

I am an avid fan of horror movies, but suprisingly enough not all of the characters on my list are from the horror genre. This, to me, does not make them any less terrifying.

10. The Firefly Family.

House of 1000 Corpses is the first and only movie I have ever watched where I actually yelled at the screen. The scariest thing about the movie, besides the Family which I will discuss in a second, is the fact that there is no hope for the protagonists of the story. It's really 4 college students lost out in the boonies, trapped by a family of serial killers. Not the kind of scenario I'd want to be in, really. I did like Captain Spaulding, though. Hilarious.


9. Jaws.

When I was little, everytime I would go underwater and close my eyes I'd see a shark in my head. I don't know why this was, but it happened every time. Even in swimming pools. Even in the bathtub! So you can imagine what the idea of a giant shark terrorizing the tourist filled beaches would do to a young girl with a vivid and entirely ridiculous imagination.

8. Nosferatu.
In my AP art class back in high school my portfolio "theme" was Dreams and Nightmares. One of the pictures I painted was a man standing in the door frame, casting a shadow of a creature. The scariest sillhouete I could think of was that of Nosferatu. The original vampire movie is probably the most terrifying to me. It was actually banned in Sweden upon it's release because the character was deemed to frightening for audiences.

7. Papa Jupiter and Big Brain.

Obviously I'll find The Hills Have Eyes disturbing because I have a problem with getting eaten, which you'll notice from my fear of zombies, but what really got me was the desert. I've driven through the desert to the Grand Canyon and there's no place to go. No help to be found. You're basically screwed. Pretty much all the characters in this movie were frightening, but these two in particular made my skin crawl. Jupiter was the ruthless ringleader of the clan, showing no remore for rape, murder, and cannibalism; rallying all of the "community" to his cause. And Big Brain, though not on screen for an enormous amount of time, just gave me chills. His grotesque appearance and his insane laughter just got to me. Ugh.

6. Annie Wilkes.

So imagine you're a bestselling author and your biggest female fan kidnapps you. She seems to have a kind and cheerful demeanor and then something snaps. You see that she is actually a psychopath who is convinced she is helping you by breaking your legs with a mallet. Go figure.

5. John Doe.

Oh, Kevin Spacey. You made my skin crawl in Seven. The scary thing about this character is that he's so calm, he's so reserved, he's not some big, running creature weilding a knife or a chainsaw. His murders are calculated and it was all a master plan that came to an end when you had Brad Pitt's character kill him completing the sins of wrath and envy. The thought of a man cutting off his own fingertips everyday to get rid of his fingerprints in just disturbing beyond definition and I think this one will be a favorite of mine forever.

4. Damien.

The Omen scares me everytime I watch it. Creepy little kids just get to me and he was the original. Between Damien and Isaac from Children of the Corn, I just get this creepy feeling that maybe there are some scary little kids somewhere worshipping the devil and killing off their parents. Anyway, Damien scares me so much because he could be any kid on the playground. Everything about him would seem normal to an outside view. Watching the boy grow up through the movies, there were a lot of mysterious things happening around him and it was scariest because it seemed that no one could stop him. Anyone who knew or even suspected what he was ended up dead. His smile was even scarier than his usual somber look.

3. The Penguin.

If anyone asked me if I thought Danny DeVito was scary, I'd probably just laugh. But then there's the curious case of Batman Returns. Oh. My. God. His physique, his demeanor, his history. Everything about this character disturbed me as a child, and even now. Tim Burton is a genius in all that he does. He adds his creepy flair to it and it just chills. Originally, the penguin was just a short, fat, beak-nosed rich man who was bullied as a child and became a political strategist. In Burton's film, he is just a deformed sociopath. His parents through him into the sewers. I think his image might haunt many people's nightmares.

2. It.

The reason "It" is so scary is because "It" is fear itself. It's whatever you fear most. So imagine your childhood haunted by your greatest fear and all of a sudden that fear turns up again in your adulthood to haunt you once more. And to top that off, all of your friends whwo experienced "It" with you growing up start to die one by one. So would you hunt it down and try to rid yourselves of this curse forever or just try your damnedest to avoid "It." I don't know, really. Creepy clown, to top it off.

1. The Emperor.
So I'm obviously a huge Star Wars fan, but you don't have to be all that into it to agree the the Emperor is scary. Not only is he physically disturbing, but he is just the embodiment of evil. Of course, everyone who hasn't seen the movies is like "Oh, Darth Vader is the bad guy, right? Right?" WRONG. The Emperor is the one who is behind everything. Every killing, every evil deed. And his eyes just creep me the F. out, peeping out behind that hood. Even his teeth are scary! The way he talks just gets to me. I honestly get scared after watching Revenge of the Sith in the dark, which is so sad, but true! Good god. For sure, my scariest movie character of all time. Well done, George.

So there you have it. Feel free to contribute characters you find terrifying.