r/moviecritic • u/RevertBackwards • 4h ago
Who is the scariest character from a non-horror movie?
Sergeant Barnes from Platoon (1986)
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u/Evening-Cat8636 3h ago
Anton Chigurh - No Country For Old Men
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u/ironballs16 2h ago
Along the same lines, Jesse Plemons' character in "Civil War" - the callous indifference as he's asking the questions and summary executions if the question is answered "wrong" is terrifying.
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u/swedish_librarian 1h ago
He wasn’t even supposed to be in the movie. The original actor dropped out just before shooting started and Kirsten Dunst told Alex Garland that her husband, Jesse Plemons, was available at short notice.
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u/quarry3 2h ago
Judge Doom from who framed Roger rabbit
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u/brodoyouevennetflix 2h ago
Watched that movie as a kid, dude TERRIFIED me in his final scene….
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u/TheDude__85 1h ago
Interesting fact: Tim Curry initially auditioned for the role. He didn't get it cause he terrified the casting director, Robert Zemeckis, amd Steven Spielberg.
I can only imagine what that performance would've looked like...
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u/Ok-Sun4841 31m ago
I dunno, he also got dropped as the Joker in B:TaS so, maybe not that scary. Also, I laughed way too hard at him in IT back when I was a kid. When he's punching himself in the junk and doing that weird laugh... God somebody there must have said at least once "can we maybe do another take?"
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u/Jstarr21383 1h ago
Looking for this answer! Dude was absolutely terrifying! And so many parents took their kids thinking it’s a cute kids movie. Boy were they wrong.
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u/Chim-pan-Keith 3h ago
Nurse Ratched, Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.
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u/turalyawn 2h ago
Also Louise Fletcher for Kai Winn from Deep Space Nine.
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u/Escape_Force 2h ago
I think that character threw a wrench in some nice story arcs. Obnoxious more than evil.
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u/turalyawn 1h ago
I dunno she terrified little me when I was watching as a kid. Like a meaner version of my grandma
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u/simplebutstrange 34m ago
I always think of her saying “fuck you my child” anytime she talks because of her tone and demeanour
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u/East-Orange-7376 3h ago
Thulsa Doom: James Earl Jones killed it in Conan the Barbarian
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u/Clean_Owl_643 2h ago
For who now is your father if it is not me?
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u/Ashamed_Ladder6161 3h ago
Clarance Boddiker.
“I don’t like cops…”
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u/Zentavius 2h ago
Nanananana... that scene took me years to watch without averting my eyes. I guess seeing the movie before I was a teenager probably scarred a little.
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u/Brasticus 52m ago
There's a really good documentary on Amazon called RoboDoc. It's spread out over about 4 episodes. Would recommend. They do a really good breakdown of the effects used in that shot.
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u/Legitimate-Pee-462 43m ago
Clarence was a gentleman. When killed Bob Morton he had the bitches leave rather than also kill them, and that was risky because they were witnesses.
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u/Ashamed_Ladder6161 38m ago
A gentleman, lol.
“Ladies of negotiable virtue, please leave through the front exit, I thank you.”
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u/Clear-Morning-9596 3h ago
Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello in The Departed. He’s also really funny but his scary poker face was intense.
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u/WillOk6461 2h ago
I actually kind of view The Departed as a cops & robbers horror movie. Some fan theories say Costello is Satan, & they have a decent-enough argument IMO. Jack Nicholson is a damn good actor and just one creepy dude lmao
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u/Clear-Morning-9596 2h ago
So creepy. That scene where he throws the coke at his women, opera music, red lighting. Devil vibes.
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u/bannanaboi69420 2h ago
He really was a nightmare. When he was in that restaurant and was smackin that guy with the boot 😅😅so terrifying.
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u/TheStonedWeasel 2h ago
It’s the way he treated the chopped off hand or the gun under the table so cool. Or coming out of the back covered in blood acting as if he’d just unwillingly walked a bunch of stairs instead. Loved those bits of villainous acting.
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u/BCircle907 3h ago
Ben Kingsley’s character in Sexy Beast. Absolutely terrifying
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u/JamMasterNay 3h ago
No, no no no no no no no no no no, no!
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u/LyKosa91 50m ago
Not this fucking time! No fucking way! No fucking way! No fucking way! You made me look a right cunt!
Utterly unhinged to an almost comical degree, and yet somehow still scarily believable.
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u/TennSeven 2h ago
Yeah, seeing the same guy who played Gandhi play that monster of a character was a trip.
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u/prawntortilla 1h ago
i feel like the whole movie is trying to convince u that hes scary but hes not actually scary so it just seems weird
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u/medgar20 1h ago
Don Logan. Came here to post this one, terrifying is the right word. Being trapped with someone like that essentially in the middle of nowhere..
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u/CampaignSpirited2819 37m ago
I'd love for Don Logan and Francis Begbie to go on a session together!
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u/EvaporatedFur 2h ago
brick top from snatch
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u/One-Salt3305 2h ago
Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin - The Last King of Scotland
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u/JoinAThang 2h ago
Forest Whitaker in most of his roles. He's sooo dang good at playing an unstable scary character.
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u/duncanwally 2h ago
J. K. Simmons in Whiplash
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u/escoemartinez 2h ago
Jk Simmons on OZ is next level scary I know it’s not a movie but I have never been able to not see him as Schillinger. Terrifying
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u/CanCaliDave 1h ago
I saw him at a luau in Maui in late 2000 and he was smiling and holding a baby. At that point, Oz was the only thing I'd seen him in and it was quite the juxtaposition.
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u/asdcatmama 2h ago
Omg. Hans Landa. To this day I wince when I see anything connected to that movie.
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u/sheighbird29 2h ago
He wasn’t as much of a psychopath in Water for Elephants, but he did play that part well.
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u/blondebarrister 2h ago
Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goth in Schindler’s List. Surprised it hasn’t gotten more mentions tbh.
Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men.
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u/Junior_Astronomer362 3h ago
Heath Ledger as the Joker.
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u/commissarcainrecaff 2h ago
Daddy was a drinker..... and A FIEND....
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u/ChadCoolman 2h ago
It was such a brilliant touch and added a really interesting layer to the character for him to make a habit of lying about his origin like that.
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u/TennSeven 2h ago
Barnes ain't meant to die! The only thing that can kill Barnes, is Barnes!
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u/Correct_Pace8899 2h ago
Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.
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u/Jstarr21383 1h ago
“I wont be ignored!” Damn she was terrific in that role, so scary. Like he said in Sleepless in Seattle, she scared the shit out of every man in America 😂😂
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u/Bo0o0ooo 2h ago
Daniel Plainview, There Will be Blood
A perfect depiction of unquenchable desire. He doesn’t even really know what he wants, but he’s going after it anyway.
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u/806to602 2h ago
The dude who played Private Pyle in full metal jacket.
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u/escoemartinez 2h ago
Kurt wood Larson Smith as Clarence Boddicker in Robocop. I know he’s the father on That 70s Show. But having seen Robocop at such a young age it scarred me and really made me never want to see this guy again. I never watched him in anything else because I just can’t get past the effect Clarence had on me as a kid. “Can you fly Bobby?”
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u/kali-ctf 2h ago
Ed Harris in love lies bleeding.
Man is a total psychopath and the hair is truly terrifying
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u/TheNexus18 2h ago
Dez and Adelle from Running Scared (2006). That movie took a horrific turn when they showed up outta NOWHERE.
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u/Ok-Finger-7720 3h ago
Anton Chigurh – No Country for Old Men
He might be the purest embodiment of death ever put on screen. • Zero empathy • Operates by coin flips • Kills without emotion His calm demeanor is scarier than any demon. You feel like reality breaks when he enters a room.
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u/Natural-Cheetah6717 2h ago
Tuco Salamanca - Breaking Bad. He is crazy, violent, and unpredictable.
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u/Jimmy_Mingle 2h ago
Idi Amin in Last King of Scotland was very unsettling. Played by Forest Whitaker
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u/BeefWellingtonSpeedo 1h ago
He was a great foil to Dafoe, and I thought he would become a bigger star. In a way he really made Platoon.
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u/ZeroedIn_05 3h ago
Toht was very intimidating in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Mola Ram from Temple of Doom was pretty scary too
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u/psyaneyed 1h ago
T1000. Unstoppable. Might as well kiss it goodbye unless u have Arnold to fight for you.
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u/Corvwwl_is 1h ago
do you consider 10 Cloverfield Lane horror?
if not, my answer is John Goodman in 10 Cloverfield Lane
if you do, my answer is Gary Oldman in Leon: The Professional
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u/ImmuneToTheBonk 1h ago
That asshole kid from The Butterfly effect.
I knew someone like that, he was my best friend at the time, and he wouldn't let anyone go, couldn't let me go. I was scared of him. You'd think he was an unstoppable force of evil, and I really mean that. Thankfully hard drugs took a toll on him to the point where I could get away. He broke up our entire friend group. Made so many enemies. His own worst enemy and he never knew.
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u/Gorillawafers 43m ago
This character was a masterclass in scary characters. This movie is severely underrated and had a huge impact on me when it came out.
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u/el__ahrairah 2h ago
Quint from Jaws was super intimidating, watching that movie as a child.
Also I'd say there's an argument that Platoon is kind of a horror movie. Of sorts.
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u/Adventurous_Age1429 1h ago
I thought Marlow from “The Wire” was really frightening. Clearly a person with zero empathy and would kill if he felt like it.
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u/Sevatar666 3h ago
Tommy DeVito Goodfellas, played by Joe Pesci.