The most gratuitous "I am evil" scenes...

[Silver Moon]

- Khan (Trek II) putting the brain munchers in Checkov and that other dude's helmet.

FYI, "that other dude" was played by the great character actor Paul Winfield, who passed away yesterday.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

The fat leacherous Baron Harkonnen has skin diseases implanted on himself. Then he pulls the heart plug from one of his servants. The servant bleeds to death in the Baron's arms. Why would you have heart plugs installed in your henchmen?

Because he's evil?

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Its been a few years since I've seen it, but I seem to remember Gary Oldman having a number of such scenes in Leon ("The Professional"). Didn't he shoot Natalie Pormtan's four year old brother?

Yeah, Gary Oldman killed everyone in that movie.

Gratuitous evil scene? Hmm... that's a tough one... I try and avoid books/movies with that sort of thing (though I did love the Patriot).

How about Emperor Commodus in The Gladiator? Smothered his Dad to death while hugging him, insinuated killing his own nephew, wanted to sleep with his sister, stabbed Maximus in the back, attacked an unarmed, dying man, and still got his buttocks handed to him in the gladiatorial arena.

Though I will admit I rather enjoyed hating him.

 

[John Crichton]

FYI, "that other dude" was played by the great character actor Paul Winfield, who passed away yesterday.

I actually knew that but I couldn't remember any names and didn't feel like checking IMDb as I was tired. I did not know he passed recently.

 

[Berandor]

O.K., I'm jumping to the end here, so if someone already wrote it in, sorry. Also sorry that I don't use spoiler tags, but this thread is spoilery enough already.

One of my favourite "I'm evil" scenes is in "Once upon a time in the west", when Frank kills the family, and especially the kid. It's just ruthless, and uncommon in that he doesn't shoot his buddy who said Frank's name. O.K., it's not gratitious, but it establishes his evilness soooo good.

I really dislike most of these scenes, however, because they show me what a fool the villain is. Who would honestly kill a henchman because he came back to report failure, or better: if you really did that, what kind of henchman would come back to your after failing you? Even more stupid is it when the BBEG just didn't want to be disturbed and kills his mook because of disturbing him. Who'd work for such a crazy madman?

 

[Frostmarrow]

Because he's evil?

-Obviously. But he could just as well keep a dagger handy rather than go through all that trouble. But noooooo, he has to do it the awkward way - It strikes fear into the underlings, it does.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Evil in Time Bandits

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Serial killers. Various dictators, torturers, and other unpleasant individuals. Do a little looking and you'll find people who pretty much fit the bill, I'm afraid.

It just makes the whole plot unbelievable. I mean - if villains went around randomly killing henchmen, for instance, they'd soon find themselves alone - because no one would want to work for them.

Never stopped Adolf Hitler. Or Joe Stalin. Or Mao. Or Pol Pot. Or...

Are you aware of any historical cases where Adolf hitler killed an underling himself, in cold blood, on any issue, much less a gratuitous one? Aside from his wife and himself, I don't know of any killing Hitler did with his own hands after leaving the army. If you say it 'never stopped them' I hope you can demonstrate that each one actually did it more than once.

As for 'real' pure evil, serial killers are boring. While they may be gratuitously evil, they make bad villains for other reasons, and cannot be the BBEG because their lack of stability tends to prevent the aquisition of followers. The various dictators and such, while not always 'grey' tend to have evil of another non gratuitous sort - the 'cold' variety. Little up close and personal death, little attachment to the suffering, just doing business. When writers try to have an evil as calculating as a successful dictator, but as debased as a serial killer, thats where I find it becomes gratuitous and silly.

How 'bout the big bad in The Crow? "I kill women in kinky group sex with my sister the witch, stab people for fun and have an incredibly powerful organization based on doing evil, and I'm anoyed that we've strayed away from doing chaotic stupid things in favor of making the organization sustainable... did i meantion the kinky sex with my sister, done mostly for the evil Athurian overtones?"

For over the top evil in a well leashed underling (where it makes more sense) I'd say caleb in the final buffy season. As if his intro wasn't enough, the bit where he's having the First take on the forms of his old victims so he can relive his favorite misogynistic slayings was just the reminder we needed that this guy has no plan, no class, just another psycho on a leash.

kahuna Burger

 

[diaglo]

do you expect me to talk?

no..Mr. Bond...I expect you to die.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Fight Night - The vampire dragging his finger along the banister, the wood curling were his fingernail cuts into it.