From Feyd-Rautha on Dune: Part Two for Dementus in Furiosa: A Mad Max SagaThe 2024 movies have brought some truly great new villains to the big screen. There were some movie villains in 2024 who were just plain evil with no redeeming qualities, like Nicolas Cage's titular satanic serial killer in Long legs. But there were also some villains who turned out to be sympathetic and misunderstood, like Anxiety in Inside Out 2.
2024 brought some surprisingly excellent villain performances from actors who don't normally play villains. The typically affable Hugh Grant played a terrifying monster in Hereticand the charming Josh Hartnett played a cold-hearted killer in M. Night Shyamalan's film Trap. This year brought some truly great films, and with those great films came some great villains.
10
Cooper
Trap
M. Night Shyamalan Trap It doesn't completely hold up as a thriller, but it works perfectly as a dark comedy. Josh Hartnett gives a hilariously over-the-top performance as a psychotic killer wearing the mask of a mild-mannered suburban father. Trap removes the same cinematic paradox that Clown and Taxi driver; Cooper is clearly the villain, but because he's the character the audience follows, they're led to root for him.
9
Madame MorrÃvel
Evil
Madame Morrible, the Dean of Witchcraft at Shiz University, is a secondary villain in the original Broadway version of Evil. But since the 2024 adaptation only covers the first half of the musical, she is the film's main villain. Michelle Yeoh's performance perfectly fits the campy tone of the film, while also allowing the character's evil to shine and bringing some depth to the role.
8
Lou Langston, Sr.
Love is bleeding
The emotional core of Rose Glass's romantic thriller Love is bleeding is the love story of Kristen Stewart's Lou and Katy O'Brian's Jackie, but the biggest obstacle in the way of their happiness is Lou's estranged father, Lou Langston, Mr. Ed Harris proves he can still do it with a Really wicked acting. The way he abuses his daughter and manipulates Jackie makes Lou Sr. a truly despicable villain and very easy to hate.
7
Dale Ferdinand Kobble
Long legs
The enigmatic marketing of Osgood Perkins' psychological thriller Long legs built a lot of mystique around Nicolas Cage's eponymous serial killer – and against all odds, his performance lived up to the hype. Cage is a magnetic screen presence, as always, but he is also deeply unsettling. He's unbearably scary, whether he's screaming in his car or painting an interrogation room with his own blood, but he's also impossible to look away from.
6
Insanity
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Chris Hemsworth stole every scene he played as Warlord Dementus in George Miller's film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Mad Max the villains are typically stoic and impassive, but Dementus never shuts his mouth. The gift of speech is your superpower; he keeps talking and talking until he gets out of trouble. Even though the entire story is built around Furiosa's quest for revenge – and Dementus did something truly horrible to her – Hemsworth's hilarious performance makes him strangely lovable.
5
Mr.
Heretic
In recent years, Hugh Grant has left his heartthrob image behind and started playing stranger, darker and more eccentric roles. He took his career revival to a whole new level in Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' religious horror hit Heretic this year. Grant takes a truly sinister turn as the mysterious Mr. Reed, who holds two Mormon missionaries hostage to question their faith.
4
Macrino
Gladiator II
For the most part, Gladiator II it is a remake in everything except the name, which falls short of its predecessor. But the first Gladiator the film didn't have Denzel Washington chewing the scenery as the power-hungry Macrinus. The sequence does not come into play and becomes independent until Macrinus takes power from the emperors. Washington provides Gladiator II with plenty of comic relief, but also offers an unforgettable villain.
3
Process
The substance
When failed star Elisabeth Sparkle first takes the titular beauty drug in Coralie Fargeat's film The substanceshe wants to feel better about herself. She raises her younger counterpart, Sue, to boost her self-esteem. But Sue simply becomes the Hyde to his Jekyll and drains what little youth he has left. Sue is a perfect body horror metaphor for the notion of daughters stealing their mothers' beauty. As Sue spends more and more time in the spotlight, Elisabeth transforms into a monster.
2
Anxiety
Inside Out 2
From Anton Ego to Gabby Gabby, Pixar's best villains aren't all bad; they are just misguided and misunderstood. They don't need to be defeated; they need to be helped. Inside Out 2Anxiety is an excellent example of this. It would have been easy to portray Anxiety as a monster, but it's much more complicated than that. Anxiety thinks it's being useful by warning people about everything that could go wrong, and Maya Hawke's nuanced and sympathetic portrayal of anxiety captures this perfectly.
1
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
Dune: Part Two
Denis Villeneuve saved Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen's introduction until Dune: Part Twoand it was worth the wait. Austin Butler creates an unforgettable character with very little screen time; his Feyd is cunning, sadistic, and unabashedly evil. Feyd is the dark inversion of Paul Atreides; he was also born into an important lineage and feels entitled to the throne, but he has even more sinister intentions. Butler's disturbing smile alone makes Feyd the best movie villain of 2024.