Today I’ve been working on my little book (I am writing a children’s fantasy novel) and obsessing over villains and how to make them really, really scary. Well, I’ve been obsessing over this question for awhile now actually, as anyone who’s been a victim of my line of villain-related questioning will know.
So here’s what I needs ta know, aiight.
- Who is the scariest villain of all time?
- Why is he or she so damn scary?
- What makes a good villain?
- Is it more important that a villain has a story behind their villainy, or that they are unpredictable?
- Do men make scarier villains than women?
- What’s scarier in a book: the unseen/unknown, or something that’s physically confronting?
These are my scariest keep-me-up-at-night villains:
Fucking terrifying mofos from Return to Oz, the 1980s sequel to The Wizard of Oz. This film starred a young Fairuza Balk (the scary chick from The Craft) as Dorothy, and presented a MUCH less cheerful vision of Oz than its 1939 musical counterpart. As well as electro-shock therapy performed on children, Return to Oz featured these terrifying creatures with high-pitched giggles who rode around Oz on four wheels attached to their elongated arms and legs, and wore scary long-haired masks on the top of their heads. You knew they were coming when you heard the squeaky-squeaky of their wheels.
My best friend from high school and I used to walk around the empty streets of his neighbourhood late at night freaking each other out with sudden declarations of, “You know what would be super scary right now? If the WHEELERS just came around that corner. OMG. Totally.”
Another treat from Return to Oz (obviously this movie has scarred me for life). Mombi was a seriously sinister princess who had a gallery of women’s heads that she had chopped off real women, and she would wear a different head each day.
At one point, just to crank up the creepiness, Dorothy is wandering through the gallery of disembodied heads, all of which are watching her, and comes across Mombi’s real head in a cupboard. She accidentally wakes it up, the head screams “DOROTHY GAAAAAAAALE!” and then the headless body comes lumbering out of the bedroom to fuck Dorothy up. For fucking reals.
Can’t even shout, can’t even cry
The Gentlemen are coming by.
Looking in windows, knocking on doors,
They need to take seven and they might take yours.
Can’t call to mom, can’t say a word,
You’re gonna die screaming but you won’t be heard.
Okay. Now… imagine that said in a sing-song nursery rhyme kind of way by a little girl. Then imagine silent, gliding skull-faced men in immaculate black suits who have stolen the voices of an entire town and are slowly making their way through it overnight, taking seven hearts out of seven chests.
SO brilliantly creepy, you’d never realise it was a plot from an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hey! It won an Emmy, okay?
There are obviously loads of others that I’ve missed, but these are the three that always stand out in my head (and my nightmares).
So who keeps you up at night?
5 responses so far ↓
1 Gemma // Aug 11, 2008 at 10:31 am
Are you me, by any chance?
I can’t even watch The Hush any more. The Gentlemen freak the hell out of me. As do The Wheelers. Return To Oz was created by someone with a lot of emotional issues.
Must add a couple of Doctor Who villains, I suppose. The moving statues in Blink are horrible, and the clockwork robots in The Girl in The Fireplace. Daleks, however, are just big talking pepper pots.
(my novel is chick lit, by the way. What else could it possibly be?!)
2 Nick // Aug 11, 2008 at 2:02 pm
>>Who is the scariest villain of all time?
Velociraptors, that bloke from No Country for Old Men, Heath Ledger’s Joker and Mick Taylor (John Jarrat) from Wolf Creek. Not Darth Vader. He’s misunderstood, loveable and squishy.
>>Why is he or she so damn scary?
Raptors were scary because they were methodical, relentless and not human. Bloke from No Country for Old Men was scary because he was like the raptors, only human. Heath Ledger’s Joker was scary because he was inconsistent: his stories about his origin were never the same; he said one thing then did something else, then did the thing he said he was gonna do; and they way he licked his lips all the time was creepy… predatory. Mick Taylor was scary because he used to hang with Big Ted and Jemima and now he’s there in front of on a big screen, threatening rape and committing torturous murder. And the snicker. And you know that that is what has most likely happened to real people.
>>What makes a good villain?
Something you haven’t seen before. But especially something that you identify with or can understand, but still find reprehensible.
>>Is it more important that a villain has a story behind their villainy, or that they are unpredictable?
See Heath Ledger’s Joker. A backstory is only likely to generate sympathy. Unless that’s what you want (see previous comment).
>>Do men make scarier villains than women?
Men. Women are squishy and loveable too. Like Darth Vader. Also misunderstood… at least by me.
>>What’s scarier in a book: the unseen/unknown, or something that’s physically confronting?
The unseen is always scarier. That’s why Lucas should never have put the Wampa in the Special Edition of the Empire Strikes Back. Although, Ringwraiths were scarier than Sauron (yes, I did actually read the book).
3 nuttycow // Aug 14, 2008 at 3:49 pm
*shudder* The gentlemen scare me too. But dammit, I love that episode. Might have to go home and watch it (I’m such a buffy geek)
4 Wednesday miscellany XIV « Parlez-vous moo? // Aug 27, 2008 at 2:52 pm
[...] Jo gets scared Annie becomes a product slut Rosiero makes a clean start Mud has a plan Digressica gets scared J-Money does Maccy Ds BloodRedRoses survives a wedding Reluctant Memsahib comes home English Mum [...]
5 shinykatie // Sep 5, 2008 at 10:43 am
Good choices! The Gentlemen scar the holy bejesus out of me. Ditto the Wheelers.
I’ve got lots of Return to Oz memorabilia back at my mum’s house and I’m sure it’s worth a bob or two by now!
Leave a Comment