The most scary literary villains in books/ films

[Lampros]

I'll start...Miss Trunchbull. Still scared when I read the book or watch the films as a 35yo!

Ooh, nice thread. I never got very scared of any Dahl baddies ... he has such glee about seeing the baddies get their comuppance that you know it will all be ok in the end!

For me, Miss Sleightcarp out of Wolves of Willoughby Chase is up there.

Mrs Danvers in Rebecca is terrifying.

Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones. I hate his character so much robbing her of her life. I was so glad he got the ending he did.

Smaug...as a 4 year old reading the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, definitely Smaug, closely followed by the spiders in the forest 😮No idea why my dad thought it was suitable reading at my age but?!

I wouldn't like to be in a room with Ramsay Bolton from the Game of Thrones books.

Humbert Humbert from Lolita turned my stomach.

The quiet voiced man in the Mission Impossible films.

The quiet restrained baddies are so much scarier than loud shouty ones.

Claude Frollo

He terrified me as a child and now as a parent he is even more terrifying because he seems the most realistic villain.

Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - book and film.

Bill Sykes from Oliver Twist. I read that book when I was about eight and had nightmares about him for years.

O'Brien in 1984.

Kathy Bates in Misery. From a child’s perspective, the witch in Disney’s version of Snow White and of course the child-catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang !

As a child I was terrified of the Childcatcher in Chitty Chatty Bang Bang and Injun Joe from Tom Sawyer.

Dressed to Kill one of the scariest films I have ever seen as an adult

Patrick Bateman in American psycho
Scared the living daylights out of me

Miss Jean Brodie. A very ambiguous character. She was a villain though.

Madame Merle in Portrait of a Lady.

Child catcher - CCBB

Pennywise

Robin Williams in One Hour Photo. Really unsettling.

Begbie from Trainspotting. Always looking for reasons to inflict violence on others. Frightening because people like that do exist

Count Fosco in The Woman in White and Uncle Silas in Sheridan LeFanu's novel of that name

Jude (Miranda Richardson) in the Crying Game. I think the common theme between Nurse Ratched, Miss Jean Brodie and Jude was that they were all convinced that they were on the right side.

I mean, some villains know that they are bad and take pleasure in it but there's nothing more scary than the delusional type who kind of half has you on their side for half a minute.

Misery - such a clever, terrifying film.

General Woundwort

You’re not alone with The Childcatcher.

I saw a touring production of Chitty Chitty earlier this year, with a one know person playing the part, and they really dumbed it down.