Best Melodramatic Movie Villian? Kahn or Zod?

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Good things come in threes, maybe Cassanova Frankenstien (Mystery Men)or Max Von Sydows Ming the Merciless would round out the group. The Emperor (Return of Jedi) is cool but too creepy and not campy enough.

Who doesn't love General Zod ( Superman) or Kahn (Star Trek 2)

So who's number three?

"From Hell's heart, I stab at thee... For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee..."

Yeah, I know that it's from Moby Dick but if you're going to go out you might as well go out with a bang.

Ed Almos

The bad guy in Van Helsing (what a terrible movie). I wasn't sure if it was a parody or not. Not enjoyable in the least.

but " why do you say these things when you KNOW I will kill you for it?"

I have an oricinal magazine from when Superman 2 came out and Terrance Stamp says in his interview if he was'nt being a bad guy actor he'd probably be a serial killer.
Personally I think he was jsut saying it for publicity.

If we're talking campy movie villains......

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from the David Lynch version of Dune

Dr Erasmus Pea from The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (hey, it's a movie based on a comedy TV show, but David Warner does such a good job, and his last words are "You b***h.")

Elliot Carver from Tomorrow Never Dies (I think he's a bit campy in the way he acts, especially when saying 'delicious' when things go his way. The novel version is more focused and scarier)

"Kneel before me, son of Jor-El!"

I love that quote, but probably because one of my friends used it in a movie he made, having a role playing geek yelling that at someone's cat - just before the cat kicked his ass.

Having a "good" bad guy really can make or break a movie. Gary Oldman seems to play many of my favorite bad guys (or seeming bad guys), Zorg in the Fifth Element, Stansfield in Leon/The Professional, even Sirius Black in the Potter movies.

And, yeah, I've got to give a thumbs up to...

...the floating fat man. I don't mind most villians, but there's one who made my skin crawl more than a bit.

Good fortune,

- Icarus models himself after Dr. Evil...

In terms of Gary Oldman villains, you forgot Mason Verger in Hannibal. A pedophile millionaire who got his just desserts at the hands of Lecter before the movie (and the novel) when Verger made the mistake of inviting him home to try and intimidate the good Dr Lecter. Lecter gave him an amyl popper spiked with PCP, speed and other stuff, made him peel off his face with part of a broken mirror and feed it to some dogs Verger was keeping, and then broke his neck with an autoerotic asphyixation noose Verger had.

It should also be noted that, in the original novel, Verger had a sister that he had molested, and kept under his power. His sister was encouraged (by Lecter, who had also been her therapist) to kill Mason by stuffing a moray eel down his throat.

There have been two versions of Dune. In terms of actualy campiness, OTT stuff, I was thinking Kenneth McMillan from the 1984 David Lynch version.



The version in the Sci-Fi channel miniseries is camp, but mostly because more of an effort was made to keep this version closer to the books (where the Baron Harkonnen is more or less explicitly stated to be a homosexual). However, he is more of a Shakespearean villain, played by Ian McNiece.

Emperor Palpatine or Sauron.

Palpatine, I would call camp. Sauron, I wouldn't. Particularly considering he's more of what I'd call an 'Exdeath' villain, a dark overlord who hungers for the power to destroy the world, yet had very little personality, and is almost never seen (kinda like the Cloud of Darkness, Zeromus, and Exdeath from the Final Fantasy games. I know someone will mention Ultimecia, but a lot of her personality is seen when she talks and acts through Edea).

Doctor Emilio Lizardo from "Buckaroo Banzai".

You want over the top ???

(If you've never seen it, you definitely need to rent it. Or buy it.)

GO kahn

"Laugha while you can, Monkey Boy!"

Lizardo FTW!

"He tasks me, Joachim. He tasks me, and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nebbir, and 'round the Antares Maelstrom, and 'round Perdition's flames before I give him up!"

There is only one winner here, and that winner is:

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!